Serato DJ Pro General Discussion

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 Serato DJ Pro General Discussion
Mixed in Key
Talk about Serato DJ Pro, expansion packs and supported hardware

Mixed in Key

Xtianw 7:59 AM - 20 January, 2011
Do you use it?

I just found out a friend of mine i've known for years uses it and swears by it. I really respect this guy musically as well.

but after reading the djtechtools review of it only being about 60% accurate (or wrong 40% of the time depending on how you look at it) im a little apprehensive.

So do you use it? If you do, is it accurate for you? I'm entirely open to the idea that their algorhythm could have improved since that review.

and before you jump the shark, yes i know about rapid evolution and mixmeister. But I didnt really like RA and i dont see myself buying mixmeister. I just want to know about mixed in key.

thanks in advance
I1Kirm 8:05 AM - 20 January, 2011
I use it all the time and I've found it to be especially useful during warm-up allowing you to gradually bring the people up-to-speed (all my gigs are 4-5 hours long).
I use MIK to detect the key and is correct most of the times. Still, your ears should have the final saying on whether 2 tunes blend nicely or not.
Think it more as another tool in tune selection rather as a critical part of mixing. You can't beatmatch 2 songs unless you make their bpms equal but you can make good mixes with tunes in different keys. It's just smoother and gives you a better control of the energy in the dancefloor.
I1Kirm 8:08 AM - 20 January, 2011
Here's a couple of really nice articles
www.digitaldjtips.com
www.digitaldjtips.com
chriscraze 2:34 PM - 20 January, 2011
No, it is not wrong that often either. hardly ever...
BadBoyChubs 5:28 PM - 20 January, 2011
I jus beat match, with keylock, no time to check it keys is correct , once u have smooth transition , everything should be fine!
chriscraze 6:37 PM - 20 January, 2011
I use keys when im mixing house music mostly, or searching for stuff to mash together.
Its awesome to put two tracks that mesh well together. ive been doing it for 20+ years, now i have a visual on it.
Xtianw 12:07 PM - 22 January, 2011
bump
BadBoyChubs 3:07 PM - 22 January, 2011
does itch detect the key in analyzing. i see there is a key column,
I1Kirm 3:08 PM - 22 January, 2011
No, but it can display the contents of the "Primary Key" field of the ID3 tag
Fermi 6:21 AM - 23 January, 2011
I just analyzed all my songs with MiK, how do i get Itch to show the updated comments of my songs?
Xtianw 6:24 AM - 23 January, 2011
youll need to resync your library either via serato sync or by deleting your library and reimporting it.
casket hands 6:53 AM - 23 January, 2011
or just rescan the tags.
kraal 7:18 AM - 23 January, 2011
Quote:
or just rescan the tags.

plus 1
empty 7:57 AM - 23 January, 2011
Mik is awesome and not wrong very often and mik 5 is being written with a new algorithm to make it more accurate, key lock is not the same thing as it's only locking your key to the songs original which could be 7-8 keys out of the next track you bring in.

I love using it to get nice smooth build ups in sets and then jump a few keys to bring the set up a gear.
Xtianw 8:35 AM - 23 January, 2011
is MIK 5 going to be a free upgrade or should people wait until it comes out to save a little money you think?
empty 10:58 AM - 23 January, 2011
Not sure sorry, I'd like to hope mik5 would be a free update as it's fairly expensive for what it is.

Btw I use this to set my bpm's as its spot on for that as well, only thing it won't do is set bpm for some wav files and obviously you won't get any key readings in itch for wav files as there is no tagging on wavs.
hologram 2:16 AM - 24 January, 2011
before serato , traktor, digital Djing, there was a website where some mobile DJ would post the Keys of songs.
I used it religiously.
BadBoyChubs 3:59 AM - 2 February, 2011
I fell for it, i bought MIK for mac, i still analyzing my tracks, Hope to add another style to my mixing,.

Harmonic mixing sounds great, wanna give it a try and so how it goes,

Question During analyzing i see sometimes two keys eg. 12A/7A, does it mean the key key changes during the song or is it that MIK cant figure out the right key?

I think this will improve my skills and take beat matching to another level
kraal 4:48 AM - 2 February, 2011
if i remember right that is begining key and ending key
zaguama 5:22 AM - 2 February, 2011
platinum notes 3 was a paid upgrade for platinum notes 2 users i assume will be the same with MIK. but they do give discounts for existing users.
BadBoyChubs 5:53 PM - 2 February, 2011
Is there a way to scan only the tags in a specfic crate? or even export a crate playlist so u can only scan those keys in that crate?
some one said only if u have ur playlist in Itunes, that can work! no other way!
kraal 5:57 PM - 2 February, 2011
well my crates match folders on my hard drive so that is how i can do it
BadBoyChubs 6:18 PM - 2 February, 2011
Quote:
well my crates match folders on my hard drive so that is how i can do it


I do it differently, I select songs from my folders to my crate, so maybe out of a hundred i chose 25 tracks..

on another note i wish there was a way to bypass in MIK "Cant open file" it stop analyzing after that, so i have to click analyze again for it to resume, let me go to their forum and make a suggestion!
BadBoyChubs 7:17 PM - 3 February, 2011
*IMPORTANT* INFo.

