Mixxx Development Blog

Mixxx 1.10.0 Released!

2011-12-24T22:39:00.000Z

Happy holidays from the Mixxx development team. After a smooth beta period, we are happy to present Mixxx 1.10.0!

Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Mixxx 1.10.0 brings several hard-hitting features that are the culmination of a year's worth of work by the development team.

What we're packing in Mixxx 1.10.0:

Rewritten and Improved Vinyl Control Support

Completely rewritten vinyl-style pitch-bending for clean, analog-like sound.
Absolute, relative, and constant vinyl modes.
Rock-solid support for Serato Vinyl/CD or Traktor Vinyl at 33 or 45 RPM.
Single-deck Vinyl Control
End-of-record Mode
Improved needle skip prevention.
Can use different vinyl types on each deck!
Improved audio quality when scratching.
Support for track selection using the lead-in area of the vinyl and needle-drop hotcues.
Track lead-in for scratching before the start of songs.
Waveform smoothing to prevent wobbly waveforms.
New built-in vinyl signal analyzer.

4 Sampler Decks
Beatloops, Loop Halve/Double Buttons

Handy beatloop buttons let you quickly throw down an 8-beat loop as you transition from one song to the next.

Quantized Loops, Hotcues and Beatloops

Turn on quantization mode for a deck and all of your loops, hotcues, and beatloops will snap to the nearest beat when you place them.

Phase Synchronization

Sync button now synchronizes both the BPM and phase of beats.

Beatgrid Adjust Feature

Is your beatgrid misaligned? Easily adjust it with one click.

Microphone Support

Streaming and club DJs alike will love this feature. Plug in your microphone and MC your show, all without the need for an external mixer.

Spinning Turntable Widgets and Waveform Scratching

Skins now come with juicy spinning turntables that you can scratch to your heart's delight.
If vinyl control is enabled, vinyl signal quality can also be rendered to the spinning widgets.
Waveform overviews now act as a progress bar for track analysis.

M4A Support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users.

Mixxx previously could not support M4A on Windows due to licensing issues, but that restriction is now lifted with our new Windows Media Foundation M4A plugin. Mixxx on Mac OS X already supports M4A.

Library Improvements

Traktor Library Support.
New and improved Browse Mode.
Recording Improvements

Integrated with the library.
Automatically splits files into pieces to avoid large files.
CUE files of tracks played.

Much faster iTunes and Rhythmbox support.
Import and export of crates and playlists as M3U/PLS playlists.
Playlists and crates are lockable and rename-able.
Dragging to library sidebar auto-expands closed sections and is easier to aim.
Track play count is more accurately measured.
Reload track metadata from context menu in library.
Auto-scrolling in playlists is fixed.
Shuffle AutoDJ Queue feature.
Add Playlist to AutoDJ feature.

Brand New and Updated Skins

Deere

1280x800 WXGA
1280x1024 SXGA
1440x900 WXGA+
1920x1080 FullHD
1920x1200 WUXGA

LateNight / LateNightBlues

1280x800 WXGA
1280x1024 SXGA
1366x768 WXGA

Shade / ShadeDark

1024x600 Netbook
1024x768 XGA

Phoney / PhoneyDark

1600x1200 UXGA
1680x1050 WSXGA

Outline

1024x600 Netbook
1024x768 XGA
800x480 WVGA

Accessibility Improvements

Mixxx should play nicer with screen-readers now. It's not perfect, but a step in the right direction.

Limited Support for Internationalization

Beta translations for Spanish, Catalan, French, German, Italian, Russian, Finnish, Czech, Dutch, Polish, and Japanese

Thanks so much to the awesome Launchpad translators!

Alpha translations for many other languages.
Better support for UTF-8 filenames.

Revamped and Rewritten User Manual
Mixing engine improvements

Major efficiency and latency improvements.

Netbook users report latency improvements of up to 4x.

Sound quality is now much improved.
Improved support for multiple soundcards. Synchronization problems should now only affect the headphone outputs. See Bug #667651 for more details.
Soft-takeover support for MIDI mappings.
JACK now recognizes ports as Mixxx instead of PortAudio.

Updated MIDI Mappings

American Audio RADIUS 2000 (new)
American Audio VMS4
DJ-Tech i-Mix Reload (new)
Hercules DJ Console Mk4
Hercules DJ Console RMX
Ion Discover DJ
Numark Total Control
Pioneer CDJ-2000 (new)
Pioneer CDJ-850 (new)
Reloop Digital Jockey 2
Stanton SCS.1m
Stanton SCS.3d
Vestax Typhoon
Wireless DJ (new)

Hundreds of bug fixes and improvements!

Mixxx 1.10.0 -- LateNightBlues skin

Calling all Turntablists!
We worked hard to make sure that our vinyl control support is the best out there. How does Mixxx 1.10.0 compare to your current software for your scratching and turntablist needs? We want to hear from you! Please send us feedback, file a bug, write us an email, post to the forums, or chat with us.

Bugs and Feedback

You can help improve Mixxx by reporting any bugs you find. Your feedback plays a crucial role in Mixxx's development cycle, and even filing a quick bug report makes an important contribution to the project.

Join Mixxx!

We're always looking for new contributors who are interested in working on Mixxx. If you're a hacker or artist and want to work with a creative, enthusiastic team, hop on our IRC channel (#mixxx on Freenode) or sign up for our developer mailing list.

Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta and Mixxx 1.9.2 Released!

2011-11-06T20:41:00.003Z

After a long hiatus, we're back! The Mixxx development team is pleased to announce the release of Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta and Mixxx 1.9.2!

Download Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta Now

Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta brings several hard-hitting features that are the culmination of a year's worth of work by the development team.

What we're packing in Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta:

Rewritten and Improved Vinyl Control Support

Completely rewritten vinyl-style pitch-bending for clean, analog-like sound.
Absolute, relative, and constant vinyl modes.
Rock-solid support for Serato Vinyl/CD or Traktor Vinyl at 33 or 45 RPM.
Single-deck Vinyl Control
End-of-record Mode
Improved needle skip prevention.
Can use different vinyl types on each deck!
Improved audio quality when scratching.
Support for track selection using the lead-in area of the vinyl and needle-drop hotcues.
Track lead-in for scratching before the start of songs.
Waveform smoothing to prevent wobbly waveforms.
New built-in vinyl signal analyzer.

