MixMusic Docs GitHub

Playing music

MixMusic plays Spotify and YouTube Music from one search and one queue, with radios, crossfade, an equalizer, speed control and offline playback.

This page covers finding music, the queue, the sound settings and the ways Spotify tracks play. Most of what it names is in Settings › Playback; the box at the top of the Settings page finds any setting as you type its name.

The search box at the top of the window, "Search Spotify and YouTube Music", searches both services at once. Ctrl+F (⌘F on macOS) puts the cursor in it. As you type, it suggests searches from YouTube Music; Enter, or a suggestion, opens the results. With nothing typed, the Search page lists your recent searches, which its clear link forgets.

  • The pivots at the top of the results are All, Songs, Albums, Artists, Playlists and Podcasts, each with how many it found. All shows the first ten songs, then shelves of artists, albums and playlists.
  • The services: under the pivots, choose both, Spotify or YouTube Music. With both, the results of the two services take turns, so that each leads.
  • Each result has a mark of its service. YouTube Music's songs say how many times they played, or how many views a video has, as "1.2B plays" or "905M views", so that the original stands out from covers. Spotify gives apps no such count.
  • Without Spotify, the page says it searches YouTube Music only, with a link to sign in. Spotify gives an app in development mode, as your Spotify app is, ten results of each kind.

The command palette (Ctrl+K) searches too: type anything, and its first item is "Search for" what you typed.

Playing from anywhere

  • A track's row: double-click it, or click its cover, to play the list from that track: the album, the playlist or the search results. Doing so on the track that plays pauses it.
  • A track's menu, from the … button of its row or a right click: Play, Play next, Add to queue, Start radio, Add to liked songs, Dislike, Add to mix, Add to YouTube Music playlist (signed in), Download, Go to the artist, Go to album, Open in Spotify or YouTube Music, and Copy link. A Spotify track that plays from YouTube Music also has Find another YouTube Music match, for when the recording found is the wrong one.
  • An album's or a playlist's page: Play and Shuffle, and the More menu: Play next, Add to queue, Start radio, Save as a new mix, Save as a YouTube Music playlist (signed in), Open on its service and Copy link.
  • An artist's page: Play top songs, then Top songs, Albums, Singles & EPs, and Fans also like. Its More menu starts a radio of the artist.
  • A tile, on Home, Explore, the search or the library: its play button plays it, and clicking the tile opens its page.
  • Home's Jump back in plays the track you played last again.
  • Synced lyrics: click a line to play the song from there.

A track that loads can't be paused or moved until you hear it: the play button shows that it loads, and the keys and media controls wait too. Choosing another track still leaves it.

The queue and Up next

The Queue button by the player, or Ctrl+J (⌘J), shows Up next at the right of the window: the track playing, then what plays after it.

  • Play next, in a track's or a list's menu, puts it right after the track playing. Add to queue puts it after the tracks you added, and before those of the radio.
  • Drag a track in Up next to move it, and use the × on its row to take it out. Clear takes out every track after the one playing. Double-click a track to play it.
  • Marks after the artists tell what a track is: "radio" for those a radio added, "skipped" for a song the queue passes over as you dislike it, and "made with AI" for one it passes over as YouTube labels it so. Clicking a skipped track's cover still plays it.
  • In a wide window, the player bar shows the track that plays next under the one playing, while Up next is closed.
  • After a restart, the queue comes back on the track that played, where it was, with up to 500 tracks around it.

Shuffle and repeat

  • Shuffle (Ctrl+S, ⌘S): the tracks after the one playing play in a random order, with the tracks before it that haven't played yet among them. Your own tracks stay ahead of the radio's. Turning it off puts the queue back in its order, and the tracks you added with Play next or Add to queue back where you added them. The Shuffle buttons of albums, playlists, mixes and liked songs start at a random song you don't dislike.
  • Repeat (Ctrl+R, ⌘R) goes from off to Repeat: all, which plays the queue again from its start, to Repeat: one, which plays the track again, and back to off.
  • Previous (Ctrl+←) starts the track again once it played for more than 3 seconds, and goes to the track before otherwise. Next (Ctrl+→) goes to the next one.

