8 ms·

Tone Matrix predates yours by many years and was popular at the time. If you weren't aware of it, you should charitably assume OP independently built this too.

gregschlom 6y ago
Yes, was going to say the same thing. I was playing with Tone Matrix way back in 2006 I think. It was built with Flash, and died with the rest of the flash web. Edit: original link to tone matrix: http://lab.andre-michelle.com/ToneMatrix http://lab.andre-michelle.com/ToneMatrix
- maxlaumeister 6y ago
  I ported Tone Matrix to JavaScript to help keep it from dying: https://www.maxlaumeister.com/tonematrix/ https://www.maxlaumeister.com/tonematrix/
__max__ 6y ago
Tone Matrix isn't a grid sequencer though, but fair enough, I should have said the first JS-based grid sequencer, not the first grid sequencer online.
- leviathant 6y ago
  'first JS-based grid sequencer' We're all inspired by other things, and being first doesn't really count for much if you don't promote yourself. Even then, it's a roll of the dice as to if you stand out in the crowd. If you're just going by "JS-based grid sequencer' I created one in February 2011 as part of an HTML-based emulation of a Boss DR-110 drum machine (Which I later updated to use the Web Audio API to synthesize the drum voices) https://github.com/leviathant/BossDR110 https://github.com/leviathant/BossDR110 It's skeumorphic (I was challenging the popular notion "You can do everything in HTML that you can do in Flash" at the time - it wasn't true then, but we're much closer now), I never finished out 'song mode', but it is a JS-based grid sequencer that predates your timeline. As best as I can tell, it was the first click-and-drag Javascript knob done Rebirth/Reason style - it was a little clunky, but I sure as hell couldn't find any remotely similar code to base it off of - but I don't get bent out of shape whenever I see other people making Javascript knobs.
  - __max__ 6y ago
    Yes, we're all inspired by other things. Neither of us invented grid sequencers, or music theory. I know there was no hostile intent, and I'm glad that OP is having fun, but hopefully you understand why I feel a slight pinch when I see something that is so close to what I've built making the rounds on HN with zero acknowledgement from OP. If we just go by a description of features, we've both built a grid sequencer in JS, with a built in synth that is designed to play on a scale so that everything comes out "sounding good"... With a serverless architecture so that you can share the tunes with anchor tags. It's precisely the same idea. How would you feel? Would you be able to be completely detached? I did promote MusicToy a bit. The original MusicToy made the rounds on reddit 8 years ago. MusicToy2 has had the same (small) base of active users for about 1.5 year now: https://mt2.musictools.live/ https://mt2.musictools.live/ Either way, I should probably look at this as a learning experience. It shows that I didn't promote my project as well as I could have. My project could also use better mobile support in terms of auto-scaling the page for mobile displays.
    - irshadshalu 6y ago
      > 0 acknowledgement from OP. if it makes you feel any better, I am the author of the website and I posted the same exact link 9 hours before OP and it got 3 upvotes [0] . then I woke up to a lot of GitHub stars on the repository and turns out this blew up. HN works in mysterious ways. > 0 acknowledgement from OP I have no idea, that seems like a newly created account to me. if you have any queries or issues/feedback, you can always raise it on git or contact me. I took this only as a learning experience and in no way to promote or market something :) [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508667
      - __max__ 6y ago
        Thank you for responding irshadshalu, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time. I agree that HN works in unpredictable ways. I don't know if you were just more lucky than I was, or if people like your app better because the UI looks better. If that's the case, it's interesting to know. This HN account is new-ish, but the original MusicToy blog post from 2012 is still around [1]. As far as Git goes, I would appreciate it if you had an acknowledgement somewhere that linked to the MusicToy repo[2], or just mentioned in passing in terms of inspirations/predecessors. You obviously have no obligation to do this, but it won't take away from the success of your app if you choose to do so. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, and may your success encourage you to build more great projects. [1] https://pointersgonewild.com/2012/04/23/musictoy-music-made-simple/ https://pointersgonewild.com/2012/04/23/musictoy-music-made-... [2] https://github.com/maximecb/MusicToy https://github.com/maximecb/MusicToy

gregschlom 6y ago

Yes, was going to say the same thing. I was playing with Tone Matrix way back in 2006 I think. It was built with Flash, and died with the rest of the flash web. Edit: original link to tone matrix: http://lab.andre-michelle.com/ToneMatrix http://lab.andre-michelle.com/ToneMatrix

maxlaumeister 6y ago
I ported Tone Matrix to JavaScript to help keep it from dying: https://www.maxlaumeister.com/tonematrix/ https://www.maxlaumeister.com/tonematrix/

