GitHub - l00sed/termixer: A 2-deck mixer, sample pads, sequencer— all from any Unix terminal.

A terminal-based DJ mixer for live performance with TidalCycles. Built in Rust with ratatui, it provides real-time EQ, filtering, crossfading, and sample pads for mixing audio from MPV and SuperCollider.

Features


Dual-deck mixer	A-B channel faders, pan, 3-band EQ, LPF/HPF
Crossfader	mix different decks, cue-in Deck C with unique output (headphone/booth)
Microphone input	selectable device, gain, and mute toggle
Sample pads	4x4 grid with sequencer, save/load configs
Recording	capture decks, master, mic, synth, or pads to MP3/WAV/FLAC/OGG
Synth	splay out a sample across the keys, or use the default sine synth
SuperCollider integration	custom SynthDefs for processing SuperCollider output
Vim navigation	hjkl throughout, multi-modal nav system

Prerequisites


Rust	`cargo` package manager and Rust language compiler
Nerd Fonts	required for icons (rewind, fast-forward, etc.)
MPV	media playback with IPC socket support
FFmpeg	recording encoder for MP3/WAV/FLAC/OGG
SuperCollider (optional)	for TidalCycles integration

Installation

From crates.io

From GitHub release archive

This will take the latest release binary and install it to ~/.cargo/bin/termixer (same as cargo).

curl -sL https://raw.githubusercontent.com/l00sed/termixer/master/install.sh | bash

From source

git clone https://github.com/l00sed/termixer.git
cd termixer
cargo install --path .

Build

cargo build              # debug
cargo build --release    # optimized with LTO

Usage

# Auto-discover audio sources
cargo run

# Specify MPV sources explicitly
cargo run -- -s "Deck A" /tmp/mpv-a.sock -s "Deck B" /tmp/mpv-b.sock

# With music and samples directories
cargo run -- -m ~/Music -S ~/Samples

Starting MPV with IPC

mpv --input-ipc-server=/tmp/mpv-music.sock music.mp3

There's also an mpv wrapper script included that you can use to automatically enable the necessary flags just by setting the TM environment variable:

Termixer should automatically install this wrapper script to ~/.local/bin/mpv. When TM=1, it will add the socket and pcm flags. Without it, mpv runs normally.

To manage your own mpv config and disable automatic seeding of ~/.config/mpv/scripts/ and ~/.config/mpv/mpv.conf, use export TM_NO_CONFIG=1 in your shell profile.

Pads/Samples/Sequences

NOTE: Termixer uses the default SuperDirt samples installation directory by default. It's a great, free library to grab some starter samples.

macOS — ~/Library/Application Support/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/Dirt-Samples

Linux — ~/.local/share/SuperCollider/downloaded-quarks/Dirt-Samples

Pad and sequence configurations can be exported to .json files and imported later to restore all saved samples, pad settings, and sequences. The default save/load directory is ~/Documents.

Change the sample directory with termixer -S PATH.
Change the sequences/samples ("sessions") directory with termixer -L PATH.

CLI Options

Flag	Description
`-s, --source NAME SOCKET`	Add an audio source (MPV IPC socket)
`-m, --music-dir PATH`	Directory for audio file browser
`-S, --samples-dir PATH`	Directory for sample pad files
`-L, --session-dir PATH`	Directory for session save/load (default: ~/Documents)
`-d, --discover`	Auto-discover audio sources (default)
`-h, --help`	Show help

Keyboard Controls

Navigation

Key	Action
`Tab` / `h` / `l`	Switch between panes (Deck A, DJ, Deck B, Master)
`Enter`	Enter control select mode
`Esc`	Go back one level
`?`	Toggle help overlay
`q`	Quit

Controls

Key	Action
`j` / `k`	Navigate controls up/down
`h` / `l`	Adjust value / toggle EQ kill switch
`J` / `K`	Coarse adjustment (0.2)
`+` / `-`	Fine adjustment (0.05)
`m` / `s`	Toggle mute / solo
`c`	Center pan or crossfader
`0`	Reset control to default

Source & Sample Pads

Key	Action
`A`	Open source picker for Deck A
`B`	Open source picker for Deck B
`P`	Toggle sample pads mode

Synth

For some great synth samples, I recommend downloading legowelt's sample packages.

Key	Action
`q 2 w 3 e r 5 t 6 y 7 u i 9 o 0 p [ = ]`	Play the active C-to-G range
`h` / `l` or arrows	Move the waterfall cursor by semitone
`H` / `L` or Shift+arrows	Move the waterfall cursor by octave
`Enter`	Open waterfall controls/editor
`j` / `k`	Select a waterfall step
`J` / `K`	Move down/up one waterfall measure
`Enter` / `Space`	Cycle cell through Off, Play, Hold
`Shift+Space`	Place a Hold cell directly
`c`	Toggle SYNTH sample/config pane
`Ctrl+v`	Start/end rectangular visual selection
`c` / `x`	Copy/cut visual selection (bring up config when not on an active cell)
`p`	Paste at the waterfall cursor
`Ctrl+z` / `Shift+Ctrl+z`	Undo/redo waterfall edits

The SYNTH tab row creates up to eight simultaneous synth tracks. Each track has an independent waterfall length, mute state, BPM, sample, and sample configuration. The SYNTH control-row play/pause toggles every synth, while master play/pause pauses all decks, sequences, and synths and resumes only those that were active. Synth presets save every tab and restore the complete pane from one synth.json; legacy single-synth presets remain loadable.

Development

Check changes and run the test suite before opening a pull request:

cargo check
cargo test
cargo clippy -- -D warnings

Run Termixer with DEBUG=1 while developing behavior, state synchronization, or audio routing:

Debug mode enables the in-app debug pane and preserves diagnostic logging that is otherwise redirected to prevent stderr from corrupting the TUI. Clippy is run with warnings treated as errors to keep new code lint-clean.

License

MIT