Mixxx
Encyclopedia
Mixxx is open source
digital DJ'ing software that allows an individual to mix music using a personal computer, as a DJ would with a pair of physical turntables
. It is specifically suited to the style of mixing known as beatmatching
.
(v2.0 or later) and runs on all major desktop
operating systems.
In November 2011, Mixxx 1.9.2 and Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta were released. The most notable new features in Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta are:
In February 2011, Mixxx 1.9.0 was released , the most notable new features are:
In October 2010, Mixxx 1.8.1 was released, most notably featuring multiple MIDI device support, looping, hot cues, a re-written library with more features, and some reduction in CPU usage.
In August 2009, Mixxx 1.7.0 was released, most notably featuring advanced MIDI controller support with full feedback. This version has undergone many stability improvements since the 1.6 series and introduces a native 64-bit Windows binary & Mac OS X Universal binary (so it can run on v10.4 and up on PPC and Intel CPUs.)
, Ogg Vorbis
, WAVe
, AIFF and FLAC. v1.8 introduces a plug-in system to be able to read other formats, including patent-encumbered ones whose decoders cannot legally be distributed in binary form with Mixxx such as M4A/AAC
/MP4. Any such plug-ins are automatically loaded at run-time if present.
on Windows, OSS
, ALSA, and JACK
on Linux, and CoreAudio on Mac OS X. This means that any sound device that is supported by the operating system is usable in Mixxx.
for advanced controller interaction and feedback (introduced in v1.7.0.)
Standard analog turntables are also supported via the vinyl control
sub-system which is built on xwax
.
.
In less then 48 hours since it went live in February 2011 Mixxx has become the #1 Top Free App in the USA, Germany, and Italy.
Exclusive to the Mac App Store, a new audio decoder that harnesses Core Audio
brings M4A playback support to Mixxx out-of-the-box.
Open source
The term open source describes practices in production and development that promote access to the end product's source materials. Some consider open source a philosophy, others consider it a pragmatic methodology...
digital DJ'ing software that allows an individual to mix music using a personal computer, as a DJ would with a pair of physical turntables
Phonograph
The phonograph record player, or gramophone is a device introduced in 1877 that has had continued common use for reproducing sound recordings, although when first developed, the phonograph was used to both record and reproduce sounds...
. It is specifically suited to the style of mixing known as beatmatching
Beatmatching
Beatmatching is a disc jockey technique of pitch shifting or timestretching a track to match its tempo to that of the currently playing track e.g. the kicks and snares in two house records hit at the same time when both records are played simultaneously...
.
Overview
The project was started in early 2001 for a doctoral thesis as one of the first digital DJing systems. Today it is a polished application that is downloaded over one million times annually (as of 2010) and includes many features common to digital DJ solutions as well as some unique ones: It natively supports advanced MIDI DJ controllers, is licensed under the GPLGNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
(v2.0 or later) and runs on all major desktop
Desktop computer
A desktop computer is a personal computer in a form intended for regular use at a single location, as opposed to a mobile laptop or portable computer. Early desktop computers are designed to lay flat on the desk, while modern towers stand upright...
operating systems.
In November 2011, Mixxx 1.9.2 and Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta were released. The most notable new features in Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta are:
- Rewritten vinyl control support.
- 4 sample decks
- Beatlooping and Loop/Hotcue/Beatloop Quantization
- Waveform and vinyl widget scratching
- Microphone support
- Library improvements
- Latency and mixing efficiency improvements.
- Over one hundred bugfixes.
In February 2011, Mixxx 1.9.0 was released , the most notable new features are:
- ShoutcastSHOUTcastSHOUTcast is cross-platform proprietary software for streaming media over the Internet. The software, developed by Nullsoft , allows digital audio content, primarily in MP3 or HE-AAC format, to be broadcast to and from media player software, enabling the creation of Internet radio "stations"...
