Hi,

i bought Captain Plugins yesterday. I like all the features so much. Its a great tool. But why i can't use it offline. I'm using all my audio workstation offline for years now. I only go online to register a new plugin and now i should be always online? This is a NO GO for me! Is there any way to use these plugins offline?

Best Regards

Hi,

I completely understand your frustration about the online requirement.

There are 3 reasons why Captain Plugins and Odesi only works online:

1) We wanted our users to access their sessions from anywhere in the world, like Dropbox. Personally, I've lost numerous Ableton sessions on old hard drives. I've lost sessions because I didn't have the VST installed anymore. I think at least 50% of the songs I've ever made is gone now because I cannot open them anymore. By creating an "Online" version of Odesi, we're able to store your projects in the cloud and allow you to access them from anywhere in the world, by clicking on the "Login" button on the Odesi website. The direct URL for that is https://app.odesimusic.com

2) I know music producers that pirate all the software they use. They paid for nothing except their hardware. So, we made it online only, which makes it harder to pirate. It generates enough revenue that we can keep adding new features and plugins, like Captain Play which we just launched. It's a free update because people paid for this software. If nobody paid, the software wouldn't exist, and wouldn't get updated. You're supporting a small company of honest people with your money. If we help you make just ONE song that gets 1 million views on Youtube, I'm sure your investment into Captain Plugins and Odesi has paid off.

3) Mixed In Key has been an online-connected product for 11 years, and it has a huge, happy user-base. Your Facebook is an onlineapp. Your iCloud is an online app. It just takes getting used to, but music production can be done online too.

Let me know what you think :)

p.s. You can use Captain plugins offline to play the MIDI you've already written. However, you need to be connected to the Internet to write new MIDI notes inside the plugins themselves. Our generators require Internet access.

James,
While I can understand your position, I feel that there are better alternatives.

1) Musicians should be smart enough to store their projects responsibly. I store all of mine on MS Onedrive, which means my computer/HD could be destroyed and I would still have all of my projects. There are a number of solutions like that that make it easy. Beyond that, what are you actually saving in the cloud? It can't be the complete project file, as the VST doesn't have access to that info. At most, it could save the presets and the progressions/melodies you've created in the plugin. Those are pretty useless on their own, as the real magic happens once you export your MIDI to the DAW. Finally, a hard drive crash would still mean you have to reinstall the VST. I don't really see the benefit in what you're saying here.

2) I think this is the real reason it's online only, and I can understand that. However, pretty much every other company manages to make their plugins profitable using offline technologies. Why not licence it with iLok? You may have noticed that iLok enabled software almost never shows up on pirating sites because it's very difficult to get around. Either way, the number of potential customers you're losing due to the online-only requirement probably outweighs the potential loss due to piracy. You have to remember - those who pirate it would not have bought it anyway. You're assuming that potential paying customers are becoming pirates, and I find this hard to believe.

3) This is professional music software, not Facebook and iCloud. Facebook is a free service which is funded by ads, for one. iCloud is free storage solution with payable tiers. Those are completely different models, and you're comparing apples to oranges.

Again, I understand your position, but you're doing yourself a disservice and you don't realize it. I believe this model will decrease revenue. The biggest problem is that you are asking us to pay for something, and then trust that Mixed In Key will be around for the foreseeable future. What if I want to use this in 10 years and for some reason you've gone out of business? How can you ask customers to pay for something that you could then cut off or charge more for in the future? I'm not saying you WILL, but that's beside the point. They users takes on all of the risk here. Most musicians, and particularly professional musicians, want to know that the software they use is THEIRS and that they can count on it, regardless of whether the company behind it still exists.

I've said it before, but every large and small plugin and DAW company has faced this decision, and the vast majority of them have come to the conclusion that offline is the way to go. Don't you think it would be foolish to assume that you somehow figured out how to make this model work? It doesn't work. I'm sure this won't change your mind, but it will certainly change the minds of many of your potential customers.

I hate iLok.And I dont want to use software online.Don't worry about people who don't pay, as long as the software is good enough, there's always someone to support.

yes very presumptuous of the company to take away customer option, no online requirements once installed please!!!

I was really close to pulling the trigger and purchasing the Captain Plugins Bundle, but the online requirement is unfortunately making me think twice about this.
This is my own personal situation but a reasonably common one non-the-less.......A very high percentage of my workflow originates in an offline environment. My actual job involves air travel and temporary accommodation so getting online is either extravagant or not possible.
But I can understand the reasoning as a company to go the online requirement these days it just makes it a little less flexible as a product for me.

