Captain Chords

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Sargie
Posts: 58
Joined: 09 Jun 2016

23 Jan 2018

Hello!

Any of you fine people know if this piece of software works well with Reason please?

https://mixedinkey.com/captain-plugins/captain-chords

Would appreciate finding out before springing for it!

Best,

Sarge

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Despondo
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23 Jan 2018

I don't think it will work at the moment since VST MIDI implementation is lacking in Reason at the moment. Notice that when you flip the rack around on a VST that there is no MIDI out. ;-)

Although it looks like you might be able to run it stand-alone? There is a 30 day money back guarantee, so you could try it to see.

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dpcoffin
Posts: 123
Joined: 23 Apr 2017

24 Jan 2018

Don't have these yet, but from their site's FAQ:

What DAWs are supported?
We officially support Ableton Live and Logic on Mac OS X 10.10 and higher. More DAWs will be supported soon as we get through the beta.


In Logic these are MIDI FX AUs; in Live, VSTs which send MIDI easily there, not AUs since ordinary AU's don't send MIDI. Since Reason's VSTs don’t send MIDI either, can't see how these would ever work in the current version of Reason. Hope the props fix that!

Also, these are definitely plugins only. For stand-alone use they offer Odesi:
http://odesi.mixedinkey.com

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eusti
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24 Jan 2018

If you want another option for software that helps you compose:

Sundog... I haven't set it up with Reason 10 yet, but had it working with 9 I think... It basically acts as host with Reason following... When ready you can export the MIDI and import it into Reason...

D.

Sargie
Posts: 58
Joined: 09 Jun 2016

24 Jan 2018

Thank you so much to everyone who took the time to look at my question and answer it - I really appreciate it!

Sargie
Posts: 58
Joined: 09 Jun 2016

25 Jan 2018

SunDog looks interesting, has similar functionality to Captain Chords, is cheaper and appears to work with Reason and has a demo so it looks like I might start with that. Thank you for pointing it out!

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demt
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25 Jan 2018

im in for this seems to beat a good teacher and mutch less expensive
Reason 12 ,gear4 music sdp3 stage piano .nektar gxp 88,behringer umc1800 .line6 spider4 30
hear scince reason 2.5

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dpcoffin
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01 Feb 2018

Just spotted this, shows Captain Chords being used in Reason, great run-down of what it offers, too:



I guess these are working because they have internal sounds, but maybe you can also drag MIDI out…

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DJdp
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26 Jul 2018

Hi,

Did anyone get this for Reason? Does it work with Reason 9? and does it link in to the other Captain Plugins such as Melody? like this video shows in Ableton


Cheers

Dan

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bik44
Posts: 98
Joined: 03 Jun 2015
Location: Poland

27 Jul 2018

SunDog is very good and works fine with Reason because it is a separate program and can send midi on different channels. Can work as master or slave and there is midi drag&drop as I remembered. Very quick to make any chord progression, corresponding bass arps etc.


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two shoes
Posts: 254
Joined: 13 Jul 2018

27 Jul 2018

I've tried the captain plugins in Reason 10. First off only Captain Chords and one other one are currently available for windows, but the rest of the Windows versions are in development and should be available soon. If you are satisfied with auditioning your chord progressions with the very basic sounds built into the Captain plugins then drag-and-dropping the midi into the sequencer then you can use them that way. However, the real power of the Captain plugins, and what makes them better than other composition aids like Sundog, Instachord, etc. is the ability to audition chord progressions, basslines, melodies, and drum patterns with the synth sounds you're actually going to use from your DAW and other plugins as well as the integration of the whole Captain suite of plugins allowing you to compose an entire cohesive arrangement instead of just a chord progression.

None of this functionality is currently usable with Reason due to the lack of midi output from VST plugins which is currently my number one most wanted feature for Reason. Now that players are a thing I think (fingers crossed) we'll get this in the next version update. Then again history shows that just because something makes perfect sense and brings a whole swathe of badly needed functionality with it does not mean Pheads won't put it off for a decade or so... we'll see.

You should also know that the Captain plugins must be able to phone home to work - there is no offline device authorization, their licensing model is mandatory internet connection at all times. They've had a bit of a riot on their hands over this point since the Captain plugins started getting really popular last year but so far they have not relented. Even if Reason adds vst midi out I'll personally stick with WA Productions also excellent Instachord and Instascale until Mixedinkey changes this policy - music production software of any kind that requires an internet connection to work is a non-starter for me.

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ljekio
Posts: 962
Joined: 21 Jan 2015

28 Jul 2018

two shoes wrote:
27 Jul 2018

None of this functionality is currently usable with Reason due to the lack of midi output from VST plugins which is currently my number one most wanted feature for Reason. Now that players are a thing I think (fingers crossed) we'll get this in the next version update. Then again history shows that just because something makes perfect sense and brings a whole swathe of badly needed functionality with it does not mean Pheads won't put it off for a decade or so... we'll see.
There are some crutches for solving this issue.
You can place this plugin in a virtual vst-rack (one of) and after it insert a midi-out plug-in into this chain where it will send it to one of the virtual midi cables that will go back to Reason.

