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Quixpin User Manual

Quixpin is a revolutionary new app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. For the first time, DJs both beginner and expert can mix and beat match music for themselves and their friends, just like using a hardware setup or their laptops but without all the heavy equipment. This document will guide you through all the features that Quixpin has to offer.


Table of Contents

Quixtart 

  • Hit the i button (if you are seeing this than you have already done it)
  • Tap "Start FTP Server" at the top of the screen.
  • Upload Mono MP2 files to the app via FTP
  • Tap "Stop FTP Server" and then "Cancel" to get back to the main app.
  • Move the cross-fader to the left.
  • Hit left button (<) at the bottom of the mixer screen to go to deck A.
  • Hit eject to load a track and play it.
  • Tap on PFL B to cue deck B.
  • Tap the double right button (>>) at the bottom of the screen to go to deck B.
  • Tap eject to load a track.
  • Drag your finger along the peak view screen to set the start point to the actual beginning of the track.
  • Tap play and use the speed shift slider to beat match the song.
  • Once your songs are matched, Tap the left button (<) at the bottom of the screen to get back to the mixer.
  • Slide the cross-fader from the left to the right to segue to the track playing on deck B.

Features

  • DJ for yourself or your friends with the first true DJ app for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Two decks and a mixer!
  • Play two tracks at the same time and mix between them.
  • Play a track while cueing and beat matching another track
  • Multi-touch interface lets you manipulate multiple dials and sliders at the same time.
  • Innovative and interactive multi-touch audio view that graphically displays your tracks audio and allows you to speed it up/down, play/pause, and set the position.
  • Low, mid, and high EQ controls, just like most standard professional DJ mixers

Screens and Controls

Quixpin is made up of 4 major components:

 

  • The transport area:

    The area on top of the screen shows you an interactive graphical representation of the audio along with buttons that set which track you are cueing (PFL buttons). This part of the screen is always displayed.
    • PFL Buttons:
        
      Hitting either of these buttons will change the cue output to Deck A or Deck B respectively. It will also change the dominant track in the Peak View Area.
    • Peak View Area:

      Displays the audio of the tracks playing. The vertical line in the center indicates the current play position of the audio. Right side up green is for Deck A on the left. Upside down blue is for Deck B on the right. The dominant track (determined by which PFL button is highlighted) will be brighter and in front of the other track.

      • Double tapping the peak view area will play or pause the dominant track.
      • If the dominant track is paused, dragging your finger to the left or to the right will change the current position of the track. Dragging your finger more quickly will change the position more drastically, while dragging your finger slowly will produce more accurate results.
      • If the dominant track is playing dragging your finger to the left will "push the track", temporarily speeding it up. Dragging your finger to the right will "pull the track", temporarily slowing it down. These functions are identical to the "bend up" / "bend down" buttons on the deck screens.
      • Pinching and expanding the peak view area will speed up / slow down the track and compress / stretch the peak view, all respectively. This is identical to the speed slider on the deck screens.
  • The mixer:

    This part of the app lies in the horizontal middle, between the two decks and lets you set the volume/EQs for each track, cross-fade between them, and set the volumes for your cue and master outputs.
    • Deck Controls:

        

      Two sets of deck controls are displayed on the mixer screen, one on the left and one on the right. The left deck controls control the audio for Deck A, while the ones on the right control the audio for Deck B. They contain the following:

      • Volume faders / VU meters:

        This combined control shows you the current average and peak volume of the base audio playing pre-EQs and volume. It also allows you to change the output volume to the Master output by sliding it up and down.

      • EQ dials:

        There are three EQ dials for each deck. Low, Mid, and High, which allow you to increase or decrease their respective frequency range of the audio currently being played from 0.5dB to 1.95dB. To increase, place your finger on the dial and slide it upwards. To decrease, slide downwards. Double tapping will reset the dial to 0.
      • EQ kill switches:

        Next to each dial lies a kill switch, which allows you to kill its respective frequency range down to 0.5dB. Tapping it will switch it on and off.
    • Cross fader:

      The cross fader allows you to transition the master output from playing Deck A to Deck B smoothly by sliding it from the left to the right. Sliding it from the right to the left performs the opposite task.