Yup I have to say you just lost me as a customer and the potential for many more (I have over 10000 followers in my music tutorial websites), only online is a joke, if for no other reason than your telling me how to run my production environment, no thanks.

I am about to buy the complete bundle (although I am on Windows which seems to be not complete at the moment) but I would like to use the tools mainly on the train to my daily commutes to work. I got Reason 10 on the laptop which also has a sort-of-necessity for an online connection BUT ONLY when the program starts. This I can do with my mobile phone in the station without a problem. During the ride, reception is sketchy at best (and even if it weren’t - my monthly mobile plan isn’t suited for a Windows 10 update-hungry computer being constantly connected to it).

Would it be an idea to couple ONLY the start of the program to an internet connection?

wow... I'm glad I found out about this before I bought it..

No thank you,

we all can see how google and facebook and you tube are censoring

I bought Odisy the other day, and I'm probably going to use that 30 day refund. I HATE the whole concept of "cloud" computing. There is NO SUCH THING as cloud computing. The "cloud" is just someone else's computer somewhere. I don't feel comfortable storing my data/creations on someone else's computer. This is ripe for an invasion privacy and intellectual property theft. No thanks. I only store MY data/creations on MY computer. How can anyone still support the notion of "cloud" computing when we read everyday about how tech companies use, abuse and exploit the data we trusted them with. This is why I'm also against "subscription" software. For every person you prevent from "cracking" your product with this method, you lose ten legitimate buyers who otherwise would have purchased your product.

Same here, just about to buy also...will continue with iPad Odysy airdrop into Logic, ...offline to compose too.

just the same here, its only online to prevent data lost from users and software cracking? i wonder why mixed in keys dont tell anything about this issue after the purchase? and how other companies can provides sotftware that works offline...?
sorry for another potential buyer lost

anyway its still a great software idea and concept, let me know when CP and Odesi can run without internet connection and i will be glad to return here

I also just bought Captain Chords but I may be returning it due to the online only requirement. I just came back from a week long conference where there were many times that wifi was not available - plane, spotty hotel/conference wifi - but my Maschine DAW ran happily. I would have been very frustrated to realize that I couldn't use Captain Chords in these situations. I like the software but not the feeling that I am being treated like a criminal.

I have to agree with the totality of the rebuttals against the need to be online to use this product. I like the product, its clean and quite useful. However, it is constrained (like MiK) by my need to have a connection to use it. I have an Ilok, I can take that with me up into the mountains, or across the country without the need for reliable cell service and hotspotting through my phone.

I think we can all understand the piracy aspect, but there are alternatives to online authentication. I love Roland Cloud, but it is also tethered and therefore not completely reliable or compatible with my workflow. J74 Progressive might not be as user friendly of an interface, but it can do everything Captain Chords needs to do (at a cheaper price) without this tethering restriction. Im not responding to harp on or complain about this product that I really like, but to underline the cumbersome nature of its restriction. Is there a way to split the authentication between Cloud based and Ilok? This would be of great use to some of us who are dedicated investors in your software, and still allow those who dabble the freedom and restrictions that cloud authentication brings to the table.

All of this is food for thought. Yes, I will continue to use this product when I have a solid connection, and be glad for it. When I dont, J74 is a very viable alternative. To be honest they both have their idiosyncrasies. I hope we can keep a dialogue open to make this tool the most it can be, starting with our ability to use it unfettered.

Thanks.

We would like to hear more official dialect on this subject, please.

I also just found out about this. I can still use the refund and Im really convinced to use it. Have to be always online is the oposite of the circumstances I need for my creative work. I find it really sad because I like the plug-in and even considered to buy "mixed in key" but not anymore...
It is very shocking that I almost got over the 30 days without knowing abot this. Becaus of this I will try to inform as many people as possible about it via youtube etc.
If the plug-ins getting an update which fixes this issue I will change my mind but at this point the captain chords arent worth the money i.m.o.

i have no problem with being online with captain chords
i just make my chord progression drag it into my daw and switch off my internet connection
worth every penny dont see the fuss with being online while you use the program

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018 8:41 AM gobo66 wrote:

Hi,

i bought Captain Plugins yesterday. I like all the features so much. Its a great tool. But why i can't use it offline. I'm using all my audio workstation offline for years now. I only go online to register a new plugin and now i should be always online? This is a NO GO for me! Is there any way to use these plugins offline?

Best Regards

The fuss is that not all of us have constant internet access. As a US Navy servicemember, I am often deployed or out to sea where I have no access to the internet for weeks or months on end. Music production is my stress reliever during any moments of downtime.

