Comment by rodw | Hacker News Reader

Comment by rodw | Hacker News Reader

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Why the Rifleman's Creed, of course: "There are many like it, but this one is mine."

(To be clear, I am not the creator here.)

There are many things like this, but for what it is worth, this is a pretty well executed one: simple to use, elegant UX, produces pleasing tones even when used inexpertly.

Also the fact that this one expands to a large number of steps is somewhat unique I think. (BTW it seems odd to me that the lower bound on the number of steps is 10 rather than the conventional 8.)

I too have seen (and played with) a large number of step-sequencer things and literally have three of them sitting next to me on my desk while I type this.

But I still enjoyed playing with this one for a little while.

I'm sure the OP learned something from this exercise, and there could be people for whom this is their first/best experience with a simple step sequencer, so it may "unlock" something for someone. But I think that's unnecessary "gravy" in this case. Sometimes the "joy" of creating is reason enough to do it. I may never visit Music Grid again but I'm glad OP shared it.

Hey, I'm the author and your comment did put a smile on my face. thanks for that :)

> steps is 10 rather than the conventional 8

oops, sorry on that one as I have no idea about music theory and stuff. I just learned a lot by building it and now going through this thread learning more.

The 8-not-10 isn't a problem at all, just a little surprising and maybe a hint that the creator wasn't deeply experienced with sequencers.

To be honest that's fine. I sincerely think this is a pretty elegant implementation, maybe because you're looking at it with fresh eyes.

Traditionally the hardware versions of these things have a pretty clunky and awkward interface that seems designed to minimize the number of switches and dials rather than to be readily understandable. A lot of the "toy" software sequencers you'll find online are clearly modeled on the hardware sequencers - sometimes specific ones - and copy that clunky interface. The "here's a grid, toggle a button to play a sound on that beat" interface is much more intuitive and fun to play with.

I think this is really well done. The only idea for improvement that jumps out at to me would be the ability to drag the cursor with the mouse down to toggle multiple buttons at once rather than independently clicking on each one.

If you want to learn more about Music Theory, I highly recommend Adam Nealy's videos on YouTube. He takes a refreshingly relaxed, entertaining, and overall very enjoyable approach to music theory, in stark comparison to a lot of the extant music theory material available. Which is kind of ironic since one of the reasons people play music is to relax, entertain, and enjoy themselves: https://www.youtube.com/user/havic5

I also like Rick Beato, as he tends to do more song deconstruction, though sometimes he can come off as a bitter, old man (though most of the time it's endearing): https://www.youtube.com/user/pegzch

Finally, I also like Signals Music Studio. He takes a little more of a traditional approach, but still in the camp of positivity rather than criticism of "crappy modern music": https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRDDHLvQb8HjE2r7_ZuNtWA

I love WebAudio stuff. It's so much fun to bang out a jam with some code. I could never get the gumption to get SuperCollider or any of the other systems working, because I was much more interested in the interactivity and sharing that are fundamental to the web.

Here's a multi-touch capable keyboard: https://codepen.io/SeanMcBeth/pen/meaQvj

Here's a game I made (about the consequences of following orders) that used nothing but WebAudio synthesis for the sound: https://www.seanmcbeth.com/yabs.html

Actually, I've been hacking on audio stuff in the browser before there was even a WebAudio API. Here's a synth I made that generated raw WAV files on the fly and played them in a standard <audio> tag (note: it pretty much only works correctly in Chrome): https://www.seanmcbeth.com/html5/synth/

Always keep playing.

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