Wildr:
Aaron, What was the 'Eureka' moment for you - I.E. when you came up with the idea for MixMeister - and what factors drove you to create something yourself?

There wasn't a single 'Eureka' moment for me. There were lots of small flashes of inspiration that got the product and company off the ground.

I don't recall exactly how it got started. From 1997 to 2000 I worked at Microsoft as a Technical Evangelist. I was fortunate enough to be involved in the first wave of MP3/WMA software and hardware, primarily as an observer. It became clear that the shift from music as a piece of plastic or vinyl to a file on disk or in memory was revolutionary. The experience exposed me to number of technical possibilities and business opportunities. Because of my experience DJing in college, I was really interested in tools for DJs.

In 1999, there was almost nothing available for mixing tracks. There were a couple of 1.0 level products, but they lacked basic features like BPM detection and mix exporting. It was a fabulous opportunity to create something. So, I started playing with music mixing at home and prototyped some ideas. After much tinkering and a public preview version, I felt the product was promising enough to quit my job and work on it full time.

Tell us more about your past life as a college DJ Aaron!

Was this a radio station, mixing gigs, or just general partying? What music were you playing?
and on what equipment?

I DJed at live events, mostly fraternity parties. This was the late 80s and I played mainstream dance music. I went to school at Pennsylvania State, which is in a remote area with few radio stations. So, our musical tastes were pretty boring.

Some of the tracks that come to mind are "Pump Up the Volume" by MARRS, "It Takes Two" by Rob Base and DJ EZ Rock, "Bizarre Love Triangle" by New Order, and "Rock Lobster" by the B-52s.

My equipment included two Technics SL-1200 turntables, a CD player, and a tape player. I totally geeked out on the lighting setup and built a custom lighting controller using 2 TRS-80 color computers. Nobody understood why you bring a computer to a gig. I used the computers to control 16 channels of lighting, most of which was light bulbs in hand built wooden boxes. I shudder thinking about how flammable and unsafe some of that stuff was.

How did Beatmixing.com come into being?

TedFunklfox (a.k.a. TravelFox and TF) deserves all the credit for starting beatmixing.com. He really poured his heart into creating the topics, recruiting the moderators, building tutorials, and getting the dicussion started. The site wouldn't be here today if TF hadn't taken the initiative he did. I can't say enough good things about him and his work.

I encourage you to read the Humorous Story about how it started.

Phreaq:
What is a technical evangelist?

Since I didn't coin that term, let me cite something from wikipedia:

A technical evangelist is a person who promotes the use of a particular product or technology through talks, articles, blogging, user demonstrations, recorded demonstrations, or the creation of sample projects. The word evangelism is taken from the context of religious evangelism because of the similar recruitment of converts and the spreading of the product information through the ideological or committed; hence, for instance, open source evangelism.

In the context of commercial enterprises which develop or foster a cult following and religious-like fanaticism, the term evangelist can become an unofficial or even an official role/title.

This usage was pioneered by Guy Kawasaki in Apple Computer's marketing of the Apple Macintosh (see Apple evangelist).

Other well-known technical evangelists are Don Box and Robert Scoble

MadameFly:
Aaron, had you used any of the other software packages for mixing music when you were first developing the idea for MixMeister? Did any of your dev ideas stem from failures of these packages to offer user-friendly tools? Or was it developed purely as an alternative to the wheels of steel?

When I first started working on MixMeister, I was a big fan of Sonic Foundry's Acid. (Sonic Foundry later sold this product/business to Sony.) Acid is a revolutionary tool for creating songs from prexisting loops. I was inspired to do something similar for creating DJ mixes from full tracks. At the time, DJ software was just getting started and there was lots of room to do something better. People were impressed by merely being able to DJ with a computer. They weren't yet concerned about being able to do it well.

Monkey Dan (Monk):
Have you heard of MixMeister software ever being used in unexpected ways/locations?

A blind person contacted us to let us know that he was using MixMeister. Given the complexity of the timeline, he was only able to use the library and playlist. However, he was really happy to be mixing music and MixMeister was the only tool he could use.

I also heard of a Hospital using MixMeister to play their background music throughout the building.

DnC:
How long of a process (beta to version 1) was it to create what was released?

The first public release was version 1.0. You could consider this first release a beta because it was free and stopped working on a specific date, 6 months after the initial release. A friend suggested this approach since it would be a good way to gauge interest and leave room to upsell a full version later.

I don't recall how long it took to create version 1.0. I believe it was at least 6 months, but probably less than 12. Version 1 was so incredibly crude. It didn't offer any control of the volume or even mix exporting.

Were you happy with the outcome?

Yes. I was pleasantly surprised that people downloaded version 1 and many of them sent me email with feature suggestions. It gave me the confidence to believe that I might be able to make a living with MixMeister and so I quit my day job.

Looking back on it now, through the different versions that have been created, are you happy with the product as it has evolved? Is there anything that YOU think is still lacking from the software?

I'm never completely happy with the products. There are always features that get postponed to the next version in the interest of shipping in a timely manner. There is always room for improvement and the bar keeps getting higher and higher.

Can I borrow 5 dollars?

No!

Ardent:
What's the most embarrassing song on your hard drive right now?

Compared to what I normally play, I'm most embarrassed by "Barbie Girl" by Aqua. I bought this track for a gig I did a week ago.

http://www.amazon.com/gp/music/clipserve/B000002P7Z0010.../102-4132681-7946523

Omlette Brothers:
When you're sat at you're desk programming, what Artist/Track will you reach for when you're in need of inspiration?

I really love Armin Van Buuren. His brand of trance really speaks to be and gets me in the zone

When you're not designing software which activity would you prefer writing email/ taking phone calls/ mixing up a hot new track?

I would rather mix a hot new track or listen to some music.

Is it true you put a PC in Technics 1210?

Yes. You can read about it here.

Thanks to all the hosts and mods for their questions, and especially to Aaron, for squeezing our questions into his hectic schedule!

On behalf of all the members I’m going to take this opportunity to express our thanks to all at MixMeister Technology LLc for the work they put in to produce what are truly ground breaking – and Fun - products!