4 Sampler Decks
Beatloops, Loop Halve/Double Buttons

Handy beatloop buttons let you quickly throw down an 8-beat loop as you transition from one song to the next.

Quantized Loops, Hotcues and Beatloops

Turn on quantization mode for a deck and all of your loops, hotcues, and beatloops will snap to the nearest beat when you place them.

Phase Synchronization

Sync button now synchronizes both the BPM and phase of beats.

Beatgrid Adjust Feature

Is your beatgrid misaligned? Easily adjust it with one click.

Microphone Support

Streaming and club DJs alike will love this feature. Plug in your microphone and MC your show, all without the need for an external mixer.

Spinning Turntable Widgets and Waveform Scratching

Skins now come with juicy spinning turntables that you can scratch to your heart's delight.
If vinyl control is enabled, vinyl signal quality can also be rendered to the spinning widgets.

M4A Support for Windows Vista and Windows 7 users.

Mixxx previously could not support M4A on Windows due to licensing issues, but that restriction is now lifted with our new Windows Media Foundation M4A plugin. Mixxx on Mac OS X already supports M4A.

Library Improvements

Traktor Library Support.
New and improved Browse Mode.
Recording Improvements

Integrated with the library.
Automatically splits files into pieces to avoid large files.
CUE files of tracks played.

Much faster iTunes and Rhythmbox support.
Import and export of crates and playlists as M3U/PLS playlists.
Playlists and crates are lockable and rename-able.
Dragging to library sidebar auto-expands closed sections and is easier to aim.
Track play count is more accurately measured.
Reload track metadata from context menu in library.
Auto-scrolling in playlists is fixed.
Shuffle AutoDJ Queue feature.
Add Playlist to AutoDJ feature.

Brand New and Updated Skins

Deere

1280x800 WXGA
1280x1024 SXGA
1440x900 WXGA+
1920x1080 FullHD
1920x1200 WUXGA

LateNight / LateNightBlues

1280x800 WXGA
1280x1024 SXGA
1366x768 WXGA

Shade / ShadeDark

1024x600 Netbook
1024x768 XGA

Phoney / PhoneyDark

1600x1200 UXGA
1680x1050 WSXGA

Outline

1024x600 Netbook
1024x768 XGA
800x480 WVGA

Accessibility Improvements

Mixxx should play nicer with screen-readers now. It's not perfect, but a step in the right direction.

Limited Support for Internationalization

Beta translations for Spanish, Catalan, French, German, Italian, Russian, Finnish, Czech, Dutch, Polish, and Japanese

Thanks so much to the awesome Launchpad translators!

Alpha translations for many other languages.
Better support for UTF-8 filenames.

Revamped and Rewritten User Manual
Mixing engine improvements

Major efficiency and latency improvements.

Netbook users report latency improvements of up to 4x.

Sound quality is now much improved.
Improved support for multiple soundcards. Synchronization problems should now only affect the headphone outputs. See Bug #667651 for more details.
Soft-takeover support for MIDI mappings.
JACK now recognizes ports as Mixxx instead of PortAudio.

Updated MIDI Mappings

Hercules DJ Console RMX
Reloop Digital Jockey 2
Stanton SCS.1m
Stanton SCS.3d
Vestax Typhoon
American Audio VMS4
Wireless DJ (new)

Hundreds of bug fixes and improvements!

Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta -- LateNightBlues skin

New Stable Release: Mixxx 1.9.2
We're also pleased to announce the release of Mixxx 1.9.2, the latest stable version of Mixxx. This update brings some key bugfixes to the mixing engine and library.

Calling all Turntablists!
We worked hard to make sure that our vinyl control support is the best out there. How does Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta compare to your current software for your scratching and turntablist needs? We want to hear from you! Please send us feedback, file a bug, write us an email, post to the forums, or chat with us.

Standard Beta Disclaimer
Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta has been heavily tested by our die-hard bleeding edge test subjects. That said, the usual warning applies: You should not play live with Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta unless you are willing to accept the risk of a crash during your set! We are not responsible if Mixxx 1.10.0 Beta eats your baby, sets your house on fire, or gets you fired from your residency at Club Booty.

Bugs and Feedback

Join Mixxx!

Mixxx in Your Language!

2011-05-24T16:29:00.002+01:00

Do you want Mixxx translated into your language? Mixxx 1.10.0 will be our first foray into internationalization and we need your help! If you want Mixxx in your language, please head on over to Launchpad and help with the translation effort.

We're hard at work on bugfixes as the 1.10.0 development cycle is coming to a close. Hopefully we'll have a beta for you all soon.

Boston Mixxx Meetup -- Tonight at 9pm!

2011-05-04T19:40:00.000+01:00

Calling all Boston-area Mixxxers -- tonight we're hosting an impromptu Mixxx user meetup care of the Redhat conference that's in town this week.

Join us at the World Trade Center at 9pm tonight to hang out with other Mixxx users and developers. We'll have a bunch of gear to play with and we'll be showing off some of the latest features in the upcoming Mixxx 1.10 release. Come check it out!

More info is on the mailing list.

Google Summer of Code 2011 Projects!

2011-04-25T19:13:00.014+01:00

The Summer of Code is upon us! Google has just announced which students Mixxx has accepted into the Google Summer of Code 2011 program. Students were competing for one of three slots awarded to Mixxx by Google. This year we received a high volume of applications from many skilled students which made the decision-making process very difficult.

After over two weeks of deliberation, we're pleased to introduce our Google Summer of Code students for 2011:

Bill Good from Oklahoma State University in the United States
Bart Verstrynge from Katholieke Universiteit Leuven in Belgium
Qifan Xi from the University of Waterloo in Canada

Qifan Xi's project will involve building a smarter search feature into the library. For example, a context aware search could allow DJs to easily search for tracks that have similar BPMs to the song that's currently playing.

Bart Verstrynge's project will be to build a DJ session history into the library, so that DJs can easily recall playlists of their past DJ sets. This would be useful for radio DJs who are required to document the music that they play and for DJs who wish to post their tracklists on the web.

