3 ms·

I don't think it has to be perfect to be useful. A) Sure, it takes a few seconds to not only fingerprint but also start downloading the song. That's okay. It w

I don't think it has to be perfect to be useful. A) Sure, it takes a few seconds to not only fingerprint but also start downloading the song. That's okay. It would just sound like normal noise cancelation until the music cancelation begins a few seconds later. B) I don't see why you can't just download the current song that's playing. It should only take a few seconds over a typical phone or wifi connection. C) Remixes and covers can already be identified by existing fingerprinting apps, can't they? It probably just won't work for live performances, but why would someone even go to a live performance if they don't want to hear the music? Even if it takes a few seconds per song to initiate, requires a connected smartphone or watch, and only works 90% of the time... that'd still be a huge improvement for me and some noise-sensitive people I know, in the use case I'm imagining (trying to tune out background music while working). I wish I knew how to build something like this... I'd gladly pay for it if someone else built it.

brudgers 2y ago
If regular noise canceling headphones are good enough while waiting on latency, they are probably good enough after that for three or more sigmas of people who use noise canceling headphones for coffee shop music. People who noise cancel coffee shop music are only a minority fraction of coffee shop patrons. And people spend only a small fraction of their lives in coffee shops. Anyway building it is the simplest way to learn how to build it and the way to get what you want or understand its practicality or impracticality. Paying someone else to develop it is a possibility but typically naught but a logical one I’ve included for completeness. For reference, I was gifted some AirPod pros and they handle the coffee shop reasonably well provided I have music or similar playing in them. When I want just silence, I use cheap earplugs.
- solardev 2y ago
  You're right, it would probably be a niche thing. I just wish they existed so I could buy some for myself to use. I have no background in audio processing at all beyond fiddling around in Audacity a bit. It would be a cool side-project rabbit hole to dive into, though! Another user, mitchellpkt, has an open-source project doing this same thing on record audio tracks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41088865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41088865 It's not real-time, but it's still way beyond anything I know how to do right now. Time to learn!
gus_massa 2y ago
> but why would someone even go to a live performance if they don't want to hear the music Once I went with my wife for dinner in a restaurant and there was an unexpected live tango pianist. It was nice, but sometimes I prefer a quite dinner. Also, I think the GP was talking about the multiple version of the live performances that are recorded and played later in radio or tv. Each one has minor variations, but identifying the exact one may be tricky.
- solardev 2y ago
  > It was nice, but sometimes I prefer a quiet dinner. Oh yeah, I get that. Often I have to leave when trying to work at a place once the music starts. On the other hand, my gf probably wouldn't be too happy with me if I put on noise-canceling headphones while she's trying to talk to me at dinner :) If the technology could be further tuned to not only isolate unwanted music and noise, but also amplify & enhance desired frequencies (like your wife's specific voiceprint), that'd be cool. The ultimate hearing aid? > Also, I think the GP was talking about the multiple version of the live performances that are recorded and played later in radio or tv. Each one has minor variations, but identifying the exact one may be tricky. Oh, gotcha. That makes more sense. I might to try to build a simple PoC in software, and that'll be one of the edge cases to consider.

brudgers 2y ago

If regular noise canceling headphones are good enough while waiting on latency, they are probably good enough after that for three or more sigmas of people who use noise canceling headphones for coffee shop music. People who noise cancel coffee shop music are only a minority fraction of coffee shop patrons. And people spend only a small fraction of their lives in coffee shops. Anyway building it is the simplest way to learn how to build it and the way to get what you want or understand its practicality or impracticality. Paying someone else to develop it is a possibility but typically naught but a logical one I’ve included for completeness. For reference, I was gifted some AirPod pros and they handle the coffee shop reasonably well provided I have music or similar playing in them. When I want just silence, I use cheap earplugs.

solardev 2y ago
You're right, it would probably be a niche thing. I just wish they existed so I could buy some for myself to use. I have no background in audio processing at all beyond fiddling around in Audacity a bit. It would be a cool side-project rabbit hole to dive into, though! Another user, mitchellpkt, has an open-source project doing this same thing on record audio tracks: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41088865 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41088865 It's not real-time, but it's still way beyond anything I know how to do right now. Time to learn!

gus_massa 2y ago

> but why would someone even go to a live performance if they don't want to hear the music Once I went with my wife for dinner in a restaurant and there was an unexpected live tango pianist. It was nice, but sometimes I prefer a quite dinner. Also, I think the GP was talking about the multiple version of the live performances that are recorded and played later in radio or tv. Each one has minor variations, but identifying the exact one may be tricky.

solardev 2y ago
> It was nice, but sometimes I prefer a quiet dinner. Oh yeah, I get that. Often I have to leave when trying to work at a place once the music starts. On the other hand, my gf probably wouldn't be too happy with me if I put on noise-canceling headphones while she's trying to talk to me at dinner :) If the technology could be further tuned to not only isolate unwanted music and noise, but also amplify & enhance desired frequencies (like your wife's specific voiceprint), that'd be cool. The ultimate hearing aid? > Also, I think the GP was talking about the multiple version of the live performances that are recorded and played later in radio or tv. Each one has minor variations, but identifying the exact one may be tricky. Oh, gotcha. That makes more sense. I might to try to build a simple PoC in software, and that'll be one of the edge cases to consider.