8 ms·

Flat V8 is now live

84 points by ciconia 10y ago

jamiesoncj 10y ago
This release looks awesome. I remember when Flat first launched and I was really hoping to be able to use it as a replacement for Sibelius (which is the only reason I have to keep a Windows VirtualBox on my Ubuntu machine). In the early days it wasn't quite there yet and was missing some important features that I needed for arranging scores. I will definitely be giving it another try, the product has come a long way since then. Kudos to the team!
- rannoup 10y ago
  Thanks! Indeed we put a lot of energy into the V8 release. So excited about it and can't wait to work on the upcoming bunch of improvements :)
- breakingcups 10y ago
  Have you tried MuseScore and what were your thoughts on it?
adrianh 10y ago
Congrats on the new release! As somebody who has built his own web-based music renderer (soundslice.com), I know how big of a project it is. :-)
Already__Taken 10y ago
Some minor things; A link to the product in your blog header wouldn't hurt, and your back-to-school offer link for the pricing page bounces me to a login. Not sure if that's exactly the flow you intended for showing a promotion. OH I also didn't realise if I looked at the education page i'd then see different edu. pricing.
- gierschv 10y ago
  Indeed, our signup link in the header + fixed to the our auth page, we will change it to our homepage :) Thanks for the feedback for the back to school, we will check that.
instakill 10y ago
Why don't you guys look into creating a marketplace for the scores created by your users? Or make it way more prominent if it exists. I want scores, but I don't want to make them myself.
- rannoup 10y ago
  Hi, That's a suggestion that comes more and mores. This a way we may go in the future however that a strong move that requires ressources and a bigger team :) Moreover there is still so much to do on the editor is self.
AnkhMorporkian 10y ago
Can I make a small recommendation? Your product looks awesome, seriously. But the V8 through me for a huge loop. I was thinking it was some fork of the the Chrome V8 engine that used... I'm not sure what, but something flat. V8.0 might be a better name, even if it doesn't fit with the previous releases. Seriously though, cool product, I'm impressed.
- aeharding 10y ago
  I don't think their target audience will have that problem.
  - AnkhMorporkian 10y ago
    Completely fair point.
robmcm 10y ago
What is Flat V8? This isn't a problem isolated with your website, but it seems to be almost impossible to get a clear description of a product from any website other than Wikipedia these days. Currently I'm assuming it's either a non carbonated vegetable juice, or some kind of horizontally scaled node implementation.
- robmcm 10y ago
  OK, from the non blog site: > Use the easiest tool to create sheet music collaboratively V8 is just version 8, nothing to do with JavaScript engines :)
  - rannoup 10y ago
    You're right, the blog need to be updated :) you're not the first one to highlight the "V8" misunderstanding. Will definitely call the 9 "V9.0" :)
    - mason55 10y ago
      You misunderstand. For V9 it won't matter, there's only confusion because "V8" already evokes other meaning. I don't think "V9" has the same issues.
  - js2 10y ago
    Just using lower-cased v8 would've eliminated much confusion.
- na85 10y ago
  It's been a trend for a while, now. Instead of using something that is intuitive like "gcc" for GNU Compiler Collection, everyone just picks a random word that is only slightly a propos and then calls their product by that obscure name. I'm going to launch a Web app using monads-as-a-service built with docker and emscripten and deployed via packmule.io that will translate all these stupid names to actually-useful definitions. I'll call it Language.
mintone 10y ago
The product isn't my world, but your logo should link to your product homepage (www.flat.io) and the word "blog" to the blog front page - it was basically impossible for me to find out what Flat actually was without modifying the URL manually :)
sgt 10y ago
What web technologies were used to build Flat? I'd be particularly interested to know how the music editor was built. It looks gorgeous!
- rannoup 10y ago
  We use SVG and Angular.js for the editor and the engraving. WebMidi & WebAudio APIs for the playback. WebSocket for the realtime collaboration. You can find our stack on our AngelList page.
  - sgt 10y ago
    I have a friend who's a fairly famous pianist. He played Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago, even. He's always dabbling on his Steinway at home, but he's not to good with technology. Will Flat V8 be useful for someone like that? Just thinking of whether I should mention this to him.
    - rannoup 10y ago
      We try to make the use of Flat the easiest possible. I think it can give it a try anyway. Really depends if he is used to music notation softwares :)
      - sgt 10y ago
        He's never used any type of music notation software - he's very traditional. Still, would be interesting if something like this could spark his interest and he'd change his working methodology over the next years.
        cocoggu 10y ago
        At the end we aim to break the frontier between real world instruments and the software itself, using real-time transcription through microphone. It will still take a few months to get there but you got the vision ;)
  - 10y ago
freemium413 10y ago
As others have said, V8 in the title is confusing.. v8.0 would be better. Also, the website at a glance was very confusing to me. I feel the top should have a section about what "Flat" is and what it solves. I should know your mission statement right away. It looks like a very nice piece of composing software but I fear most of your visitors will close your website before figuring that out.
- rannoup 10y ago
  you refer to the blog as well?
Brendinooo 10y ago
Excited that this exists. I'd love to spend some time playing with it. However, I was disappointed that the one of the first things I tried to do (play the "Super Mario Bros. Coin Noise" sheet) worked in Chrome but not Firefox. Maybe it was just a blip (another sheet worked fine), but I wanted to call it out anyways!
- cocoggu 10y ago
  Thanks for the report! I couldn't reproduce it though, I guess a network error happened while downloading the soundfont.
deanclatworthy 10y ago
The first and only feedback I can give you is that I can't find a link on your homepage that actually shows me what your product looks like, or even how it works. Consider adding an intro video or having a demo that doesn't require me to log in and give you my personal information.
kerryritter 10y ago
This is awesome. I've been looking for a Guitar Pro alternative for years, and this is preeeetty dang close. Copy-pasting measures could be simpler, and manipulating note length via keyboard would make it precisely what I need - maybe i just need to figure out how to do that. Great work, Flat!
SNvD7vEJ 10y ago
Feedback: After clicking the link, editing the url to find the real site, clicking everything, I still don't know what this is besides something that has to do with music and collaboration. Suggestion: let a friend (or a professional tester) try out your site and listen carefully to their comments, before you go boosting, and frustrate a lot of people that probably will not bother again. A serious tester would probably have told you that you are missing info on the site.