HOLD. THE. PHONE.

I bought the captain chords bundle last night & just found out about this.

This is ridiculous.

There are MANY & varied reasons that I need to work on music with no internet connection.

I've never heard of any other music software needing an active connection to function.

Wow... so stupid..

I was about to buy the software tnight but this...... NO wayyy !!

I hate feeling like a slave to a company that forces you to send you datas to unidentified servers, who knows what you do with the datas of users, selling the best melodies on the pro market, using it to power some online presets so thousands of people are playing with your melody ideas without your contentment ..?

You made the to not be screwed up by pirates, you just lost one more customer..

You can read about our Privacy Policy here, if that's one of your concerns :)

https://mixedinkey.com/privacy-policy/

Yeah, big companies also say they respect your privacy until some security experts prove to the world they where not since the beginning.

Anyway your move here.

And it is not only about privacy, it's also about no being dependent to a connexion, about having what you pay for on your very own computer.

I've been burned by companies going out of business where I can no longer authorize the software which I own. There is no guarantee you will be still around in 5 years. And if you are around in 10 years, will your software still function on my current machine with my current OS? Or will you stop supporting my current OS with online usage at some point? I have software from years ago which still functions on the machine it is installed on. The software is old, it is out-of-date... but so is an SP1200 and an MPC3000.

It feels like you are offering a subscription model disguised as a purchase. Maybe you should just go to a subscription model. I expect 5 years of usage from my purchases. 79/60 months = $1.31 per month. Round up a bit, $20 a year. That feels safer, if your software stops working or outpaces our hardware purchases, we can cancel the subscription.

I was just waiting for Reason to implement a vst midi out or a viable workaround to purchase the suite of captain plugins, but I had no idea there was an online requirement to use them - I tested them on my online gaming pc, but my studio computer is offline and always will be. I will NEVER purchase any music softare that requires you to be online to use it and this is an extremely short-sighted and foolish decision by Mixed in Key in my opinion.

You may have existed and grown for 11 years with this requirement, but you will never go mainstream as long as you insist on it - as demonstrated by the experience of countless other audio developers since forever. I don't know a single professional or serious hobbyist musician who keeps their audio computer connected to the internet and would purchase a product with this requirement. Many of them even refuse to use products from developers who require a licensing dongle to to the inevitable hassle and inconvenience associated with it.

The biggest problem, as stated above, however, is that any software that must be able to "phone home" so to speak in order to work IS NOT SOFTWARE YOU OWN. You are merely paying a subscription fee to be able to use it as long as the company exists and feels like supporting the product line and maintaining their servers. Company gets hacked - you can't use "your" software, internet outage - you can't use "your" software, company decides a paid update is required to continue using older versions - you can't use "your" software, company goes out of business as most in this industry eventually do - you can never use "your" software again. Reassurances and promises to the contrary from Mixed In Key are meaningless and worthless - every company thinks is is going to be around forever and always be successful and almost none are.

I know hundreds of people who make music for a living and for fun and I can assure you than fewer than one in ten of those people would ever consider purchasing online only software and probably half or less will put up with dongle/ilok based licensing schemes. If you have always had this requirement for your products then you have no idea how many customers you are losing due to it.

I strongly encourage Mixed In Key to reconsider this incredibly unwise and customer hostile policy and use one of the various industry standard offline licensing models that work for countless other plugin and host developers. I for one (and pretty much everyone I know) will NEVER be a paying customer as long as this policy exists. I like the Captain plugins better than W.A. Productions Instachord and Instascale, but it looks like those plugins are what I will be settling for if Mixed In Key decides to keep their products online only.

David Guetta: “Captain Chords can inspire you. It’s the perfect tool for song-writing. I’m using it every day and showing my friends. Captain Play is great for creating melodies” – May 2018

why change a winning formula mixed in keys dont want there software pirated
seems fair enough to me
its already a success so why change it
i love captain chords and i have no problem with it being online
i cant believe how low the price is for such a fantastic music creation tool
probably the best purchase i have ever made in music software excluding ableton 10
and with more updates in the pipeline buying the software is a no brainer
big thx to James Araujo -and the MIK Team for the recent updates exciting times indeed

There are enough people already pirating daws and some of top plugins, but if you really go deep down, you realise you can't just download everything, if you found your specific plugin that you like you must respect it, show some love!

