Mixed In Key (also known as MIK) is

Windows Windows is a group of several proprietary graphical operating system families developed and marketed by Microsoft. Each family caters to a certain sector of the computing industry. For example, Windows NT for consumers, Windows Server for ...

and

Macintosh The Mac (known as Macintosh until 1999) is a family of personal computers designed and marketed by Apple Inc. Macs are known for their ease of use and minimalist designs, and are popular among students, creative professionals, and software en ...

software Software is a set of computer programs and associated software documentation, documentation and data (computing), data. This is in contrast to Computer hardware, hardware, from which the system is built and which actually performs the work. ...

that simplifies a DJ technique called

harmonic mixing Harmonic mixing or key mixing (also referred to as mixing in key) is a DJ's continuous mix between two pre-recorded tracks that are most often either in the same key, or their keys are relative or in a subdominant or dominant relationship ...

. Mixed In Key analyses

MP3 MP3 (formally MPEG-1 Audio Layer III or MPEG-2 Audio Layer III) is a coding format for digital audio developed largely by the Fraunhofer Society in Germany, with support from other digital scientists in the United States and elsewhere. Orig ...

and WAV files and determines the

musical key In music theory, the key of a piece is the group of pitches, or scale, that forms the basis of a musical composition in classical, Western art, and Western pop music. The group features a '' tonic note'' and its corresponding '' chords'', a ...

of every file. Knowing the key,

DJs A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music festival), mobile D ...

can use music theory (such as the

Circle of Fifths In music theory, the circle of fifths is a way of organizing the 12 chromatic pitches as a sequence of perfect fifths. (This is strictly true in the standard 12-tone equal temperament system — using a different system requires one interval of ...

) to play songs in a harmonically-pleasing order. The software helps to solve Mixed In Key's software was developed to provide a

interface for the toner key detection algorithm created by zplane.development. The original tONaRT algorithm created by zplane.development had a simple Windows-based demo which could not process multiple

audio files An audio file format is a file format for storing digital audio data on a computer system. The bit layout of the audio data (excluding metadata) is called the audio coding format and can be uncompressed, or compressed to reduce the file size, of ...

at once. Yakov Vorobyev created a simple C# .NET

application that could batch-process multiple files. he first version was released on March 25, 2006. Soon after, work on

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

began, and on June 4, 2006, the first version of Mac OS X was released. Since May 2007, Mixed In Key, LLC has improved the key detection algorithm by combining tONaRT with a custom in-house algorithm. Mixed In Key was granted a patent on this algorithm. The new algorithm was released in Version 3.0. The latest version (in April 2022) is 10.0. Ali 'Dubfire' Shirazinia from Deep Dish was a big influence on the development of the Mac OS X version by providing feedback to the development team. After the Mac OS X version was released, Ali used Mixed In Key to help sequence songs for his

Global Underground Global Underground is a British record label and compilation series founded in 1996 by Andy Horsfield and James Todd. The label symbolised the international explosion of dance music during the 1990s, 2000s, and 2010s and first manifesto for hig ...

Taipei Taipei (), officially Taipei City, is the capital and a special municipality of the Republic of China (Taiwan). Located in Northern Taiwan, Taipei City is an enclave of the municipality of New Taipei City that sits about southwest of the ...

album.

Products

All three suites of Mixed In Key's software, Mixed In Key, Platinum Notes, and Mashup, are available for both PCs and Macs. ''Mixed In Key is the original software from Mixed In Key LLC, the software analyzes the harmonies and melodies of the selected music. For every track, it shows the musical key and helps choose tracks that are harmonically compatible with each other. Mixed In Key works with Traktor, Serato, Pioneer CDJs, Ableton Live and all other DJ apps. The software is used by the likes of

David Guetta Pierre David Guetta ( , ; born 7 November 1967) is a French DJ and music producer. He has over 10 million album and 65 million single sales globally, with more than 10 billion streams. In 2011, 2020 and 2021, Guetta was voted the number one D ...

and

Kaskade Ryan Gary Raddon (born February 25, 1971), better known by his stage name Kaskade, is an American DJ, record producer and remixer. ''DJ Times'' voted Kaskade "America's Best DJ" in 2011 and 2013. ''DJ Mag'' named Kaskade fifty-first on its 20 ...

. Other artists include

Paul van Dyk Matthias Paul (; born 16 December 1971), known professionally as Paul van Dyk () is a German DJ, record producer and musician. One of the first true renowned DJs, van Dyk was the first artist to receive a Grammy Award nomination in the newly a ...

