When you’re making electronic or urban music, getting your drums right is half the battle. That’s why Mixed In Key has created Captain Beat, the latest plugin in the Captain Plugins series. This innovative beatmaking plugin enables producers to create beats quickly and without fuss.
Captain Beat includes a massive selection of patterns in the Banks section which can be combined to create all manner of rhythmic madness. You can create your patterns using the Record function or finger drumming on your QWERTY keyboard or MIDI controller. If you prefer to draw in rhythms, the Pencil Tool can be used to sketch in beats with your mouse or trackpad. Whatever your production workflow is, Captain Beat can accommodate you.
Captain Beat is far more than a pattern maker; it comes equipped with a wide selection of pro-quality drum kits that were created by a crack team of sound designers. For ultimate flexibility you can import your own samples to add flavour to your beats. Sounds can be sculpted inside Captain Beat using the envelope, pitch and pan controls, and effects such as a filter, reverb and delay can be applied to individual tracks.
Beats are laid out on the Drum Roll, which includes a vertical stack of the drum sounds available in Captain Plugins. The right-hand side of the plugin is used to program patterns, which can be easily switched by clicking on the Rhythm tab. This layout ensures it’s easy to see what’s going on, and to make changes and edits as required.
Mixed In Key has worked hard to ensure that Captain Beat feels as intuitive as possible. Sample substitution takes place in real-time, so the creative flow never stops. Patterns are displayed as dynamic waveforms that react to any changes that you make. The fact that you can mix and match patterns means that Captain Beat has the potential to take your grooves in unexpected and experimental directions. No matter what style of beats you’re focused on creating, Captain Beat is a fun to use plugin that can help you to achieve your beat-making goals.
Once you’re happy with a beat, getting it into your DAW is easy. The Export tab allows you to export an individual track pattern or the complete beat as a MIDI or Audio file.
Captain Beat is the latest addition to the Captain Plugins range, an award-winning series of music composition plugins by Mixed In Key. Captain Chords will assist you in creating chord progressions; Captain Melody will ensure that you never go without a top-end hook; and Captain Deep does its business in bassline territory. You can buy these three plugins in a bundle for $79, while Captain Beat is available on its own for $50.
All of the Captain Plugins are available now for PC and Mac in VST/AU/AAX formats. Find out more on the Captain Beat and Captain Plugins websites.