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Mixman Concepts
You may find the following explanations helpful in understanding the Mixman
technology used for the DM² more fully:
What is a PC wave file? (.wav)
PC wave files are the industry standard format for storing and playing back CD-
quality digital audio on a PC computer. Wave files store audio signals as digital
data. The DM
2
has the ability to both import and export PC .wav files.
What is a Mixman Track file? (.trk)
One of the challenges in creating truly interactive digital audio performance
software is deciding what format of audio to use. The industry standard format for
playing back CD quality audio is the .wav file. The problem with .wav files is that
they contain only one sound. Take for example a recording of a bass line.
It does not contain the individual notes in the bass line. Rather, the whole bass
line is part of one .wav file. There is no information in a .wav file about when the
bass notes actually occur, or at what tempo they occur. These are severe
limitations and that is why we have created our own file format, called a Track file
(.trk). Track files are the building blocks of sound in the DM
2
. Just like a .wav file,
Track files contain digital audio, but here the similarities end. In the bass line
example, the Track version of the bass line actually has a different piece of digital
audio for each bass note. We call these pieces of digital audio “slices” .
Embedded in each Track file is also the equivalent of a MIDI file that knows the
tempo and exactly how and when to play each “slice”. This enables the DM
2
to
load Tracks created at different tempos and effortlessly pitch shift and time-
stretch them to match any tempo. Tracks are designed to do all the work for you.
While they can be modified manually, it is not required to edit or change settings
on a Track file in order to create incredible music in the DM
2
, nor is it required
that users understand how the automatic tempo adjustments (beat matching)
occur. These descriptions are mentioned simply to let users know that there is a
lot of hidden power “under the hood” of the DM
2
engine!
What is a Mix? (.mix)
Unlike the traditional electronic music studio setup, the DM
2
has the ability to
store all of your work in one convenient file. The .mix file stores all of the
necessary information for a DM
2
session, which includes the names and
locations of every sound used in a Mix, any W.A.R.P. settings that have been
applied to a sound, as well as any real-time performance data that has been
created. Since .mix files are only storing control information, and not actual audio
data, they are much smaller than the audio files they are able to generate. For
example, a .mix file representing a five-minute song may only be 100k, while the
five-minute .wav file version of the song would be close to 50 Megabytes! The
small size of .mix files makes them a great way to archive music, since hundreds
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