The Mixx UI is Mixed Up

So I just downloaded Mixx, the open-source DJ software, to try it out. It (so far) doesn't seem to modify my files, so in this aspect it's better than Traktor, which wants to update my entire library rather than maintaining a separate database or creating metadata sidecar files.

But I'm sorry—no disrespect meant, because I'm sure this is a great open-source achievement—but this just doesn't cut it. It reminds me of so many open source projects (think W3C's Amaya) that have great intentions but don't have a clue about usability.

First of all, the UI isn't made with relative-based layout. That means if you maximize it to full-screen, you get... a big black screen with the same-sized window in the middle (think playing a small VGA games on your new 1900x1200 screen). If you want a different size, you gotta switch to a different skin.

It scans my files. Now I want to play a song. Ctrl+F doesn't work. Neither does Ctrl+K. I don't see a search button. There's no "Search" in the menus. Ah, I see a "Search" text field—but what's the keyboard short cut?

I also see a "Load Song (Player 1)...". Ctrl+O? Really? And for Player 2 it's Ctrl+Shift+O? What's Player 3 going to be (in the future)? Ctrl+Shift+Alt+O?

Never mind... I hit "Load Song" and I'm presented with... an "Open File" dialog? I don't even get a tree structure in the "Library" inside the software itself?

And none of options present context-sensitive menus with the right mouse button. And the velocity slider doesn't snap back to zero when I double-click it. Oh, it does when I right-click it—aff!

I'm not a DJ. I'm not used to DJ software—so maybe this is all my problem because I'm not used to industry standard UIs for DJ software. But I am very aware of standard UI conventions across software in general, and out of the box, it's not intuitive. Sure, I could use it and explore it and use it some more, and eventually I'd get so used to its quirks that using it would be second-hand. (I assume that's the only reason anyone still uses the vi editor.) But why? And maybe I could find a 1900x1200 skin. But why? In that time I could work to get enough money to buy a commercial project that is usuable. Or write my own.

At least many of the buttons have little tooltips that pop up, ugly and hard to see as they are. They point out that "Cue" for Player 1 is... Ctrl+F? Really? (So that's where my search keypress combination went.) So "Cue" for Player 2 must be Ctrl+Shift+F (like loading songs), right? Uh, no. It's Ctrl+:. (That colon is not a typo.)

I want to congratulate someone on probably years of hard work and sweat and tears creating open-source music software. Conceptually, it's an amazing achievement. Now I'm going to uninstall it and go find (or write) something that I can use. Sorry—that's the real world.