Only SSL can drag and drop songs from ur crates to be analyzed for keys. not Itch. I was trying it on my mac and was not possible til i used Ssl.

That is a time saver from my actual analyzing my 500gb.
BadBoyChubs 3:42 AM - 4 February, 2011
Quote:
*IMPORTANT* INFo.

Only SSL can drag and drop songs from ur crates to be analyzed for keys. not Itch. I was trying it on my mac and was not possible til i used Ssl.

That is a time saver from my actual analyzing my 500gb.


Disregard this post, I reinstall my Mac os, so it was back to 10.6,3 and i got it to run how i wanted. Itch was now able to drag my music files and MIK does skip the could not open files" and continue analyzing!
FrankC15 5:54 PM - 4 February, 2011
well, if you don't want to use it, you can use Rapid Evolution, which I have found to be so complicated that it's unusable, or you can tag all your songs by ear.

I'm not sure how long ago DJTT reviewed Mixed in Key, but it has continually improved and gotten more accurate over time. The trick is to use it but not get tunnel vision - take it as a helpful suggestion of what tracks will go well together, rather than gospel. Don't let it stop you from trying a mix you think will work.
BadBoyChubs 8:16 PM - 4 February, 2011
i gree wid frankc15.
DJ Cs 3:17 AM - 5 February, 2011
Musicmeister does key analysis. Can anyone give a comparison of the two?
The Funky Bunch 10:01 PM - 5 February, 2011
I started adding the key to the song name field. That way it shows up when you're playing the tune, thus serving as a reminder when you're hunting for the next track.

Keep in mind that some mixes sound great that are shown as "out of key". Though I use MIK, and often, experimentation is always welcome.

Mixing by twos works out really well usually. as in, 1A > 3A
BadBoyChubs 6:36 AM - 6 February, 2011
I finally tested mixing it key, It work nice during my live set.

I tried, moving up or down a key , 1a to 2a or 12a , i even tried -/+ 7 or -/+ 2 or move to B.

During the early hours u can do it but when crunch time hit, anyting goes, the crowd determine wat tracks i should play next, got to keep them happy
hologram 6:45 PM - 6 February, 2011
BadBoyChubs you got the right idea.
DJ Urkel Dee 7:52 PM - 6 February, 2011
Quote:
I finally tested mixing it key, It work nice during my live set.

I tried, moving up or down a key , 1a to 2a or 12a , i even tried -/+ 7 or -/+ 2 or move to B.

During the early hours u can do it but when crunch time hit, anyting goes, the crowd determine wat tracks i should play next, got to keep them happy


+1
DJ Urkel Dee 7:54 PM - 6 February, 2011
I've heard mixes on the radio where both songs were in key and it sounded great... Also heard mixes where they clashed but the transition was so dope it didn't matter lol.
DJ Fez 4:18 AM - 8 February, 2011
just got mixed in key, works nicely...but takes a long time to analyze. has anyone noticed this? i see its not analyzing 4 tracks at once like itch
Xtianw 4:41 AM - 8 February, 2011
the algorhythm for analyzing tracks isnt in your software, its on their server online. thats the reason it takes so long to analyze. its actually uploading the audio footprint of the track and the server analyzes it and sends back the result.
BadBoyChubs 11:58 AM - 8 February, 2011
Quote:
the algorhythm for analyzing tracks isnt in your software, its on their server online. thats the reason it takes so long to analyze. its actually uploading the audio footprint of the track and the server analyzes it and sends back the result.


I had a feeling!
SJR 6:59 PM - 8 February, 2011
Quick Question regarding the transfer process into SSL.

I have an entire library already in crates (i.e. 2000 songs) in my SSL. When I run MIK, will it create duplicate songs? will it change anything? will I lose my cue points?

Sincere thanks in advance. I'm thinking of making the transition tonight to MIK. -SJR
DJ Fez 4:01 AM - 9 February, 2011
whats the best way to analyze? I don't want to do my whole library at once because lord knows how long that will take. And I dont have tons of playlists set up in itunes.

Is MIK smart like ITCH where it wont analyze a song if it already has?
BadBoyChubs 11:20 AM - 9 February, 2011
the best way i figure is to seelect all one parent crate at a time and drag to MIK. when that finish i do the next one, so that way i only doing my crates and song i use