Bill Good will work to further decouple the Mixxx user interface from the audio engine. The goal will be to rework the boundary between these two parts of our codebase so that animations can be processed independently of audio, which lead to smoother animations and a more consistent user experience across different hardware.

We're very excited for Bill, Bart, and Qifan to work with us this summer. These projects each have the potential to add extra functionality and polish to Mixxx, and we're very grateful for Google's generosity in enabling this work. The 3 will be mentored by RJ Ryan, Tobias Rafreider, and Phil Whelan. Hopefully by the end of the summer we'll have some hot new features for you to play with!

Meanwhile, the Mixxx team is working full-speed ahead on Mixxx 1.10, which we hope to release in May. At this point all the new features are complete and we're fixing bugs. Look for a beta release in the near future!

Mixxx Debuts as #1 Free App in the Mac App Store

2011-02-20T05:43:00.000Z

How are you doing up there, Angry Birds?

In less than 48 hours since we went live, Mixxx has become the #1 Top Free App in the USA, Germany, and Italy. We're also one of the top 3 Apps in Brazil, Canada, France, Japan, and the UK.

We're completely overwhelmed by the response - I don't think anyone saw this coming. We wanted to be in the Mac App Store to reach more users, and now we're reaching far more than we ever expected!

I'd like to thank our entire community of DJs, artists, and developers for their dedication and cooperation that have brought Mixxx this far. Without the devotion of many individuals, Mixxx would not be the software it is today.

Feed a Hungry Mixxx Developer
As a shameless plug, I'm finishing my degree next month and I'm looking for a job! I'm interested in pursuing a career in game development or live performance audio software. If you know someone who needs a C++ programmer with several years of experience with Qt or real-time audio, please let me know!

"honestly, this is perhaps the BEST app that is currently available for free... if you enjoy music, this is a MUST!" - VBkappasig

Mixxx 1.9.0 Released!

2011-02-19T19:19:00.001Z

The Mixxx development team is pleased to announce the release of Mixxx 1.9.0!

Download Mixxx 1.9.0 Now!

Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux

Mixxx 1.9.0 adds several major new features including Shoutcast support, direct deck outputs for external mixers, and ReplayGain normalization. We've also added many enhancements to the library, a revamped default skin, and more!

Some of the new features added since our last major release are:

Shoutcast / Icecast support

Mixxx can now broadcast over the internet (heavily requested feature)

External Mixer Support

The new Sound Hardware preferences pane allows you to route each playback deck separately, which allows you to use Mixxx with an external mixer.

ReplayGain normalization

A user from our forum worked closely with our developers to fully implement volume normalization, including performing the ReplayGain analysis for tracks which are not tagged.

Waveform Gain

The scrolling waveforms now scale according to the channel gain for better visual feedback.

Key lock buttons

Formerly known as "pitch-independent time stretch", there are now easily accessible key-lock buttons for each for deck.

Revamped default skin

Since the original source material for the Outline Netbook skin was lost eons ago, our artist completely redid it from scratch and tweaked it for better visibility. The new skin has also added EQ kill switches.

HSS1394 support (Windows, OS X)

Mixxx now supports firewire HSS1394 MIDI devices such as the Stanton SCS.1 series.

Improved FLAC support

We're now using libFLAC directly for smoother FLAC decoding.

Revamped metadata parsing

Integration of TagLib allows Mixxx to parse more metadata from songs, and do it more consistently.

Metadata writing

Mixxx can now write changes in song metadata back to disk. This feature is off by default, and can be enabled in the Library preferences pane.

Millisecond time display

The time counters in Mixxx now have an extra millisecond display.

Library improvements:

Played column - The library now indicates whether a song has been played in the current session already, and also counts the total number of times the song has been played.
Ratings column - 5 stars, no stars, or anywhere in between.
Better search - Search now searches in more columns, and by-term instead of by-phrase.
Revamped iTunes integration - A rewrite yielded a significant speedup of iTunes parsing.
Faster library scanning - The library scanner should perform much better on large libraries.
Inline Editing - Double click any item in the track table to edit its contents.
Recording to MP3/Ogg - Now your recordings can be saved in either MP3 or Ogg/Vorbis format.

New MIDI mappings:

Vestax Typhoon
Vestax Spin
Hercules DJ Console Mk4
Numark MIXTRACK
Pioneer CDJ-350

Updated MIDI mappings:

Hercules DJ Control MP3
Hercules DJ Control e2
Hercules DJ Control Steel
Hercules MK2
Vestax VCI-100
Reloop Digital Jockey 2
M-Audio Xponent

Tons of bug fixes and performance improvements!

The Mixxx team would like to give a shout out to these up-and-coming contributors who had a huge hand in helping make 1.9.0 awesome (in alphabetical order):

Irwin Céspedes
Vittorio Colao
Joseph Colosimo
Bill Good
Anders Gunnarson
Tobias Rafreider
Owen Williams

Mac App Store

We're excited that Mixxx 1.9 is also now available in the Mac App Store. The version in the App Store comes with AAC/M4A support and is 64-bit as an extra bonus for Mac OS X users. However, due to licensing constraints, vinyl control is not included in this version. A version including vinyl control for Mac OS X 10.5+ Intel and PPC users is available on our downloads page.

Bugs and Feedback

Join Mixxx!

We're always looking for new contributors who are interested in working on Mixxx. If you're a programmer or artist and want to work with a creative, enthusiastic team, hop on our IRC channel (#mixxx on Freenode) or sign up for our developers' mailing list.

Update (March 14th, 2011):
Our 32-bit Mac OS X package has been upgraded to provide better compatibility with Mac OS X 10.5. The new package is available on our downloads page.

Mixxx 1.9 Now Available in the Mac App Store

2011-02-18T07:06:00.003Z

The Mixxx Development Team is pleased to announce that Mixxx 1.9 is now available for Mac OS X through the Mac App Store!

We're excited to be one of the first open source applications in the Mac App Store, and grateful for the opportunity to share Mixxx with an even wider audience. This new release brings improved iTunes integration, and exclusive to the App Store, a new audio decoder that harnesses Core Audio to bring M4A playback support to Mixxx.

