Allen & Heath releases XONE Mixed In Key software

[djyakov]

Dear Friends,

Allen & Heath has announced new DJ software called "Xone Mixed In Key". Xone Mixed In Key scans your music files and shows you which songs are harmonically compatible. The benefit to the DJ is extremely smooth mixing. Xone Mixed In Key helps you eliminate key clashes, muddy mixes and out-of-key elements from your DJ sets.


Mixed In Key is currently used by thousands of DJs including Pete Tong, Deep Dish, Dean Coleman, Kuffdam & Plant and many more. We also have an active harmonic mixing community where DJs can learn advanced DJ techniques. If you have any questions, please post them and we'll reply.



Here is the link to learn more:

http://xone.mixedinkey.com




Press release from Allen & Heath:


XONE ENABLES DJ’S TO MIX IN KEY

Allen & Heath, manufacturer of the leading Xone mixer range, has teamed up with Mixed In Key to offer new software which enables DJ’s to analyse and harmonise tracks. This partnership is the first seamless integration of top-class mixing equipment with the fastest growing DJ application on the market.

Xone Mixed In Key is Windows / Mac OS X software that allows DJs mix in total harmony. It analyses MP3 and .WAV files, identifies the key of a track, and highlights which other tracks are harmonically compatible. Xone Mixed In Key allows the DJ to discover harmonically-compatible songs in their music collection. The benefit is extremely smooth mixing with no key clashes.


“Xone Mixed in Key is a fantastic innovation for DJ’s, and eliminates the time-consuming and laborious task of manually detecting the root note of every track. Allen & Heath has a golden reputation in the DJ community, and we're excited to offer Xone Mixed In Key software to a wider audience,” writes Mixed In Key president, Yakov Vorobyev.

“The explosion of digital DJ’ing over the past couple of years has introduced a wealth of technical advantages to the art of DJ’ing. Xone Mixed In Key is a case in point. DJ’s have instant access to thousands upon thousands of new music files and this software can quickly and easily enable them to put tracks into musical context,” concludes Xone designer, Andy Rigby-Jones.



Cheers,
Yakov

[djyakov]

Overview

Harmonic mixing is based on the idea of mixing harmonically-compatible songs. The standard approach is to detect root notes at the song’s original tempo and find other compatible songs that will fit.


However, it is important to understand that changing the tempo of the song will change the key as well. Even the smallest tempo change will alter the key, but a 6% difference will change the key to a whole new one.


6% Rule


6% is thus the magic number: it will move your song to the adjacent key on the piano, as illustrated below:





If your original song was recorded in F Minor, increasing the tempo by 6% will move the song one key to the right to give you G-Flat Minor.


This is equivalent to adding 7 to your current Camelot number. Since F Minor has an equivalent keycode of 4A, adding 7 will give you the result of 11A. The piano roll above shows you that 11A is indeed equivalent to Gbm.


Decreasing the tempo by 6% has the reverse effect: It moves your song one key to the left, or the equivalent to subtracting 7 from your current Camelot number. This is illustrated below:






3% Rule


There is a basic rule for smaller increments: If you change the tempo by less than 3%, keep your original key. If you change the tempo by 3% or more, use the 6% key.


It works in this way because 3% the middle point. Anything below 3% will be closer to your original key (F Minor) and anything above 3% will be closer to your 6% key (Gb minor or E minor, depending whether you increase or decrease the tempo).


Examples


Two songs in F Minor that have roughly the same BPMs: 130 and 131. We can harmonically mix them together because the tempo difference is less than 3%.


Next up are two songs in A Minor with different tempos. First song is 128 BPM and the second is 136 BPM. To beatmatch the slower song with the faster song, we’ll have to increase its tempo by exactly 6.25%. This will move the slower song one key to the right, making it B-flat Minor rather than A Minor. The new keys will no longer result in a harmonic mix because A Minor (8A) and B-Flat Minor (3A) are not compatible Camelot numbers.


Using “Master Tempo”


If your DJ equipment or software supports “Master Tempo,” use it! Master Tempo is a pitch-correction technique that makes it easy to use harmonic mixing at any tempo. If you increase the tempo of an A Minor song by 6.25%, your “Master Tempo” button will keep the song in A Minor.


Conclusion


In summary, if your tempo change is less than 3%, use the original key. If your tempo is greater than 3%, use the 6% key. The new +6% key can be figured out by adding 7 to your current Camelot code. The new -6% key can be figured out by subtracting 7 from your current Camelot code.


Understanding the relation between changing tempos and changing keys can help move your harmonic mixing to the next level.


To discover more beginner and advanced DJ techniques, check out http://www.MixedInKey.com/HowTo.aspx and http://community.mixedinkey.com

[Stream]

Useful info for producers