7 ms·

Show HN: A simple web game to help learn chords and basic progressions

215 points by yottanami 2y ago

Hi Hacker News, I've created Chord Nebula, a simple web-based game designed to help users learn and practice piano chords, basic progressions, and harmony fundamentals. The game integrates with MIDI keyboards, allowing you to play chords in real-time and receive immediate feedback based on the key you choose. GitHub Repository: https://github.com/yottanami/chord_nebula https://github.com/yottanami/chord_nebula Live Demo: https://chords.yottanami.com https://chords.yottanami.com Requirements: To use Chord Nebula, you'll need a MIDI keyboard connected to your computer. Current Status: Chord Nebula is still a simple project. I'm committed to improving it based on user feedback and would greatly appreciate any support or contributions from the community. Looking for Feedback and Collaborators: I'm eager to hear your thoughts on Chord Nebula! Whether it's suggestions for new features, improvements, or bug reports, your feedback is invaluable. Additionally, if you're interested in collaborating to enhance the game, feel free to reach out or contribute directly via GitHub. Thanks for taking the time to check out Chord Nebula!

deleted 2y ago
[deleted]
brudgers 2y ago
Your github link is broken. Probably because your user name is not "yourusername."
- brudgers 2y ago
  Correct github, https://github.com/yottanami/chord_nebula https://github.com/yottanami/chord_nebula
  - dang 2y ago
    Fixed now. Thanks!
    - Modified3019 2y ago
      Just checked, still broken, looks like the “-“ between chord nebula needs to be a “_”
      - dang 2y ago
        Doh! fixed now, I think. Thanks!
kaines 2y ago
No drop down options exist for MIDI keyboard?
- sumnole 2y ago
  You need to both have existing midi devices and allow browser access.
- TZubiri 2y ago
  There's probably a solution that creates a virtual midi device given a keyboard. But it seems a bit counterproductive to train on a weird setup. You don't want to contaminate your muscle memory.
- yottanami 2y ago
  I've improved the in-game messages a bit to guide you. As mentioned before, you'll need a MIDI device (or a phone or tablet as a virtual MIDI device) connected to your computer, and a modern browser with MIDI access on your computer. I've tested it on Chrome for now.
nlh 2y ago
Congrats on launching! Limiting this to work only with folks who have MIDI keyboards attached to their machines probably cuts your audience down by 99.9999%. Especially here on hacker news. I think you’re going to find it tough going to get any real feedback with that requirement. You might find better luck launching in a community of folks who are more likely to meet your hardware requirements.
- rybosworld 2y ago
  Agree - this is something I'd be interested in trying out, but I don't have a MIDI keyboard.
  - joel-birchler 2y ago
    If you really want to try it, you can use a virtual MIDI keyboard. I made one (BloopKeys for iPhone) but there are others around.
- zellyn 2y ago
  Just got my MPK61 hooked up this week… I’ll have to give it a try. The set of people that have MIDI capable keyboards and want to improve musically is vanishingly small compared to those without, true, but it’s clearly a lucrative market if you do it right: there are tons of (music) keyboard classes out there online. And a lot of the hardware and software are pricey enough that I imagine ads could be pretty lucrative too.
  - DidYaWipe 2y ago
    I went to look that keyboard up, and incredibly there's no picture of it on Akai's product page. I mean... WTF? https://www.akaipro.com/mpk61 https://www.akaipro.com/mpk61
- swyx 2y ago
  okay, but.. any path to connecting this to phone mics so that it can function anywhere? whats the state of the art in tone and chord recognition models?
nemomarx 2y ago
I do think it would be nice to let me back up to even a janky keyboard input? not sure if anyone has good mapping for that.
- Terr_ 2y ago
  A janky keyboard input could be useful for demo purposes, to get folks excited about it before they drag their keyboard/MIDI cables out of the closet. (Debugging too, perhaps.)
joel-birchler 2y ago
This was kinda cool once I got it working! It reminds me of the terminal learn to type games. I made an app to help learn chords and keys too: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bloopkeys/id6689494178 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bloopkeys/id6689494178 Mine doesn't require MIDI (although it supports MIDI out as an option), but I can see why you went with that for yours. Some notes/thoughts: 1. It didn't work on my iPhone (either with Firefox or Safari). 2. A helpful sentence or two would be useful. For example, it wasn't obvious that what you were looking for was midi in and not midi out. 3. Ignore the folks on here talking about monetization (it won't compete with something like Melodics). You made a fun little thing and that's great.
- yottanami 2y ago
  Thank you very much for your suggestions. I made a small update and added a guidance to help users for now and hopefully will share the new version.
paulluuk 2y ago
Nice! This reminds me of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32023881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32023881
- yottanami 2y ago
  Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen it before. I guess it focuses more on teaching scales and chords, and the main difference this game has is teaching how to put chords after each other and also common progressions.
