Google: Les Pauls 96th birthday | Hacker News Reader

Google: Les Pauls 96th birthday

google.com

281 pointsdelinquentme104 comments

also has keyboard commands, across the rows:

  do re mi fa so la ti do re mi
  q  w  e  r  t  y  u  i  o  p
  a  s  d  f  g  h  j  k  l  ;
  z  x  c  v  b  n  m  ,  .  /

Edit: If anyone cares to figure out the recorded encoding scheme, could probably "record" or program a tune. ex:

http://www.google.com/webhp?tune=<encoded song here>

ex, do-re-mi from Sound of music http://www.google.com/webhp?tune=IAZxghAmCEEYYYZgQGAMMEMwARh...

ex: chopsticks http://www.google.com/webhp?hl=en&tune=wIBgRTAigBHIOEAhg...

seems to be a big hash w/note+duration encoded. Would hack on, but need sleep & moving to SF in a couple days. G'nite HN!

Note: I'm pretty sure the keyboard commands only work in record mode.

They work everywhere, but you have to give the doodle keyboard focus, otherwise you'll be typing into the search box. I think the only way to give it focus without clicking through to the [les paul] query is to hit record. Once you stop recording, though, you can still use the keys.

I was also able to hit tab 3 times to give the doodle focus and use the keyboard

too bad there's only the major scale. the full 12 tones would have been pretty fun...

Fun for educated musicians, perhaphs, for ordinary users it would just mean a larger chance to hit the "wrong" notes.

I wish it had octaves above and below though. It's hard to play anything in a minor key, because the relative minor starts on the 6th and then you only have like 4 notes above that.

the shift key could have worked... and frankly if it's Les Paul I think I should at least be able to play a few power chords ;)

You are. Only one though.

I wish that the top row of keys would've given an octave higher, and the bottom row give an octave lower. That'd give you 3 octaves, enough to play a whole lot of songs.

Ah, thanks for exposing the keyboard interface!

You equipped me for this rendition of "Chopsticks": http://goo.gl/doodle/uAEhv

I made 9 takes trying to make the two parts sync as well as possible and to move at a good tempo. This is my best one.

The problem with those amazing crafts is that they disappear the day later, and you cannot get a cached version of them.

at http://www.google.com/logos/index.html you only have a static version of it, (see Martha Graham's 117th Birthday for instance).

Dear googlers on HN, is there anything you guys can do about this?

Some logos get their own page, e.g. http://www.google.com/pacman/

I'm sorry that posting this link may lower productivity for a bunch of people. :)

Most of them get their own page eventually. The limiting factor is just engineer-time; a backlog tends to develop when there're a bunch of interactive doodles in a row, because the engineer(s) in question are too busy working on the next doodle to put the previous one up.

I know how to do it and currently have nothing to do on my real project, so maybe tomorrow I'll ask the engineers in question if they mind me putting up standalone versions of some of the backlogged doodles.

FYI, Les Paul, Martha Graham, Earth Day, World's Fair, and Yuri Gagarin are all up now:

http://www.google.com/logos/2011/lespaul.html

http://www.google.com/logos/2011/graham.html

http://www.google.com/logos/2011/worldsfair.html

http://www.google.com/logos/2011/earthday.html

http://www.google.com/logos/2011/space.html

Is there a list of these? It's hard to guess the names.

They're linked from the /logos page:

http://www.google.com/logos/

If you go back to May 2010, PacMan is there, as are all the other ones. The interactive ones get hyperlinked to a standalone page.

Lasting one day make them more beautiful.

La Vie En Rose: http://goo.gl/doodle/gSAz

It stops recording after a bit - I had the whole song too! Haha this is great

*Edit: Last part to complete the song, because it was bugging me: http://goo.gl/doodle/aEl1

And, quickie Imperial March: http://goo.gl/doodle/D6ce

I'm being extra slow this morning... errr how do you play back recordings?

It should just play back as soon as you load the page.

Doesn't work for me (in the UK).

Doesn't work for me either (Germany)

Doesn't work for me either (Spain)

Not recording here in Australia.. But it sounds awesome lol

Same (Ireland)

Those are the keys to play LA VIE EN ROSE using Google's guitar doodle: i uyteiu ytequyt oiuyriu yteqiuy

Google is one of the few companies who would invest in this sort of PR.

It's good publicity for them and also an ultra creative way to garner people's curiosity and attention. It must have been a hell lot of work(unless I am missing something) but it's totally justified.

Best PR ever. Today, in every office around the world, there will be at least one person saying "have you seen the google logo today?". And everybody will have a good time. Totally worth the development cost (and such a thing will be enjoyed by everyone who develops it).

In the pre-Google era, I worked for a dot-com startup that was a community for senior citizens to get together and presumably chat about their grandchildren or whatever. I suggested that we do fun things with the logo like different permutations of the logo on different parts of the site, or changing the logo out for holidays or whatever.