So glad I clicked on forums before buying! If you are going to make it necessary to be online I would accept it more if the cost was much lower or it was a subscription based thing, this is too much of a downside and at the price I will stick to other options, I hate iLok but compared to having to be online constantly... Madness......

Excellent post, well said! Always online = no buy because reasons mentioned above, nothing more to add, really. And that’s very sad and frustrating because from what I see those plugins looks very interesting. Hope developers will change their minds and go with ilok or similiar system to protect their work without punishing legal users & potential buyers.

Captain Plugins cheap as chips try it buy it happy days enough said
the new updates are fantastic and more to come yiiiiiiiiiiiiipppppppppppeeeeeeeeeeeeee
big thx to James Araujo - MIK Team for the latest updates

I'm really discouraged by the lack of response from mixedinkey - You guys seem unmovable on this.

I couldn't have said it any better (or as well even) as OverDriven back in Feb. You should really take what he said into account instead of throwing your privacy policy back at us.

The thing I don't like is that the software sometimes shows a progress bar when doing seemingly inexpensive operations like stretching chords. I'm assuming there's network access going on there. As polished as the rest of the software is, I can't believe it's a poor choice of algorithm.

At any rate, I'm here to cast my vote with a thumbs down on the internet access. This software doesn't need it--neither do my speakers or my midi controller when I turn them on.

On Saturday, July 14, 2018 7:09 PM two shoes wrote:

I know hundreds of people who make music for a living and for fun and I can assure you than fewer than one in ten of those people would ever consider purchasing online only software and probably half or less will put up with dongle/ilok based licensing schemes. If you have always had this requirement for your products then you have no idea how many customers you are losing due to it.

I strongly encourage Mixed In Key to reconsider this incredibly unwise and customer hostile policy and use one of the various industry standard offline licensing models that work for countless other plugin and host developers. I for one (and pretty much everyone I know) will NEVER be a paying customer as long as this policy exists. I like the Captain plugins better than W.A. Productions Instachord and Instascale, but it looks like those plugins are what I will be settling for if Mixed In Key decides to keep their products online only.

Well it is a bit strange to have to be online all the time to use it. But MixedinKey offer 30 day refund if you are not pleased so their terms are very agreeable and not hostile at all. If you want to see hostile go buy a Kontakt sample library from and you will never see a dollar back even if it is broken.

No offline No sale!

Chiming in to say Mixed in Keys online only policy has turned away another customer. Your software will never be part of my studio as long as this continues to be a requirement.

This company is too incompetent to even keep spam off their forums. That doesn't inspire confidence in their longevity. Or their decision making process.

Hi,

I was about to buy Captain Plugins but I quickly changed my mind when I discovered I had to work online. One of the first thing you have to take care to reduce audio latency is to work offline! It doesn't make sense at all.
And I don't want anyone to see if I'm using Captain or not and all the songs I write.
Kind regards,

Sheila

I was going to get Captain Chords but for me the online only feature is a no go as well. When I work there is no internet connection to help me focus and work 8h plus without distractions. I got Scaler instead which has less features but doesn't require internet access which is great for me.

i use it online without any latency i would buy it again in a heartbeat
the best chord program on the market
my best purchase after ableton

WOW... does this software only function whilst online??? I have just bought the lot, CPT Chords package & Odesi - if it turns out that I can only create whilst online I will do my best to get an immediate refund...

I am a professional musician & producer, I wanted to try out intelligent composition, and this came up with great reviews ... I use my Mac Pro WiFi to control amp hardware and cabinet software whilst writing, also my internet can be very poor - I don't know of the developers considered these issues or is this software aimed ad non musical DJ's and kids who mess about online all day???

On Sunday, September 2, 2018 4:37 PM Ragnarok555 wrote:

I was going to get Captain Chords but for me the online only feature is a no go as well. When I work there is no internet connection to help me focus and work 8h plus without distractions. I got Scaler instead which has less features but doesn't require internet access which is great for me.

I feel EXACTLY the same about this travesty, trouble is, unlike you, I didn't read the info before purchasing... this means I will ave to ask for a refund now and try something else !!

I have the same thoughts as you, I just purchased the complete package and am so disappointed to find out I have to be online in order to work!
I should have followed my instincts when seeing drugs and troll crap on these forums and swerved it massively. I am requesting a refund, this entire thing isl nonsense !

............. I AM NOT A HAPPY BUNNY ;-/

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018 3:10 PM James Araujo - MIK Team wrote:

Hi,

let me know what you think :)

Good move. I support a software companies decision to stay in business and prevent software piracy. I've seen too many other companies fail due to it.
I made the decision to buy the complete suite based on this thread.

thanks.

