6 ms·

Show HN Pianoboi – displays sheet music as you play your piano

109 points by bcowde 2y ago

I made a software library for displaying piano music 7 years back, and recently ported it to the web (which is now easier than even ever). It displays sheet music as you play, and let's you take snapshots of specific chords, then keeps a running list of chords as keyboard visuals (instead of just displaying sheet music). Just a simple tool for songwriting/ figuring out songs by ear, or just understanding music key theory (which I'm admittedly a still a beginner at).

tzury 2y ago
this is lovely. I work on a parallel project (tarab.ai). will be happy to talk. ping me at zuri at tarab do ai
eimrine 2y ago
It requires some MIDI plugins, I was guessed it can convert from audio.
moi2388 2y ago
Could not enable WebMidi: navigator.requestMIDIAccess is not a function. (In 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess({sysex:t.sysex,software:t.software})', 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess' is undefined)
- swiftcoder 2y ago
  WebMidi was never ratified as a standard, and Safari declined to implement on security and privacy grounds
NiloCK 2y ago
Looks really neat on first glance, thanks for sharing. I'm working on some browser based piano learning software. Is this open source?
earlyriser 2y ago
Not sure if you can help me here or someone reading this. I'm trying to find something to programatically make piano sounds (and record an mp3) based on 2 params midi note and velocity. I'm making a videogame and I need the mp3 piano notes. I got a free piano sample library, but the sounds start not always at the same microsecond, so I think I need to produce the samples by myself.
- jstrom 2y ago
  This paper produces a good result: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2007/ph210/otey2/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2007/ph210/otey2/. If you game is OK sounding synthetic, I've had good results simulating a string plucked off center, decay each harmonic proportional to the frequency, then adding reverb. A sound font or VST plug-in with appropriate licenses may be another route, but I can't speak to how difficult that would be to work with. It's on my to-do list.
  - earlyriser 2y ago
    Yes this looks perfect for what I'm trying to do. Thanks!
- darepublic 2y ago
  Can you edit the sound files with ffmpeg to get rid of any empty space before the sound effect?
  - earlyriser 2y ago
    Yes, I could do that, but I'm not happy also with the quality of the samples and I need to produce more velocities.
- bartread 2y ago
  Your computer’s sound card probably has a built-in MIDI library (like general MIDI) that will include a piano as an instrument. You could use a sequencer (like the one built in to Reaper, which is free) to sequence the notes you need using your sound card as the MIDI device. You can then export your track as a WAV file and chop it up into individual notes using Audacity. You can then export each individual note as a separate MP3, and load them into your game. Note that I’m using the word “soundcard” very loosely here: in many cases sound hardware is onboard nowadays. The point is your computer will have sounds you need built in. You could also take one piano note sample and simply play it at different pitches, but the issue here is it will only sound good within a smallish range of notes - maybe an octave maximum. Whereas your computer’s sound hardware is likely to have a piano as a wave table instrument that uses multiple or many samples or fragments of samples for each note and will sound better, though possibly still a bit synthetic.
bambax 2y ago
Interesting! However, while MIDI is 'working' (notes are highlighted when played), it doesn't produce any sound? But sound is produced when when clicking on the keyboard with the mouse...? Is there a setting somewhere to fix this?
mentos 2y ago
Using my mouse I was attempting to hold space bar and click 3 notes and then release and hit P to play the chord back but was not able to
Jeff_Brown 2y ago
Do you mean it shows something you've already chosen, or it interprets and plots what you're making up in the moment?
georgestrakhov 2y ago
Exactly what I always wanted. I can play naturally but don't know sheet music. Sometimes capturing what I play in notation helps to communicate it to other musicians I am hanging our with...
moefh 2y ago
This is really cool! A small suggestion for improvement: the labels of the black keys currently don't match their function according to the key signature. For example, in F major the black key between A and B should be called Bb, not A#.
cvick 2y ago
Safari on iphone I get this error when I load the page: Could not enable WebMidi: navigator.requestMIDIAccess is not a function. (In 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess({sysex:t.sysex,software:t.software})', 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess' is undefined)
- tecleandor 2y ago
  I think webmidi is only implemented in Chrome :(
  - cassepipe 2y ago
    I don't think this is true anymore. This website used to give a disclaimer to firefox users and does not anymore : https://pianojacq.com/ https://pianojacq.com/ This is the website I like to use. Will give pianoboi a try though.
    - solardev 2y ago
      That site says it's still Chrome only. On Firefox I get this: (maybe it's mobile Firefox) > If you are reading this it means that your browser does not support the WebMIDI extension. > This is a real pity, but with some luck Google Chrome will work on your system. > If you already have chrome please start up chrome and revisit the website using that browser, otherwise you will have to install it. > For FireFox this has been an open issue for Eight Years. See: this bugzilla entry. > That's annoying because FireFox is normally my daily driver but eight years is enough to have to wait for a feature like that. > So, I'm really sorry, but please switch to Chrome for this project, until Mozilla gets its act together, assuming it ever will. ----- There's really no such thing as web standards anymore. Google just does whatever it wants and sometimes the other browsers work, and sometimes not...
      - cassepipe 2y ago
        It's the disclaimer I was talking about Yes it's because you're on mobile Firefox
- 2y ago
Ylpertnodi 2y ago
Great stuff, thanks. Very revealing, and the fact it recognises all of my midi devices (including the oxi one sequencer) means I can watch my arpeggios.

109 points by bcowde 2y ago

tzury 2y ago

this is lovely. I work on a parallel project (tarab.ai). will be happy to talk. ping me at zuri at tarab do ai

eimrine 2y ago

It requires some MIDI plugins, I was guessed it can convert from audio.

moi2388 2y ago

Could not enable WebMidi: navigator.requestMIDIAccess is not a function. (In 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess({sysex:t.sysex,software:t.software})', 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess' is undefined)

swiftcoder 2y ago
WebMidi was never ratified as a standard, and Safari declined to implement on security and privacy grounds

NiloCK 2y ago

Looks really neat on first glance, thanks for sharing. I'm working on some browser based piano learning software. Is this open source?

earlyriser 2y ago

Not sure if you can help me here or someone reading this. I'm trying to find something to programatically make piano sounds (and record an mp3) based on 2 params midi note and velocity. I'm making a videogame and I need the mp3 piano notes. I got a free piano sample library, but the sounds start not always at the same microsecond, so I think I need to produce the samples by myself.

jstrom 2y ago
This paper produces a good result: http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2007/ph210/otey2/ http://large.stanford.edu/courses/2007/ph210/otey2/. If you game is OK sounding synthetic, I've had good results simulating a string plucked off center, decay each harmonic proportional to the frequency, then adding reverb. A sound font or VST plug-in with appropriate licenses may be another route, but I can't speak to how difficult that would be to work with. It's on my to-do list.
- earlyriser 2y ago
  Yes this looks perfect for what I'm trying to do. Thanks!
darepublic 2y ago
Can you edit the sound files with ffmpeg to get rid of any empty space before the sound effect?
- earlyriser 2y ago
  Yes, I could do that, but I'm not happy also with the quality of the samples and I need to produce more velocities.
bartread 2y ago
Your computer’s sound card probably has a built-in MIDI library (like general MIDI) that will include a piano as an instrument. You could use a sequencer (like the one built in to Reaper, which is free) to sequence the notes you need using your sound card as the MIDI device. You can then export your track as a WAV file and chop it up into individual notes using Audacity. You can then export each individual note as a separate MP3, and load them into your game. Note that I’m using the word “soundcard” very loosely here: in many cases sound hardware is onboard nowadays. The point is your computer will have sounds you need built in. You could also take one piano note sample and simply play it at different pitches, but the issue here is it will only sound good within a smallish range of notes - maybe an octave maximum. Whereas your computer’s sound hardware is likely to have a piano as a wave table instrument that uses multiple or many samples or fragments of samples for each note and will sound better, though possibly still a bit synthetic.

bambax 2y ago

Interesting! However, while MIDI is 'working' (notes are highlighted when played), it doesn't produce any sound? But sound is produced when when clicking on the keyboard with the mouse...? Is there a setting somewhere to fix this?

mentos 2y ago

Using my mouse I was attempting to hold space bar and click 3 notes and then release and hit P to play the chord back but was not able to

Jeff_Brown 2y ago

Do you mean it shows something you've already chosen, or it interprets and plots what you're making up in the moment?

georgestrakhov 2y ago

Exactly what I always wanted. I can play naturally but don't know sheet music. Sometimes capturing what I play in notation helps to communicate it to other musicians I am hanging our with...

moefh 2y ago

This is really cool! A small suggestion for improvement: the labels of the black keys currently don't match their function according to the key signature. For example, in F major the black key between A and B should be called Bb, not A#.

cvick 2y ago

Safari on iphone I get this error when I load the page: Could not enable WebMidi: navigator.requestMIDIAccess is not a function. (In 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess({sysex:t.sysex,software:t.software})', 'navigator.requestMIDIAccess' is undefined)

tecleandor 2y ago
I think webmidi is only implemented in Chrome :(
- cassepipe 2y ago
  I don't think this is true anymore. This website used to give a disclaimer to firefox users and does not anymore : https://pianojacq.com/ https://pianojacq.com/ This is the website I like to use. Will give pianoboi a try though.
  - solardev 2y ago
    That site says it's still Chrome only. On Firefox I get this: (maybe it's mobile Firefox) > If you are reading this it means that your browser does not support the WebMIDI extension. > This is a real pity, but with some luck Google Chrome will work on your system. > If you already have chrome please start up chrome and revisit the website using that browser, otherwise you will have to install it. > For FireFox this has been an open issue for Eight Years. See: this bugzilla entry. > That's annoying because FireFox is normally my daily driver but eight years is enough to have to wait for a feature like that. > So, I'm really sorry, but please switch to Chrome for this project, until Mozilla gets its act together, assuming it ever will. ----- There's really no such thing as web standards anymore. Google just does whatever it wants and sometimes the other browsers work, and sometimes not...
    - cassepipe 2y ago
      It's the disclaimer I was talking about Yes it's because you're on mobile Firefox
2y ago

Ylpertnodi 2y ago

Great stuff, thanks. Very revealing, and the fact it recognises all of my midi devices (including the oxi one sequencer) means I can watch my arpeggios.