6 ms·

Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

201 points by hkgumbs 5y ago

hkgumbs 5y ago
Hi HN! I’ve been working on Typebeat for a year and a half, and I decided yesterday to make the code public. There’s also a website where you can download the macOS build and try an online demo: https://typebeat.kofi.sexy https://typebeat.kofi.sexy The project was initially conceived as “vim for music”. All of Typebeat is controlled by the 30 main character keys on the computer keyboard. The result is a workflow that’s a little tricky to learn but fast to use once mastered. (So I suppose I nailed the vim experience in that regard.) If you’d like to see how I use it at top speed, you can check out this 2-minute jam I made recently: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas https://youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas
- Jenk 5y ago
  Atreus keyboard?
  - imachine1980_ 5y ago
    yes he use one of those, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas
- tmountain 5y ago
  Github page says, "I am not actively developing this project, but I may return to it at some point in the future". Is that still accurate?
  - hkgumbs 5y ago
    Yes, pretty much. It’s definitely cool that so many folks here have left positive feedback, but ultimately I don’t have the same bandwidth and motivation that I had when I started this project. Whenever those return, I’ll return to it. Until then, I’m just planning to chew on the core idea and take in everyone’s suggestions.
    - tessierashpool 5y ago
      I think this is a perfectly reasonable default. thanks for making something interesting and making it available for everyone to use and/or learn from. aside: it's kind of weird to assume that all projects on GitHub are constantly being updated for free. old projects are inevitably going to outnumber new ones on any system that keeps old projects available, unless that system continues growing at an ever-increasing pace forever and ever.
raviisoccupied 5y ago
I really love it, I'm fascinated by the quirky design and UI that a lot of music gear like this uses. You've really captured that in this!
- hkgumbs 5y ago
  Thanks a bunch! I wonder which gear brands you had in mind when commenting. Teenage Engineering had a big influence on how I make music, and I like to think some of their charm shines through in Typebeat.
tiborsaas 5y ago
I'm a long time bedroom producer and I find this tool an interesting concept, but I couldn't get through the initial step to create a 4/4 kick loop. There's too much internal state going on with no indicators about what's active or what mode I'm in that it feels more like a memory game than a fun music toy. Maybe it's not a coincidence I'm not a vim/emacs fan? :D What I'd add is a few tutorial videos to explain the basic concepts from scratch.
- nkozyra 5y ago
  This is the creators dilemma when it comes to UX - you know how it works so it feels intuitive.
  - tiborsaas 5y ago
    I know a few musicians who made their own software to create their music so if it works for you that's already a win. What would work to improve the workflow is to ask people to try it in front of you, just like a normal UX research.
ruined 5y ago
god damn it. if i'd seen this yesterday i probably wouldn't have blown rent on a couple of volcas.
- ruined 5y ago
  now i'm thinking about some kind of qmk integration that provides step indication and other status info directly on the keyboard. there's LEDs in it anyway right
  - hkgumbs 5y ago
    I’ve thought a lot about this! I’d love to create hardware someday that plugs directly into a keyboard and turns it into a music workstation. I recently came across the Wooting keyboard line which seems like the perfect fit, since you could get pressure sensitive keypresses (currently one big downside of the Typebeat workflow). https://wooting.io/ https://wooting.io/
    - ruined 5y ago
      pressure sensitive is alright but once you move away from the absolute baseline of common hardware it's more attractive to just spend money on a real synthesizer. go full pi appliance. it wouldn't be too hard to make an sd image, perhaps compatible with one/some of those "pi tablet" kits, that would boot straight into this, recognize various qmk-compatible usb ids and offer to push firmware.
marban 5y ago
My OP-1 is watching from the sidelines
osmnshkh 5y ago
Seriously cool project!
popedriver 5y ago
This couldn't have come at a better time - I'm a onetime guitarist who just picked it back up after a long hiatus, and I've been getting interested in the process of recording and beat-making (with no prior experience in that regard). This project looks awesome - any recommendations for learning to make coherent beats / drum patterns for jamming and songwriting?
meowface 5y ago
Really cool, and I think I might use or integrate this, but I agree with: > I find this tool an interesting concept, but I couldn't get through the initial step to create a 4/4 kick loop. There's too much internal state going on with no indicators about what's active or what mode I'm in that it feels more like a memory game than a fun music toy. I think it should be set up such that you can immediately, intuitively start making things as soon as you visit the page. It should feel like a fun music toy. One web app that does this really well, in my opinion, is http://sampulator.com http://sampulator.com - you just start pressing keys and you get sound; you press shift and you start recording tracks. It's very simple and intuitive. It doesn't have nearly as many capabilities as your app, but I feel like friction is one of the biggest issues with digital music making, and if you want to stand out, providing something people can wield as an instrument without even thinking about it will be a huge advantage.
- dankoss 5y ago
  I totally agree removing friction is key. I have really enjoyed Korg Gadget https://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_gadget/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_gadget/ - most people are familiar with the iPad version, but the Mac version has the keyboard mapped out like sampulator for immediate playing like an instrument.
adamnemecek 5y ago
I've been working on an IDE for music composition. Launching soon https://ngrid.io https://ngrid.io.
- can16358p 5y ago
  Looks like a nice idea. Any screenshots? Couldn't find on the website.
  - adamnemecek 5y ago
    I'm polishing the UI as we speak. It's somewhat rough around the edges right now but it will be done soon.
- sam1r 5y ago
  Subscribed. Glad you mentioned the value props on a landing page.
adamgordonbell 5y ago
This is amazing. It seems like music composition is a place where steep-but-worth-it learning curves are a good idea. What other online tools like this exist?
- chaosprint 5y ago
  https://glicol.org https://glicol.org
chaosprint 5y ago
very interesting project! also the design is very elegant.
nkingsy 5y ago
Love to see more open source music creation tools! I feel like the lack of knobs would make exploration difficult. On the step sequencer side, having buttons that light up is key for tracking state.
inglor 5y ago
This is really neat! I see you're using Solid and Vite - how are you enjoying them so far for the UI?
danbmil99 5y ago
http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/dr-ts-keyboard-controlled-sequencer/2473 http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/dr-ts-keyboard-controlled-...
dimatura 5y ago
I've dreamed of a vim-like workflow for music making for a while now. I still think it would be neat, but this itch has been scratched to a large extent by the dirtywave M8 (https://dirtywave.com https://dirtywave.com). It's a handheld hardware tracker that has a workflow roughly based on the LSDJ gameboy tracker, but 100x more capable. Like vim, it takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you build muscle memory it's really streamlined, and now I can't imagine using anything else!