A full release announcement including a list of changes included in 1.9 will be posted in the next few days, as we're still finalizing Windows and Linux packages. We're also putting our build server to good use these days, and will have an update on that project soon. Stay tuned!

Mixxx T-shirts - ORDER NOW!

2011-01-25T08:32:00.011Z

A big thanks to everyone who voted in our T-shirt contest!

A couple people suggested using both designs, and that's what we're going to do! (It makes the shirt more expensive, but we think it's worth it.)

Front side:

Back side:

Sizes available:

Small (34-36" chest, 27" length)
Medium (38-40" chest, 29" length)
Large (42-44" chest, 30" length)
Extra-large (46-48" chest, 31" length)
Extra-extra-large (50-52" chest, 31.5" length)

Now it's time to order!

It's $25 for the 100% preshrunk cotton T-Shirt ($28 if you need XXL) plus $5 shipping to anywhere in the world.

We'll place the order with the supplier on February 11, so get your order in now! Allow 6-8 weeks after that for your shirt(s) to arrive in your mailbox (though we expect them to arrive sooner than that, unless you live near the South Pole or something.)

Thank you for your attention and enthusiasm!

Build Server Fundraiser a Success - Thank You!

2010-12-24T20:37:00.000Z

Wow.

Over the past 3 months, we've been raising money to purchase a build server to help us speed up our development cycle, and the response has been overwhelming.

We've raised more money in 3 months than we've received in donations since Mixxx was started in 2003, and for that, we'd like to thank the 43 Mixxx fans who generously donated to our cause, and our broader community for helping spread the message.

Your gracious donations will help ensure Mixxx can continue to grow and provide the open source community with great DJ software. On behalf of all Mixxx contributors, thank you!

We'll post an update on the build server project as we get our hardware and software configurations together. We've got work to do!

Mixxx T-shirt contest

2010-12-24T18:29:00.067Z

OK everyone.

The submissions for the T-shirt contest are below. Unfortunately, it seems most of you are much more interested in buying a shirt rather than designing one, so we have only two entries, only one of which is an original design. That said, it's great design, and so we'd like to congratulate Joe Colosimo for his winning entry!

Because one of our developers is going get some stock and handle t-shirt orders for us, we'd still like to know if just a plain Mixxx logo would be a more popular choice. So please take a look at the designs below and cast your vote!

Voting is open until January 10th.

Without further ado, the entries. (Click on each for a larger version.)

Entry #1 (Default):

Entry #2 (Design by Joe Colosimo):

Thanks for your attention!

Digital DJ Tips Interviews Mixxx

2010-12-07T18:07:00.000Z

The Digital DJ Tips blog has just posted an exclusive interview with Adam Davison, our project manager. The interview goes into the project history and gives some insight into how we view Mixxx from a developer's perspective. Check it out!

Mixxx 1.9.0 Beta1 and 1.8.2 Released!

2010-12-06T00:32:00.003Z

Hot off the heels of 1.8.1, the Mixxx development team is pleased to announce the release of Mixxx 1.9.0 Beta1!

Download Mixxx 1.9.0 Beta1 and 1.8.2

This public beta is intended to give (brave) Mixxx users a chance to try out some new features and help us find bugs. We do not recommend using beta software for live performance because there will be bugs. You can help improve Mixxx by reporting any bugs you find.

Important: Mixxx 1.9.0 beta1 will upgrade your library to a new format. This will make it incompatible with Mixxx 1.8.1. In order to try out Mixxx 1.9.0 beta1 you should upgrade to Mixxx 1.8.2, which we are also announcing today. You can switch back and forth between Mixxx 1.9.0 and Mixxx 1.8.2 with no trouble.

Among the new features in 1.9.0 Beta1 are:

Shoutcast / Icecast support

Mixxx can now broadcast over the internet (heavily requested feature)

External Mixer Support

The new Sound Hardware preferences pane allows you to route each playback deck separately, which allows you to use Mixxx with an external mixer.

ReplayGain normalization

A user from our forum worked closely with our developers to fully implement volume normalization, including performing the ReplayGain analysis for tracks which are not tagged.

Waveform Gain

The scrolling waveforms now scale according to the channel gain for better visual feedback.

Key lock buttons

Formerly known as "pitch-independent time stretch", there are now easily accessible key-lock buttons for each for deck.

Revamped default skin

Since the original source material for the Outline Netbook skin was lost eons ago, our artist completely redid it from scratch and tweaked it for better visibility. The new skin has also added EQ kill switches.

HSS1394 support (Windows, OS X)

Mixxx now supports firewire HSS1394 MIDI devices such as the Stanton SCS 1 series.

Improved FLAC support

We're now using libFLAC directly for smoother FLAC decoding.

Revamped metadata parsing

Integration of TagLib allows Mixxx to parse more metadata from songs, and do it more consistently.

Metadata writing

Mixxx can now write changes in song metadata back to disk. This feature is off by default, and can be enabled in the Library preferences pane.

Millisecond time display

The time counters in Mixxx now have an extra millisecond display.

Library improvements:

Played column - The library now indicates whether a song has been played in the current session already, and also counts the total number of times the song has been played.
Ratings column - 5 stars, no stars, or anywhere in between.
Better search - Search now searches in more columns, and by-term instead of by-phrase.
Revamped iTunes integration - A rewrite yielded a significant speedup of iTunes parsing.
Faster library scanning - The library scanner should perform much better on large libraries.
Inline Editing - double click any item in the track table to edit its contents.
Record in MP3/Ogg - Now your recordings can be saved in either MP3 or Ogg/Vorbis format.

New MIDI mappings:

Vestax Typhoon
Hercules DJ Console Mk4
Numark MIXTRACK
Pioneer CDJ-350

Updated MIDI mappings:

Hercules DJ Control MP3
Hercules DJ Control e2
Hercules DJ Control Steel
Vestax VCI-100
Reloop Digital Jockey 2

Tons of bug fixes and performance improvements!

Mixxx 1.8.2 has a wide variety of bug fixes, performance improvements, and the same MIDI mapping updates that 1.9.0 beta1 has.

