Captain Plugins 5 makes songwriting a breeze. Now let's find out if that's actually a good thing…
Mixed In Key released a new suite of plugins a few years back designed to make your time in the studio more effective. So let's unpack just how effective they are a few years after their initial release.
The Captain 5 Bundle includes five unique plugins that help generate musical ideas easily by working together to develop sketches quickly. Using these tools, you can write chord progressions in Captain Chords which then help dictate the Captain Deep before moving on to Captain Melody to write an infectious earworm.
Some of the biggest artists in the world, the Zedds and Diplos, are using the plugins that Mixed In Key has designed. So let's find out how the rest of the plugs measure up.
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If you struggle with music theory, chord-generating tools can be one of the most powerful things to help your initial ideas get off the ground. This plugin will help you create complex and intriguing chord progressions all your own without having to rely on hacks such as MIDI files and more.
The plugin also comes with many preset progressions and rhythms that can instantly create awesome chords that you can further tweak on your own. You can even record your pattern and have Captain Chords adjust the notes to match the progression of your choice! Now that's awesome.
These chords create the framework of the song that the other plugins in the bundle, like Captain Deep, play off from.
This plugin's primary job is to create bass lines underneath the chord progressions you've made.
And while I know that bass notes are supposed to be relatively rudimentary and straightforward to follow, this plugin's lack of the same functionality and customization levels as the other plugins is a slight disappointment.
There are four basic choices you can tell the plugin to make regarding playing off the chords' movement. It can directly mirror the root note of the chord progression, do opposite movement, countering the root note, minimally adjust melody, or stay on the root note.
To make this happen, Mixed In Key requires the plugin to connect to Captain Chords.
The final verdict on this one is that it has some incredible potential but needs some work before it becomes an essential part of my workflow. I imagine an update on this one is coming soon as it doesn't match the functionality of the rest of the suite.
Of all the plugins in this bundle, Captain Melody, by right, is the most badass. With all of its different tools and uses, it's the flagship tool.
The hardest part with this plugin is finding an initial riff you're happy with. Once you have that lacking, the bells and whistles included here do all the rest of the heavy lifting. You can match the rhythm of the initial riff, change minor notes to add ear candy or flourishes, and even have the plugin generate new ideas as the sections progress.
This plugin in the bundle is a serious powerhouse and is well worth the price of the entire bundle alone!
it even has a randomizer for when you've completely hit a wall and want an act of God to spark new inspiration for you. It's awe-inspiring.
This plugin helps you create rhythms and beats for your music. Much like the Deep plugin, this has a ton of potential that didn't measure up to the rest of the bundle.
There are a ton of presets in the library that you can manipulate and change, but not much on randomness and spontaneity that would be simple to include. Sure, these kits are production-ready. But I found myself growing tired of scrolling through them fairly quickly.
The saving grace is that this plugin can help you generate percussion fills almost instantly. This was a super clever idea that I was surprised to see included.
After playing around with this bundle for a couple of weeks, I will admit that I was pretty damn impressed by the couple of plugins I found myself returning to.
Where this bundle thrives is off generating complex melodies from the chord progression. So if the songwriting process is slowing you down, this plugin bundle might be the biggest game changer of your career.
While the bundle may need some updates to really get the most out of the plugins, I am sure that these are coming. So don't let my critique of Deep and Beats prevent you from taking full advantage of what the best elements here can offer.
That being said, there are alternatives to the Captain 5 Bundle if these are deal breaks for you. HookTheory offers a far more intuitive chord-writing workflow than this does if you can put up with composing solely in your browser before exporting MIDI notes.
But the fact that you can take advantage of all of this directly in your DAW and for a one-time purchase instead of subscriptions makes this an easy investment to recommend.
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Managing Editor at Magnetic Magazine – Former Marketing Manager at the Hyperbits Masterclass – Writer, Content Strategist, Music Producer, and Record Label Manager