Good move. I support a software companies decision to stay in business and prevent software piracy. I've seen too many other companies fail due to it.
I made the decision to buy the complete suite based on this thread.

thanks.

Thank you. We really appreciate the support :)

Chiming in to agree with the overwhelming majority here for all the reasons previously stated and to say that if you insist on this policy, then at very least you should clearly advertise it at the time of purchase. I bought the Captain package months ago and am only now finding out about the online requirement as it’s become a tremendous problem for my setup. I am not happy. It’s really frustrating to see great software marred by such a ridiculous anti-piracy scheme.

This is absolutly frustrating. A lot of time I don't have internet connection and I cannot use a plugin that I paid for. this is so rediculous

I am a U.S. sevice member and was unaware of the online requirements after installation. This is very frustrating to say the least as my job takes me all over the world. Many times the locations lack communication capabilities. This will be my last purchase from this company and I will ensure to tell all my colleagues to stay away unless the restriction is removed.

The question here is: Are you guys going to step back and kill this on-line only mode or not? You can still keep it but just as an option, not a requirement. I am one more of the bunch of people that are waiting on a message from you guys directed to us, and not just to the few people that are agreeing on this being a good idea, will be good to hear from you so we can buy it or forget.

I recently learned bout this software and was excited that it is available for Windows. I was ready to buy and right before I just happened to go back and read the FAQ where it mentions online requirement for the software to function. This is a dealbreaker for me. I think this feature needs to be prominately displayed that it’s use requires an internet connection. I feel for those who purchased without realizing and now have to request a refund. I could have have easily been in that situation because they are not up front with that information.

Just lost $99. The product is almost useless for me. My music production computer is a dedicated offline computer to prevent viruses. if I new it did not work offline I would not have purchase it. Ill let my friends know not to buy it.

i dont see how you have lost $99 there is a 30 day window for a refund

oouch !

I have been excited to implement this strong tool into my studio - finally bough it this morning and i cant even open it in my session because my studio is at the rear of the property which is too far from wifi..
sorry i know this has already been said but this is ridiculous..people want to be able to use the software they buy in many situations where a net connection is not available/unstable...on a train or plane , while travelling/touring , on a break at work or at the park chilling out..

DAYMM...guess i will request a refund too.

On Friday, September 7, 2018 3:37 PM James Araujo - MIK Team wrote:

Good move. I support a software companies decision to stay in business and prevent software piracy. I've seen too many other companies fail due to it.
I made the decision to buy the complete suite based on this thread.

thanks.

Thank you. We really appreciate the support :)

Hi James -

I sympathise with yourself and the MIK team as you have created a great plugin but are currently receiving a lot of criticism.
As huge admirers of captain chords , we can all understand that MIK is protective of its baby - but this is going over the top , having to be CONSTANTLY connected to the internet to use it would cause many concerns for any producer i know - an online production machine is absolutely out of the question for most of us..

I can see this thread has been going for some time now and i wonder if MIK has received enough complaints/refund requests that they are now considering changing this ??

I ask directly James - do you know whether this is going to change anytime soon ?

EDIT - It's now May 2020 , after almost 2 years of hoping and waiting for cap. chords to remove online requirements I finally threw in the towel and bought "Synfire Pro"...it was very expensive but its extremely powerful......fyi - cheaper alternatives include scaler and instachord , both are quite good but nowhere near as deep as synfire.

I would be happy to pay 4 times the asking price for Captain Plugins if there were no online requirement...

i have no problem with it being online i use it everyday
as im sure the thousands who have bought this amazing plugin do as well
its been well documented why the plugin is online by the creator

I ask directly James - do you know whether this is going to change anytime soon ?

Hey there,

We have no plans on removing the online requirement anytime soon.

Sorry I couldn't be more helpful ;/

I am sorta 'On the Fence' on this. I may and/OR May not Ask for a Refund.
My Main Music computer. Is NEVER online. EVER!
Files Lost. I call BS.
I lost files back in the SCSI Pro-tools old days. And IDE's. But, Now I have so many backups. I do not worry a bit. (If you make music. You Back stuff up! 3-4 times! Disk space is Cheap!).
So That is not a Reason for 'Online Use'

Worry about them compiling all the Chord progressions and Melodies. From Us the user.?
It would have to be a Very, Very Long term Game. And They are quite Abundent these days.
So That IS A Worry! But You can not copyright a Chord Progression. So what would be the End game? Worried? Just do not make or use a Melody online.
That I will not do.
CaptainChords Somedays Is a little wonky(Because they are constantely Changing/Adding things).
But overall. It does things. That Only a Complex very Expencive Program can do right now.
Which brings up a point
Why is it so Cheap? Compare it to InstaChord and Scaler ETC.... And They can not compare to the.
Functions & Ease of USE of Captain Chords. You Have to get to really Expencive software. To Really compare it. So Take Synfire(The only other program to Humanize so Correctely.). Yes Synfire Can do a Hella of a lot more. But That is.
How deep do you want to go.(Very Steep Learning Curve!). *Personally I do not want to Speand All my time. In a Software Program. I Play Instrumensts.