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Regin
Posts: 17
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28 Jul 2018

ljekio wrote:
28 Jul 2018
two shoes wrote:
27 Jul 2018

None of this functionality is currently usable with Reason due to the lack of midi output from VST plugins which is currently my number one most wanted feature for Reason. Now that players are a thing I think (fingers crossed) we'll get this in the next version update. Then again history shows that just because something makes perfect sense and brings a whole swathe of badly needed functionality with it does not mean Pheads won't put it off for a decade or so... we'll see.
There are some crutches for solving this issue.
You can place this plugin in a virtual vst-rack (one of) and after it insert a midi-out plug-in into this chain where it will send it to one of the virtual midi cables that will go back to Reason.
Captain chords works just fine in Reason. They open as instruments and are all interconnected (the chord, melody and deep). When you have reached a satisfied result, you just drag and drop the arrangement into a sequence track in Reason. Only limitation running these plugins in Reason is that you stuck to the internal sounds delivered with Captain Chords. These are however more than sufficient for getting the job done creating the chords, melody and bass lines.

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ljekio
Posts: 962
Joined: 21 Jan 2015

28 Jul 2018

I thought we're speak about midi live output from plugin.

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ast3rix
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05 Aug 2018

It would be an added expense, but you could use Blue Cat Audio's Patchwork to have Captain as your primary midi source and your choice of vst to drive. It won't work with RE extensions unfortunately.

Check this out:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XDRzikofikU

I like this utility because it allows you to have more midi control over your vsts.

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eusti
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28 Jan 2019

Just updated Captain plug ins to 2.1.0.375 and am on a Mac (OS X El Capitan) and Reason 10.2.2d1.
Not sure what broke what, but now I cannot drag the midi clip to the sequencer any longer... Only the first bar / chord makes it over...

Anyone else having that issue?

Mixed In Key support basically says "Sorry, tough luck, Reason is not officially support..." :(

D.

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eusti
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29 Jan 2019

Mixed in Key support was quite nice in follow up emails... Although nothing concrete to make things work in Reason yet...

D.

bozzfrog
Posts: 1
Joined: 02 Feb 2019

02 Feb 2019

If you are using a PC and NOT Apple Mac. You will find that Captain Melody will not connect to Captain Chords, even though Captain Deep connects fine.

Also If you are using SONAR Platinum and after installing Captain Chords, it will ask you to type out details to do with registration. But I was not able to do this procedure in Sonar. So I used Reaper instead to fill out the details. I was told they are still working on a version of Captain Melody for PC.

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

15 Jul 2020

Hi all,

Has anyone managed to find a working method to send from captain into rack extension?

Also I have Odesi as well and am still not able to run RRP fully, it loads in Odesi but doesn't give access to all rack extensions and seams to reset / replace any instance that is loaded.

thedude
Posts: 110
Joined: 08 May 2021

10 Jan 2022

Nearly 2 years later now. Is dragging and dropping midi still the only way to go?

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

11 Jan 2022

Unfortunately R11 and as of yet R12 has not implemented any vst midi offerings,
an update to captain has added vst hosting within the bundle so you insert a vst device.

thedude
Posts: 110
Joined: 08 May 2021

11 Jan 2022

Billy+ wrote:
11 Jan 2022
Unfortunately R11 and as of yet R12 has not implemented any vst midi offerings,
an update to captain has added vst hosting within the bundle so you insert a vst device.
Weirdly, it doesn't pick up anything but a couple of my NI vsts. wonder why that is.

Are there any other solutions out there that put a lot of progressions at your fingertips all at once? You can make your own progressions in key somewhat fast on poly step sequencer, but it is much slower.

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
Joined: 09 Dec 2016

11 Jan 2022

thedude wrote:
11 Jan 2022
Billy+ wrote:
11 Jan 2022
Unfortunately R11 and as of yet R12 has not implemented any vst midi offerings,
an update to captain has added vst hosting within the bundle so you insert a vst device.
Weirdly, it doesn't pick up anything but a couple of my NI vsts. wonder why that is.

Are there any other solutions out there that put a lot of progressions at your fingertips all at once? You can make your own progressions in key somewhat fast on poly step sequencer, but it is much slower.
I work mostly in the sequencer with scales and chords but rather than using the chords I set to filter by scale and build my own or use Capitan connected to spire vst.

It's a pain that it's still not working but what can you do?

However learning how to build chords and create progressions can be rewarding. Simplest method is to use scales and chords set to just use scales and build the chords starting with a root note then adding notes on top by skipping a note in between (1st note is root, then add the 3rd followed by the 5th) is a standard triad you can add 7th 9th etc.

Give it a try the old fashion way, it's worth the effort.

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Billy+
Posts: 4157
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11 Jan 2022

thedude wrote:
11 Jan 2022

Are there any other solutions out there that put a lot of progressions at your fingertips all at once? You can make your own progressions in key somewhat fast on poly step sequencer, but it is much slower.
it's a very quick crude video and it will take awhile to process, but check it out tomorrow and it should play for you.

hope it helps.
https://sendvid.com/8h18ur6u

once you can make your scale correct chords you just move them about to create a progression, you could just use scales and chords as well and just write the root note you want as it works the only thing you wont get are the diminished chord it will create something more "musical" 2nd in minor and 7th in a major if i remember correctly..

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