    • Cue volume dial:

      This sets the volume of the cue channel (left headphones speaker). To increase, place your finger on the dial and slide it upwards. To decrease, slide downwards. Double tapping will reset the dial to the middle.
    • Master volume dial:

      This sets the volume of the master volume channel (right headphones speaker). To increase, place your finger on the dial and slide it upwards. To decrease, slide downwards. Double tapping will reset the dial to the middle.
    • Info (i) button: This opens the documentation window and allows you to start the FTP server.
    • Left / right buttons:
        
      These buttons switch the display to Deck A or Deck B, respectively.
  • The decks (+2):

    There are two decks, one on each side of the mixer. Deck A is on the left and Deck B is on the right. These screens allow you to load up a track, play it, change its pitch, and set a cue point to start the audio.
    • Eject button:

      This loads up the track selector and lets you select a file to play.
    • Track information area:

      This displays the file name, artist, album, and track name of the current track playing.

    • Play / pause button:

      This will start or pause the current track.
    • Position slider:

      This will display how much of the track has been played. You may slide it to the left or right to change the position of the current track.

    • Set Cue:

      This will set the cue point of the current track, which you will then be able to recall by pressing Goto Cue.
    • Goto Cue:

      This will bring the track back to the position selected by pressing Set Cue. This will be used mostly when you are getting ready to segue between two tracks.
    • The speed slider area:
      • The speed slider:

        Shows the current speed of the current track playing and allows you to adjust the speed by +/- 10% by sliding it up and down.

      • + / - button:

        This will increase or decrease respectively the speed of the current track by .1%

      • Slider LED:
        This will light up when the speed slider is close to 0%. Pressing the LED will set the speed to 0%.
      • Bend up / bend down buttons:
          

        These will temporarily increase the speed of the currently playing track by +/- 5%.

  • Track selector: When you tap the "Eject" button on Deck A or Deck B, the Track selector will open. It will display a list of all MP2 files and directories Quixpin has access to. Tapping on a directory will load that directory and display its contents. Tapping on a file will load that file into the chosen Deck. When you are in a subdirectory, tapping the Back button will bring you to the previous directory in the tree. Tapping on cancel will bring you back to the deck without loading a file. The next time you tap the "Eject" button you will be brought back to the same directory you were in previously.
  • Info screen: This screen displays the documentation you are reading now. It will also allow you to start and stop the FTP server. Tapping cancel will bring you back to the Mixer screen.

 

Audio Setup

There are two ways you can use Quixpin. First, if you are just playing for yourself, all you need is your headphones. The left channel of your headphones is for PFL/cueing, while the right is the master where the mix is played. Second, if you'd like to connect your iPhone to a sound system, you will need a Stereo Channel Splitter or Stereo Y-Adapter. This will convert the stereo output of your iPhone to two separate mono channels. These are actually a little difficult to come by in one package, but the following two items available from Radio Shack can be combined to achieve the same effect.

 

 

System Requirements

Quixpin requires an iPhone or iPod Touch running iPhoneOS 2.2 and above. You will need approximately 2mB available on your device for the application and about 8mB available for each track you want to upload to the app. While the app runs trouble-free on any iPhone and iPod Touch, we suggest the increased power of the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch 2G will let you use the app to its full potential.

 

Compatible File Types

Quixpin is currently only compatible with Mono MP2 files. Yes, we said MP2. Why is this? We found in our testing that MP2 files were decoded more quickly than MP3 files. This is extremely important when decoding multiple files, building peaks dynamically, running the audio through multiple parametric EQ DSPs / volume controls, all while trying to present it within a dynamic graphical user interface. MP2 files and decoders also have the advantage of not requiring any kind of licensing, unlike MP3 decoders. We suggest encoding your files using a bit rate of 128kbps from uncompressed audio.

