Hi Katim,

> I came across your Airtime skin for Mixxx
> (http://vimeo.com/26632314) earlier this morning, and I already have
> Mixxx installed. While I like the work around, I think it would have
> been much cleaner if Airtime implemented functionality for live shows.

These are really two different types of applications, which is why they
are separate. It's best to think of Airtime as a broadcast management
tool, rather than a performance tool.

Airtime can be used over the Internet, where buffer sizes mean it's very
difficult to guarantee the sub-10 millisecond responsiveness that you
would get from a hardware system (or a well-tuned computer) under your
hands. For instance, you would not usually DJ live over the Internet
using a remote machine, because of the latency making beat matching tricky.

> why can't we have an
> open source implementation of a software-based broadcast mixer. I am no
> techie, but here's my thinking (correct me if I'm wrong). Why don't we
> have software to take audio feeds (mics, cd players, telephone hybrids,
> etc) via USB, and provide an interface to mix them as you would on a
> broadcast console and output them?

This is perfectly possible using a program such as Ardour:
http://ardour.org/

The main advantage over using a hardware mixer is that you can have
effects plugins with saved settings. I am not aware of a USB telephone
hybrid being available commercially, but you can certainly connect an
analogue telephone hybrid to Ardour's main audio interface. This main
audio interface might be USB, PCI or FireWire, depending on the number
of channels you need.

Cheers!

Daniel