Stems

Stems split a track into its parts so you can mute them live. XZ Mods plays three stems per track: VOCALS, HARMONICS (everything melodic that is not a voice) and DRUMS. You mute them from the pads or from buttons on the screen, change their levels by sliding, and switch back to the whole track with BYPASS. Stems work on decks 1 and 2. Decks 3 and 4 have no stems.

#Prepare stems

The player cannot split a track itself. You prepare stems on your computer, once per track, and they travel on the USB beside your music.

1. Prepare the stems in the XZ Mods app on your computer, or in OverCue Desktop. See The XZ Mods app.
2. Keep the stems on the same USB as the music. Your original files and the library your DJ software exported stay unchanged.
3. On the player, load the original track through the normal browser and wait a moment for its stems to load.

A track without prepared stems plays as normal. Its stem buttons say why, and the button at their end tells you what to do (see Stem readiness).

#Turn stems on

Open MODS, choose STEMS on the section rail, and turn USB STEMS on. It is on by default. With it off, every pad keeps its normal job and the stem buttons say STEMS ARE OFF or STEMS OFF.

MODS · STEMS

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1. 1
   USB STEMS

   Plays prepared stems from the USB. Off gives every pad its normal job back. Without the stem engine on the USB it reads SET UP USB STEMS and starts the setup.

2. 2
   STEMS IN DJ SOFTWARE

   Sets up stem control for DJ software on a computer. See Stems in DJ software.

3. 3
   STEM PADS

   Which pad mode gives stem pads, the stem order and the pad lights. See Stem pads.

4. 4
   Stem buttons on screen

   Where the stem buttons sit on the play screen. The outlined tile is the current layout.

5. 5
   STEM COLOURS

   The colour of each stem. See Stem colours.

6. 6
   WORKS ON

   The decks this page applies to. Decks 3 and 4 have no stems.

#Stem buttons on the play screen

Each deck gets three stem buttons and BYPASS. Tap a stem button to mute that stem, and tap it again to bring it back. A muted stem goes dark and keeps its level in its label.

#MODERN stem buttons modern

PLAY · STEMS

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1. 1
   STEMS

   Lit blue while stems are on. Tap to step to the next layout. The marks under the label show which one is current. In 4 DECKS it shows or hides the stem buttons.

2. 2
   DRUMS

   Tap to mute. Slide sideways to set the level. The fill and the percentage show it.

3. 3
   VOCAL

   The vocals stem.

4. 4
   INST

   Muted. It goes dark and keeps its level in the label.

5. 5
   BYPASS

   Grey while the stems play.

6. 6
   BYPASS lit

   Lit white, the deck plays the original track and every stem button goes dark. Tap again to hear the stems as you left them.

On full-height rows each stem button is also a fader. Put a finger on it and slide right to raise the level or left to lower it. One button's width covers the whole range. A tap without a slide toggles the mute. Half-height rows and the small buttons beside the hot cues mute only.

In 2 DECKS, STEMS in the top bar steps through six layouts in this order: beside the hot cues, below each deck at full height, below at half height, at the outer edges at full height, at the outer edges at half height, and hidden. You can also pick one in MODS under STEMS. MODERN keeps its own layout (modern_stems), so switching to CLASSIC and back does not change it. The default is the small buttons beside the hot cues.

The marks under STEMS follow the same order, so the lit mark tells you the layout without looking at the decks.

BYPASS BUTTON in MODS under STEMS shows or hides the BYPASS button. Hidden, the stem buttons take its room and the pads still bypass.

If stems are off when you tap STEMS, the layout still changes, and a notice says STEM ROWS SHOW ONCE STEMS ARE ON IN MODS.

#Stem buttons in 4 DECKS modern

In a 4 DECKS view the lanes are too short for the layouts, so STEMS is a switch there. One tap hides the stem buttons on every deck, and the screen says STEM BUTTONS HIDDEN. The next tap brings them back and says STEM BUTTONS SHOWN. STEMS is lit while they show and has no layout marks. Your 2 DECKS layout does not change, and XZ Mods saves the 4 DECKS choice on the USB separately.

A deck whose track has no prepared stems shows no stem buttons in 4 DECKS, and its waveform keeps the whole lane. The buttons appear when you load a track with stems. Decks 3 and 4 have no stems, so they never show stem buttons. Four decks has pictures.

#CLASSIC stem rows classic

In CLASSIC the stem rows sit inside the player's own waveform area, one row per deck.

PLAY · STEM ROWS

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1. 1
   VOCALS

   Tap to mute. Slide sideways to set the level.

2. 2
   Level

   The fill and the percentage show the stem's level.

3. 3
   Muted

   A muted stem goes dark and reads MUTE with the level it returns to.

