Two years ago, Mixxx 1.11.0 was released, and at the time Mark expressed concerns about the lack of key features, and the future of the project under the open source free model. Since then, the Mixxx team took the words in the manner in which they were offered, and came back with a humungous upgrade. The public Mixxx 1.12 offers four decks, effects, and a generous serving of more stuff. And it’s still free too.

Words lifted from the Mixxx site:

Mixxx 1.12 Beta Released!

Hi Mixxxers — did you miss us? The Mixxx team has been quietly toiling for over 2 years to bring you Mixxx 1.12. This will be our biggest release ever and we need your help to make sure that it’s our best ever as well. We’ve been doing alpha testing with our dedicated forum users for a while now and are ready to release Mixxx 1.12 Beta!
Download Mixxx 1.12 Beta Now
Available for Windows, Mac OS X, and Linux.
There are too many new features and fixes to list all of them, but here’s just some of the new things Mixxx can do:

• 4 Decks with Master Sync
• New Effects Framework with 4 Effect Units and 5 Built-in Effects:
  • Flanger
  • Bit Crusher
  • Reverb
  • Echo
  • Filter
  • More to come!
• Configurable, Resizeable User Interface with 3 Brand New Skins
• Cover Art Display
• Music Key Detection and Shifting
• Vinyl Audio Pass-Through
• 4 Microphone inputs and 4 Auxiliary inputs
• MIDI Mapping GUI and Improved Learning Wizard
• RGB Musical Waveforms
• Hundreds of Bug Fixes and Improvements
• New Pitch-Independent Algorithm for Better-Sounding Key-lock.

If you tried the Alpha release, be sure to check out the Beta. There are a ton of new features and fixes even since then.  And we’ll be updating the Beta every week, so you can always have the latest updates. Help Translate Mixxx
In order to make this release rock in every language we need your help with translations! We are currently in dire need of translations for Chinese and Japanese (among many other languages).
Check out our Transifex page and internationalization wiki for details on how to get started.
Bugs and Feedback
You can help improve Mixxx by reporting any bugs you find. Your feedback plays a crucial role in Mixxx’s development cycle, and even filing a quick bug report makes an important contribution to the project. We want to hear from you! Please send us feedback, file a bug, write us an email, post to the forums, or chat with us.
Join Mixxx
We’re always looking for new contributors who are interested in working on Mixxx. If you’re a hacker, artist, or translator and want to work with a creative, enthusiastic team, hop on our IRC channel (#mixxx on Freenode) or sign up for our developer mailing list.

MIXXX MOVES FORWARD

It feels like ages since the last update to Mixxx. Personally, I’m a big proponent of open source software (or FLOSS, if you like), but the nature of the beast means it just won’t have the resources to keep up with big companies like Adobe or Native Instruments. I would personally be quite happy moving over to one of the flavours of Debian-bases Linux, if not for the fact most of my music software doesn’t exist there. The situation is much better than it has ever been, with apps like xwax, Ardour or Blender. And now Mixxx has raised their open source game yet again.

The app isn’t perfect, though. There are several skins built in to this release, including one that’s almost certainly influenced by Ableton Live’s UI, but they all still feel a bit busy and cluttered and it can be hard to see what is where on screen when you first try it. Setting up isn’t as plug ‘n’ play as commercial offerings, either, with mapping options relying on DIY rather than a large existing library of controllers.

All in all, this seems like a solid beta from the team, and hats off to them for doing it off their own backs and in their spare time. While two years might seem like a long time to develop a new version of DJ software, when you think about how it’s done by a team of coders all around the world, as a hobby, the new features are not only welcome, they’re even more impressive. Take that Native and Serato!

Grab the beta straight from the Mixxx website and give it a go!

Have you tried the new beta of Mixxx 1.12? What features and fixes would you like to see added that haven’t been yet?