So I have always been suspicious of the low price.
Also why it is not sold by ANY retailer?
Seriouely. If it was Stable Right now.(New Beta features as of today.).
And a Normal offline Plugin. They could ask 2 to 3 times the amount and Sell 10's of Thousands.
So that is Worring. It just does not make Good Busness Sense!

Now some friends. Have Been Using Captain Chords For a long Time. But They Sell Beats/Stems.
That is a Immediate and short shelf life, Compared to a Hit Song.

So basically I am Still wondering about Captain Chords.
Which I would not care about. If it was OFFLINE.
I think just posting this. Has made me decide The Worry is not worth it. I will ask for a Refund.

I live in France and my stuido (DAW) is in my underground unit. NO INTERNET. I like the video's and what I see of the product BUTTTTT. I am not a pirate....

I agree with the rest. I was going to buy this product but having a constant online connection just to use this is a poor developer choice. iLok would be a better option. People will always figure out how to hack software that is the nature of the beats. Who is to say your servers won't get hacked and our data gets leaked then what? Better online licence authentication will help with piracy, but forcing customers to be submit personal data is not something i don't feel comfortable with so it's a no go.

I wanted to buy captain chords too, but like others the online only is a no go for me. My workstation is offline only.

Maybe the devs change there mind in the future, one can only hope so.

the developer has already explained why its online
this topic should be locked its all become very boring now

Just lost me too - I was about 5 minutes from taking the plunge. Glad I read the FAQ.

BTW - I use Cubase 9.5, NI Ultimate and FL Studio - and lo-and-behold I purchased every one.

Hi,
The reason the developer comes with is nonsense! There is never a reason to be always connected with the internet. And if you want to be able to use the application everywhere like I read in an other post a application that also works without a internet connection is a better choice then.
Just purchased the plugins to find out that they are not working without internet. Never seen something so stupid. I did purchased almost all common music/audio software/plugins of today, but never came across this fenomenon ever!!! If your planing subscription (like Adobe did) and are just trying to catch the fish with low pricing let me know, because then I'm not interested.
Regards,
David

its all there if you care to read it

Hi,

I completely understand your frustration about the online requirement.

There are 3 reasons why Captain Plugins and Odesi only works online:

1) We wanted our users to access their sessions from anywhere in the world, like Dropbox. Personally, I've lost numerous Ableton sessions on old hard drives. I've lost sessions because I didn't have the VST installed anymore. I think at least 50% of the songs I've ever made is gone now because I cannot open them anymore. By creating an "Online" version of Odesi, we're able to store your projects in the cloud and allow you to access them from anywhere in the world, by clicking on the "Login" button on the Odesi website. The direct URL for that is https://app.odesimusic.com

2) I know music producers that pirate all the software they use. They paid for nothing except their hardware. So, we made it online only, which makes it harder to pirate. It generates enough revenue that we can keep adding new features and plugins, like Captain Play which we just launched. It's a free update because people paid for this software. If nobody paid, the software wouldn't exist, and wouldn't get updated. You're supporting a small company of honest people with your money. If we help you make just ONE song that gets 1 million views on Youtube, I'm sure your investment into Captain Plugins and Odesi has paid off.

3) Mixed In Key has been an online-connected product for 11 years, and it has a huge, happy user-base. Your Facebook is an onlineapp. Your iCloud is an online app. It just takes getting used to, but music production can be done online too.

Let me know what you think :)

p.s. You can use Captain plugins offline to play the MIDI you've already written. However, you need to be connected to the Internet to write new MIDI notes inside the plugins themselves. Our generators require Internet access.

Terrible move making this online only. There is no benefit to the user, only the developer. I bought it, used it twice and the second time it gave me an error when i was in the middle of a session, my internet was down. Ok so i paid for it but i can't use it. So just wait till it comes back on? get up and mess with my router? ARE YOU KIDDING ME? This is insane, No other developer does this. I buy my software, i own ableton 10 even though its cracked, i support good developers, but i'm pretty sure i will need a refund unless there are plans to change this in the future.