 

Other Software You Will Need

As mentioned, you will need to convert your tracks to a compatible format and upload them to the app over WiFi. In order to do this, you will need some audio software and an FTP client. Luckily, there are some great open source software options available FREE OF CHARGE. These packages are really easy to use and since they're free, it gives the folks here at Quixonic the time to work on developing the best iPhone DJ software instead of spending time developing redundant companion software. We suggest using the following:

 

  • Audio Software: Audacity v1.3.x
    http://audacity.sourceforge.net/
    • To convert your file from stereo to mono: Open your file, and then go to Tracks and select "Stereo to Mono".
    • To save you file as MP2: Go to File, select Export. Click OK on the next screen, and then select MP2 in the file format drop down box. Click Options and select 128kbps. Then click save.
  • FTP Client: FileZilla
    http://filezilla-project.org/
    • See "How to upload files" for further instructions.

 

How to Upload Files

Quixpin gives you the capability to upload your tracks over WiFi with its mini FTP server. To connect to the Quixpin app FTP server, make sure your iPhone / iPod Touch are connected to a WiFi network. You won't be able to connect to your iPhone if it is only connected to your cell provider's network. Within the app, hit the i button on the bottom of the mixer screen. Then select "Start FTP Server". Launch FileZilla or any other compatible FTP client application (do not use a browser) and enter the IP address and port that are displayed in the app. Use any username and password.

 

How to Load a Track

Loading a track is simple. From the Mixer screen tap the left or right buttons at the bottom of the screen to select Deck A or Deck B. On the Deck screen you will see an "Eject" button. Tapping that will open up the file selector. You can either cancel or select a file to load. If this is the first time opening this track, Quixpin will begin to build a peak file that will get stored on your device. This peak file is used to visually display where the beats are in the current track in the transport area on top of the screen and allows you to manipulate the current position and speed of the currently playing track.

 

Tips and Tricks

  • Don't start up the FTP server or go into the help page while playing tracks. This consumes a lot of memory and you may wind up hearing your tracks stutter.
  • While the app can build peaks dynamically while playing music, you will get better performance if you load each track individually while not playing anything.

 

Frequently Asked Questions

  • Why can't I play music that's already stored on my iPhone / iPod Touch's music library
    • While Apple has begun to allow music library access to apps, the access is extremely limited and only allows you to play a single song at a time, and have no control over the speed or EQs of the song. For this reason, unfortunately, advanced audio apps like this can't access the library on your iPhone / iPod Touch.
  • The application won't start or quits immediately or...
    The application suddenly quit on me after loading a file or...
    When I play music, it stutters on me
    • These issues are often related to memory. Make sure you don't have your phone running, turn off all apps with push notification, and quit out of all your Safari panes. Alternatively, check out some of the memory utilities in the iPhone app store.
  • I don't hear any sound
    • Do you hear sound in any other app?
    • Check to make sure that the volume on your phone is not set to mute and that the vibrate switch is not on.
    • Make sure your headphones are properly connected.
  • I can't connect to my FTP server
    • If the IP address displayed begins with "10." or "169." or is "127.0.0.1", this is a good indicator that you are not connected to a WiFi network.
    • Quit out of the app and make sure you are connected to a WiFi network.
  • I can't get my songs to beat match.
    • If you are new to DJing, check out our selected resources for beginners.
  • When I connect to the app's FTP server I see a bunch of files with the extension ".peak". What are they?
    • When you load a new track into Quixpin, the app will go through the app and figure out where the peaks are in the audio. This information is used in the transport area off the app on top of the screen and allows you to visually see where the beats are in the track and manipulate the current position of the track. If you delete these files, Quixpin will have to regenerate them the next time you load the track.

 

Resources for Beginners

If you are new to DJing check out the following resources:

 

 

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