Termixer (TUI DJ Mixer) • Hacker News Board

Re: Termixer (TUI DJ Mixer)

#41

Post by kbouck » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 5:17 AM UTC

the constraints of a TUI force you to be creative (in a good way) how to represent/encode information to the user.

In a DJ TUI, how to represent the track waveform? Encoding waveform amplitude in ascii blocks or dots is a pretty low fidelity representation. Instead, you can encode waveform amplitude in single row of blocks with 256 color/intensity averaging the backing sample peaks.

And's if you ever do stems separation you have 4 such rows for each track - efficient and dense!

As the track is playing, or user is zooming or jogging, this representation would give more of the feel that the playhead is moving through the track smoothly.

Re: Termixer (TUI DJ Mixer)

#42

Post by kbouck » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 5:39 AM UTC

vintagevibe wrote: post #11

I'm a DJ/TUI nerd and as much as I want to like this, I don't think the keyboard will ever be the right input or mode for DJing. Maybe my mental model is an outlier, but multi-point physical controls are critical for so much of what's happening while DJing — the master level controls, effects, cueing, individual track controls, and even just being able to physically manipulate playing tracks. It just doesn't map to a…

some controls lend themselves well to a TUI, others not so much. buttons and pads: no problem. knobs and faders: passable but compromised. jog wheel for scratching: pretty much needs to be controller/midi.

No reason this project couldn't add midi controller support directly to the backend (not via TUI!).

Re: Termixer (TUI DJ Mixer)

#43

Post by tim-projects » Sat, Aug 01, 2026, 10:33 AM UTC

erikschoster wrote: post #6

I guess this is a boring and predictable thing to say, but I miss seeing a project like this and being excited about it. Instead I looked at the codebase, see that it seems LLM-generated and assume it hasn't had much thought or care put into it, so I'm not really motivated to even try it out. Sorry. :-/

> see that it seems LLM-generated and assume

Do not assume that just makes you a jerk.

LLM use has nothing to do with thought or care in the same way that using a stencil doesn't.

Stop thinking your pencil is better than his stencil. It has nothing to do with design or creativity.