84 points by ciconia 10y ago

This release looks awesome. I remember when Flat first launched and I was really hoping to be able to use it as a replacement for Sibelius (which is the only reason I have to keep a Windows VirtualBox on my Ubuntu machine). In the early days it wasn't quite there yet and was missing some important features that I needed for arranging scores. I will definitely be giving it another try, the product has come a long way since then. Kudos to the team!

rannoup 10y ago
Thanks! Indeed we put a lot of energy into the V8 release. So excited about it and can't wait to work on the upcoming bunch of improvements :)
breakingcups 10y ago
Have you tried MuseScore and what were your thoughts on it?

adrianh 10y ago

Congrats on the new release! As somebody who has built his own web-based music renderer (soundslice.com), I know how big of a project it is. :-)

Already__Taken 10y ago

Some minor things; A link to the product in your blog header wouldn't hurt, and your back-to-school offer link for the pricing page bounces me to a login. Not sure if that's exactly the flow you intended for showing a promotion. OH I also didn't realise if I looked at the education page i'd then see different edu. pricing.

gierschv 10y ago
Indeed, our signup link in the header + fixed to the our auth page, we will change it to our homepage :) Thanks for the feedback for the back to school, we will check that.

instakill 10y ago

Why don't you guys look into creating a marketplace for the scores created by your users? Or make it way more prominent if it exists. I want scores, but I don't want to make them myself.

rannoup 10y ago
Hi, That's a suggestion that comes more and mores. This a way we may go in the future however that a strong move that requires ressources and a bigger team :) Moreover there is still so much to do on the editor is self.

