Digital vinyl system
A two-deck DVS
you build yourself.
Waxcode DVS turns a Raspberry Pi into a digital vinyl system. Real timecode on your own turntables, waveforms and beat grids worked out on the box, and your phone instead of a laptop in the booth.
The hardware is a Raspberry Pi 5 and two HiFiBerry audio boards. The software is free and the DVS engine is open source.
Signal chain
timecode vinyl
audio in
xwax + server
your booth
audio out
bluetooth
The phone controls and displays. It is never in the audio path — pull it out of your pocket mid-set and the record keeps playing.
Specification
- Decks
- 2
- Control
- Serato control vinyl
- Engine
- Forked xwax, on the box
- Audio
- HiFiBerry DAC8x + ADC8x
- Library
- USB stick, read directly
- Link
- Bluetooth LE
- Analysis
- Waveforms + beat grids, on load
- Recording
- Yes, exportable
- Parts cost
- £200–220
01
You build it yourself
There is no finished box to buy. You source the parts, stack two boards onto a Pi and write one file to a card. The whole thing is documented rather than sealed.
02
Your music, on a USB stick
Copy tracks to a stick and the box reads them straight off the drive. Nothing to import, nothing to analyse the night before, no account, and no internet needed on the night.
03
Your phone connects over Bluetooth
No network is involved, so the venue's Wi-Fi is irrelevant. Once you are paired it can vanish entirely and the set carries on.
04
No subscription, no licence
You buy the parts yourself, at cost. The box software is a free download and the DVS engine is open source. There is no DVS licence to buy and no monthly plan — the app is a one-time purchase, and the only thing you ever pay for.
Getting started
Four steps, no terminal
Everything is pre-built into a single system image. There is nothing to compile, no scripts to run and no command line at any point.
Read the build guide →Assemble the hardware
A Raspberry Pi 5 with two HiFiBerry audio boards stacked on top of it.
Write one file to an SD card
Download the Waxcode system image and write it with Raspberry Pi Imager, the free official tool. Choose the file, choose the card, press write.
Power it on and walk away
The first boot configures the sound card, Bluetooth and storage on its own. A few minutes, unattended.
Pair your phone
Open the app, tap your Waxcode DVS, plug in a USB stick of music. That is the whole setup.
Mailing list
Get notified
One short email when the system image and the app are ready to download. Nothing else, and you can leave any time.