This guide is a how-to for streaming using a 3rd party software such as OBS, and many of these instructions may also be applied to other software.
The instructions provided herein are based around a XDJ-RX2, and may be different for other XDJ units. Please check the XDJ or DDJ sections of the Knowledge Base for additional tutorials.
Step 1 - Update
Ensure that you are running the latest version of rekordbox, that your drivers and firmware are up-to-date, and that your broadcast software is current as well.
Step 2 - Download the Necessary Software
There is just one extra tool necessary:
You can also use other similar applications such as Sound Siphon or Loopback, but those are both paid apps and Blackhole works, and is free, so why not?
Step 3 - Configure the Audio Output
Open Applications > Utilities > Audio MIDI Setup - if the Audio Devices window is not visible, click Window > Show Audio Devices.
Right-click on BlackHole 16ch and select Use This Device For Sound Output:
You'll now see that little speaker icon beside the BlackHole entry.
Quit Audio MIDI Setup.
Step 4 - Configure rekordbox Audio
Open rekordbox in Performance mode, press the MIDI button on the RX2, and then the LOAD 1 and LOAD 2 buttons to connect the hardware.
Open the preferences and click the Audio icon and check that the XDJ-RX2 is set as your audio device:
Click the checkbox below it to enable the PC MASTER OUTPUT and you should now see Pioneer XDJ-RX2 : MASTER + BlackHole 16ch as the output for the master:
Load up a couple of tracks and hit play. You should hear audio out of the master outputs as well as headphones if you have any headphone cueing enabled.
Step 5 - Configure OBS for Audio
Minimize rekordbox and launch OBS.
Click the + button at the bottom of the Sources window to add a new Audio Input Capture source:
You can keep the defaults, click OK.
Select BlackHole 16ch from the Device drop-down:
Click OK. Click the gear icon below the Audio Input Capture in the Audio Mixer section:
Here you can adjust the volume if needed (to boost the signal level if necessary), or if you want to enable output from your computer speakers, click Audio Monitoring, and select Montior and Output:
Click Close.
Be sure to adjust the levels on the mixer for any other audio sources; mute the other inputs if they're not being used. You're ready to broadcast - simply configure your output stream destination!
Step 6 - Tweak
You should test and monitor the workload and buffer on your computer as you perform - chances are the CPU usage won't be the issue, but the audio buffer may still run out. As you increase the buffer, the latency (delay between action and audio output) will increase, but the likelihood of audio dropouts or crackling will decrease. Your computer's age will typically increase the buffer sizes required, but there are tricks you can do to reduce background application usage and improve the overall performance of your Mac.
Notes
This guide was made using the following software versions:
- macOS Catalina v10.15.4
- rekordbox v6.0.0
- BlackHole v0.2.6
- OBS Studio v25.0.8
While efforts will be made to keep up with any changes to this process to ensure others can use it after software update have been released, we can't guarantee the accuracy or relevance of this information, nor the performance of any 3rd party software applications.
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