Mixxx

Bug #1902378
Comment #5

Comment 5 for bug 1902378

Revision history for this message

Eitan Caspi (eitanc) wrote on 2020-10-31: Re: Add "Live Broadcasting" output option

#5

Hi Jan,

Sure, I will be glad to explain.

I was looking for a long time for an app to do something that I thought was simple and common - to read a tree of folders in my local Windows PC hard drive, of MP3 files, play them to a local, on the same PC, Shoutcast server as a Windows service, which will connected by a local Wi-Fi network Internet Radio hardware device.
So all in all, I will be able to stream my MP3 files to my radio device, all on the same local network.

Initially I tried using DLNA but I have thousands of songs and these radio devices are quite limited, to several hundreds of files to be listed in their memory - so the radio can find my PC as DLNA server and start yanking the list of a MP3 files but once the number of files limit is reached - the process fails with a "too many files" error, so I cannot use this method.

As this didn't work, I turned to the "Internet Radio" option, which means that I don't yank the full list of file, but rather I connect to an HTTP local URL, that serves me one song at time (so I am limited about skipping songs forward at the internet radio device level, but that's the price I have to "pay").

First I tried IceCast as a server but I was not able to make it work on Windows (it is more linux oriented), so I turned to shoutcast - which I was able to configure quite easily and make it run as a service.

Now I needed to find a shoutcast source to read the files and stream them to the shoutcast service.
This is where I had a really hard time to find an app to do all the above and in a good quality, stable and easy to use manner - Mixxx was the best I have found.
It does all of the above wonderfully, but in a manual manner - I need to load its GUI, enable "Auto DJ" and enable the "Live Broadcasting" connection I have set to stream the music to the local shoutcast server.

So, I look for a way to automate the manual parts - that I can make Mixxx load automatically (best as Windows service, but as a startup command/batch is also OK, I have another bug for this), and as part of its startup - that it will start "Auto DJ" in a shuffle mode and also turn on the "Live Broadcasting" to my specific connection (I have only one configured) to the local Shoutcast server.

My use case is just one. I guess real DJs will love the option of not being limited to only playing to local audio devices but also in parallel to stream their work to an online radio/show service, hence reaching a wider audience, even globally.

You have it all of the above already in Mixxx - it is just a needed to be "stitched" together, which I guess it is should not be too hard, in one of several possible ways:
1. Add a startup switch to the cli of the Mixxx executable, to start "Live Broadcasting" and to specify the name of the server connection the user wish to use (and of course, was already configured)
2. At the output pane, either:
a. Add an output category (at the level of "Master", "headphones" and so on) - of "Live Broadcast" and there the user will need to choose a radio connection he/she already created
b. Else, if adding an output category is not desired - then add to the current output list of devices (say, as an example - the drop-down list next to "Master") - a "Live Broadcasting" connection name item, so, for example - for the "Master" I will be able to select to stream over the network and not to a local device.

I don't see why it sound confusing. It is expanding the mindset of Mixxx beyond a focus on the local output and utilizing the same music work to be streaming in parallel to multiple play paths.

Hi Jan,

Sure, I will be glad to explain.

I was looking for a long time for an app to do something that I thought was simple and common - to read a tree of folders in my local Windows PC hard drive, of MP3 files, play them to a local, on the same PC, Shoutcast server as a Windows service, which will connected by a local Wi-Fi network Internet Radio hardware device.
So all in all, I will be able to stream my MP3 files to my radio device, all on the same local network.

Initially I tried using DLNA but I have thousands of songs and these radio devices are quite limited, to several hundreds of files to be listed in their memory - so the radio can find my PC as DLNA server and start yanking the list of a MP3 files but once the number of files limit is reached - the process fails with a "too many files" error, so I cannot use this method.

As this didn't work, I turned to the "Internet Radio" option, which means that I don't yank the full list of file, but rather I connect to an HTTP local URL, that serves me one song at time (so I am limited about skipping songs forward at the internet radio device level, but that's the price I have to "pay").

First I tried IceCast as a server but I was not able to make it work on Windows (it is more linux oriented), so I turned to shoutcast - which I was able to configure quite easily and make it run as a service.

Now I needed to find a shoutcast source to read the files and stream them to the shoutcast service.
This is where I had a really hard time to find an app to do all the above and in a good quality, stable and easy to use manner - Mixxx was the best I have found.
It does all of the above wonderfully, but in a manual manner - I need to load its GUI, enable "Auto DJ" and enable the "Live Broadcasting" connection I have set to stream the music to the local shoutcast server.

So, I look for a way to automate the manual parts - that I can make Mixxx load automatically (best as Windows service, but as a startup command/batch is also OK, I have another bug for this), and as part of its startup - that it will start "Auto DJ" in a shuffle mode and also turn on the "Live Broadcasting" to my specific connection (I have only one configured) to the local Shoutcast server.

My use case is just one. I guess real DJs will love the option of not being limited to only playing to local audio devices but also in parallel to stream their work to an online radio/show service, hence reaching a wider audience, even globally.

You have it all of the above already in Mixxx - it is just a needed to be "stitched" together, which I guess it is should not be too hard, in one of several possible ways:
1. Add a startup switch to the cli of the Mixxx executable, to start "Live Broadcasting" and to specify the name of the server connection the user wish to use (and of course, was already configured)
2. At the output pane, either:
a. Add an output category (at the level of "Master", "headphones" and so on) - of "Live Broadcast" and there the user will need to choose a radio connection he/she already created
b. Else, if adding an output category is not desired - then add to the current output list of devices (say, as an example - the drop-down list next to "Master") - a "Live Broadcasting" connection name item, so, for example - for the "Master" I will be able to select to stream over the network and not to a local device.

I don't see why it sound confusing. It is expanding the mindset of Mixxx beyond a focus on the local output and utilizing the same music work to be streaming in parallel to multiple play paths.