The Mixxx team would like to give a shout out to these up-and-coming contributors who had a huge hand in helping make 1.9.0 awesome (in alphabetical order):

Irwin Céspedes
Vittorio Colao
Joseph Colosimo
Bill Good
Anders Gunnarson
Tobias Rafreider
Owen Williams

Fundraiser

We're making great progress on our 1.9.0 Build Server fund, but we still need your help! This project will finance a dedicated build server that we will use to create nightly builds and automate our release process. This means the development team will have way more time to focus on making Mixxx better instead of dealing with packaging. Money raised will go to cover the cost of the server, and any leftover money will cover other ongoing expenses like web hosting, and otherwise help keep Mixxx rocking!

New Ubuntu PPAs
We've moved our official Mixxx repository for Ubuntu to a new PPA to increase security. The old repository is still online for now, but Ubuntu users will have to follow the instructions on our downloads page (click the Ubuntu download link) to get the new versions of Mixxx we've just released. There's also a separate Mixxx betas PPA, for brave souls.

Bugs

We depend on feedback from our users to guide Mixxx's development, so please file any bugs you find in this beta release on the Mixxx bug tracker. If you don't file a bug for the beta, don't be surprised when it isn't fixed in the final version!

Join Mixxx!

Mixxx 1.8.1 Released!

2010-10-18T22:00:00.002+01:00

The Mixxx team is pleased announce the release of Mixxx 1.8.1!

Mixxx is free, open source software for performing live DJ mixes. Developed by a diverse community of DJs, Mixxx is a complete replacement for a conventional "turntables and mixer" DJ setup, and is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

Mixxx 1.8.1 is now available on our downloads page.

This release is a recommended upgrade for all users of Mixxx 1.8.0, and addresses some important bugs:

Reduce glitches on track load (major improvement for some users)
Waveform generation speed drastically improved on Windows
Stability fix when using vinyl emulation
Adjustable EQ shelves can no longer be equal
UTF-8 fixes for Rhythmbox track source
Fixed duplicate promotional tracks from appearing in library
Fixed MIDI learning wizard on OS X
Fixed minor delay in setting hot cues with MIDI controllers during playback
BPM tap activates on mouse-down instead of mouse-up.
Read ID3 tags in FLAC files on Windows
Reduce crackling during playback for some Windows users

If you're upgrading from Mixxx 1.7.2, be sure the check out the large list of improvements made in Mixxx 1.8.0.

We're happy to report that we've made great progress with our build server fundraiser, but we still have a ways to go! We're looking to purchase a build server in order to help us speed up our development cycle. With a build server, we'll be able to improve the amount of testing that Mixxx receives by producing nightly builds of various branches.

In other words, brave testers will be able to try new features like our vinyl control improvements sooner, and help give us important feedback while we're developing new features. We'll also be able to decrease the amount of time it takes for us to close bugs, since we'll be able to get confirmation from testers that our bug fixes work on Windows and Mac OS X faster. We're aiming to produce nightly builds of as many branches of Mixxx development as possible, so there should be lots to play with.

But first, we need your financial support to purchase a dedicated build server to enable the production these nightly builds.

Big thanks to everyone who's contributed so far! If you haven't yet had the opportunity, a donation of any amount will directly support Mixxx development and be greatly appreciated!

Stay tuned for more news about Mixxx 1.9.0!

Mixxx 1.8.0 Released!

2010-10-05T08:24:00.003+01:00

The Mixxx team is proud to announce the final release of Mixxx 1.8.0!

Mixxx is free, open source software for performing live DJ mixes. Developed by a diverse community of DJs, Mixxx is a complete replacement for a conventional "turntables and mixer" DJ setup, and is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.

"Deere" skin, new in Mixxx 1.8.0

Mixxx 1.8.0 is now available on our downloads page.

This new release includes a year's worth of contributions from over 30 developers and artists, and is our most exciting release to date. Mixxx 1.8.0 includes much anticipated features such as looping, hot cues, support for multiple MIDI devices, and a brand new database-powered library.

Since Mixxx 1.7.2 was released, the following changes have been made:

Looping

Loop-in, Loop-out, and Reloop/Exit buttons added to our main skins.
Loop point indicators on main waveforms and waveform summary displays.

Hot cues

Most of our skins gained 4 hot cue buttons, and Mixxx now internally supports up to 32 hot cues per deck.

A brand new database-powered library, with:

iTunes library and playlists access (Windows and Mac OS X)
Rhythmbox library and playlists access (Linux)
A brand new, faster library scanner
Crates!
A simple Auto DJ mode, which crossfades to the next track in the Auto DJ queue.
Analyze view, which allows you to run bulk BPM detection on your songs
Featured Artists bundle (Windows and Mac OS X)
Revamped Song Properties dialog
Re-arrangeable, hide-able columns

Tons of new artwork:

New Deere, Shade, Phoney, and LateNight skins
Better descriptions in tooltips and snazzy new look

MIDI

New PortMidi-based MIDI device backend, supports using multiple devices at once
Timers in the MIDI scripting engine
New MIDI mappings:

Hercules DJ Control e2
DJ TechTools MIDI Fighter
Reloop Digital Jockey2

Updated MIDI mappings:

Hercules DJ Control MP3, RMX, MK2
Stanton SCS.3d, SCS.3m
M-Audio Xponent
Behringer BCD3000
Vestax VCI-100
MixMan DM2

Other stuff:

A massive rewrite of our internal mixing engine
More intelligent disk access to help optimize audio latency
Optimized waveform rendering at 30 fps
Ramping pitch-bend option, smoothly applies temporary pitch adjustment for nudging
Import comment tags from MP3, Ogg Vorbis, and FLAC/WAV metadata.
New library and preferences icons
Improvements to UTF-8 handling

Over 50 bug fixes and more!

Ubuntu Users

We have great news for Ubuntu users: Mixxx 1.8.0 is avaiable in Ubuntu 10.10 (Maverick Meerkat) directly from the Ubuntu Software Center! We also have a PPA containing Mixxx 1.8.0 for Ubuntu 10.04 (Lucid) users, accessible from our downloads page.