Armin van Buuren Armin Jozef Jacobus Daniël van Buuren ( , ; born 25 December 1976) is a Dutch DJ and record producer from Leiden, South Holland. Since 2001, he has hosted '' A State of Trance'' (ASOT), a weekly radio show, which is broadcast to nearly 40&n ...

Sebastian Ingrosso Sebastian Carmine Ingrosso (; born 20 April 1983) is a Swedish DJ and record producer. He is also a member of the Swedish House Mafia, together with friends Axwell and Steve Angello. Career 1999–2007: Career Beginnings Sebastian Ingrosso en ...

Sasha Sacha, Sasha, Sascha, or ''variant'' may refer to: People * Sasha (name), includes list of people with the name and the variants Sascha or Sacha Musicians * Sasha (DJ) (born 1969), born Alexander Coe * Sasha (German singer) (born 1972), born Sas ...

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

-winning producer Ali 'Dubfire' from Deep Dish,

Pete Tong Peter Michael Tong, (born 30 July 1960) is an English disc jockey who works for BBC Radio 1. He is the host of programmes such as '' Essential Mix'' and '' Essential Selection'' on the radio service, which can be heard through Internet radio s ...

from

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

, trance producers

Blank & Jones Blank & Jones are a German electronic music duo, consisting of the members Jan Pieter Blank (born June 15, 1971), known as Piet Blank; René Runge (born June 27, 1968), better known as DJ Jaspa Jones; and the producer Andy Kaufhold (N*D*K) (born ...

, Above & Beyond,

High Contrast Lincoln Barrett (born 18 September 1979), better known by the stage name High Contrast, is a Welsh electronic music producer, DJ and record producer. He produces drum and bass music, and his 2009 album ''Confidential'' reached BPI gold certi ...

Nick Warren Nicholas John Warren (born 24 October 1968) is an English DJ and record producer. He is best known as a member of the electronic music duo Way Out West, his record label and global live events brand, The Soundgarden, and for his albums release ...

, and BT. ''Platinum Notes'' was the second software suite release. It allows the user to drop in music files. Platinum Notes then makes the tracks acoustically perfect, by using studio filters to process the files. The software corrects for pitch, improves volume, and makes the file ready to play anywhere. ''Mashup'' is Mixed In Key's most recent addition to its offerings. The software helps beatmatch tracks and saves results to new MP3 files. Files then can be made into a podcast.

Controversy

Mixed In Key has faced criticism over its decision to require an internet connection in versions following Version 2.5. While numerous users have identified this as a deterring and unfair form of

copy-protection Copy protection, also known as content protection, copy prevention and copy restriction, describes measures to enforce copyright by preventing the reproduction of software, films, music, and other media. Copy protection is most commonly found on ...

, Mixed In Key employees have responded, claiming that the new requirement has nothing to do with piracy, stating, "an internet connection is needed to analyze new files because Mixed In Key uses very expensive technology that is not available in 'offline' mode."

Allen & Heath Partnership

On December 22, 2006, Mixed In Key LLC announced a partnership with

Allen & Heath Allen & Heath (also known as AH or A&H) is a company based in Penryn, Cornwall, England, specialising in the manufacture of audio mixing consoles. Allen & Heath also makes sound management systems for industrial installations and DJ mixe ...

to provide co-branded versions of Mixed In Key known as XONE Mixed In Key. Mixed In Key continued to sell "Original" versions of the software.

Color scheme In color theory, a color scheme is the choice of colors used in various artistic and design contexts. For example, the "Achromatic" use of a white background with black text is an example of a basic and commonly default color scheme in web des ...

is the only difference between the two versions.

Award Nominations

DJ Magazine ''DJ Magazine'' (also known as ''DJ Mag'') is a British monthly magazine dedicated to electronic dance music and DJs. Founded in 1991, the magazine is adapted for distribution in the United Kingdom, the United States, Spain, France, Italy, Lat ...

awarded Mixed In Key "Best DJ Tool of 2008" award, and previously nominated Mixed In Key for the "Most Innovative Product" in 2007. I-DJ Magazine has reviewed the product in Summer 2007 and gave it the "I-DJ Approved Innovation" award. In 2009 Mixed In Key was nominated for Best New Product of the Year for the 24th Annual International Dance Music Awards, losing only to the

iPhone 3G The iPhone 3G (also known as iPhone 2) is a smartphone that was designed and marketed by Apple Inc.; it is the second generation of iPhone, successor to the original iPhone, and was introduced on June 9, 2008, at the WWDC 2008 at the Mosco ...

External links

Mixed In Key's Official WebsiteHarmonic-Mixing.comzplane.development

References