Main Interface

The Main Interface is KTPlayer's performance screen. It contains four panels, Masthead, Cuelist, Mixer, Timeline: plus a Bottom bar. Drag the divider between any two panels to resize.

Screenshot 2026-05-19 at 10.57.06AM

Active cue vs selected cue

  • Active cue: during playback, the cue currently playing. With playback stopped, the active cue equals the selected cue.
  • Selected cue: the cue queued to fire on the next GO. When playback is active, it advances to the next child or parent cue according to your Behavior preferences.

Masthead

The strip at the top of the window. Displays information about the active cue and current playback state.

main-interface-01-masthead

1. Active Cue Number. The number of the active cue.

2. Active Cue Name. The name of the active cue.

3. GO button. Hidden by default. Fires the selected cue. Toggle visibility via right-click on the masthead.

4. STOP button. Hidden by default. Stops the active cue. Toggle visibility via right-click on the masthead.

5. Quantisation setting. Shows the current quantisation state. Yellow text unless quantisation is off.

  • States:
  • Q bar   , quantised to next measure
  • Q off   , fires immediately
  • When a vamp or loop is active, the indicator displays as Q bar VAMP    or Q off VAMP    over two lines.
  • When the active cue has a Play state with a fixed count greater than 1, the indicator displays the current iteration over the total (e.g. 1/2X   , then 2/2X   ).
  • Default: as set in Preferences → Behavior → Quantize GO to next bar, unless overridden per-cue in the Edit View.

6. Active Cue Beat and Time signature. Two-line display.

  • Top line: current beat.
  • Bottom line: current time signature.
  • Behavior: the indicator pulses orange on every beat.

Displayed time signature is playback time signature

This is the time signature of the playback, not necessarily the song. Because quantisation can only be bar    or off   , the displayed time signature may differ. Example: the song time signature is 4/4, but a vamp is set to a half-measure exit, so the displayed time signature shows as 2/4.

7. Active Cue Tempo. The playback's internal BPM.

  • Behavior: the note value symbol represents the time signature denominator only. It does not necessarily reflect the song's notated BPM. Tempo here is the playback designer's setting, which may be adjusted for quantisation control.

Masthead right-click menu

Right-click anywhere in the masthead to toggle visibility of:

  • Go
  • Stop
  • Loop
  • Beat
  • Tempo

Cuelist

The ordered list of cues that make up the show, displayed on the left of the main panel.

main-interface-02-cuelist

1. Cue Name. The cue name. May include measure number, count-in, or other annotations.

2. Cue Number. The cue number matching the score.

3. Playhead. Marks the row of the active cue.

4. Selected Cue. Thick colored border with diagonal lines. Marks the cue queued to fire next.

5. Divider. A horizontal rule between cue groups

Mixer

The audio mixing panel. Numbered top to bottom, left to right:

main-interface-03-mixer

Channel strip

For each channel in the show:

1. Channel output. Click to change routing.

    • Indicators:
    • &   , mono
    • |   , stereo

2. Channel gain (dBFS). Click to reset to 0   .

3. Channel Fader. Controls channel gain.

4. Channel volume meter. Green / yellow / red.

  • Right-click menu:
    • Show output channels: Toggle.
    • dB-linear metering: Toggle.
    • Reset mixer: Resets every channel to defaults.
    • Hide mixer: Hides the mixer panel.

5. Channel Label. Shows the number and name


Audio device outputs

For each output bus on the configured audio device:

6. Output Bus Name / Number. Identifies the output.

  • Output bus volume meter. No fader.
  • Output bus peak value (dBFS). Click to reset.

Master

7. Master Fader. Controls master output gain.

  • Master Gain (dBFS). Click to reset to 0   .

Timeline

The visual playback panel. Top to bottom:

main-interface-04-timeline

1. Current Cue name. The name of the cue shown in the timeline.

2. Channels. One waveform per channel in the cue.

3. Bar lines. Faint vertical lines marking measure boundaries.

4. Playhead. A thick vertical line marking the current playback position.

  • Colors:
  • Red, playback stopped
  • Green, playing

Quantisation marker. A second, orange vertical line that appears only when quantisation is on AND Go has been pressed during active playback. Shows the point at which the next cue will fire (the end of the current measure). The marker remains visible until the next cue actually triggers, then disappears.

Timeline controls:

  • Drag up / down, Zoom time
  • Drag left / right, Navigate
  • ⌘    + drag up / down, Zoom waveform amplitude

Bottom bar

The strip at the bottom of the window.

main-interface-05-bottombar

1. Left, Edit mode toggle. Switches between main interface and Edit view. Mirrors View → Edit Cuelist (⌘E   ).

2. Center, Quick help. Inline help hints.

3. Right, Preferences. Opens the Preferences window. Mirrors KTPlayer → Preferences (⌘,   ).

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