San Francisco Company Releases Free, Open Source version of Interactive MP3 Music Mixer

SAN FRANCISCO, April 12, 2001 -- Tactile Pictures has now released version 2.1 of the Tactile12000, software to mix MP3 and other digital audio files, as a free, open-source product. The Tactile12000 puts a full set of DJ gear on the desktop – it is a 3-D, fully interactive, digital DJ setup – two turntables and a mixer. You can play back and mix music on your computer – fade back and forth between tracks, backspin and beat-match, or you can let the software do it all for you.

The Tactile12000 design has been featured in interaction 2000: Print's Digital Design Annual and the software has been downloaded by nearly a quarter million users. The new version supports using multiple sound cards on Windows computers. By plugging headphones into the second sound card, you can cue an upcoming track while another is playing over the main speakers. Every control, from the crossfader to the pitch control to the tonearm, works like real DJ equipment. The automatic mixing feature smoothly fades from each song to the next.

"The Tactile12000 is the first cross-platform MP3 player software that lets you mix MP3 files on your desktop using a visual interface and the same controls as a professional DJ setup," said Derek Chung, the designer and developer of the Tactile12000. "It's free, and as an open-source project, users can customize the look and feel of the software and add their own features to it. We hope to see exciting new creations from our growing user community. We've had a great response from users who have spun at parties and clubs with just a laptop – no crate of records."

The Tactile12000 is available now for both Windows 95/98/2000/ME/NT and Macintosh computers as a free download from http://www.tactile12000.com. The source code is available through the Developers' link on the web site.

About Tactile Pictures

Tactile Pictures (www.tactilepix.com) is a six-year old San Francisco new media design and production studio with expertise in graphic and interface design, as well as software, web and multimedia development. Tactile Pictures has produced numerous new media, print and software projects for diverse clients including Apple Computer, NAATA, Macromedia, IDEO, MTV.com, MJuice and OM Records. Tactile12000 designer Derek Chung publishes the Late Train web site (www.latetrain.com), a source for late night info in San Francisco, and is also a co-founder of Urbanpixel (www.urbanpixel.com), a revolutionary new user experience platform for the internet.

Contact: Derek Chung of Tactile Pictures, 415-431-8292; derek@tactilepix.com.