MixAction

I’ll be adding some info and screenshots here shortly on the product we are blogging about and developing.  Stay tuned…

1. What is MixAction?
   MixAction is a Windows software product (Win 2000, XP and Vista or above) for theatrical live audio playback.
2. Why are you blogging about it?
   Transparency.  The idea is two fold.  One it keeps me moving forward as I chart my own progress, secondly it’s my hope that it the blogging process assists others starting up in their efforts.  I also hope it encourages others to start their own blogs and blog about the development of their own products.
3. Wasn’t this supposed to be finished in 30 Days or something?
   No.  The idea was to see if a product could be written and released in 30 Days.  That 30 Days was from June 1st 2008 to June 30th 2008.  What I ended up with was a working prototype for the product.  Given the complexity of multi-media software, the requirements for live playback and the necessity to make it genuinely simple to use while working using paradigms that fit with live theater (theatre) in particular, 30 Days simply wasn’t enough time to do the product justice.  So I bit the bullet and held of releasing and instead continued to refine the product.
4. So you’ve abandoned the idea of “release early”?
   Not at all.  The defintion of “release early” is certainly not “30 Days”.  While a simple product can be written in that time frame a complex product can not.  It can take months and even years.  At this point though I expect to release this product this year, though I am not prepared to even estimate the actual release time.
5. Isn’t the audio playback software market crowded with freebies like Windows Media Player, iTunes, WinAmp and so on?
   In the context of just audio playback yes.  But if you have ever done live audio, or theatrical live audio – as I have – then you would know that using one of these tools for this purpse is quirky, unreliable and extremely limiting. Many live audio people are still using CD’s and fighting with mechnical failures, disk skipping, bad labelling and human error. MixAction’s name was chosen because Mixing Action is exactly what it does, further it does it in a manner that supports the notion of Acts and Scenes and allows for automation and project building in order to minimize mistakes and mechanical failures during a performance.  Increasingly MixAction leans more towards being a simple to use live performance DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) rather than a “player” given the toolkit the software is shipping with right from release.
6. You make a lot of noise on this blog about “domain knowledge”.  What’s yours?
   I’ve been involved in software development since my early twenties at a professional level.  I’ve been an ISV before – though at that time the term was not used – the term mISV wasn’t coined until a few years ago.  So I have several decades of experience as a developer.  I began programming however when I was sixteen.  My first product was a music synthesizer using the Vic 20 and later the Commodore 64’s SID chip.  Yes, I actually used this as an “instrument” live in a band and on multitrack recordings.  I began doing voice over work in high school.  I appeared first on an a parody production of Jeff Waynes “War of the Worlds” and later on an original musical production of  “The Time Machine.”  Later I gained a certificate in radio broadcasting in Melbourne and did voice overs for radio commercials for Melbourne’s 3AW and 3XY.  My voice can also be heard on many training and sales videos for software developers on the Internet as well as some DVD’s available in Australia to companies for staff training.  It also appears on many telephone answering services.  In addition I hold certification as an audio engineer and own and operate a small recording studio, used primarily by myself, in my office.  So I’ve worked as an audio engineer and as a live sound engineer.  Most of these roles where performed in addition to my full time employment as a programmer for several multi-national companies.  I have also worked at night as a nightclub DJ in the 1980’s and have taught computer related subjects and programming at tertiary level as I hold some limited teaching certifications.  I have also taught and assisted startup companies in the process of business development.  I guess you could say a wide variety of “domains” here.   Needless to say my work in live audio meant direct hands on experience in theatrical evnvironments including plays, musicals, pageants and as the voice and music for county “fairs” or “shows” as they are called downunder.