Screen, interfaces and themes

SCREEN is the MODS section for how the player looks. Here you choose between the MODERN and CLASSIC interfaces, pick a theme, set the waveform colours and the 3-band colours, and decide how keys are written. Nothing on this page changes how a track sounds.

Open MODS with MENU, then choose SCREEN in the section rail.

#The SCREEN page

MODS · SCREEN

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1. 1
   INTERFACE

   MODERN or CLASSIC. The framed picture is the one in use.

2. 2
   DECK VIEW

   How many decks the play screen shows and in what order. See Four decks.

3. 3
   THEME

   Opens CLASSIC THEMES. The value is the theme in use. Under MODERN this row is LAMPS AND TITLES.

4. 4
   3-BAND COLOURS

   Opens the 3-BAND COLOURS page. The three squares are the colours of the lows, mids and highs now.

5. 5
   WAVEFORM COLOURS

   How the scrolling waveforms are coloured.

6. 6
   KEY NOTATION

   How keys are written everywhere MODS draws them.

7. 7
   PLAYING KEY

   Shows the key a track plays in after tempo and key shift.

8. 8
   KEY MATCH COLOURS

   Colours keys by how well they mix with the master deck.

9. 9
   KEY BEFORE TITLE

   Shows the key in front of each title in the track list.

10. 10
    TRACK LIST COLUMNS

    Tells you where to change the columns of the track list.

11. 11
    SYSTEM READOUT

    CPU, memory and temperature on the top bar. Reads SET UP until you have run its setup.

12. 12
    WORKS ON

    The decks the highlighted control applies to, in mixer order 3 1 2 4.

Control	Choices	What it changes
INTERFACE	CLASSIC, MODERN	Who draws the play screen. See MODERN and CLASSIC
DECK VIEW	2 DECKS, 4 DECKS in number order, 4 DECKS in mixer order	Which decks the play screen shows. Sound and controls do not change. Hidden on a player that cannot run decks 3 and 4
THEME (CLASSIC)	24 classic themes	The look of the player's own screen and of MODS
LAMPS AND TITLES (MODERN)	A page of switches	Which parts of the MODERN play screen you see
3-BAND COLOURS	A page of colours	The colours of the lows, mids and highs in every 3-BAND waveform. See 3-band colours
WAVEFORM COLOURS	STOCK, 3-BAND, STEMS (MODERN adds RGB)	The colours of the scrolling waveforms
KEY NOTATION	AS ON THE USB, MUSICAL, WHEEL	How keys are written
PLAYING KEY	ON, OFF	The key a track plays in now, or its original key
KEY MATCH COLOURS	ON, OFF	Green or amber keys on the play screen and in the track list
KEY BEFORE TITLE	ON, OFF	The key in front of each title in the track list
TRACK LIST COLUMNS	Information only	Tap a column title in the track list, or press MENU there, to choose its columns and sort
SYSTEM READOUT	Opens its setup	CPU, RAM and temperature on the top bar. It has the last row of the page to itself

The HOME card for SCREEN sums the page up in one line, for example Classic | 3-band | Am keys.

#MODERN and CLASSIC

XZ Mods gives the player two interfaces. You choose one with INTERFACE on the SCREEN page, or when you prepare the USB in the XZ Mods app. MODERN is the default.

• MODERN is a full-screen layout drawn by XZ Mods, with bigger waveforms and a browse sidebar.
• CLASSIC keeps the familiar play screen and adds MODS to it, in the classic theme you choose.

Each interface keeps its own theme. If you switch from CLASSIC to MODERN and back, your classic theme comes back with you.

To switch without opening MODS, press the button above LINK. Out of the box it switches between MODERN and CLASSIC. You can give it another job in PLAY › BUTTON ABOVE LINK. See Controls on the player.

MODERN play screen

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1. 1
   Mode lamps

   SINGLE or CONTINUE, A. HOT CUE and A. CUE. Hide them in LAMPS AND TITLES.