AnkhMorporkian 10y ago

Can I make a small recommendation? Your product looks awesome, seriously. But the V8 through me for a huge loop. I was thinking it was some fork of the the Chrome V8 engine that used... I'm not sure what, but something flat. V8.0 might be a better name, even if it doesn't fit with the previous releases. Seriously though, cool product, I'm impressed.

aeharding 10y ago
I don't think their target audience will have that problem.
- AnkhMorporkian 10y ago
  Completely fair point.

robmcm 10y ago

What is Flat V8? This isn't a problem isolated with your website, but it seems to be almost impossible to get a clear description of a product from any website other than Wikipedia these days. Currently I'm assuming it's either a non carbonated vegetable juice, or some kind of horizontally scaled node implementation.

robmcm 10y ago
OK, from the non blog site: > Use the easiest tool to create sheet music collaboratively V8 is just version 8, nothing to do with JavaScript engines :)
- rannoup 10y ago
  You're right, the blog need to be updated :) you're not the first one to highlight the "V8" misunderstanding. Will definitely call the 9 "V9.0" :)
  - mason55 10y ago
    You misunderstand. For V9 it won't matter, there's only confusion because "V8" already evokes other meaning. I don't think "V9" has the same issues.
- js2 10y ago
  Just using lower-cased v8 would've eliminated much confusion.
na85 10y ago
It's been a trend for a while, now. Instead of using something that is intuitive like "gcc" for GNU Compiler Collection, everyone just picks a random word that is only slightly a propos and then calls their product by that obscure name. I'm going to launch a Web app using monads-as-a-service built with docker and emscripten and deployed via packmule.io that will translate all these stupid names to actually-useful definitions. I'll call it Language.

mintone 10y ago

The product isn't my world, but your logo should link to your product homepage (www.flat.io) and the word "blog" to the blog front page - it was basically impossible for me to find out what Flat actually was without modifying the URL manually :)

sgt 10y ago

What web technologies were used to build Flat? I'd be particularly interested to know how the music editor was built. It looks gorgeous!

rannoup 10y ago
We use SVG and Angular.js for the editor and the engraving. WebMidi & WebAudio APIs for the playback. WebSocket for the realtime collaboration. You can find our stack on our AngelList page.
- sgt 10y ago
  I have a friend who's a fairly famous pianist. He played Carnegie Hall a couple of years ago, even. He's always dabbling on his Steinway at home, but he's not to good with technology. Will Flat V8 be useful for someone like that? Just thinking of whether I should mention this to him.
  - rannoup 10y ago
    We try to make the use of Flat the easiest possible. I think it can give it a try anyway. Really depends if he is used to music notation softwares :)
    - sgt 10y ago
      He's never used any type of music notation software - he's very traditional. Still, would be interesting if something like this could spark his interest and he'd change his working methodology over the next years.
      - cocoggu 10y ago
        At the end we aim to break the frontier between real world instruments and the software itself, using real-time transcription through microphone. It will still take a few months to get there but you got the vision ;)
- 10y ago

freemium413 10y ago

As others have said, V8 in the title is confusing.. v8.0 would be better. Also, the website at a glance was very confusing to me. I feel the top should have a section about what "Flat" is and what it solves. I should know your mission statement right away. It looks like a very nice piece of composing software but I fear most of your visitors will close your website before figuring that out.

rannoup 10y ago
you refer to the blog as well?

Brendinooo 10y ago

Excited that this exists. I'd love to spend some time playing with it. However, I was disappointed that the one of the first things I tried to do (play the "Super Mario Bros. Coin Noise" sheet) worked in Chrome but not Firefox. Maybe it was just a blip (another sheet worked fine), but I wanted to call it out anyways!

cocoggu 10y ago
Thanks for the report! I couldn't reproduce it though, I guess a network error happened while downloading the soundfont.

deanclatworthy 10y ago

The first and only feedback I can give you is that I can't find a link on your homepage that actually shows me what your product looks like, or even how it works. Consider adding an intro video or having a demo that doesn't require me to log in and give you my personal information.

kerryritter 10y ago

This is awesome. I've been looking for a Guitar Pro alternative for years, and this is preeeetty dang close. Copy-pasting measures could be simpler, and manipulating note length via keyboard would make it precisely what I need - maybe i just need to figure out how to do that. Great work, Flat!

SNvD7vEJ 10y ago

Feedback: After clicking the link, editing the url to find the real site, clicking everything, I still don't know what this is besides something that has to do with music and collaboration. Suggestion: let a friend (or a professional tester) try out your site and listen carefully to their comments, before you go boosting, and frustrate a lot of people that probably will not bother again. A serious tester would probably have told you that you are missing info on the site.