DJ HOW TO | Live Stream on Mixlr with just Traktor & Hercules Starlight (No External Sound card, No Second Laptop, Yes Mic Input)
My name is Mike Vosters, I’m a Brooklyn-based club, corporate, and wedding DJ.
With the pandemic looming, I decided to get out of New York and quarantine with my sister in Denver. Foolishly thinking it would only be a few weeks, I didn’t bring any DJ equipment with me – just a laptop and a pair of headphones.
As weeks went by, I grew envious of all the other DJ’s live streaming and decided I needed to find an affordable way to get on the air.
What You’ll Need To Live Stream Without An External Sound Card or Second Computer
This same how-to can apply to other MIDI controllers and software I’m sure, but this is specifically what I’m using.
- Macbook Pro
- Hercules Starlight Micro DJ Controller
- Headphones w/ mic input
- Mixlr Software & Mixlr Audiolink
- Traktor Pro 3
The Challenge | Getting a Separate Cue Output & Mic Input
So of course this setup came with some self-inflicted technical challenges. I prefer Traktor over Serato (hot take I know), and the Hercules Starlight is built for Serato. When you hook the Starlight up to Traktor, the headphone cue output doesn’t work since it’s functioning as a MIDI controller and not a sound card.
That’s actually a good thing however, as if it was being used as a sound card, you’d have to re-route it’s output back into your laptop (or a second computer), which I also didn’t want to do because I was determined to also have a mic input for my broadcast — an input that Hercules Starlight doesn’t have.
So I had to find a way to resolve all these issues.
The Solution | Using An Aggregate Sound Card To Live Stream To Mixlr
After trial and error, I figured out how to get it done…
- Plugin your headphones to your headphone jack and the Hercules Starlight via USB
- Download Mixlr Live Streaming Software | Also, open up Mixlr and make sure Mixlr AudioLink is downloaded (it should be automatically included I believe, but if not click to download it)
- Open the “Audio MIDI Setup” on your Macbook | This app will already be installed on your laptop. If you don’t use Spotlight (command + space), you can just go into Applications -> Utilities -> Audio MIDI Setup.
- Click the “+” sign -> Click “Create Aggregate Device” -> Then select “Built-In Output” and “Mixlr AudioLink”. Re-name it if you want. This allows you to split your master output to go to Mixlr, while your headphone cue will go to your headphones still.
4. Open Traktor
5. In Traktor Preferences, do the following…
- Audio Setup: Set your audio device to the new aggregate device
- Output Routing: Set to Internal, then set “Output Monitor” to the 1+2 channels, then set the output master to the 3+4. Set both to “Mono”.
- NOTE: The channels are in whatever order your sound devices are in within your Audio MIDI Setup. So in my case, 1+2 are the Built-In Output while the 3+4 are the Mixlr AudioLink. So I’m sending my headphone monitor to my laptop’s headphone jack and my master output to Mixlr.
6. Re-Open Mixlr
- Set one channel to be “Built-In Microphone” (if you want to use a mic — can even be a mic that’s built into your headphones)
- Set another channel to “Mixlr AudioLink”
7. Play a song from Traktor
8. Boom. You’re live streaming from Traktor to Mixlr with a mic input and without the need for an external sound card or second laptop
Drawbacks & Notes
- No External Sound Outside Of Headphones| A huge challenge with this (for me at least) is that there’s no external sound system you can listen to. You just have to drag the headphone cue knob manually back and forth.
- Mic Input Direct Into Traktor | You can definitely do this. I had originally had my mic input going into Track Deck D as a live input, but I was getting crackly feedback for some reason so decided to just go into Mixlr.
- Could you run video too? | Mixlr doesn’t provide this but what I did was have my friends have my Mixlr link open for audio, then we all joined a Zoom call for the video.
Conclusion | A Minimalist Live Streaming Setup For The Win
Is this setup perfect? No. Am I in love with it? Yes. I fell in love with less while doing this. I love the smaller controller. I love not having cords and big equipment everywhere. And I love that for $100 I can live stream for my friends while all my equipment is stranded back in NYC.
BONUS | Hercules Starlight vs Numark DJ2GO2
I may write another full post on this, but until then here’s why I went with the Hercules Starlight ($89.99 on Amazon). I chose the Hercules over the Numark DJ2GO2 because of it’s Vinyl scratch mode (can scratch when deck is playing), superior aesthetics (I’m a sucker for design), toggle-able filter/bass knob, and it had more buttons that would allow me to make a better custom MIDI mapping for Traktor.