Audio Playback Plugins

We've also added an audio playback plugin architecture to Mixxx, which allows Mixxx to playback extra formats with third-party plugins. Since audio formats like M4A/AAC are encumbered by software patents which restrict distribution and usage in certain jurisdictions, Mixxx cannot natively support them. However, the good news is that a licensed third-party can now develop and distribute an M4A plugin for Mixxx. We'll be posting some of our own audio plugins to the Mixxx Add-ons wiki page in the coming weeks, so be sure to check back again soon.

Fundraiser

We realized in the course of packaging 1.8.0 (by hand) that since we're planning on speeding up our release cycles, now might time to purchase a dedicated build server that will allow us to create nightly builds and automate our releases. Money raised will go to cover the cost of the server, and any leftover money will cover other ongoing expenses like web hosting, and otherwise help keep Mixxx rocking!

Bugs

We depend on feedback from our users to guide Mixxx's development, so let us know what you think of the new release! Also, please remember to report any bugs you discover to the Mixxx bug tracker.

Join Mixxx!

Mixxx 1.8.0 Beta 2 Released!

2010-07-01T06:40:00.004+01:00

The Mixxx team is pleased to announce the second beta of Mixxx 1.8.0! This release brings a large number of bug fixes, performance improvements, and even some small new features.

Download Now!

Here's a summary of the changes in this release:

Library:

Massive optimization of the new SQLite database-powered library, including:

Faster searches
In-memory caching layer which minimizes hard disk access
Faster library scanning

Fixed some Auto DJ bugs
Added tooltips to library table
Polished up song Properties dialog

Library search now looks at album names too
Fixed minor library rescanning bugs
Fixed crate and playlist creation bugs
Fixed drag-and-drop from network shares on Windows
Show iTunes playlists as sorted

Audio:

Added plugin architecture for audio playback
Fixed some cueing bugs with pitch-independent time stretch
Improvements to vinyl emulation sound quality

Improved performance by optimizing hard disk access for audio decoding
Legacy 1.7 library importer now imports cue points
Faster MP3 loading
Improved reliability with certain MP3s and OGGs

MIDI:

Improved scratching with the SCS.3d
Timers now available in MIDI scripts

Fullscreen key changed to F11 to conform to de-facto standard.
Tons of other bug fixes!

Hotcues
Since everyone's been waiting ever so patiently for this release, we decided to slip a bonus in for you. Mixxx 1.8.0 Beta 2 adds hotcues, which are cue points that start playing when triggered. These are handy for impromptu drumming and remixing because you can trigger different parts of a song quickly. Although our default "Outline Netbook" skin doesn't yet show the hotcue positions on the main scrolling waveform display, the hotcues do show up in the smaller waveform summary.

The keyboard shortcuts for hotcues are Z, X, C, and V on Player 1, and M, <, >, and ? on Player 2. Now go chop some beats! (Update: Forgot to mention that using the Shift key in combination with the above keys clears the hot cues.)

Audio Playback Plugins
The new audio playback plugin framework lets you to install third-party plugins that give Mixxx the ability to playback extra audio formats. Sometimes support for an obscure audio format is difficult to maintain or may be legally encumbered in certain jurisdictions, either of which would preventing us from supporting it. However, third-party developers can now add support for extra audio formats to Mixxx at their own discretion.

The Mixxx Development Team will not distribute audio playback plugins that carry legal uncertainty for us. The responsibility is solely yours to ensure that you are legally entitled to obtain and use any playback plugins provided by a third-party.

Although we don't have any official audio playback plugins available yet, we'd like to invite developers to post their plugins on the Mixxx Add-ons wiki page.

The Road to 1.8.0
Over the next month or so, we'll be wrapping up development of 1.8.0. We've still got many bugs to fix (and could use your help), but we think this latest beta release is a big improvement over the previous one. Give it a shot, and please report any bugs you find! Enjoy, and stay tuned for more news as we finally approach Mixxx 1.8.0.

Google Summer of Code 2010 Projects

2010-04-26T12:30:00.004+01:00

The results are in! Google has just announced which students have been accepted into the Google Summer of Code 2010 program. This year, we received many very good applications from students that competed for one of three slots with Mixxx. Due to the volume of applications we received, the application process was highly competitive and we had to make some very tough decisions.

After two weeks of deliberation, we're pleased to introduce our Google Summer of Code students for 2010:

Bruno Buccolo - Effects Units based on existing LADSPA Integration
William Good - Digital Vinyl System (DVS) / External Mixer Mode
Ryan Baker - Sampler

Bruno Buccolo's project involves developing an innovative user interface and control scheme for effects. During our past work on LADSPA effects, we discovered that creating a good user interface with MIDI control would require both more effort and clever thinking than we anticipated. This project aims to simplify effects management and make controlling effects live easy.

William Good will be working on an "External Mixer" Mode to enhance Mixxx's usability with hardware setups. This project will make it easier to connect your hardware mixer to Mixxx and aims to simplify Mixxx's user interface for vinyl control users.

Last but not least, Ryan Baker will develop a sampler allowing DJs to trigger sounds during their DJ sets. A sample bank can increase your flexibility when DJing by allowing you to layer drum loops additional buildups into your mix.

These projects are going to make the Summer extra exciting for our development team, and we hope to give you something to look forward to in a future release! In the meantime, we're fixing bugs in 1.8 and we hope to have an even better Beta 2 release for everyone to play with once we finish up. With 1.8.0 around the corner and some great projects lined up for the Summer, it's an exciting time for Mixxx!

Mixxx in Google Summer of Code 2010!

2010-03-18T20:43:00.001Z

Mixxx has been accepted as a mentoring organization into Google Summer of Code 2010!

Google Summer of Code is a program that provides students with a stipend to work on open source software over the summer. Students from all over the globe are matched up with mentors from participating organizations and gain real-world software development experience while working on cool open source projects.

If you're a student with C++ experience, an interest in DJing, and enthusiasm about open source software, then we encourage you to apply to work on Mixxx for the summer! Mixxx is a great opportunity to gain useful experience not only with open source software development, but also with multithreading and realtime multimedia applications.