Autoplay and radios

A radio plays tracks like one you choose, from YouTube Music.

  • Autoplay, in Settings › Playback › Sound and on by default: when the queue runs out, a radio of what you played carries on.
  • Start radio, in a track's menu or a list's More menu, plays the track, then a radio of it. The command palette's "Start a radio of what plays" does it for the track playing; Settings › Shortcuts can give it a key.
  • What a radio plays: songs like the one it started from, leaving out the songs you dislike and, while Skip songs made with AI is on, passing over those YouTube labels as made with AI. It passes over other uploads and the music videos of songs already in the queue, and leaves out covers, mashups and other uploads unless it has nothing else. The radio of a music video starts from its song, so it carries on with songs, not more videos.
  • A queue that ends on a podcast episode stops, rather than start a radio.

Crossfade and gapless playback

  • Crossfade, in Settings › Playback › Sound: tracks overlap by 0 to 12 seconds, the next fading in as the one before fades out. It's off by default.
  • With Crossfade off, the next track starts as the one before ends: MixMusic finds the next track a second into the one playing and loads it ahead, so skipping ahead is quick too.
  • A pause in a song's last seconds holds, with Crossfade on: the next song doesn't fade in a moment later.
  • Spotify songs that play in MixMusic itself follow one another without a gap, as Spotify goes on to the next by itself, and a YouTube Music song after them starts without a wait.
  • Podcast episodes never crossfade, and tracks don't crossfade on a cast device.

Even loudness, volume levelling and the volume

  • Even loudness, in Settings › Playback › Sound and on by default, turns loud YouTube Music tracks down to one level (-14 LKFS) from their first note, using YouTube's own measure of each, so none jumps out. Quiet recordings keep their level. Loud masters play 4 to 7 dB quieter than without it: turn up your system's volume, or turn Even loudness off, if they sound too quiet. A track keeps its level offline too, once measured. Spotify tracks that Spotify plays keep Spotify's own loudness, and live streams play at their own level, as YouTube measures none.
  • Volume levelling, off by default, squeezes loud and quiet moments closer together as they play, and lifts quiet recordings.
  • The volume slider has even steps of loudness: each tenth of it is 6 dB, and ↑ or ↓ changes it by about 3 dB. The mouse wheel over it turns it up and down, M mutes, and the speaker button beside it mutes and unmutes.

The equalizer

Settings › Playback › Equalizer shapes the sound of what MixMusic plays itself.

  • Equalizer turns it on and off.
  • Preset: Flat, Bass boost, Treble boost, Vocal, Electronic, Rock, Acoustic, Late night or Lo-fi. Choosing one turns the equalizer on.
  • Bands: a preamp and ten bands, at 32, 64, 125, 250 and 500 Hz and 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16 kHz, each from -12 to +12 dB in half steps. Moving a band makes the preset Custom.

It works on YouTube Music, and on Spotify tracks played from their recording there. Spotify's own player takes no equalizer from apps: for Spotify tracks that Spotify plays, use your system's equalizer.

Speed

MixMusic plays songs faster or slower, from half their speed to three times it, at their own pitch.

  • The speed button, beside the volume, shows the speed while it isn't 1×. It opens a menu of steps, 0.75×, 1× (normal), 1.1×, 1.25×, 1.5×, 1.75× and 2×, with a slider below them for every speed from 0.5× to 3×, by 0.05.
  • Settings › Playback › Speed has a slider for Songs and one for Podcasts, each with a normal link while it isn't 1×. Podcast episodes play at their own speed, apart from songs' (see Podcasts); the button, the commands and the media controls change the speed of the kind that plays.
  • The commands Speed up and Slow down move the speed to the next quarter (1.1× goes up to 1.25×), and Normal speed sets 1×. They have no keys until you give them some in Settings › Shortcuts.
  • The mini player has the speed in its menu, on a right click.

