Operating System Mixer

Operating System Mixer

To adjust the level of Mixxx's outputs and inputs, the main and headphone gain knobs in Mixxx should be used only as a last resort. Ideally, for the best sound quality, Mixxx and your sound card would always be at their maximum level without clipping and a control on the amplifier or speakers would be used to adjust loudness (see the manual for a technical explanation). Sometimes this is not accessible though. In that case, the sound card may be the best place to adjust the loudness.

Many sound cards have physical knobs on them that control the gains of the outputs and inputs. Sound cards built into computer motherboards don't have these and sometimes sound cards built into DJ controllers don't either. However, they may still have controls accessible through the operating system's mixer program. How to access this is different on every operating system:

• Linux: Run the command 'alsamixer' in a terminal, press F6 to select the sound card, and press the up & down arrow on your keyboard to adjust the slider labeled "Master" (or sometimes "PCM Front"). Do not use a GUI program such one launched by clicking a speaker icon in the system tray. These typically control PulseAudio's software gain, not the sound card's controls.
• Windows: Click the speaker icon in the system tray. Click "Mixer" in the popup. In the mixer window that comes up, in the Device column, in the drop down menu between the top of the volume slider and the bottom of the icon at the top of the column, select the sound card. Click and drag the volume slider to adjust the sound card's output. FIXME: Is this also the case with ASIO drivers?
• Mac OS X: Adjust the volume by clicking the speaker icon in the system tray. FIXME: Add more details

FIXME: Add screenshots for each OS