2. Getting Started

2.1. Installing Mixxx

After downloading Mixxx from our Website, you need to install it on your computer.

Windows

Double-click the Mixxx installation file and go through the installation wizard.

macOS

Double-click the Mixxx .dmg file and drag the Mixxx icon to your Applications folder.

Linux

No steps are necessary after you followed the instructions on the download page.

2.2. Upgrading Mixxx

You may safely install Mixxx on top of any previous version. You don’t need to uninstall the old version.

Your settings and library will not be removed or reset, but they may be upgraded when you launch the new version of Mixxx. Note that we do not guarantee that new configurations will work on older versions of Mixxx, therefore you may want to make a backup of your existing settings just in case.

For locations in each supported OS as well as detailed descriptions of the settings files, go to The Mixxx Settings Directory.

2.3. Opening Mixxx

logo Once you’ve installed Mixxx, start by opening Mixxx and importing your music to the Mixxx library.

Windows

Double-click the Mixxx icon on the Desktop. Alternatively, browse your Windows start menu and click the Mixxx icon, or perform a search for Mixxx.exe.

macOS

Double-click the Mixxx icon in the Applications folder. Alternatively, drag the Mixxx icon to the dock and double-click it there or search for mixxx in Spotlight.

GNU/Linux

Click the Mixxx icon in the applications menu or launcher of your desktop environment or perform a search for mixxx. Alternatively type mixxx into the terminal, then hit Return. If your audio interface is not accessible from Mixxx because it is used by other applications via PulseAudio, you may close and restart Mixxx using pasuspender mixxx. See Launching Mixxx from the Command Line for an overview of Mixxx’s command line options.

2.4. Importing your audio files

Mixxx 1st run - Choose music library directory dialog

Mixxx running on Windows 10 - Choose music library directory dialog

The first time you run Mixxx, you are asked to select a directory where your music is stored. By default, the dialog points to a location where music files are typically held, but you can select any location on your computer.

Click Select Folder and Mixxx will scan your music library. Depending on the size of your library this could take some time. All the supported music files Mixxx detects will be listed in the Tracks - View and edit your whole collection.

If you want to refresh your library (for example because you added or moved files), you can do this with Library ‣ Rescan Library in the menu. If you want to rescan at every launch, select Preferences ‣ Library ‣ Rescan on startup.

Avvertimento

On Windows 7 and 8 the import dialog points to your Windows “Music“ Library, a special-purpose virtual folder. You can not use these virtual folders. Select a regular folder instead, usually “My Music“, like pictured above.

2.5. Analyze your library

Library - Icon Analyze Mixxx automatically analyzes tracks the first time you load them in a deck. This allows you to run beatgrid, key, and ReplayGain detection on tracks in advance. It also prepares the waveform overviews, detects file corruption, and calculates the BPM values.

Vedi anche

For more information, go to Beat Detection.

Why you should analyze your audio files

If the tracks have never been played with Mixxx before, the library columns BPM, Duration and Key will be empty or unreliable (because the values are just read from the file’s tags if present and might be wrong). Pre-generating beatgrids gives you the chance to double-check the beat markers to make sure they are correct. Errors in beatgrids can cause difficulty when syncing tracks. Furthermore, track analysis takes considerable CPU power and might cause skips in the audio — things you surely don’t need while performing.

How to analyze your audio files

Once you have imported your music library, press OK on the Preferences window.

  • Go to the Analyze view on the left side panel of the library.

  • To analyze a few specific tracks, hold down the Ctrl button, and select the tracks that you want to analyze or you can shift-select a range of tracks. Once they’ve been highlighted, click the Analyze button on the top right of the library section.

  • To analyze the newly added tracks, toggle the New label and then click Analyze.

  • To analyze the entire library, toggle the All label and then click Analyze.

  • The New and All toggle buttons are located at the top left of the analysis pane - just above the Preview and Cover Art column titles of the library.

While analyzing, the progress in percentage and total queue length are shown.

2.6. Configuring sound input and output

Before you can start using Mixxx, you need to configure Mixxx to use your sound hardware in Preferences ‣ Sound Hardware. You do not need to configure all inputs and outputs.

The DJ Hardware chapter explains different types of DJ hardware and how to set them up with the input and output options. For Mixxx to perform the best it can on your system, configure the other Sound Hardware preferences in addition to the inputs and outputs.

Mixxx Sound Hardware Preferences

Mixxx Sound Hardware Preferences

Output Options

Internal mixing:

Use these outputs if you are not using an external hardware mixer. If you are using a controller with a built-in audio interface, use these outputs.

  • Master: all decks, samplers, microphones, and auxiliary inputs mixed together. This output is sent to the speakers for the audience.

  • Headphones: all decks, samplers, microphones, and auxiliary inputs assigned to pre-fader listening

  • Booth: same as Master output, but has a separate gain control

External mixing:

  • Decks 1-4: the individual unmixed decks to send to an external mixer

  • Bus Left/Center/Right: all decks, samplers, and auxiliary inputs assigned to each side of Mixxx’s crossfader

Input Options

Internal mixing:

Use these inputs if you are not using an external hardware mixer. If you are using a controller with a built-in audio interface, use these inputs.

  • Microphone 1-4: live microphone or musical instrument inputs

  • Auxiliary 1-4: other sound sources

External mixing:

  • Record/Broadcast: When this is configured, Mixxx will record and broadcast from this audio interface input instead of the internal master mix. If you have a microphone plugged into the mixer, do not configure the Microphone 1-4 inputs.

Either internal or external mixing:

  • Vinyl Control 1-4: timecode input from turntables or CDJs for manipulating decks 1-4

Vedi anche

Using Microphones