This article and video were sponsored by Mixed In Key, but the thoughts and opinions expressed are our own.
Mixed In Key is the ‘secret weapon’ of countless DJs. Its key detection beats out anything else out there – as we found out when we put it to the test. But its always been about more than just key detection. Its also got a range of other tools that help you manage your tracks and playlists, to give a smooth clear workflow and help you find the tunes you need as quickly as possible.
Now, there’s a new ‘Pro’ version that’s just been released that promises to level up Mixed In Key with some powerful new features that allow you to streamline your set prep and create mashups quicker than ever. But is it worth the jump in price and does it earn its Pro name? Let’s dive into what’s new here to find out.
If you haven’t already, check out our full review of Mixed In Key 11, as many of the features in Pro are also in the standard version, so here we’ll just focus on what’s new.
What’s New in Mixed In Key 11 Pro?
Mashup Player
What’s better than one great track? Two great tracks melded together into one awesome mashup. Mashups can be a really fun way to add a unique and fresh twist to your DJ sets but it can be tricky to figure out exactly what songs will work well with each other.
With Mixed In Key 11 Pro, that process becomes simpler than ever. In the Mashup mode, you can add in one track and you’ll automatically get recommended some other ones from your library that could work well with it. You can then listen to the two tracks together and skip through different sections to find out which bits work well together. This is all automatically beat synced so you don’t have to worry about getting everything aligned before being able to test it. If you’re not keen on those two tracks together, you can quickly try out one of the other recommendations.
The goal here is to just make the process of testing out new tracks as quick and simple as possible so you can stay focused in the flow state as much as possible. Going through and beatmatching and testing various parts of tracks can be a fairly time consuming process so this could be a real workflow boost for many DJs.
If you come across a mashup that you think sounds great, you can then save it into a new folder. You can then either use that as a reference for which tracks work well for mixing live or you can export it to further refine it in software like Ableton, Logic Pro or DJ Studio.
DJ Mix Mode
If you’re planning out a DJ set, going through your entire library of tunes to find the perfect playlist can be a pretty laborious task. But the new DJ Mix Mode should help to give you a helping hand when it comes to picking the right tracks.
It works in a fairly similar way to the Mashup mode, as it will recommend tracks based on one you’ve picked and lets you quickly compare different sections of the two together. These recommendations are based on a mix of what works in terms of harmony, BPM and energy levels.
If you find a couple of tracks that works well together you can save them to a playlist. The great part is that from here, you then get to test out more recommended tracks based on the last one you added. This means that pretty quickly you can come up with a coherent track list that flows well – and you already know it’s going to sound great and which parts work well together.
Check out more of our tips on how to plan the perfect DJ set.
Is Mixed In Key 11 Pro Worth It?
The new ‘Pro’ updates to Mixed In Key feel focused on making DJ preparation as quick and easy as possible. This sort of ‘admin’ side of DJing can be pretty time consuming and tedious, so having any sort of help to speed this up and keep you in the zone is very welcome.
Overall, this doesn’t just feel like a small update – these are genuinely helpful new features that we can really see us getting quite a lot of use out of. In our opinion, this takes Mixed In Key from being a pretty niche but still useful library management tool into a potentially really important timesaver.
Mixed In Key 11 Pro is available now for £85, €99, or $99. This compares to the regular version of Mixed In Key which comes in at £49, €58 or $58. This increase in price seems fairly reasonable considering the new features and how much more use we’ve gotten from it.
With Crossfader, you get an exclusive 10% discount by using the code CROSSFADER – check it out here.
would love to try it out and see how it works