Well, this is a decision MIK have made and a policy they, evidently, are sticking with for the foreseeable future. I've just purchased the software and think it's great - far more intuitive than anything I've used previously. I don't agree with this policy but, in reality, it should not affect me at all because my DAW PC is always online and I very rarely have any issues with regards to internet connectivity. I can understand the natural aversion people have to this policy though. There are better ways to combat piracy these days.

I guess MIK have thought it through and accept the potential loss in revenue this results in (which, taking into consideration the responses to this thread, must be pretty substantial). "Shooting themselves in the foot" is a phrase that springs to mind. I just hope they continue to prosper. The competition could eventually win the day with their more consumer friendly anti-piracy methods.

Yeah I bought Riffer and Scaler , and i might have to return captain. Its just so crazy they would make it online only, my experience with it has been terrible because i live in a rural area and have satellite internet. I get a red loading bar that takes up to five seconds to load or play sound when i click a chord, that is if i don't get an error message and it just wont do anything. It seems like everytime i see them reply about it, it is some new reason why it has to be online only, first its for our convenience in the form of backups in a cloud, and then because of they are scared it will get cracked and no one will buy it (I bought scaler last night and its been cracked), facebook and icloud are online it just takes getting used to (!!!??) or then they email me saying it would cost they twice as much to make a version offline because they share code between windows and mac, what?! Every other developer does this, but your paying customers have to suffer so you can save money and time? Come on captain, i want to keep these but this has to get fixed

So after all this long discussion and MIK not wanting to take that requirement off. At least is the plug ins worth it? I wanted to buy it coming from a non musical background and having little experience on music theory. Will this help someone on how to create better chords, melodies????

Hi,

I was just about buying the software, it took me about 15 minutes to decide that, because i really love the features, the interface, and already imagined how i could wrap my workflow around it. But now I'm not going to buy it: I DON'T WANT IT TO BE ONLINE ONLY!! I'm not a pirate, I spend a lot for music software and buy all of it if i can demo it and use it in my setup. sorry guys, think about it. would pay the double for it: IF IT WAS OFFLINE ACCESSIBLE! Your argument of ..piracy is a problem.. is not an argument, it is an insult to all your customers. You are assuming they would steal from you if you wouldn't use the online-only-approach.

Why do I want it to be offline? 1. My studio has no internet, this is on purpose, because internet connection can cause distraction and i just exclude it with having no wifi there. 2. I like to compose stuff on the go, and that means (at least in Germany) very often: no internet. even with a phone. 3. I don't trust a company, saying basically: we're to small and to startup and to stupid to be able to protect our stuff like everyone else is doing it, that it will be in service reliably, because, if they can't manage that, they'll probably won't last.

Online-only requirement a no-go for me. Just bought the bundle and was opening things up to try them, thought it was an authorization routine for each one first time only, but realized quickly it's phoning home EVERY time. So I ended up here.

Refund to be requested. At least I didn't waste any time trying to figure out the software. I REALLY appreciate a 30 day window for trial for any software (all too rare especially with sample libraries), but that could have been a trial version instead of bothering to waste time with transaction/refund, etc.

The online requirement ist NO GO! So I don't buy Captain chords and wait for a offline-version!

I own the Captain plugins and Odesi. HATE them strictly because of this. They fail validation ALL THE F-ING TIME. I'd love to get my money back thanks! You guys clearly have the wrong idea about what people want out of your own software. Either hang up the software hat or get on board with what your users actually want.

On Wednesday, February 21, 2018 3:10 PM James Araujo - MIK Team wrote:

Hi,

I completely understand your frustration about the online requirement.

There are 3 reasons why Captain Plugins and Odesi only works online:

1) We wanted our users to access their sessions from anywhere in the world, like Dropbox. Personally, I've lost numerous Ableton sessions on old hard drives. I've lost sessions because I didn't have the VST installed anymore. I think at least 50% of the songs I've ever made is gone now because I cannot open them anymore. By creating an "Online" version of Odesi, we're able to store your projects in the cloud and allow you to access them from anywhere in the world, by clicking on the "Login" button on the Odesi website. The direct URL for that is https://app.odesimusic.com

2) I know music producers that pirate all the software they use. They paid for nothing except their hardware. So, we made it online only, which makes it harder to pirate. It generates enough revenue that we can keep adding new features and plugins, like Captain Play which we just launched. It's a free update because people paid for this software. If nobody paid, the software wouldn't exist, and wouldn't get updated. You're supporting a small company of honest people with your money. If we help you make just ONE song that gets 1 million views on Youtube, I'm sure your investment into Captain Plugins and Odesi has paid off.