4. 4
   BYPASS

   D1 OFF means deck 1 plays its stems. Tap to play the original track.

In 2 DECKS, the STEMS button in the top right corner of the play screen steps the rows through five layouts: BELOW / FULL, BELOW / HALF, OUTER / FULL, OUTER / HALF and HIDDEN, then back to BELOW / FULL. Its five marks show the current one. Half rows give each waveform more height. HIDDEN gives the player's waveforms their full size back while the stems keep playing. CLASSIC keeps its own layout (stems_overlay).

While four decks show in CLASSIC, no stem rows are drawn, and STEMS stays dark. A tap changes nothing and says STEM BUTTONS SHOW IN 2 DECKS VIEW. The layout comes back when you return to two decks.

#Stem pads

The pads mute stems too, without looking at the screen. Open STEM PADS on the STEMS page.

MODS · STEM PADS

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1. 1
   Pad mode button

   Pick the pad mode that gives stem pads: HOT CUE, BEAT LOOP, SLIP LOOP or BEAT JUMP. The other modes keep their normal pads.

2. 2
   Stem pads

   Pads A, B and C mute the three stems in the order below.

3. 3
   BYPASS pad

   Pad D plays the original track while lit.

4. 4
   Other pads

   Pads E to H keep their normal job.

5. 5
   STEMS ON

   Put the stems on pads A to D or on pads E to H.

6. 6
   Order

   The stem order on the pads and on the screen. Push, then turn to change it.

7. 7
   Pad lights

   STEM COLOURS lights the stem pads in their stem colours and dims a muted one. OFF leaves the lights to the player.

8. 8
   SHIFT shortcut

   SHIFT + HOT CUE, BEAT LOOP or SLIP LOOP always gives stem pads, whatever mode you picked.

Mute and bypass are performance state. They are not saved, and every track starts with all stems playing.

#Stem order

The order puts the stems where your fingers expect them. It changes the pads and the stem buttons on the screen together. There are six orders.

The layered STEMS waveform and the stem row for DJ software keep their own order.

#Stem colours

Each stem has a colour on the pads, the stem buttons and the STEMS waveform. In the ORIGINAL theme drums are blue, harmonics red and vocals green. Every theme has its own shades.

MODS · STEM COLOURS

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1. 1
   Stem

   DRUMS, HARMONICS and VOCALS each have their own column.

2. 2
   THEME

   Follows the theme you chose. The outlined tile is the current choice.

3. 3
   Bass

   A four-stem track's bass always follows the theme.

4. 4
   Preview

   The three colours as the STEMS waveform draws them.

5. 5
   RESET STEM COLORS

   Puts all three back to THEME.

The choices are THEME, BLUE, RED, GREEN, AMBER, PURPLE, CYAN, PINK and WHITE. A fixed colour stays when you change theme.

#Stem readiness

Each deck's stem buttons tell you whether its stems can play. When they cannot, the stem buttons go dark and the last button names the reason. Where you can fix it from the player, that button does it.

In MODERN the stem buttons on a deck that cannot play stems read STEMS ARE OFF or NO STEMS ON THIS TRACK, and only the hot-cue lamps stay in the pad row. In 4 DECKS such a deck shows no stem buttons, and its waveform keeps the whole lane.

#USB STEMS setup

Tap SET UP or HOW TO FIX on a stem row, or SET UP USB STEMS in MODS, to open USB STEMS setup. It checks one deck at a time and walks you through the three steps: check the engine, turn stems on, load a prepared track.

MODS · USB STEMS

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1. 1
   DECK 1 / DECK 2

   The deck this setup checks.

2. 2
   Steps

   Check the engine, turn stems on, load a prepared track.

3. 3
   Deck status

   Where this deck stands now.

4. 4
   FOUND

   The stem format found for this track.

5. 5
   Next step

   What to do next, in one line.

6. 6
   Action

   Does the next step, or checks the deck again.

#Stems in DJ software experimental

When the XZ plays from DJ software on a computer over USB, the stem buttons can switch the software's stems instead. Open STEMS IN DJ SOFTWARE on the STEMS page and follow its four steps for each deck: DETECT, MAP STEMS, LIVE TEST and CONFIRM.

MODS · STEMS IN DJ SOFTWARE

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1. 1
   Deck

   The deck this setup checks.

2. 2
   Status

   The deck's source, the link to the computer and whether stem switching has been tested.

3. 3
   Steps

   DETECT, MAP STEMS, LIVE TEST and CONFIRM.

4. 4
   DETECT PC

   Checks that this deck plays from the computer.

Connect the XZ to the computer by USB and open your DJ software in Performance mode before you start. A deck playing from the computer then shows a stem row for the software, with three or four stems.

#If stems do not play