stevoski 2y ago
I’d love to try this. But… I’ve connected my Yamaha P-515 electric piano to my iPad, and it doesn’t show in the app’s “MIDI keyboard” dropdown. Lots of Googling comes up with nothing helpful - or understandable, at least, to me, a novice when it comes to MIDI. I’m writing this feedback, not because I want tech support, but because maybe it is helpful that a keen would-be user simply can’t get started.
- stevoski 2y ago
  Replying to myself: I got it working by plugging my Yamaha P-515 MacBook Pro into my computer. The ergonomics of playing the piano while viewing on a laptop were awkward. As to the game, well, it doesn’t do much yet. Just prompting me to play some chords. But it’s a start. Congrats on launching, and good luck with the next steps.
  - yottanami 2y ago
    Thank you for your feedback. It will be very valuable to me. Can I ask what browser you are using on your iPad? I guess Chrome will solve your problem on your iPad. I will try to look into it. As you mentioned, this is a first step and the main goal is to help build muscle memory for common progressions. And also how chords solve into each other, not just learning the chords themselves. With the great feedback I got here, I am planning to improve it so that more people can enjoy it. Feel free to join the mailing list to get the updates.
teekoiv 2y ago
Great job on launching! It sure does feel good to ship something and get a positive reaction. I don't want to steal your thunder but I did something similar a year ago and posted it here with a fresh HN account without much fanfare. https://midi-note-trainer.teemukoivisto.xyz/ https://midi-note-trainer.teemukoivisto.xyz/ I maybe put even too much effort in it, all those different keyboard layouts and all. But I am happy with the end result and noticed it did actually work. For me, the most important thing was (and still is) just learning music notation. Maybe one day I'll make a v2.
- asimovfan 2y ago
  i was not able to change the midi device to the appropriate one, so i couldn't use it, it looks really good though.
  - robertlutece 2y ago
    +1, even when I unplug everything beside my keyboard and remove any virtual devices, it stumbles onto "unknown input port" before my keyboard. I'd like to try it
    - teekoiv 2y ago
      Damn. I did use webmidi to wrap the access but apparently there's something missing. Works with my MPK3. Thanks for the feedback.
boredemployee 2y ago
god, the serendipity in HN sometimes is out of this world. im desperate to pratice chord progression in a more hands on way, hope this help me! ty
- yottanami 2y ago
  I hope Chord Nebula helps you practice chord progressions. I'd love to hear your feedback, and feel free to join our mailing list for updates.
- brusselssprouts 2y ago
  mikebwilliams.com/chords/
block_dagger 2y ago
Neat project. I’ve been using SimplyPiano on iPad for about a year and it’s great for learning sight reading, scales, and chords. I recommend it for anyone seeking to improve their piano skills as well as devs building similar apps.
- yottanami 2y ago
  Thank you very much. My goal with this game is to not only teach individual chords but also to delve into basic practical harmony, chord resolutions, and common progressions. This comprehensive approach is designed to support those interested in performing famous pieces, providing accompaniment, and even creating their own compositions.
hackernewds 2y ago
would love something like this for guitar! :(
- criddell 2y ago
  The old Rocksmith games included a bunch of guitar games. I don’t know if they were fun, but they definitely helped me learn to move around the fretboard without looking.
yottanami 2y ago
Thank You All for the Amazing Feedback! I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone for the incredible feedback. I honestly didn't anticipate such a positive response, and it has motivated me to dedicate more time and effort to developing Chord Nebula. I am committed to carefully reading all your messages and responding to each one. To keep everyone updated on the latest developments and changes, I've created a mailing list on the project's page. If you're interested, please feel free to join! Based on your valuable suggestions, I've implemented several small changes to enhance the user experience. Your input is instrumental in making this project better. You can report any issues on GitHub, contribute to the project, or simply give the repository a star to provide me with extra motivation to keep pushing forward. Thank you once again for your support and enthusiasm!
brianvoll 2y ago
nice game! I think it would be better from an education standpoint if the roman numerals were at the bottom of the circle and you didn't include the spelling of the chords. I like that you added 3 lives to make it more challenging and fun. Here is my game that I am starting to work on. It is meant to teach the concept of harmonic movement - movement by second third or 4th. https://editor.p5js.org/briancameronvoll/full/sCR6630hj https://editor.p5js.org/briancameronvoll/full/sCR6630hj It is in very early stages. I have only started learning to code a couple months ago! let me know what you think, I am still trying to think of simple ways to make it more fun.
- yottanami 2y ago
  Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to apply what you mentioned the roman numerals and the chord names in next version