2. 2
   QUANTIZE lamp

   Red while QUANTIZE is on, with its beat value. Hide it in LAMPS AND TITLES.

3. 3
   Playing key

   The key the track plays in now. ORIGINAL below it is the key it was analysed in.

4. 4
   Scrolling waveform

   Coloured by WAVEFORM COLOURS.

5. 5
   STEMS and MODS

   STEMS steps the stem buttons through their places, or shows and hides them in 4 DECKS. MODS opens the MODS menu.

#Classic themes classic

A classic theme restyles the player's own play screen and the MODS menu: artwork, text, waveforms, cue marks and dialogs. Track positions, numbers and touch areas stay where the player puts them, so a theme never moves a control under your finger.

Choose THEME on the SCREEN page to open CLASSIC THEMES. Tap a theme, or turn the encoder to it and push. Close MODS to see the play screen in the new theme.

CLASSIC THEMES

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1. 1
   Theme in use

   Framed, with SELECTED under its name.

2. 2
   Colour dots

   The theme's main colours, so you can compare themes before you pick one.

3. 3
   Dock

   Says what a theme restyles before you choose it.

4. 4
   WORKS ON

   Themes apply to decks 1 to 4.

The gallery shows the HOME page of MODS in every theme.

#Theme families classic

Most families come in a light and a DARK version. Pick the dark one for dim booths.

#MODERN look modern

MODERN has one look, STANDARD, so it has no theme list. MODS uses the MODERN look: black pages, a grey section rail and blue selections. More MODERN looks are planned.

Instead of THEME, the SCREEN page offers LAMPS AND TITLES. Its row shows ALL SHOWN, or how many parts you have hidden.

A hidden lamp also stops answering touch.

Your LAMPS AND TITLES choices, TRACK COLOURS and the BYPASS BUTTON switch are saved to the USB with your other settings, so they come back after the player restarts. So are MODERN's waveform colour, its waveform position and zoom, and how it writes keys.

The BYPASS BUTTON switch for MODERN sits with the stem buttons in STEMS. See Stems.

#Waveform colours

WAVEFORM COLOURS sets how the scrolling waveforms are coloured. The setting itself is explained with the rest of the play screen in The play screen.

The preview strip on the 3-BAND COLOURS page draws the three layers in the colours in use: lows outside, mids around them, highs at the core.

• 3-BAND and STEMS read the track analysis your DJ software and the XZ Mods stem builder already put on the USB. You do not prepare anything extra.
• A track without stems shows 3-BAND under STEMS. A track with four stems also shows 3-BAND, because its stems carry no waveform data yet.
• Stem colours are set in STEMS › STEM COLOURS. See Stems.
• In MODERN, UTILITY's WAVEFORM COLOR is the same setting. Your choice is saved to the USB and comes back after a restart.

#3-band colours

3-BAND COLOURS chooses the colour of each band in the 3-BAND waveform: the lows, the mids and the highs. On the SCREEN page it sits beside THEME in CLASSIC and beside LAMPS AND TITLES in MODERN. Its row shows the three colours in use.

MODS · 3-BAND COLOURS

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1. 1
   LOWS

   The colour of the lows, the outer layer of the waveform.

2. 2
   MIDS

   The colour of the mids, the middle layer.

3. 3
   HIGHS

   The colour of the highs, at the core.

4. 4
   STANDARD

   Keeps the interface's own colour for that band. The highlighted choice in each band is the colour in use.

5. 5
   Colour choices

   BLUE, RED, GREEN, AMBER, PURPLE, CYAN, PINK and WHITE. Tap one to give it to that band.

6. 6
   Preview

   A strip drawn the way the 3-BAND waveform stacks the bands, in the colours you chose.

7. 7
   RESET 3-BAND COLOURS

   Puts all three bands back to STANDARD.