3) Mixed In Key has been an online-connected product for 11 years, and it has a huge, happy user-base. Your Facebook is an onlineapp. Your iCloud is an online app. It just takes getting used to, but music production can be done online too.

Let me know what you think :)

p.s. You can use Captain plugins offline to play the MIDI you've already written. However, you need to be connected to the Internet to write new MIDI notes inside the plugins themselves. Our generators require Internet access.

Do you really understand the frustration though? The tone of your post says that you have absolutely no understanding of the point of view expressed in this thread

What do I think? There are MANY people who keep their studio machine offline for a ton of absolutely valid reasons. Me being one. I've paid for your plugins and Odesi, and frankly I hate them because they fail validation if I'm offline. Something that happens on my studio machine all the time.

And, what if I decide to get out of the house and work on some music. I go to a cafe. the wifi at the cafe is down, or even more commonly, the cafe has a time limit. After one to two hours my IP is locked out of wifi service and I can't continue to write.

There's absolutely no reason why internet could only be implemented when installing for the first time, and when updating the plugins.

You guys are out of touch with what your users want, and this is coming from someone who's paid for EVERYTHING.
Get a clue already that this is not what many of us want, or are even willing to put up with. Odesi and the Captain plugins have been nothing but a headache and at this point I'd just take my money back. But that doesn't happen software now does it. No guarantee of satisfaction, just take the users money and ignore what users request.

The Mixed in Key plugin would be useful, but guess who won't be buying it solely based on their Captian/Odesi experience?

Can someone attack them with a lawyer? I'm pretty sure there is something to do, they lie, lie by omission is also a lie.

I didn't figure out about the online requirement during the first 30 days because I had an internet connection. now I'm always limited.
They must communicate in this way more clearly, most of the people seems unaware of this before buying and this is not normal.

There are enough alternatives in the market now anyway. I don't recommend this software at all, not even passing Validation in some DAWS.

Signed up just to pitch my 2 cents into this thread. I've been pretty interested in Captain Chords. For what it does, saving some of the mundanity of hammering out chord progressions every time I want to start working on a song, the price isn't too bad. But my internet connection is spotty, and my area sometimes gets storms that will have the internet out for several days. When the internet is out, my go to thing to do in the meantime is - you probably guessed it: work on more music! So the online-only thing concerning Captain Plugins is disappointing.
I know the concern over piracy, but I can say with full confidence that if there were enough people wanting this to be pirated, it would have been cracked already. This is no FL Studio, Sony Vegas or GTA 5. It's not a product that tens of thousands of people are going to want pirated copies of. What it is, with all due respect, is a set of glorified MIDI generators. Something like Captain Plugins is ultimately nothing more than a convenience plugin for most people who would want to use it, and coders aren't going to spend time cracking convenience software. It's just not important enough to warrant it. Not to mention, you're severely overestimating your DRM. People crack hard coded DRMs in products by multi-million dollar companies all the time. The thing isn't that your DRM is invulnerable, it's that there simply isn't enough demand for what is, in all fairness, an incredibly niche product.
If you did away with this 'cloud' functionality, I would buy the plugins. Until then, in the famous words of Simon Cowell - it's a no from me.

Hello,

I usually don't comment, but I felt inclined to do so regarding the lack of offline capabilities for this software. I agree with everyone on this post - this is a really bad design which limits this tools awesome potential.

I purchased the Captain Plugins a couple weeks ago and there was no mention anywhere on the site (as far as I can tell) that an internet connection was needed. I have a very busy life so I fit my music in where I can, usually on the train commuting back and forth to work. I was super surprised after packing up my laptop and heading for the train to get a message that an internet connection was required and I couldn't use the software.

I hate to admit this... like an idiot, I severed our home phone line while cutting a hedge this weekend. The soonest PG&E can make it out to fix the line is 15 days from now. So, this software is completely useless for me until I have internet at home again.

As well put together and helpful as this software is, it's worth nothing if I can't use it. I'll be seeking a refund.

Hopefully, the developers will do something about this. But for now, does anyone know of a good alternative out there that doesn't hamstring their software with the connection limitation?

Thanks!

if you dont like the fact its online dont buy it simple

there is a 30 day refund policy in place so there is no reason to keep harping on about it being online if you have bought it and dont like it