215 points by yottanami 2y ago

deleted 2y ago

[deleted]

brudgers 2y ago

Your github link is broken. Probably because your user name is not "yourusername."

brudgers 2y ago
Correct github, https://github.com/yottanami/chord_nebula https://github.com/yottanami/chord_nebula
- dang 2y ago
  Fixed now. Thanks!
  - Modified3019 2y ago
    Just checked, still broken, looks like the “-“ between chord nebula needs to be a “_”
    - dang 2y ago
      Doh! fixed now, I think. Thanks!

kaines 2y ago

No drop down options exist for MIDI keyboard?

sumnole 2y ago
You need to both have existing midi devices and allow browser access.
TZubiri 2y ago
There's probably a solution that creates a virtual midi device given a keyboard. But it seems a bit counterproductive to train on a weird setup. You don't want to contaminate your muscle memory.
yottanami 2y ago
I've improved the in-game messages a bit to guide you. As mentioned before, you'll need a MIDI device (or a phone or tablet as a virtual MIDI device) connected to your computer, and a modern browser with MIDI access on your computer. I've tested it on Chrome for now.

nlh 2y ago

Congrats on launching! Limiting this to work only with folks who have MIDI keyboards attached to their machines probably cuts your audience down by 99.9999%. Especially here on hacker news. I think you’re going to find it tough going to get any real feedback with that requirement. You might find better luck launching in a community of folks who are more likely to meet your hardware requirements.

rybosworld 2y ago
Agree - this is something I'd be interested in trying out, but I don't have a MIDI keyboard.
- joel-birchler 2y ago
  If you really want to try it, you can use a virtual MIDI keyboard. I made one (BloopKeys for iPhone) but there are others around.
zellyn 2y ago
Just got my MPK61 hooked up this week… I’ll have to give it a try. The set of people that have MIDI capable keyboards and want to improve musically is vanishingly small compared to those without, true, but it’s clearly a lucrative market if you do it right: there are tons of (music) keyboard classes out there online. And a lot of the hardware and software are pricey enough that I imagine ads could be pretty lucrative too.
- DidYaWipe 2y ago
  I went to look that keyboard up, and incredibly there's no picture of it on Akai's product page. I mean... WTF? https://www.akaipro.com/mpk61 https://www.akaipro.com/mpk61
swyx 2y ago
okay, but.. any path to connecting this to phone mics so that it can function anywhere? whats the state of the art in tone and chord recognition models?

nemomarx 2y ago

I do think it would be nice to let me back up to even a janky keyboard input? not sure if anyone has good mapping for that.

Terr_ 2y ago
A janky keyboard input could be useful for demo purposes, to get folks excited about it before they drag their keyboard/MIDI cables out of the closet. (Debugging too, perhaps.)

joel-birchler 2y ago

This was kinda cool once I got it working! It reminds me of the terminal learn to type games. I made an app to help learn chords and keys too: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bloopkeys/id6689494178 https://apps.apple.com/us/app/bloopkeys/id6689494178 Mine doesn't require MIDI (although it supports MIDI out as an option), but I can see why you went with that for yours. Some notes/thoughts: 1. It didn't work on my iPhone (either with Firefox or Safari). 2. A helpful sentence or two would be useful. For example, it wasn't obvious that what you were looking for was midi in and not midi out. 3. Ignore the folks on here talking about monetization (it won't compete with something like Melodics). You made a fun little thing and that's great.

yottanami 2y ago
Thank you very much for your suggestions. I made a small update and added a guidance to help users for now and hopefully will share the new version.

paulluuk 2y ago

Nice! This reminds me of https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32023881 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=32023881

yottanami 2y ago
Thanks for the link, I hadn't seen it before. I guess it focuses more on teaching scales and chords, and the main difference this game has is teaching how to put chords after each other and also common progressions.