8. 8
   WORKS ON

   3-band colours apply on all four decks.

1. Open MODS > SCREEN > 3-BAND COLOURS.
2. Tap a colour under LOWS, MIDS or HIGHS. Without the touch screen, turn the encoder to a colour and push.
3. Close MODS to see the play screen in the new colours.

• The colours apply to every 3-BAND waveform: the MODERN lanes and overviews, the CLASSIC scrolling waveform, decks 3 and 4, and the browse preview.
• STANDARD is not one fixed colour. It is the colour the interface itself uses for that band, so MODERN and CLASSIC can differ a little.
• The 3-BAND pictures under WAVEFORM COLOURS on the SCREEN page are drawn in your colours too.
• Stem colours are separate. Set them in STEMS › STEM COLOURS.
• The colours are saved to the USB with your other settings.

#Keys

#Key notation

KEY NOTATION sets how keys are written everywhere MODS draws them: on the play screen, in the track list and in MODS.

#Playing key

With PLAYING KEY on, each deck shows the key the track plays in now, after tempo changes and key shifts. The original key and the offset in cents sit beside it.

• In MODERN the playing key is the big key in each deck's column. Off shows the track's original key there.
• In CLASSIC the playing key sits where the beat countdown is. Off brings the countdown back.
• Decks 3 and 4 show their playing key too. Until a software deck reports it, the deck shows the track's own key, marked TRACK KEY in CLASSIC.

The key readout and Key Sync are explained in The play screen and Beat jump and performance features.

#Key match colours and key before title

KEY MATCH COLOURS colours keys green or amber by how well they mix with the master deck, in the track list and on the play screen. Green means the key mixes with the master's key and sits within 25 cents of it. Amber means it would mix, but it is detuned by more than 25 cents. KEY BEFORE TITLE puts the key in front of each title in the track list. See Browsing and loading.

#Deck colours

When a screen names a deck, it draws the deck number in a small badge. The badge tells you the deck by its digit and the pair by its colours.

No deck owns a colour. Blue and pale blue mark the deck a side of the player controls. Amber, red, green, the waveform bands and USB colours keep their own meanings. The WORKS ON row in the MODS dock uses the same badges, in mixer order 3 1 2 4. See Four decks for the deck view.

#System readout

SYSTEM READOUT puts CPU load, memory and temperature beside STEMS and MODS on the top bar. Open it to see deck 3 and 4 audio render times and active key shifters across all four decks. P99 is the time at or below which 99% of the last 256 rendered blocks finished; MAX is the longest. Short blocks are scaled to a full block. D3+D4 MAX adds both maxima and compares them with the 5,805 microseconds available per block. New shifts use a stricter 3,483 microsecond budget, leaving time for other work. These render numbers include decoding, time stretch and key shift; they do not measure the complete output path. Use them when you suspect the player is working hard, for example with stems on both decks and four decks running.

SYSTEM READOUT

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1. 1
   STEP

   Where you are in the setup.

2. 2
   What the numbers mean

   CPU 100% means all four cores are busy. RAM leaves out cache. 80 C turns yellow, 90 C flashes red with HOT.

3. 3
   Audio render time

   Each software deck shows its p99 and maximum render time in microseconds. LAST RUN means the reading is no longer live.

4. 4
   Key shifters

   Counts shifted decks, including decks 1 and 2. The combined software maximum is shown against one audio block.

5. 5
   DETECT METRICS

   Runs the current step. Push to move through the setup.

1. Choose SYSTEM READOUT on the SCREEN page.
2. Push DETECT METRICS. The setup looks for CPU, memory and the temperature sensor.
3. Follow the remaining steps until the live readings show.

After setup the row on the SCREEN page reads ON. On the top bar, METRICS STARTING - TAP TO SET UP means the readings have not arrived yet. METRICS STALE - TAP TO VERIFY means they stopped updating. Tap either one to open the setup again.

#When something looks wrong