/ IcecastIcecastIcecast is a streaming media project released as free software maintained by the Xiph.org Foundation. It also refers specifically to the server program which is part of the project. Icecast was created in December 1998/January 1999 by Jack Moffitt and Barath Raghavan to provide an open source...
support for broadcast over the Internet - Routing each playback deck separately, which allows you to use Mixxx with an external mixer
- ReplayGain normalization for volume normalization, including performing the ReplayGain analysis for tracks which are not tagged
- Waveform Gain now scale waveforms according to the channel gain for better visual feedback
- HSS1394 support on Windows and Mac OS X for FireWire MIDI devices such as the Stanton SCS.1 series
- Improved metadata parsing and metadata writing to write changes in song metadata back to disk
In October 2010, Mixxx 1.8.1 was released, most notably featuring multiple MIDI device support, looping, hot cues, a re-written library with more features, and some reduction in CPU usage.
In August 2009, Mixxx 1.7.0 was released, most notably featuring advanced MIDI controller support with full feedback. This version has undergone many stability improvements since the 1.6 series and introduces a native 64-bit Windows binary & Mac OS X Universal binary (so it can run on v10.4 and up on PPC and Intel CPUs.)
Audio file support
Mixxx can read most popular audio formats, including MP3MP3
MPEG-1 or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III, more commonly referred to as MP3, is a patented digital audio encoding format using a form of lossy data compression...
, Ogg Vorbis
Vorbis
Vorbis is a free software / open source project headed by the Xiph.Org Foundation . The project produces an audio format specification and software implementation for lossy audio compression...
, WAVe
WAV
Waveform Audio File Format , is a Microsoft and IBM audio file format standard for storing an audio bitstream on PCs...
, AIFF and FLAC. v1.8 introduces a plug-in system to be able to read other formats, including patent-encumbered ones whose decoders cannot legally be distributed in binary form with Mixxx such as M4A/AAC
Advanced Audio Coding
Advanced Audio Coding is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates....
/MP4. Any such plug-ins are automatically loaded at run-time if present.
Audio API/hardware support
Mixxx supports ASIO, WASAPI and DirectSoundDirectSound
DirectSound is a software component of the Microsoft DirectX library for the Windows operating system. DirectSound provides a low-latency interface to the sound card driver and can handle the mixing and recording of multiple audio streams....
on Windows, OSS
Open Sound System
The Open Sound System is an interface for making and capturing sound in Unix or Unix-like operating systems. It is based on standard Unix devices...
, ALSA, and JACK
JACK Audio Connection Kit
JACK is a professional sound server daemon that provides real-time, low latency connections for both audio and MIDI data between applications that implement its API...
on Linux, and CoreAudio on Mac OS X. This means that any sound device that is supported by the operating system is usable in Mixxx.
Controller hardware support
For external hardware control, Mixxx supports many MIDI controllers and is the only DJ software using JavaScriptJavaScript
JavaScript is a prototype-based scripting language that is dynamic, weakly typed and has first-class functions. It is a multi-paradigm language, supporting object-oriented, imperative, and functional programming styles....
for advanced controller interaction and feedback (introduced in v1.7.0.)
Standard analog turntables are also supported via the vinyl control
Vinyl Emulation Software
Vinyl emulation software allows the user to physically manipulate the playback of digital audio files on a computer using the turntables as an interface, thus preserving the hands-on feel of deejaying with vinyl while allowing playback of audio recordings not available in phonograph form...
sub-system which is built on xwax
Xwax
xwax is open source vinyl emulation software. It was initially developed in 2006 as proprietary software. In May 2007 xwax was licensed under the GNU General Public License, making it the first open source software of this kind....
.
Mac App Store
Mixxx is one of the first free and open-source applications available in the Mac App StoreMac App Store
The Mac App Store is a digital distribution platform for Mac OS X applications developed by Apple Inc.. The platform was announced on October 20, 2010 at Apple's "Back to the Mac" event. Apple began accepting app submissions from registered developers on November 3, 2010 in preparation for its launch...
.
In less then 48 hours since it went live in February 2011 Mixxx has become the #1 Top Free App in the USA, Germany, and Italy.
Exclusive to the Mac App Store, a new audio decoder that harnesses Core Audio
Core Audio
Core Audio is a low-level API for dealing with sound in Apple's Mac OS X and iOS operating systems. It includes an implementation of the cross-platform OpenAL library....
brings M4A playback support to Mixxx out-of-the-box.
External links
-
- wiki, including HOWTOs and tutorials
- An older Tutorial
- DidJiX, a live Linux distribution focused on Mixxx