Introduction

MIXI-CUT is an open-source DVS (Digital Vinyl System) timecode protocol designed from scratch for artisanal vinyl lathe cutting. It is not reverse-engineered from Serato or Traktor.

What is MIXI-CUT?

A timecode vinyl contains a special audio signal that encodes the position and speed of the record. DJ software reads this signal through a sound card and maps it to digital audio playback, enabling scratching, beat-matching, and mixing with any audio file.

MIXI-CUT generates the WAV files that are cut onto vinyl with a lathe. The protocol uses a 3 kHz stereo quadrature carrier with absolute position encoding.

Protocol v0.3.0

The current protocol version includes:

• Barker-13 sync word for fast frame acquisition
• CRC-16 for O(1) corrupted frame rejection
• Reed-Solomon RS(4) for full error correction
• Multi-rate encoding for inner groove compensation
• Velocity subcarrier at 500 Hz for instant speed readout

Design principles

1. Open --- MIT license, no DRM, no vendor lock-in
2. Robust --- survives -24 dB SNR, 4-bit ADC, 70% channel crosstalk
3. Affordable --- ~8 EUR per vinyl vs ~40 EUR commercial
4. Portable --- reference decoders in Python, C, Rust, JavaScript
5. Tested --- 1000+ Monte Carlo tonearm bounce simulations