The player bar shows the speed after the artists while it isn't 1×. The clock, the seek bar and synced lyrics keep the track's own time, a crossfade lasts the seconds you hear, and Last.fm counts how much of a song you heard. The system's media controls move on at the speed, and setting the rate over MPRIS on Linux sets it.

Spotify plays its own tracks and episodes at their own speed, in MixMusic or on Spotify Connect, and live streams play as they're broadcast: for those, the speed button is dimmed, and its tip tells why. Spotify tracks played from YouTube Music take the speed.

Dislikes and skipping

Dislike a song you never want to hear again:

  • with the thumbs-down beside the heart, in the player bar, on the now playing page and in the mini player;
  • with Dislike in any track's menu;
  • with Ctrl+D (⌘D on macOS) for the song playing, or from any app with a global shortcut of your own.

A disliked song that plays moves on at once, and a toast's undo takes the dislike back and goes back to the song where it was. From then on, the queue passes over the song as it moves on, forward and back, radios leave it out, and the play buttons of albums, playlists, mixes and artists start at their first song you don't dislike. A song you pick yourself still plays, and Up next shows the songs it skips.

A song is liked or disliked, not both: disliking a liked song unlikes it, on Spotify too. Signed in to YouTube Music, your dislikes of its songs go there too; Spotify takes none from apps, so those of its tracks stay in MixMusic. Library › Disliked lists them all (see Your library), and "Skip songs you dislike" in Settings › Playback › Sound turns the skipping off.

Skipping songs made with AI

"Skip songs made with AI", in Settings › Playback › Sound and off by default, passes over the songs YouTube labels as made with AI, as the queue moves on by itself: at the end of a song, on Next and Previous, in autoplay's radios, and from the play and shuffle buttons of a list.

  • YouTube labels only some of them, so others still play.
  • A song you pick by name plays anyway.
  • Skipped songs stay in the queue, dimmed and marked "made with AI", and one notice tells of them.
  • MixMusic asks YouTube about each song once, signed out, and keeps the answer for 30 days. That can add up to half a second before a song you skip to starts; a song YouTube doesn't answer for within 10 seconds plays.
  • Spotify songs are checked by their recording on YouTube Music, when they play from there.

Live streams

YouTube's live streams play, such as its 24/7 radio channels, from about 15 seconds behind the broadcast, for as long as it goes on.

  • The player bar and the mini player say "live" in place of the time and the length, and you can't seek. Previous goes to the track before.
  • A live stream ends only when its broadcast does.
  • After a pause of up to about an hour, it goes on from where it was; after a longer one, from near the live edge.
  • It plays at its own level, as YouTube measures none for Even loudness, and at its own speed. Data saver plays its 22 kHz stream.
  • It isn't kept in the offline cache, doesn't download, and isn't scrobbled to Last.fm, which hears only that it plays. Discord shows how long it played. Live streams don't cast yet.

The picture of music videos

Music videos can show their picture on the now playing page, in place of the cover. Turn on "Show the video of music videos" in Settings › Playback › Music videos, press the video button beside the play and next buttons of the now playing page while a music video plays, or use the command "Show or hide the video of music videos".

  • The picture is muted and follows MixMusic's own sound, pausing and seeking with it.
  • It shows only for official music videos and other uploads, never for songs or live streams.
  • It needs the system's web view, WebView2 on Windows and WebKitGTK on Linux: without one, the cover stays, and the setting says why.
  • It's fetched as it plays, about 3 MB a minute at 360p, and under 1 MB with data saver. Nothing is fetched while it's paused or not shown: on another page, with the window hidden or minimized, or with the mini player open.
  • While your system asks for less motion, a button on the cover plays the picture.
  • A web view runs beside MixMusic while pictures show, which takes memory until a minute after the last one.

