Get with the programmers

Developer Josh Noe and communications manager Sara Simms invite us to the Captain’s table

Tell us a little about Mixed In Key.

SS “The first version was released in 2006, a program that analyses the key of tracks, so DJs can choose ones for mixes that are compatible. Mixed In Key has launched different products for analysing music, making mashups, improving the quality of files, meta-data organisation, live DJ performance, music composition, and more.

“In 2018, Mixed In Key began creating plugins for music production and launched Captain Plugins – a series that connect to each other and allow users to write chords, basslines and melodies in the same key. In 2019, Captain Beat was released; it’s a new plugin that allows beat-makers to easily create percussive patterns.”

What was the original design brief behind Captain Plugins? JN “Yakov’s [the CEO of Mixed In Key] goal was to create a suite of plugins that were powerful, but still a lot of fun. He wanted you to open Captain for the first time and immediately improve your workflow and creative process, but also had a huge list of features to implement.

“One of his main requirements was that the plugins should be ‘connected’ to each other but still have independent functionality. This makes sense. Your overall composition should sound cohesive, and different aspects should interplay with one another. For example, you can connect Captain Deep to Captain Chords, create a bassline in Deep, and set it to ‘Follow the Chords’. Then you’re free to go nuts trying different Chord variations and progressions, and Deep will always transpose your bassline to follow them. Multi-plugin connectivity is not very common, partially because it’s challenging to get right, but we have some brilliant developers who come up with elegant ways of handling it. ”

“Open Captain for the first time and improve your workflow…”

What sets Captain Beat apart? SS “That you can easily scroll through different MIDI patterns. So it’s easy to mix and match percussion patterns from different genres. Then there are the artist kits. We have forthcoming kits from a range of genres, from hip-hop to trap to drum ‘n’ bass by L Dre, Kiva, JS, and Polaris. They feature custom MIDI patterns that are great material for tracks.”

Which feature across the Captain range are you most proud of? JN “The Idea Box for Captain Melody, because it was a committing effort from the entire team, but it’s been a huge success. It allows you to sculpt melodies in interesting ways besides just pencilling in individual notes. We had 20 or so major iterations. At each step, our musician team would say, ‘Wow, this is cool, but it’s not quite there because of this…’. So we’d sit down – basically the entire company – and brainstorm for hours. It seems ‘magic’ when you use it, but there’s the collective wisdom of dozens of pro musicians under the hood, and all the complexity that comes with that.”

What’s next for Mixed In Key and Captain Plugins?

JN “We’ve got some amazing things coming in another free update for Captain Beat. The custom drum kits are one of my favourite additions, and we’ve got some artist packs coming out that look cool too! I catch myself playing with new features during development, so that’s a good sign. We’re also working on a super top secret project that’s grown out of hundreds of studio hours and some really wild analysis. I’d tell you more but I think the team would show up at my door with pitchforks!”

mixedinkey.com