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Thread: Any opinions on DJing software Mixxx?

  1. #11
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Any opinions on DJing software Mixxx?

    For the record, the Zorin Linux experiment didn’t quite work out. Not because of the software exactly, but because of the laptop. This old Acer Inspire I’m using has a dual core 1.5GHz CPU. The documentation for Mixxx says you need at least a 2GHz CPU. I was hoping they were overstating the requirements like many other software distributors do, but NOPE. I was getting frequent blips while both decks were playing, or when one deck was playing and the other was analyzing. You can’t have blips. I ran the monitor utility and both CPU’s were pegged at 100%. Not good! So this laptop is not gonna work with Mixxx.

    As it so happens, I was refurbing another laptop. This one had Windows 10 Pro on it, but it did have a dual core 2.3GHz i3 processor. I loaded Mixxx on it and ran the same test with copies of the same tracks, and the CPU NEVER ran more than 24%, and I never heard any blips. Unfortunately, it’s WINDOWS 10, which I was trying to do without. I already have DJ computers running Microsoft or Apple operating systems, but was trying to find a viable alternative. The Linux/Mixxx setup may be a winner; just not on my Acer laptop.
    Last edited by DJ Bobcat; 04-15-2019 at 09:25 AM.

  2. #12
    Cool, good to know! But, if you don't want Windows 10 on that laptop what's stopping you from installing Linux? And Mixxx doesn't care because it'll run on either OS. But if you want to
    run the linux version of Mixxx on a Windows laptop, there's something you can try.. Oracle VirtualBox is free and allows you to install a linux OS running within windows (at the same time Windows is running). You do have to set aside disk space for linux and there may be some work to getting the audio and screen working how you like... The other option is to set up a dual boot.

  3. #13
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by light-o-matic View Post
    Cool, good to know! But, if you don't want Windows 10 on that laptop what's stopping you from installing Linux? And Mixxx doesn't care because it'll run on either OS. But if you want to
    run the linux version of Mixxx on a Windows laptop, there's something you can try.. Oracle VirtualBox is free and allows you to install a linux OS running within windows (at the same time Windows is running). You do have to set aside disk space for linux and there may be some work to getting the audio and screen working how you like... The other option is to set up a dual boot.
    VirtualBox would probably work, but there’s only two cores, so it would take one of those two, leaving Windows with just one. I put 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSHD in there, so there’s plenty of disk space and memory for a VM, but I fear that having a single core for each of the host and VM, that neither would run very good.

    I could go with a dual boot setup, or I could pull the 2TB SSHD out and replace it with another hard drive and load Linux on that. But I just got this Lenovo laptop setup the way I want, so maybe I’ll wait until I get bored with it?😄

  4. #14
    New Member JosepZ's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Bobcat View Post
    VirtualBox would probably work, but there’s only two cores, so it would take one of those two, leaving Windows with just one. I put 16GB of RAM and a 2TB SSHD in there, so there’s plenty of disk space and memory for a VM, but I fear that having a single core for each of the host and VM, that neither would run very good.

    I could go with a dual boot setup, or I could pull the 2TB SSHD out and replace it with another hard drive and load Linux on that. But I just got this Lenovo laptop setup the way I want, so maybe I’ll wait until I get bored with it?��
    Unless you NEED Windows for some particular task that you can't do with Linux (gaming is the only one that comes to my mind), I'd rather just over-write it and install the latest Linux Mint. Have you tried it?
    If you need Windows to run Traktor, you can check if the Windows version runs fine on Linux using Wine.
    https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManag...ation&iId=8727
    According to the Wine app database, it works great!

  5. #15
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JosepZ View Post
    Unless you NEED Windows for some particular task that you can't do with Linux (gaming is the only one that comes to my mind), I'd rather just over-write it and install the latest Linux Mint. Have you tried it?
    If you need Windows to run Traktor, you can check if the Windows version runs fine on Linux using Wine.
    https://appdb.winehq.org/objectManag...ation&iId=8727
    According to the Wine app database, it works great!
    I have tried Linux Mint. I have a Linux Mint VM on my main workstation. It’s a nice distribution, but I prefer Zorin. Both are based on Ubuntu. Having VM’s on my workstation isn’t an issue because I have 8 cores and 32GB of RAM to work with. Having only two cores on the laptop is a REAL limitation.

    You did get me thinking though. I’ve never tried running Traktor on Linux using Wine. I’m gonna try it on my Zorin Laptop. I know Mixxx isn’t gonna work with the 1.5GHz CPU, but I have run Traktor on a Windows stick PC with an Atom CPU without any problems, so it might work on this Linux laptop. It’s worth a shot.😊

  6. #16
    Member gammagoblin's Avatar
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    After almost two years off the decks i am running mixxx now for a few weeks.
    As i couldn't use the Pioneer DJM internal Soundcard on my Debian Machine and i stopped using dualboot because windows after every update crashes the bootloader i am now back on a new Soundcard (A&H PX5) that runs under Linux.

    It runs good even though i would recommend the RT Kernel Patch to get rid of the sometimes happening audio-glitches (if you using virtualisation on the same machine, that wont work with the RT-Kernel).

    I was using Traktor for a few years and must say it was better recognizing the beatgrid, thats something, that doesn't seem to work propperly with mixxx.
    But the feature to normalize the compression makes a fairly good job and its now much more fun to also use my digitalized vinyl along the mp3 files.

    All in all its a good piece of software and most important its a piece of free software (like in free speech).

    DVS with Serato vinyl works without any problem. Sadly i haven't tested any midi controllers yet.
    "Arguing that you don't care about the right to privacy because you have nothing to hide is no different than saying you don't care about free speech because you have nothing to say." -Edward Snowden

  7. #17
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by DJ Bobcat View Post
    ...You did get me thinking though. I’ve never tried running Traktor on Linux using Wine. I’m gonna try it on my Zorin Laptop...
    OK... That didn’t go well.😄 Got Traktor installed, and it worked... kinda. It’s performance was actually MUCH worse than Mixxx, though. COMPLETELY unusable. I still like the idea of running Traktor on Linux (using Wine), but this old Acer Aspire laptop AIN’T the right machine for it. It was worth a shot though.😊

  8. #18
    New Member JosepZ's Avatar
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    Using current software in old hardware is generally a bad idea, mate, unless it's optimized for older machines. Cool that you tried though

  9. #19
    Moderator DJ Bobcat's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by JosepZ View Post
    Using current software in old hardware is generally a bad idea, mate, unless it's optimized for older machines. Cool that you tried though
    Yeah... I was hoping that I might be able to repurpose this old laptop for something, but it appears it’s EOL.😊

  10. #20
    Well you all got my curiosity up so I gave it a go.. installed the latest Mixxx native Windows version on my 8 year old laptop (Thinkpad T420 w/ Windows 10 Pro) and it came right up and ran just fine, I did a couple of mixes just using the mouse I didn't try any controller (I have got a Z1 and a Twitch kicking around) but so far so good, I was shocked at how quickly it generated the waveforms and gridded the tracks on this old machine.. Pioneer should take note! Fairly quick response and no stuttering, EQ's not bad, I didn't try any effects yet.. I have a feeling I could run up against CPU limitations if I get too crazy with those.

    So far it looks like the new version is fairly pro for free software, def worth a try. Not sure why any basic mobile DJ (eg Wedding DJ) would need more than this.

    But I've not really gone full bore on it yet there could be nasty surprises that aren't apparent at first.... Still, very impressed with how far they've gone with it, my only complaint is the skins are too hard to read at a glance I prefer something more crisp and businesslike, it doesn't have to be pretty. And it's kind of cluttered.

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