Allen & Heath Xone:K2

The Allen & Heath Xone:K2 is a flexible controller that is mapped to control Mixxx’s decks, effects, or both. It has an integrated 4 channel audio interface with 2 RCA jacks and an 1/8» stereo headphone jack. The Xone K1 is the same as the Xone K2 but without the built in audio interface and does not come with the EVA travel case that the K2 comes with.

New in version 1.11.

Audio Setup

The Xone:K2 is setup in Mixxx > Preferences > Sound Hardware > Output

Output	Device	Channel
Main	XONE:K2	Channel 3 - 4
Headphones	XONE:K2	Channel 1 - 2

Note: This Channel setup is the opposite of what most DJ controllers with an integrated audio interface use. The design choice to not use Channel 1 - 2 for main output is known to cause problems, when users want to use the Xone:K2 as default system audio output as the operating system will always use Channel 1 - 2. Thus system audio will go to the headphones.

There are no hardware controls for the volume so they are always at max volume. Adjusting the volume of main and headphone outputs is done by adjusting the gain for those outputs in Mixxx using the controller mapping.

Setup

Requirement: The Xone K2 must have Latching Layers turned off, which is the default. Refer to the Xone K2 manual page 12 for details. The K1 does not have Latching Layers.

This mapping can used with one or multiple Xone K2s/K1s. Multiple Xone K2s/K1s can be connected to each other via X-Link with one of them connected to the computer via USB. Alternatively, when using 2 K2s/K1s, they can both be connected with their own USB cable and this same mapping can be loaded for each.

The layout of the mapping depends on the configured MIDI channel of the controller. Change the MIDI channel of the controller by pressing the bottom right encoder (labeled “Power On Setup/Scroll/Set”) while plugging in the controller. Scroll with the encoder to select a MIDI channel. The letter in parentheses corresponds to the last lit button when selecting the channel:

Channel 15 (O, default out of the box): two decks + two effect units with decks in the middle
Channel 14 (N): two decks + two effect units with effect units in the middle
Channel 13 (M): two decks + two effect units with decks on left
Channel 12 (L): two decks + two effect units with decks on right
Channel 11 (K): four decks ordered 3 1 2 4
Channel 10 (J): four decks ordered 1 2 3 4
Channel 9 (I): four effect units ordered 3 1 2 4
Channel 8 (H): four effect units ordered 1 2 3 4

Global Controls

These are available on any configuration with decks, but not the 4 effect unit layout.

Bottom left encoder:
- adjust tempo of all decks with sync enabled
- press and turn: PFL/main mix in headphones
- shift: headphone gain
- press with shift: toggle split cue mode
Bottom right encoder:
- scroll through tracks in library
- press and release: load selected track into first stopped deck
- press and hold: load selected track into a deck by pressing the play button of the deck
- shift: main gain

Decks

The bottom right button is the shift button. The bottom left button toggles the bottom button grid between a loop layer (amber) and a hotcue layer (red). Holding shift then holding the bottom left layer button at the same time activates supershift mode.

Top encoder: jog
- shift: gain
- supershift: adjust key
Top encoder press: reset gain
- shift: sync lock
- supershift: reset key
Knobs: high/mid/low equalizer knobs
Top button 1: headphones/PFL
- shift: reset tempo
- supershift: set beatgrid to current position
Top button 2: cue
- shift: go to beginning of track and stop
- supershift: keylock
Top button 3: play
- shift: reverse
- supershift: quantize
Fader: volume
Bottom buttons (intro/outro cue layer, amber): Intro/outro cues from top to bottom are ordered: - Intro start - Intro end - Outro start - Outro end
- press: jump to that cue or sets it if it is not set
- shift: seek forward/back. The top two (intro) buttons seek quickly; the bottom two (outro) seek slowly
- supershift: delete cue
Bottom buttons (hotcue layer, red): Hotcues are ordered 1-4 from top to bottom
- press: jump to that hotcue or sets it if it is not set
- shift: seek forward/back. The top two buttons seek quickly; the bottom two seek slowly
- supershift: delete hotcue
Bottom buttons (loop layer, green):
Bottom button 1 (red): reloop/disable loop
- shift: jump to to beginning of loop, stop playback, and activate loop
- supershift: set loop in point. Hold to move loop in point with play position.
Bottom button 2 (green): activate loop of selected size
- shift: activate rolling loop of selected size
- supershift: set loop out point. Hold to move loop out point with play position.
Bottom button 3 (amber): double loop size
- shift: beatjump forward by selected size if no loop is enabled. If loop is enabled, move the loop forward by the beatjump size.
- supershift: double beatjump size
Bottom button 4 (amber): halve loop size
- shift: beatjump backward by selected size if no loop is enabled. If loop is enabled, move the loop backward by the beatjump size.
- supershift: halve beatjump size

Effects

The top part of the column uses the Standard Effects Mapping. Pressing the top encoder acts as the effect focus button. When no effect is focused, the buttons are red. When holding the top encoder to choose an effect to focus, the buttons are green. When an effect is focused, the buttons are amber.

The fader acts as the mix knob.

The bottom buttons assign the effect unit to different input channels and light up red. On the two deck layouts, from top to bottom, they assign the effect unit to deck 1, deck 2, main mix, and headphones. On the four effect unit layouts, they assign the effect unit to decks 1-4 going down the column. You can look down a column to see which decks an effect unit is assigned. You can look across a row to see which effect units are assigned to a deck. When shift is pressed, the bottom two buttons switch to controlling the routing buttons for the main and headphones channels and light up amber.

The bottom encoders are not mapped in the 4 effect unit layout.

Effect unit focusing

In addition to focusing one effect in a unit at a time with the Standard Effects Mapping, the Xone K2/K1 has another mode for focusing a whole effect unit. This allows for controlling the parameters of all 3 effects in the unit at a time. This mode is only available on the 4 effect unit layouts. To access it, press the Layer button in the bottom left. Press one of the top encoders to choose which effect unit to focus.

In this mode, each horizontal row of knobs and buttons controls one effect. The knobs control the parameters of the effects. Turning any of the knobs with shift loads different effects. The button in the leftmost column controls the enable button of the effect and turns amber when it is on. The rest of the buttons control the button parameters of the effect and turn green when active (not all effects have button parameters). The faders still control the dry/wet knobs and the bottom button grid still controls the routing buttons.

To get back to controlling all 4 effect units, press the Layer button again. The next time Layer is pressed, the effect unit that was focused before will be remembered (but it will not be remembered after restarting Mixxx).

Troubleshooting

If general functionality or supershift are not working, double check that Latch Layers is turned off and MIDI CH is selected. Refer to the Xone K2 manual page 12 for details.

Known Issues

There are a few known issues with the Xone K2/K1 firmware:

Since there is no way for Mixxx to ask the controller about the positions of all the knobs and faders when Mixxx starts, they are out of sync with the state of Mixxx until they are first moved.
When the USB connection is interrupted and the controller stays powered on, such as leaving the controller plugged into a powered USB hub and disconnecting the hub from the computer, the controller will not send MIDI input until it is powered down (unplugged) and plugged back in.

If you would like these issues to be fixed, please let Allen & Heath Support know.