Add-On Content - Paks, Tiklpaks & Templates
We design our software tools to be content exendable and "open". The reason we use the term "open" is to make it clear that add-on content, whether audio files, pieces or packaged "templates", can come from anywhere - us, you, or someone else. Where there are a number of related files (a "content collection") that need to be moved around it easier if they are grouped together into one file, and we refer to these as "Paks".
The humble zip file is our preferred container format for Paks. We use zip files because the format is open; they are great for templates because the included content cannot be overwriten; they are easy to make (by us or you!); there are many 3rd party tools (some free) to create them; they can contain a directory structure; packaged content can be anything and is compressed; they keep content nicely organised - and zip files are easy to transfer!
Tiklpaks
There is a special kind a Pak, however, which we call the Tiklpak™. This is simply a Pak that Intermorphic itself has collated, prepared, zipped and made available for use with the relevant tool. And you can tweet mixtikls based on them!
Mixtikl comes with a large number of included/pre-installed Intermorphic Tiklpaks and there are several add-on Intermorphic Tiklpaks, too.
Benefits of Intermorphic Tiklpaks include:
- Tweet mixtikls based on them! How?
- Mark of quality (Tiklpak is an Intermorphic brand)
- You know the included content has been set up correctly
- You can use them in Mixtikl to make royalty free recordings (subject to their EULA)
- Desktop versions include installers
- Mixtikl Tiklpak: When a shared mix file is played in Mixtikl, you are notified of any Tiklpak content used in the mix that is not already installed and so does not play (the content cell is shown as red).
DIY Paks
You can make your own Paks, too, and we encourage that! In the desktop version you can also use your own loops and samples without first creating a Pak.
The multimedia content in Paks can be audio, MIDI, generative music & other kinds of files as well as other elements such Mixtikl FX networks, Mixtikl files, images etc.
If you have put your own content into a Pak (i.e. YOUR Pak) and want to sell it, then fine: we won't get in the way. We don't want a cut on what is yours or even a 'format' royalty. Just set up your store or get a distributor, and away you go.
If you want to give YOUR Pak above to the community for them to use for free, then go for it. The Mixtikl world is now ready and waiting to hear what you can do with community content!
If you don't make your own loops or sounds, you can still contribute to the community as a Pak maker/curator. There is a growing body of freely licensable Creative Commons content you could referencee & use within Paks - do, of course, make sure you comply with all license terms! See One Laptop Per Child project for examples of Creative Commons licensed samples.