5.1 surround

Some YouTube Music tracks have a 5.1 surround mix beside their stereo one. While one plays, a 5.1 button shows by the player: pressing it plays the surround mix from where the stereo one was, and pressing it again goes back to stereo. The choice stays for later tracks, as "Play 5.1 surround when a track has it" in Settings › Playback › Sound, which the button turns on and off. It's off by default.

  • On a 5.1 output device, the six channels play as they are. On headphones or two speakers, they're mixed down to stereo, as the track's own downmix levels say.
  • While it's on, stereo tracks play on the front left and right speakers of a 5.1 system.
  • The surround mix needs yt-dlp and a JavaScript runtime, which find it in a few seconds the first time the track plays.
  • The surround mix goes to the offline cache beside the stereo audio. Downloads keep the stereo audio, which plays while you're offline, and a surround mix that can't play gives way to the stereo one.

How Spotify tracks play

"How Spotify tracks play", in Settings › Playback › Spotify tracks, has three choices. Signing in to Spotify comes first: see Spotify.

  • In MixMusic, from Spotify, the default on Windows. MixMusic plays the track itself, at Spotify's own quality, with no Spotify app open, and shows among your Spotify devices while it plays. It needs Spotify Premium and Windows, whose web view can play Spotify's protected audio; elsewhere the choice is greyed out and says why. A sign-in made before MixMusic played Spotify itself doesn't allow it: Settings › Playback then asks you to sign in again, and until you do, Spotify tracks play from YouTube Music.
  • On Spotify Connect, the default on macOS and Linux. A Spotify device plays the track: your Spotify app on this computer, your phone or a speaker. It needs Spotify Premium and a device with Spotify open. The Device row under the choice, or the devices button by the player, picks the device; by default, the active one. The player bar says "on Spotify".
  • In MixMusic, from YouTube Music. MixMusic plays the track's recording on YouTube Music, with the equalizer, crossfade and the visualizer. It works without Premium. The player bar says "via YouTube Music", and Find another YouTube Music match in the track's menu looks again when the recording is wrong. In settings.json, this is "spotifyPlayback": "match".

When Spotify can't play a track the way you chose, MixMusic plays it from YouTube Music instead, and says why once. Spotify's podcast episodes play only from Spotify, in the first two ways.

While Spotify plays a track, in MixMusic or on Spotify Connect, its sound is Spotify's: the equalizer, Even loudness, the speed and crossfade leave it as it is.

Data saver

Quality, in Settings › Playback › Sound, chooses between best and data saver.

  • Data saver plays the smallest audio YouTube offers for each track, and a live stream's 22 kHz stream. For the few videos that also come in YouTube's stable-volume version, which is no smaller and squeezes the sound, it plays the original.
  • The picture of music videos takes its lowest quality.
  • Downloads take the quality chosen here.

Without the network

  • The offline cache keeps the tracks you played, as much as Settings › Playback › Offline cache allows, and they play again without the network. Downloads play without it too: see Your library.
  • While you're offline, the queue skips the tracks that aren't downloaded or cached, without an error for each, and waits for the network only once none is left. A toast says that your downloads still play, and Home offers to open them.
  • When the network drops partway through a song, the song waits for it, and plays on from where it stopped once it's back. The player bar says that it waits for the network, and the play button chooses whether the song plays then. Songs whose audio MixMusic holds still play meanwhile.
  • A song whose audio stops arriving, as on a slow connection, loads again where it was, up to three times. When three songs in a row can't play, MixMusic stops, rather than step through the rest of the queue.
  • When the computer goes to sleep, MixMusic pauses, and stays paused when it wakes, ready where it was. A Spotify Connect device elsewhere plays on.

A sleep timer

MixMusic has no sleep timer of its own. The community's Sleep Timer plugin, in the marketplace (the store icon in the sidebar), adds one: it fades the music out over 30 seconds and pauses it after 15, 30, 45, 60 or 90 minutes, or at the end of the track. It adds a sleep timer page to the sidebar and commands to the command palette, such as "Sleep timer: 30 minutes" and "Sleep timer: cancel".