Mixxx previously participated in Google Summer of Code in 2007 and 2008, and saw the success of several projects like the new waveform widget, improved BPM detection, and our first library overhaul. We have an enthusiastic team of mentors supported by a great community of artists and developers, and we think we've got an intriguing list of project ideas for this year.

So how do you get started? Check out the official Google Summer of Code 2010 site, including the FAQ and program timeline to make sure you're eligible and available for the duration of the program. Please note that the student application period is from March 29th through April 9th. Next, take a look at our GSoC 2010 Project Ideas page and if you'd like to discuss any of the ideas with our mentors, check out the contact information on that page and get in touch!

We're very much looking forward to introducing Mixxx development to a new batch of students this year, and if you're interested on working on Mixxx, we hope to see your application!

Mixxx 1.8.0 Beta 1 Released!

2010-02-15T03:56:00.003Z

The Mixxx team is proud to announce the first beta of Mixxx 1.8.0!

This beta release is intended to give DJs an opportunity to play with our new features and help us find bugs.

Download Now!

Mixxx 1.8.0 Beta 1 features a slew of major improvements over our last release, including looping controls, support for multiple MIDI devices, and a completely revamped library.

Although our code for playing M4A files in Mixxx is complete, we were disappointed to learn that we cannot ship Mixxx 1.8.0 Beta 1 with M4A support for legal reasons. We're currently exploring other options to bring you this much-requested feature, but in the meantime, we still wanted to have a public beta release for everyone to play with.

We don't expect the stability of this beta release to be as good as 1.7.2, so if you're planning on DJing live, please don't use the 1.8.0 betas. Please report any bugs you find on our bug tracker - It's very difficult for us to keep track of bugs that are reported on the forums or in comments on the blog, so having all our bug reports in one place makes them much easier to manage. Thanks for your cooperation!

If you're planning on switching back and forth between 1.7 and 1.8, we recommend backing up your Mixxx XML library file. You can find your library file, called mixxxtrack.xml in the following places:

Windows: Click Start->Run..., and paste in:
explorer %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Mixxx
Mac OS X: Open Finder, and from the top menu select Go->Go to Folder..., and paste in:
~/.mixxx
Linux: Open a terminal, and paste in::
cd ~/.mixxx

From there, copy and paste your mixxxtrack.xml file to a safe location. When you first run Mixxx 1.8, your library will be upgraded to our new database format and stored in a different file called mixxxdb.sqlite. Your mixxxtrack.xml file will be renamed mixxxtrack.bak, and so if you'd like 1.7 to see your old library again, you will either need to rename mixxxtrack.bak to mixxxtrack.xml, or restore the backed up copy of mixxxtrack.xml from your safe location.

Lastly, we wanted to release a beta version to not only let you help us find bugs, but also as an invitation to get involved and help us fix bugs. If you know C++, we encourage you to dive into our source code and try to fix bugs that affect you. We're perpetually short-handed and we're always looking for more help. The more people that get involved, the more fun it is for us too. We understand that looking at a new codebase can be daunting, so if you'd like some extra direction, we'd be more than happy to help you - Come hang out in our IRC channel (#mixxx on Freenode), and we'll get you started!

Mixxx 1.7.2 Released!

2009-12-30T21:06:00.006Z

The Mixxx team is proud to announce the release of Mixxx 1.7.2!

This bugfix release addresses a number of issues that were discovered in 1.7.1, and is a recommended upgrade for all users.

Download Now!

Some of the changes include:

Improved saving of ordered playlists
Fixed MIDI support on OS X
Optimize latency settings. This should improve compatibility with certain soundcards/APIs.
Improved stability and error handling when loading certain songs.

Mixxx 1.7.2 is available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. Download Mixxx and start DJing!

Mixxx 1.8 Preview

2009-12-23T21:56:00.003Z

After many months of planning and development, we're finally approaching a beta release of Mixxx 1.8. Since our last release, several major new features have matured and are almost ready for public testing.

Our main focus for 1.8 has been improving the library, which is a direct result of continued feedback from our users. We're also excited to have been able to address several other major feature requests, and we think 1.8 is a big step in the right direction.

Library

The brand new database-powered library is not only faster, but much more flexible as well. The new library features include:

Keep your library organized by sorting your tracks into crates.
Need to take a break for a few minutes? Throw some tracks into the Auto DJ playlist and let Mixxx cover you.
The new Analyze view lets you peek at your recently added tracks and perform batch BPM detection.
A brand new intelligent library scanning algorithm is both quick and accurate at importing new tracks when you launch Mixxx. The library scanner is even smart enough to notice when you've moved tracks around inside your library and preserves any extra metadata you've added in Mixxx like comments and BPMs.

Crates in the new library

Looping and Ramping Pitch Bend

A major rework of our audio engine also brings looping to the next release of Mixxx. Running out of time to find that perfect next track for your mix? Lay down a loop and buy yourself more time. Unlike the competition, Mixxx has no limitations on the length of your loop, so you can be as creative as you want to be.

Additional work on our mixing engine has lead to a new feature we call ramping pitch bend. Ramping pitch bend helps you add extra smoothness to your mixes by making temporary pitch bends accelerate rather than jump suddenly.

MIDI Enhancements

A brand new MIDI backend completes the rewrite of Mixxx's MIDI code, the first part of which was included in 1.7 and enabled innovative new features like our MIDI scripting engine. The hot new addition for 1.8 is integrated multiple MIDI device support.

What do we mean by integrated? Check it out:

AAC and iTunes Support

Mixxx 1.8 can playback DRM-free AAC/M4A files on Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux. On Windows and OS X, Mixxx can also now see your iTunes library and let you play tracks from it without importing them.

In addition to a 1.8 beta, we're also preparing a 1.7.2 bug fix release. This release will fix MIDI on OS X and improve stability for certain hardware configurations.

2009 has been an exciting year for Mixxx, and 2010 is shaping up to be even better. As the year closes, we'd like to thank all of our generous contributors and supporters. We hope you're looking forward to next year as much as we are!

Mixxx 1.7.1 Released!

2009-10-19T22:13:00.007+01:00

The Mixxx team is proud to announce the release of Mixxx 1.7.1!

