The Mixed In Key crew released the brand new 6.0 version of their key detection software for DJs over the weekend, bringing with it a set of updates that will make key detection more accurate for digital DJs. In the press release we got for 6.0, MIK boasted to be “600%” more detailed in the analysis than their previous algorithm. We asked the founder and CEO Yakov where he got the number from, and what changed in the algorithm that makes it work better:
The previous algorithm works great, but it was invented in 2011 and we’ve come a long way since then. Here’s the difference: The previous version analyzed the melody and combined all “A” notes into one overall value for “A”, regardless of octave. Similarly, all C# notes would be combined into a single “C#” value for analysis. The old version would group the bassline together with the lead synths, the pads, and so on. The new version can “hear” music in higher resolution, and analyzes each track in 6.83x times more detail (over 600%) because it listens to the entire piano roll. The heart and soul of Mixed In Key is the same, but the algorithms were improved.
Any time we write about key detection, it’s critical to note that trusting your ears is probably the best way to make sure that your tracks work well together. Mixed in Key has taken this to heart and incorporated a Grand Piano into their software, letting you instantly check the results against an instrument. Find a more accurate result with the piano and update the key results instantly.
The new version also analyzes tracks for variable energy level segments throughout a track in a nearly identical way to how the Flow DJ software works. DJs can manually edit the energy level of different sections if they want.
The 6.0 version of Mixed In Key costs $58 for new users who have never purchased a copy before, and $29.99 for everyone with a copy of 5.0 or earlier – and is available for download now.
Waiting for an accuracy review of this one like the comparisons you did before!
about 95%
http://www.djtechtools.com/2014/01/14/key-detection-software-comparison-2014-edition/
So is it worth the upgrade for DJs?
its bs when a company charges users to upgrade to a newer version with the same features plus a keyboard. just makes me mad
It’s not like you have to upgrade if you don’t think it’s any better or that it’s bad value.
I am doing research on this software to justify the purchase. From a business point of view, it is a needed practice to keep the updates coming and individuals employed. I mean we all work for money, right?.
Like others have said, just don’t upgrade if you don’t have to…
Just one correction… I’ve been a mik user since v2… the v6 upgrade is free for me.
You’re one of the few people who got free lifetime updates because you bought Mixed In Key in 2006 or 2007. Thanks for being there from the start.
Waiting for an accuracy review of this one like the comparisons you did before!
I like seeing the comparisons too because they promote harmonic mixing as a whole, and that’s a good thing. It’s important to take a deeper look into the results though, we always rely on several musicians to verify our results at MIK because for a lot of electronic music the key can be subjective because there either isn’t a strong melody or aren’t a lot of different notes used.
DJ Endo has done an excellent comparison of key detection with MiK, Traktor and others: http://blog.dubspot.com/endo-harmonic-mixing-key-detection-analysis/
It would indeed be interesting to rerun the test with MiK version 6 to see if the results really got better.