Interfacing to Mixxx via MIDI (Linux)

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.

Nov 24, 2014  Once you fully set up the songs list and start generating audio feedback, temptation is high and you most likely end up turning knobs to experiment with the majority of effects the application.

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

Prepare and configure Mixxx

  • How to Mixxx Stream Setup. Mixxx preferences - Setting up live broadcasting. Server Connection. Type: Select the type of streaming server you want to connect with. Host: You can enter the host as either a host name or an IP address. Login: As provided by your streaming server provider. Without this, you will not connect successfully to the.
  • 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 recording or live presentation.
  • Add your microphone. In Mixxx - Preferences - Sound Hardware, click the input button and select the microphone you want to add – You can enter up to 4 microphones which are controllable from the Mixxx dashboard. You can talk over shows by yourself or with guests and control it all through your Mixxx setup.
  • Although Mixxx 2.2.3 contains many important updates and bugfixes, it's possible some users may experience issues. If you do, you can still get our previous stable version, Mixxx 2.1.8. Mixxx is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. You don't need to pay for Mixxx because you can get it here for free.

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.

Set up mixer ch

Set Up Mixer Page

  • 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+

Izotope authorization serial number mac. 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

  • 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.

Starting with version 1.9.0, Mixxx directly supports live broadcasting which allows you to connect to Shoutcast and Icecast servers. Using the preferences dialogue, you can simply supply Mixxx with all information needed to establish a server connection. To enable live broadcasting you can either use the options menu or the checkbox within the preference dialogue.

For an Icecast server, you'll need to provide the mount point (of the form “/mount”). You can enter the host as either a host name or an IP address. In the “login” field, the default is to enter “source” – without this, you will not connect successfully to the server. The password will be provided by your streaming server provider, unless you run your own radio server.

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Do not enter a URL as the host! “http://example.com:8000” does not work. Use “example.com” in the host field and “8000” in the port field instead.

Mixxx

If you connect to an Shoutcast server the default login name is “admin”. It is not necessary to specify a mount point. The password will be provided by your streaming server provider.

Set Up Mixer

An Icecast server can stream either mp3 or Ogg. However, although Ogg is more efficient and effective - you get a better sound than mp3 at a lower data rate - not all players can play Ogg streams, so as a result mp3 is probably a better choice unless you know your listeners can hear an Ogg stream successfully. You may need the LAME libraries to stream in mp3. See the next section for details.

Set Up Mixplay

By default, Mixxx broadcasts artist and title information to your listeners. You can disable this feature by selecting “enable custom metadata”. For technical reasons, broadcasting artist and title information is not supported for OGG streams.