201 points by hkgumbs 5y ago

Hi HN! I’ve been working on Typebeat for a year and a half, and I decided yesterday to make the code public. There’s also a website where you can download the macOS build and try an online demo: https://typebeat.kofi.sexy https://typebeat.kofi.sexy The project was initially conceived as “vim for music”. All of Typebeat is controlled by the 30 main character keys on the computer keyboard. The result is a workflow that’s a little tricky to learn but fast to use once mastered. (So I suppose I nailed the vim experience in that regard.) If you’d like to see how I use it at top speed, you can check out this 2-minute jam I made recently: https://youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas https://youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas

Jenk 5y ago
Atreus keyboard?
- imachine1980_ 5y ago
  yes he use one of those, in this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas
tmountain 5y ago
Github page says, "I am not actively developing this project, but I may return to it at some point in the future". Is that still accurate?
- hkgumbs 5y ago
  Yes, pretty much. It’s definitely cool that so many folks here have left positive feedback, but ultimately I don’t have the same bandwidth and motivation that I had when I started this project. Whenever those return, I’ll return to it. Until then, I’m just planning to chew on the core idea and take in everyone’s suggestions.
  - tessierashpool 5y ago
    I think this is a perfectly reasonable default. thanks for making something interesting and making it available for everyone to use and/or learn from. aside: it's kind of weird to assume that all projects on GitHub are constantly being updated for free. old projects are inevitably going to outnumber new ones on any system that keeps old projects available, unless that system continues growing at an ever-increasing pace forever and ever.

raviisoccupied 5y ago

I really love it, I'm fascinated by the quirky design and UI that a lot of music gear like this uses. You've really captured that in this!

hkgumbs 5y ago
Thanks a bunch! I wonder which gear brands you had in mind when commenting. Teenage Engineering had a big influence on how I make music, and I like to think some of their charm shines through in Typebeat.

tiborsaas 5y ago

I'm a long time bedroom producer and I find this tool an interesting concept, but I couldn't get through the initial step to create a 4/4 kick loop. There's too much internal state going on with no indicators about what's active or what mode I'm in that it feels more like a memory game than a fun music toy. Maybe it's not a coincidence I'm not a vim/emacs fan? :D What I'd add is a few tutorial videos to explain the basic concepts from scratch.

