Interfacing to Mixxx via MIDI (Linux)

• Midi Controller Korg
• Midi Controller Free

This tutorial explains how to drive QLC+ via MIDI from Mixxx. Mixxx is an open source DJ application, running on Windows, Mac OSX and Linux. The light effects are geared to a disco setup and we will use the beat detection of Mixxx to drive light effects synchronized with music.

DJ MIDI controller for UltraMixer DJ-Software. Pioneer, Numark, Reloop, M-Audio, AmericanAudio, Hercules, Behringer, EKS and more. Mixxx is a free, open-source DJ mixing console that turns your digital music collection into the source for a full range of mixing, programming, and effects for. Advanced MIDI controller support. Oct 14, 2010 Mixxx comes packed with a bunch of useful features that gives you ultimate control on your mixes. Some of them includes MIDI and DJ Controller support, Cross-Platform Vinyl Control support, Dual Deck support, iTunes integration, BPM Detection and Sync, live broadcasting, Timecode support, automatic mixing, and microphone input. For external hardware control, Mixxx can support any MIDI or HID controller as long as there is a mapping to tell Mixxx how to interpret the controller's signals. Mixxx includes mappings for many DJ controllers and users can create their own mappings as well. Read how you can take complete control over your controller and create advanced behaviors including easy wheel scratching. Browse the list of Mixxx's controls you can manipulate with your controller via the mapping file and/or a script. Find many great new & used options and get the best deals for 2018 Mixxx Professional DJ Music Mixing Software - Midi Controller Support at the best online prices at eBay! Free shipping for many products! Sep 02, 2019  - Read how you can take complete control over your controller and create advanced behaviors including easy wheel scratching. Browse the list of Mixxx's controls you can manipulate with your controller via the mapping file and/or a script.

The instructions were tested on Linux, but Windows or Mac OSX should be similar.

Prepare and configure Mixxx

We need Mixxx to send information about the music via MIDI to QLC+. For this capability we need a plugin script in Mixxx which sends the information as MIDI events.

Midi Controller Korg

• Install Mixx, I used version 1.11
• Install the 'MIDI_for_light' script from this (Mixxx forum thread)The script files (xms + js) must be installed in /usr/share/mixxx/controllers.
• Run Mixxx in developer mode with the command 'mixxx --developer'.This is necessary because Mixxx hides the 'Midi Through' interface but we need it.
• Start Mixxx, go to 'Options - Preferences - Controllers', select 'Midi Through', enable it and load the Preset 'MIDI for light' from the list.

This will enable the sending of Midi events. You can now run a midi monitor, like 'kmidimon', connect it to the 'Midi Through' device and look at the all the events. Be careful, Mixxx sends 40 events 25 times per second. It to my kmdimon only a minute or two to hang because of overload.

Configure QLC+

Now we have Mixxx sending us lots of interesting data and want QLC+ to do something with it.

• Install QLC+, I used version 4.8.2

• Define your fixtures and functions as usual

• In the 'Inputs/Outputs' panel, select the 'MIDI Through' device as input

  ARIA Player for Finale. How to get there. Choose MIDI/Audio Audio Units Banks & Effects. Click the popup menu for one of the banks and choose Garritan: ARIA Player. Click the Edit button for that bank. Or, Ensure MIDI/Audio Play Finale Through Audio Units is checked. Choose Window Score Manager. Under the Device column for an instrument. Aria player pwav on mac. Peek inside the ARIA Player. Included with Personal Orchestra 5, the ARIA Player is a state-of-the-art, easy-to-use sample library player. It provides specially-tailored acoustic programming designed to reproduce the sounds of actual instruments and imparts expressive controls to those sounds. Due to a problem with a portion of the Finale installers, downloaded Finale installers (for Mac) for versions of Finale prior to Finale v25 (2014.5 and earlier), may not install the ARIA Player - the plug-in that hosts the Garritan Instruments for Finale. A new folder is created containing installers for the ARIA Player and your sample library. Open the folder and double-click the ARIA Player installer (MACARIAPlayerversion.pkg). Follow the on-screen prompts to install the desired components: GAPSA.

• Select the MIDI Through device and click on plugin configuration and configure the 'Midi Through' device. Then:

  • Set the 'Midi' Channel to 1
  • Set the 'Mode' to 'Note Velocity'
  • Leave the 'Init Message' on 'None'
  • Push EXIT button.

• In the Profile tab of the 'Inputs/Outputs' screen, add a new Input Profile. I called it 'Mixxx' and model 'MIDI'.
  Here we need to add a Channel for each MIDI message we expect from Mixxx. The list of Midi messages is documented in the file 'VU-Meter_Info.txt' you got with the Mixxx plugin script.

  • First we add a channel for the BPM info (not documented in the file).
    Add a channel, name it 'BPM', Type is 'Button', Midi channel is '1', Message is 'Note On/Off', Parameter is 101.
  • Then we add all channels with the volume information
    Add a channel, name it 'Volume - absolute', Type is 'Slider', Midi channel is '1', Message is 'Note On/Off', Parameter is 101.
  • Repeat this for all channels you find interesting
    The relative volume channels can give interesting light effects, the absolute volume is less interesting

• Now go to your Virtual Console and start using the MIDI signals. Here two examples:

  • Configure the BPM to advance a cue list on each beat
    In your Cue list, in the 'Next Cue' tab, click on 'Choose', expand the 'Mixxx MIDI' line and pick BPM from the list. Your cue list will now advance with the beat of the music, as determined by the Mixxx beat detection.
  • Make a lamp light up with the Volume of the music (VU meter)
    Configure a Slider, on the 'General' tab, under 'External input' click on 'Choose' and select a channel of your choosing, for example 'Volume absolute'. The selected Fixture will now light up with the volume of the music, like a giant VU meter.

