1. Introduction to Mixxx

Mixxx enables you to perform live DJ mixes with your digital music collection. It helps you rock the party with DJ controllers, vinyl turntables, or even just your keyboard. It is developed by an international team of volunteers who want to bring the joy of DJing to everyone. The project is non-profit, open-source and community driven. Together, we aim to build the best DJ software ever created. We hope you will join us!

1.1. How Mixxx Works

Mixxx is different from typical music player applications because it plays multiple audio files at the same time and has many features to manipulate the playback of the audio files. This lets you creatively mix different tracks together on the fly.

You can use Mixxx to preview the next track in headphones before the audience hears it, also known as headphone cueing. This helps you choose a track that is appropriate for the present moment and that will mix well into the currently playing track(s). To use headphone cueing, you need at least 2 separate audio outputs, typically provided by a USB audio interface (also known as a “sound card”, although most of them are not shaped like cards anymore). Mixxx can be used in two different ways for headphone cueing:

Internal Mixing

Mixxx plays multiple audio files on the computer at the same time, mixes them together, and sends the mixed signal to one audio interface output. A separate signal is sent to another audio interface output for headphone cueing. Often a DJ controller is used with internal mixing to provide easier control over Mixxx than a mouse and keyboard.

Using Mixxx together with a DJ controller and integrated audio interface

Using Mixxx together with a DJ controller for internal mixing. The DJ controller has an integrated audio interface that provides two separate stereo outputs.

External Mixing

In this kind of setup, Mixxx plays multiple audio files on the computer at the same time and sends each track to a separate audio interface output. The audio interface’s outputs are plugged into an external hardware mixer. The hardware mixer performs the actual mixing of the audio signals. On the hardware mixer, there are separate outputs for the mixed signal to play to the audience and for the DJ to use headphone cueing. External mixing is typically used with turntables and special vinyl records to manipulate digital music files as if the music was on the vinyl records.

Using Mixxx together with turntables and external mixer

Using Mixxx together with a USB audio interface, external mixer, and timecode vinyl for external mixing