nkozyra 5y ago
This is the creators dilemma when it comes to UX - you know how it works so it feels intuitive.
- tiborsaas 5y ago
  I know a few musicians who made their own software to create their music so if it works for you that's already a win. What would work to improve the workflow is to ask people to try it in front of you, just like a normal UX research.

ruined 5y ago

god damn it. if i'd seen this yesterday i probably wouldn't have blown rent on a couple of volcas.

ruined 5y ago
now i'm thinking about some kind of qmk integration that provides step indication and other status info directly on the keyboard. there's LEDs in it anyway right
- hkgumbs 5y ago
  I’ve thought a lot about this! I’d love to create hardware someday that plugs directly into a keyboard and turns it into a music workstation. I recently came across the Wooting keyboard line which seems like the perfect fit, since you could get pressure sensitive keypresses (currently one big downside of the Typebeat workflow). https://wooting.io/ https://wooting.io/
  - ruined 5y ago
    pressure sensitive is alright but once you move away from the absolute baseline of common hardware it's more attractive to just spend money on a real synthesizer. go full pi appliance. it wouldn't be too hard to make an sd image, perhaps compatible with one/some of those "pi tablet" kits, that would boot straight into this, recognize various qmk-compatible usb ids and offer to push firmware.

marban 5y ago

My OP-1 is watching from the sidelines

osmnshkh 5y ago

Seriously cool project!

popedriver 5y ago

This couldn't have come at a better time - I'm a onetime guitarist who just picked it back up after a long hiatus, and I've been getting interested in the process of recording and beat-making (with no prior experience in that regard). This project looks awesome - any recommendations for learning to make coherent beats / drum patterns for jamming and songwriting?

meowface 5y ago

Really cool, and I think I might use or integrate this, but I agree with: > I find this tool an interesting concept, but I couldn't get through the initial step to create a 4/4 kick loop. There's too much internal state going on with no indicators about what's active or what mode I'm in that it feels more like a memory game than a fun music toy. I think it should be set up such that you can immediately, intuitively start making things as soon as you visit the page. It should feel like a fun music toy. One web app that does this really well, in my opinion, is http://sampulator.com http://sampulator.com - you just start pressing keys and you get sound; you press shift and you start recording tracks. It's very simple and intuitive. It doesn't have nearly as many capabilities as your app, but I feel like friction is one of the biggest issues with digital music making, and if you want to stand out, providing something people can wield as an instrument without even thinking about it will be a huge advantage.

dankoss 5y ago
I totally agree removing friction is key. I have really enjoyed Korg Gadget https://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_gadget/ https://www.korg.com/us/products/software/korg_gadget/ - most people are familiar with the iPad version, but the Mac version has the keyboard mapped out like sampulator for immediate playing like an instrument.

adamnemecek 5y ago

I've been working on an IDE for music composition. Launching soon https://ngrid.io https://ngrid.io.

can16358p 5y ago
Looks like a nice idea. Any screenshots? Couldn't find on the website.
- adamnemecek 5y ago
  I'm polishing the UI as we speak. It's somewhat rough around the edges right now but it will be done soon.
sam1r 5y ago
Subscribed. Glad you mentioned the value props on a landing page.

adamgordonbell 5y ago

This is amazing. It seems like music composition is a place where steep-but-worth-it learning curves are a good idea. What other online tools like this exist?

chaosprint 5y ago
https://glicol.org https://glicol.org

chaosprint 5y ago

very interesting project! also the design is very elegant.

nkingsy 5y ago

Love to see more open source music creation tools! I feel like the lack of knobs would make exploration difficult. On the step sequencer side, having buttons that light up is key for tracking state.

inglor 5y ago

This is really neat! I see you're using Solid and Vite - how are you enjoying them so far for the UI?

danbmil99 5y ago

http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/dr-ts-keyboard-controlled-sequencer/2473 http://www.muzines.co.uk/articles/dr-ts-keyboard-controlled-...

dimatura 5y ago

I've dreamed of a vim-like workflow for music making for a while now. I still think it would be neat, but this itch has been scratched to a large extent by the dirtywave M8 (https://dirtywave.com https://dirtywave.com). It's a handheld hardware tracker that has a workflow roughly based on the LSDJ gameboy tracker, but 100x more capable. Like vim, it takes a while to get the hang of it, but once you build muscle memory it's really streamlined, and now I can't imagine using anything else!