Mixxx is free and open-source software for DJing.^[2] It is cross-platform and supports most common music file formats. Mixxx can be controlled with MIDI and HID controllers and timecode vinyl records in addition to computer keyboards and mice.

Overview[edit]

Mixxx is a DJ Automation and digital DJ performance application^[3] and includes many features common to digital DJ solutions as well as some unique ones: It natively supports advanced MIDI and HID DJ controllers, is licensed under the GPL (v2.0 or later) and runs on all major desktopoperating systems.^[4] The project was started in early 2001 for a doctoral thesis as one of the first digital DJing systems.^[5] Over 1,000,000 downloads of the app occur annually and as of Mixxx 1.10.0, 100 developers and artists have helped create Mixxx. Recent versions support harmonic mixing and beatmatching, both manually and automatically.^[6]

Format support[edit]

Mixxx can read most popular audio formats, including MP3, Vorbis, Opus, 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 Advanced Audio Coding (AAC). Any such plug-ins are automatically loaded at run-time if present. Mixxx can also play module files when compiled with the modplug=1 build flag., and can use LV2 plugins for effects.

Hardware[edit]

Any sound card that is supported by the operating system is usable in Mixxx. Mixxx supports various software APIs for using sound cards on different operating systems, namely ASIO, WASAPI, and DirectSound on Windows; OSS, ALSA, and JACK on Linux; and CoreAudio on Mac OS X, all via PortAudio.

Midi Controller Free

For external hardware control, Mixxx can support any MIDI or HID controller as long as there is a mapping to tell Mixxx how to interpret the controller's signals. Mixxx includes mappings for many DJ controllers and users can create their own mappings as well.^[7] It is the only DJ software capable of using a fully featured programming language, JavaScript, for creating mappings with advanced controller interaction and feedback.^[8]

Turntables and CDJ media players can control Mixxx with the timecode control sub-system which is built on xwax. Like xwax, Mixxx supports timecode vinyl made by several manufacturers.^[9]

Reception[edit]

One of the free and open-source applications available in the Mac App Store, in less than 48 hours from debut in February 2011,^[10] Mixxx became the #1 Top Free App in the USA, Germany, and Italy.^[11]

Mixxx has been accepted as a mentoring organization in Google Summer of Code 2007^[12], 2008^[13], 2010,^[14] 2011,^[15] 2012,^[16] 2013,^[17]2014,^[18] 2016,^[19] 2017^[20], 2018^[21], 2020^[22].

See also[edit]

References[edit]

1. ^https://mixxx.org/forums/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=12368&start=40#p43430
2. ^James, Daniel. 'Drafting Digital Media'. Apress, 2009, p. 213.
3. ^Digital Dj Tips: 'Get Your Mixxx for Free!' 14 October 2010, Retrieved on 4 Nov 2011
4. ^Skratchworx: 'Mixxx with 3 Xs - one for each supported OS' 7 Aug 2009, Retrieved on 4 Nov 2011
5. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2011-10-07. Retrieved 2012-05-24.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
6. ^Source code of a simple implementation
7. ^Mixxx Wiki, hardware compatibility page. Retrieved on 4 Nov 2011.
8. ^Create Digital Music: 'Turntablism in the Digital Age: DJ Jungleboy with Stanton SCS.3d; Open Scratch Scripting' Section: 'Open Source SCS.3d Scripting?' Jun 9 2009, retrieved on 4 Nov 2011
9. ^http://mixxx.org/manual/latest/chapters/vinyl_control.html
10. ^Mixxx blog: App store availability announcement 18 February 2011, Retrieved on 4 Nov 2011
11. ^MusicRadar.com: 'Free Mixxx DJing app hits number one in the Mac App Store' 22 February 2011, Retrieved on 4 Nov 2011
12. ^'Google Summer of Code 2007'. Google Developers. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
13. ^'Google Summer of Code 2008'. Google Developers. Retrieved 2020-03-03.
14. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2013-06-29. Retrieved 2013-05-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
15. ^'Archived copy'. Archived from the original on 2012-02-11. Retrieved 2013-05-10.CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
16. ^'Google Summer of Code 2013 Organization Mixxx DJ Software'. www.google-melange.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
17. ^'Google Summer of Code 2013 Organization Mixxx DJ Software'. www.google-melange.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
18. ^'Google Summer of Code 2014 Organization Mixxx DJ Software'. www.google-melange.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
19. ^'Mixxx DJ Software - 2016 - Google Summer of Code Archive'. summerofcode.withgoogle.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
20. ^'Mixxx DJ Software - 2017 - Google Summer of Code Archive'. summerofcode.withgoogle.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
21. ^'Mixxx DJ Software - 2018 - Google Summer of Code Archive'. summerofcode.withgoogle.com. Retrieved 2018-11-03.
22. ^'Google Summer of Code'. summerofcode.withgoogle.com. Retrieved 2020-03-03.

External links[edit]