__max__ 6y ago

Tone Matrix isn't a grid sequencer though, but fair enough, I should have said the first JS-based grid sequencer, not the first grid sequencer online.

leviathant 6y ago
'first JS-based grid sequencer' We're all inspired by other things, and being first doesn't really count for much if you don't promote yourself. Even then, it's a roll of the dice as to if you stand out in the crowd. If you're just going by "JS-based grid sequencer' I created one in February 2011 as part of an HTML-based emulation of a Boss DR-110 drum machine (Which I later updated to use the Web Audio API to synthesize the drum voices) https://github.com/leviathant/BossDR110 https://github.com/leviathant/BossDR110 It's skeumorphic (I was challenging the popular notion "You can do everything in HTML that you can do in Flash" at the time - it wasn't true then, but we're much closer now), I never finished out 'song mode', but it is a JS-based grid sequencer that predates your timeline. As best as I can tell, it was the first click-and-drag Javascript knob done Rebirth/Reason style - it was a little clunky, but I sure as hell couldn't find any remotely similar code to base it off of - but I don't get bent out of shape whenever I see other people making Javascript knobs.
- __max__ 6y ago
  Yes, we're all inspired by other things. Neither of us invented grid sequencers, or music theory. I know there was no hostile intent, and I'm glad that OP is having fun, but hopefully you understand why I feel a slight pinch when I see something that is so close to what I've built making the rounds on HN with zero acknowledgement from OP. If we just go by a description of features, we've both built a grid sequencer in JS, with a built in synth that is designed to play on a scale so that everything comes out "sounding good"... With a serverless architecture so that you can share the tunes with anchor tags. It's precisely the same idea. How would you feel? Would you be able to be completely detached? I did promote MusicToy a bit. The original MusicToy made the rounds on reddit 8 years ago. MusicToy2 has had the same (small) base of active users for about 1.5 year now: https://mt2.musictools.live/ https://mt2.musictools.live/ Either way, I should probably look at this as a learning experience. It shows that I didn't promote my project as well as I could have. My project could also use better mobile support in terms of auto-scaling the page for mobile displays.
  - irshadshalu 6y ago
    > 0 acknowledgement from OP. if it makes you feel any better, I am the author of the website and I posted the same exact link 9 hours before OP and it got 3 upvotes [0] . then I woke up to a lot of GitHub stars on the repository and turns out this blew up. HN works in mysterious ways. > 0 acknowledgement from OP I have no idea, that seems like a newly created account to me. if you have any queries or issues/feedback, you can always raise it on git or contact me. I took this only as a learning experience and in no way to promote or market something :) [0]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508667 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=23508667
    - __max__ 6y ago
      Thank you for responding irshadshalu, I sincerely appreciate you taking the time. I agree that HN works in unpredictable ways. I don't know if you were just more lucky than I was, or if people like your app better because the UI looks better. If that's the case, it's interesting to know. This HN account is new-ish, but the original MusicToy blog post from 2012 is still around [1]. As far as Git goes, I would appreciate it if you had an acknowledgement somewhere that linked to the MusicToy repo[2], or just mentioned in passing in terms of inspirations/predecessors. You obviously have no obligation to do this, but it won't take away from the success of your app if you choose to do so. I wish you the best of luck in your future endeavors, and may your success encourage you to build more great projects. [1] https://pointersgonewild.com/2012/04/23/musictoy-music-made-simple/ https://pointersgonewild.com/2012/04/23/musictoy-music-made-... [2] https://github.com/maximecb/MusicToy https://github.com/maximecb/MusicToy