Download Mixxx 1.7.1

This bugfix release is a recommended upgrade for all users of 1.7.0, and fixes the following issues:

Fixed a memory leak causing degraded performance during long sets.
The headphone "main" cue now takes master balance into effect.
Fixed a rare issue with the Hercules DJ Control MP3 on Windows.
Some Stanton SCS.3d bugfixes and improvements to the SCS.1m mapping

We're also still hard at work on our next major release, Mixxx 1.8.0. We've just about wrapped up development of looping and are still hacking away on our overhauled library. Check out the screenshot below for an exclusive preview of our brand new looping controls, and stay tuned for more news about Mixxx 1.8.0!

A sneak peek at the new looping controls featured
in the upcoming 1.8.0 release

Mixxx 1.7.0 Released!

2009-08-06T19:52:00.003+01:00

The Mixxx team is proud to announce the final release of Mixxx 1.7.0!

The result of countless contributions from developers all over the globe, Mixxx 1.7.0 features an overhauled MIDI mapping system with advanced scripting capabilities, improvements to vinyl control, and many other tweaks and optimizations.

Our brand new MIDI scripting engine allows both users and developers to easily add complex behaviour to their MIDI devices. Whether you're looking to get more out of your existing controller or want to take full advantage of cutting edge hardware, our 1.7.0 release won't disappoint you. If you'd like more information on MIDI scripting, please see our documentation.

Mixxx 1.7.0 is now available on our downloads page.

Since Mixxx 1.6.1 was released, the following changes have been made:

Improved MIDI device support:
- MIDI learning wizard
- MIDI mapping editor
- Upgraded, faster mapping system
- MIDI output now fully supported on Windows, OS X, and Linux.
- QtScript/JavaScript-based MIDI Scripting Environment - Script complex behaviour for your MIDI controller!
- Added full support for the Stanton SCS.3d and SCS.1m on all platforms.
- Hercules MK2 and RMX improvements
- Added Mixman DM2 mappings for Linux and OS X.
Vinyl Control:

Scratching responsiveness improved, with needle-skip prevention option added.
Signal quality indicators added to vinyl control preferences.
Improved support for soundcards with multiple stereo inputs

Convenience features:

The default skin is now widescreen, and fits nicely on netbook sized screens.
Stereo master VU meter added.
Cue points are now saved in the library for each track, with "auto-recall" cue option added to preferences.
Support for more platforms: 64-Bit Windows and a Universal OS X package for 10.4+!
Over 100 bug fixes and more!

With the release of 1.7.0, we've also transitioned to a more flexible development process. Because of this increased flexibility, we're already hard at work on Mixxx 1.8.0, which will feature looping and an overhauled library. With the release of 1.7.0, we're now able to spend less time incorporating support for new MIDI controllers, and more time working on the features you want the most.

Mixxx's development has always been driven by constant feedback from our users. Whether you're coming up with cool ideas on our forums or even just reporting bugs, we always appreciate hearing from you. Because your feedback is so valuable, we've launched a user survey to help us figure out where you want Mixxx to go. Taking a few minutes to fill out the survey is a easy way to help out the project and will help guide our future work.

Lastly, we're always looking for new contributors, and we hope our recent move to Launchpad and Bazaar for source code management will add more transparency to our development and encourage more people to get involved. If you're a programmer and want to work with a creative, enthusiastic team, hop on our IRC channel (#mixxx on Freenode) or sign up for our developers' mailing list.

Mixxx 2009 User Survey

2009-08-06T19:11:00.007+01:00

Mixxx has always been driven by constant feedback from our community of DJs. Two years ago, you helped steer the development of Mixxx by giving us feedback through a user survey that we created. Consequently, we focused our efforts for the last two releases on the features you asked for the most, and it's time to get another round of feedback to find out how we've done, and where you'd like to see Mixxx go.

So if you have a few minutes, please fill out the Mixxx 2009 User Survey!

We read every response and appreciate your feedback. Filling out the survey is a fast and easy way to make a contribution to Mixxx, and your responses will make a big impact on future releases. Thanks!

Mixxx 1.7.0 Beta 2 Released!

2009-07-20T19:00:00.004+01:00

The Mixxx team is pleased to announce the release of Mixxx 1.7.0 Beta 2! This is primarily a bugfix release that addresses issues from our previous beta.

We also recently discovered a critical issue in an external software library which affects Mixxx users on Ubuntu 9.04. Please see the note at the bottom of this post for more information.

Some of the changes in Mixxx 1.7.0 Beta 2 include:

Fixed missing MIDI bytes under heavy load on Linux.
Fixed vinyl control input for users with multi-channel input.
Fixed vinyl control channel selection bug
A slew of SCS.3d improvements and tweaks.
Hercules MK2 and RMX improvements
Stanton SCS.1m support
Internal control engine optimizations
Fixed several crash-on-startup scenarios
Fixed library rescans not finding new files added in subdirectories
Fixed Ubuntu menu shortcut
Fixed missing Ubuntu package dependencies
Added Universal Package for OS X 10.4+ (Special thanks to Brian Jackson for leading the effort to put this together.)

Mixxx 1.7.0 Beta 2 is available on our downloads page.

Formality aside, this list of changes doesn't do the last few months justice. After our last beta, we received dozens of helpful bug reports. Some of those brought new problems to our attention, while others shed light on old ones. With your valuable feedback, we managed to not only fix your most pressing bugs, but we were also able to track down and fix some other very tricky bugs. The result of your great bug reporting and our team's commitment to fixing bugs is the most stable, polished release of Mixxx to date, and we couldn't have done it without you.

Thank you to everyone who's been testing our beta releases and reporting bugs. You've made a valuable contribution to open source and the whole Mixxx community, and together we're going to continue to make Mixxx the best DJ software we can.

As usual, please report any new bugs or regressions to our bug tracker. If you want to get in touch with other Mixxx DJs, show some love on our forums!

Stay tuned for our final 1.7.0 release!

Important note for Ubuntu 9.04 users:
A flaw has been discovered in a library provided by Ubuntu 9.04 that can cause critical hangups in Mixxx. Ubuntu 9.04 users are advised to install the version of PortAudio from Ubuntu 8.10, available as .deb packages here: