6 ms·

Paul Oakenfold crowdsources a beat on beatlab

81 points by jbaudanza 14y ago

besquared 14y ago
Nice job guys! Good to see Beatlab is alive and well.
Tivs 14y ago
Congrats Jon B! ^^
wwarneck 14y ago
It's amazing how much work has gone into this site. Nice job.
JonnieCache 14y ago
Before crowdsourcing this was just called a remix competition. EDIT: I see that beatlab call it that as well.
deleted 14y ago
[deleted]
BklynJay 14y ago
I just can't say for certain that "Come Together" really needed to be remixed.
- feralmoan 14y ago
  No remix could possibly save that tune, but at least now I know about BeatLab! :D
wink 14y ago
I haven't seen such a broken site (for me) in a few years. a) I visit the page b) I get redirected to http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html c) I click on the blocked flash to unblock it, like on every other site. d) I get a "Flash has been unblocked! You may continue to beatlab." e) I click the link and end up at a) :(
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  wink, you have to unblock flash for the www.beatlab.com domain, not just the flash_blocked.html page. Sorry for the confusion.
- ojiikun 14y ago
  It is truly annoying that you have to totally whitelist their domain even after step D in order to see the site. Some of us want to selectively enable each flash applet, dangit. #KidsGetOffMyLawn
  - btown 14y ago
    It's actually going to be a pretty common problem as we see more and more interfaces being built _visually_ for HTML5, while audio will lag behind due to the non-standard implementations in everything but Chrome. We'll start seeing more and more libraries that do audio heavy lifting in Flash, but expose their functionality over ExternalInterface. So where do you put a small Flash applet that Flash-blocking power users might need to click on, but otherwise shows no graphics whatsoever? How do you make it easy/big-enough for Flash blockers to click, but unobtrusive enough to not intercept any DOM elements? I'd love to see a replacement for SWFObject that just brings up a modal dialog in the case where Flash is blocked, allowing you to click-to-enable the applet.
    - jbaudanza 14y ago
      Indeed. I'm very much looking forward to ditching flash on beatlab.com when I can. The HTML WebAudio API isn't quite there yet, but it's making great progress. It is already deployed in Chrome, with releases in Safari and iOS on the way. I actually have a branch going that uses the WebAudio API to mix sounds and doesn't rely on flash at all.
    - nemetroid 14y ago
      Opera's built-in plugin blocker has a clickable icon in the address bar, which enables all plugins on the page.
- 14y ago
jbaudanza 14y ago
If anyone out there is interested on working on beatlab with me, send me a note. jon@beatlab.com. Currently, beatlab.com is just me, but it is an incredibly fun project to work on. I'm based out of San Francisco. Of course, It's fun to get to do projects with people like Paul Oakenfold. But it's also incredibly rewarding to interact with young kids on the site that have no preconceived notions of how music should be created, and to watch them progress on beatlab.
- jseims 14y ago
  Hey Jonathon, What kind of projects are you looking to have people work on? And/or what skill sets of are looking for?
  - jbaudanza 14y ago
    I'm primarily looking for design and coding skills. Over the next year I'm going to be evolving beatlab to allow for the composition of full length production quality songs. I'd also like to involve more artists and producers along the way. Many hit hip-hop and electronica songs could have been composed on something similar to beatlab. The amount of additional complexity required is minimal. For example, one project is to create another area of the site for laying down vocals over a beat. The grid is a poor metaphor for these kinds of things. The vocals will by recorded separately, and then independently synced up with any other grid on the site. Another project is to allow for the arrangement of grids into a basic song structure. For example, there should be the intro grid, the chorus grid, etc..
- rparet 14y ago
  ++ if you can, you should work with Jon. He's great to work with and you'll learn a lot.
  - jbaudanza 14y ago
    Thanks! That's very kind.
- mnicole 14y ago
sc00ter 14y ago
Fantastic job on the track editing UI! The thing I missed from the Explore & Community pages is a progress bar for the currently playing track. I really wanted to see how long the track was, how far through I am, and maybe skip forward to see how the middle & end sounds (a waveform would be nice to let me see where the peaks are, but not essential) without listening to the entire track. I liked that starting a new track stops the currently playing one so you don't get music hell - so many sites get that wrong! :-) Oh, and congrats on getting Paul Okenfold on board, some coup!
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  Thanks sc00ter! I like the progress bar idea. I might also add a way to comment on a track right from the play button. People love getting comments and feedback.
benhebert 14y ago
Would love to interview you about this on whiteraverrafting.com. We're an edm blog and our audience will jump on this! ben@whiteraverrafting.com
dkersten 14y ago
Its nice, but I didn't like how "save" means "share". When I logged in with facebook, it told me it wouldn't post to my wall or access my data, so I wasn't expecting it to share my tune under my real name (I wouldn't have clicked save if I'd have known).
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  When you save a track, there is a little "lock" icon below where you type in the track name. You can use this to mark a track as private. Sorry, that should be more clear.
  - dkersten 14y ago
    Ok, I see it now. I suggest a tooltip-style balloon popup that tells users that they can change visibility by clicking the lock. Now that I know about it, though, I'm pretty happy :) One other suggestion tough, once a track has been saved, there doesn't seem to be a way to change the privacy settings (eg, to make my track private, I basically edited it, deleted the original and resaved - if there is a simpler way, it isn't clear what it is). Other than that, I like it. I think its still a little simplistic, but its an excellent start and you did say that you have a ton more planned - great work! I'll be looking forward to seeing this progress.
wilz 14y ago
Spent about an hour toying around with mediocre sounds and a really too simple drum matrix. Then tried to save only to realize my work will be lost, since i don't have a facebook acount (and don't want it). Yikes!
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  Sorry wilz. I'm planning to offer soundcloud and google logins as well.

81 points by jbaudanza 14y ago

besquared 14y ago

Nice job guys! Good to see Beatlab is alive and well.

Tivs 14y ago

Congrats Jon B! ^^

wwarneck 14y ago

It's amazing how much work has gone into this site. Nice job.

JonnieCache 14y ago

Before crowdsourcing this was just called a remix competition. EDIT: I see that beatlab call it that as well.

deleted 14y ago

[deleted]

BklynJay 14y ago

I just can't say for certain that "Come Together" really needed to be remixed.

feralmoan 14y ago
No remix could possibly save that tune, but at least now I know about BeatLab! :D

wink 14y ago

I haven't seen such a broken site (for me) in a few years. a) I visit the page b) I get redirected to http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html http://www.beatlab.com/flash_blocked.html c) I click on the blocked flash to unblock it, like on every other site. d) I get a "Flash has been unblocked! You may continue to beatlab." e) I click the link and end up at a) :(

jbaudanza 14y ago
wink, you have to unblock flash for the www.beatlab.com domain, not just the flash_blocked.html page. Sorry for the confusion.
ojiikun 14y ago
It is truly annoying that you have to totally whitelist their domain even after step D in order to see the site. Some of us want to selectively enable each flash applet, dangit. #KidsGetOffMyLawn
- btown 14y ago
  It's actually going to be a pretty common problem as we see more and more interfaces being built _visually_ for HTML5, while audio will lag behind due to the non-standard implementations in everything but Chrome. We'll start seeing more and more libraries that do audio heavy lifting in Flash, but expose their functionality over ExternalInterface. So where do you put a small Flash applet that Flash-blocking power users might need to click on, but otherwise shows no graphics whatsoever? How do you make it easy/big-enough for Flash blockers to click, but unobtrusive enough to not intercept any DOM elements? I'd love to see a replacement for SWFObject that just brings up a modal dialog in the case where Flash is blocked, allowing you to click-to-enable the applet.
  - jbaudanza 14y ago
    Indeed. I'm very much looking forward to ditching flash on beatlab.com when I can. The HTML WebAudio API isn't quite there yet, but it's making great progress. It is already deployed in Chrome, with releases in Safari and iOS on the way. I actually have a branch going that uses the WebAudio API to mix sounds and doesn't rely on flash at all.
  - nemetroid 14y ago
    Opera's built-in plugin blocker has a clickable icon in the address bar, which enables all plugins on the page.
14y ago

jbaudanza 14y ago

If anyone out there is interested on working on beatlab with me, send me a note. jon@beatlab.com. Currently, beatlab.com is just me, but it is an incredibly fun project to work on. I'm based out of San Francisco. Of course, It's fun to get to do projects with people like Paul Oakenfold. But it's also incredibly rewarding to interact with young kids on the site that have no preconceived notions of how music should be created, and to watch them progress on beatlab.

jseims 14y ago
Hey Jonathon, What kind of projects are you looking to have people work on? And/or what skill sets of are looking for?
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  I'm primarily looking for design and coding skills. Over the next year I'm going to be evolving beatlab to allow for the composition of full length production quality songs. I'd also like to involve more artists and producers along the way. Many hit hip-hop and electronica songs could have been composed on something similar to beatlab. The amount of additional complexity required is minimal. For example, one project is to create another area of the site for laying down vocals over a beat. The grid is a poor metaphor for these kinds of things. The vocals will by recorded separately, and then independently synced up with any other grid on the site. Another project is to allow for the arrangement of grids into a basic song structure. For example, there should be the intro grid, the chorus grid, etc..
rparet 14y ago
++ if you can, you should work with Jon. He's great to work with and you'll learn a lot.
- jbaudanza 14y ago
  Thanks! That's very kind.
mnicole 14y ago

sc00ter 14y ago

Fantastic job on the track editing UI! The thing I missed from the Explore & Community pages is a progress bar for the currently playing track. I really wanted to see how long the track was, how far through I am, and maybe skip forward to see how the middle & end sounds (a waveform would be nice to let me see where the peaks are, but not essential) without listening to the entire track. I liked that starting a new track stops the currently playing one so you don't get music hell - so many sites get that wrong! :-) Oh, and congrats on getting Paul Okenfold on board, some coup!

jbaudanza 14y ago
Thanks sc00ter! I like the progress bar idea. I might also add a way to comment on a track right from the play button. People love getting comments and feedback.

benhebert 14y ago

Would love to interview you about this on whiteraverrafting.com. We're an edm blog and our audience will jump on this! ben@whiteraverrafting.com

dkersten 14y ago

Its nice, but I didn't like how "save" means "share". When I logged in with facebook, it told me it wouldn't post to my wall or access my data, so I wasn't expecting it to share my tune under my real name (I wouldn't have clicked save if I'd have known).

jbaudanza 14y ago
When you save a track, there is a little "lock" icon below where you type in the track name. You can use this to mark a track as private. Sorry, that should be more clear.
- dkersten 14y ago
  Ok, I see it now. I suggest a tooltip-style balloon popup that tells users that they can change visibility by clicking the lock. Now that I know about it, though, I'm pretty happy :) One other suggestion tough, once a track has been saved, there doesn't seem to be a way to change the privacy settings (eg, to make my track private, I basically edited it, deleted the original and resaved - if there is a simpler way, it isn't clear what it is). Other than that, I like it. I think its still a little simplistic, but its an excellent start and you did say that you have a ton more planned - great work! I'll be looking forward to seeing this progress.

wilz 14y ago

Spent about an hour toying around with mediocre sounds and a really too simple drum matrix. Then tried to save only to realize my work will be lost, since i don't have a facebook acount (and don't want it). Yikes!

jbaudanza 14y ago
Sorry wilz. I'm planning to offer soundcloud and google logins as well.