stevoski 2y ago

I’d love to try this. But… I’ve connected my Yamaha P-515 electric piano to my iPad, and it doesn’t show in the app’s “MIDI keyboard” dropdown. Lots of Googling comes up with nothing helpful - or understandable, at least, to me, a novice when it comes to MIDI. I’m writing this feedback, not because I want tech support, but because maybe it is helpful that a keen would-be user simply can’t get started.

stevoski 2y ago
Replying to myself: I got it working by plugging my Yamaha P-515 MacBook Pro into my computer. The ergonomics of playing the piano while viewing on a laptop were awkward. As to the game, well, it doesn’t do much yet. Just prompting me to play some chords. But it’s a start. Congrats on launching, and good luck with the next steps.
- yottanami 2y ago
  Thank you for your feedback. It will be very valuable to me. Can I ask what browser you are using on your iPad? I guess Chrome will solve your problem on your iPad. I will try to look into it. As you mentioned, this is a first step and the main goal is to help build muscle memory for common progressions. And also how chords solve into each other, not just learning the chords themselves. With the great feedback I got here, I am planning to improve it so that more people can enjoy it. Feel free to join the mailing list to get the updates.

teekoiv 2y ago

Great job on launching! It sure does feel good to ship something and get a positive reaction. I don't want to steal your thunder but I did something similar a year ago and posted it here with a fresh HN account without much fanfare. https://midi-note-trainer.teemukoivisto.xyz/ https://midi-note-trainer.teemukoivisto.xyz/ I maybe put even too much effort in it, all those different keyboard layouts and all. But I am happy with the end result and noticed it did actually work. For me, the most important thing was (and still is) just learning music notation. Maybe one day I'll make a v2.

asimovfan 2y ago
i was not able to change the midi device to the appropriate one, so i couldn't use it, it looks really good though.
- robertlutece 2y ago
  +1, even when I unplug everything beside my keyboard and remove any virtual devices, it stumbles onto "unknown input port" before my keyboard. I'd like to try it
  - teekoiv 2y ago
    Damn. I did use webmidi to wrap the access but apparently there's something missing. Works with my MPK3. Thanks for the feedback.

boredemployee 2y ago

god, the serendipity in HN sometimes is out of this world. im desperate to pratice chord progression in a more hands on way, hope this help me! ty

yottanami 2y ago
I hope Chord Nebula helps you practice chord progressions. I'd love to hear your feedback, and feel free to join our mailing list for updates.
brusselssprouts 2y ago
mikebwilliams.com/chords/

block_dagger 2y ago

Neat project. I’ve been using SimplyPiano on iPad for about a year and it’s great for learning sight reading, scales, and chords. I recommend it for anyone seeking to improve their piano skills as well as devs building similar apps.

yottanami 2y ago
Thank you very much. My goal with this game is to not only teach individual chords but also to delve into basic practical harmony, chord resolutions, and common progressions. This comprehensive approach is designed to support those interested in performing famous pieces, providing accompaniment, and even creating their own compositions.

hackernewds 2y ago

would love something like this for guitar! :(

criddell 2y ago
The old Rocksmith games included a bunch of guitar games. I don’t know if they were fun, but they definitely helped me learn to move around the fretboard without looking.

yottanami 2y ago

Thank You All for the Amazing Feedback! I want to extend my heartfelt thanks to everyone for the incredible feedback. I honestly didn't anticipate such a positive response, and it has motivated me to dedicate more time and effort to developing Chord Nebula. I am committed to carefully reading all your messages and responding to each one. To keep everyone updated on the latest developments and changes, I've created a mailing list on the project's page. If you're interested, please feel free to join! Based on your valuable suggestions, I've implemented several small changes to enhance the user experience. Your input is instrumental in making this project better. You can report any issues on GitHub, contribute to the project, or simply give the repository a star to provide me with extra motivation to keep pushing forward. Thank you once again for your support and enthusiasm!

brianvoll 2y ago

nice game! I think it would be better from an education standpoint if the roman numerals were at the bottom of the circle and you didn't include the spelling of the chords. I like that you added 3 lives to make it more challenging and fun. Here is my game that I am starting to work on. It is meant to teach the concept of harmonic movement - movement by second third or 4th. https://editor.p5js.org/briancameronvoll/full/sCR6630hj https://editor.p5js.org/briancameronvoll/full/sCR6630hj It is in very early stages. I have only started learning to code a couple months ago! let me know what you think, I am still trying to think of simple ways to make it more fun.

yottanami 2y ago
Thanks for the suggestions. I will try to apply what you mentioned the roman numerals and the chord names in next version