The CEO just berated the hell out of me. He said that was the worst idea he had ever heard, and that any serious and successful company NEVER EVER EVER changes how their brand looks and is presented and gave me all sorts of examples of how all "real" companies have elaborate and detailed documents explaining the only acceptable way to display the company's name and/or logo in every possible scenario.

So every time Google (or anyone else) does this sort of thing, I feel a small rush of vindication.

Lean on Me: http://goo.gl/doodle/ubOZ

awesome!

Best viewed with sound on.

Also, you can save and share your compositions. I'm not quite proficient with doodle-guitar, but here's a couple seconds of noodling around:

http://goo.gl/doodle/vN4K

It looks like Alexander Chen played a large role in this. He was responsible for the NYC MTA conductor piece that made the rounds earlier this year: http://blog.chenalexander.com/2011/conductor-mta/

Cool to see how this concept and code have evolved into something new.

Talk about attention to detail: if you have headphones you can tell that the audio shifts from left to right, based on where your mouse is. Try different spots on the long string in the middle for the best effect.

Adding another comment after my one below. I couldn't get the record button (just a keyboard button) and thought it might be because I am in Canada. To test I remoted into our server in Texas and opened the doodle from there... presto, a record button... on IE7 no less. Looks like Google is distributing different versions by region. Why? No clue.

Edit: This works on my Nexus One! Now THAT is cool.

Something is not ok for me. On all my browsers, I can play the chords and hear the sounds, but I can not playback the recodings you guys shared. What gives?

Works now. I think the rest of the world got it with a delay :)

Wow, they've put in so much work just to amuse people! Saving the composition takes this doodle to whole new level. It should be interesting to see if the links to compositions remain valid after the doodle itself is taken down.

How did you save the composition? I can't figure it out.

Click on the black button with the red dot on the bottom right of the doodle.

There is a record button hidden in second 'g' of Google doodle.

Where? Care to point it out with a screenshot?

Indicated by a red arrow: http://tinypic.com/r/1z2o9kz/7

Weird. That shows up as a keyboard for me, and allows me to use the keys to play.

See: http://min.us/ldmfEC

same in China.

Same in Netherland and France.

I get the keyboard too, no ability to record or play back anyone's existing tunes.... odd. Thought maybe it was because I am in Canada? Tried in FF and Chrome.

same here, no record or playback. Chrome 12.0.742.91 beta-m in Australia.

Canada here, too. Google hates us.

My attempt at Dueling Banjos: http://goo.gl/doodle/gsW2

Ironically, can't play the birthday song due to a lack of B-flat (could be played in G, but not enough notes)

I have to be the only person who just didn't like this. Trying to get a class full of teenagers to work when everyone was busy playing the guitar was a headache :P

Beautiful and creative, sure, but having what's essentially persistent sound in a web page just rubs me the wrong way.

Recording and replaying sounds works only for US IP addresses. Also Firefox 3.5.8 doesn't work.

Today (1 dat after) the record/play button started to work for me. I guess they decided to make it available in other countries too. I finally could listen to your compositions.

I have zero musical ability and was playing with this anyway. I think it is one of the coolest google doodles ever. (Possibly THE coolest.)

Simply brilliant. I am sure this doodle going to bring some good bit of PR and non-google search users (if there are any) to the Google home. They are marketing/pr geniuses in using the tech. In hindsight, the doodle patent (http://mashable.com/2011/03/22/google-doodle-patent/) looks very useful

Is this made with javascript?

from a superficial look, it seems like the sound is actually being played through flash. it looks like the doodle is canvas though, which suggests the interface is in javascript.

too bad they didn't synthesize the sound with javascript as well. their web audio api is great. firefox has a (somewhat) equivalent api. :)

it doesn't look very "flash"

It creates a flash object on the fly with javascript:

  <object id="guitar11-sound-player" width="0" height="0"
   type="application/x-shockwave-flash" 
   codebase="http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave
   /cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=9,0,0,0" 
   classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000">

It really doesn't seem like sound playback is there yet, except in Flash.

look more into the apis i referenced. not only is javascript playback there, but even the synthesis is possible through javascript.

here some details: http://googleblog.blogspot.com/2011/06/doodle-for-instrument...

And previous works by Chen Alexander, one of the leaders behind this: http://www.mta.me/ http://blog.chenalexander.com/2011/conductor-mta/

Looks like they were inspired by this: http://www.mta.me/ (already mentioned on HN)

I dunno, I think they're more inspired by this: http://d.pr/dQPu

Here's my attempt at Mary Had A Little Lamb: http://goo.gl/doodle/1tEs

Here's my version :) http://goo.gl/doodle/OXis

Here's my shot at Heart and Soul. http://goo.gl/doodle/qyOQ

Handel Sonata: http://goo.gl/doodle/lAT0

Metallica: http://goo.gl/doodle/6H8G

Noodling around with some chords: http://goo.gl/doodle/KqQb

Kudos on One! Made my night, thanks.

Great job on the Metallica one :D

Recording and playback only works when one is browsing from the USA. I have tried from both sides. Only after loading it from a USA IP it played back successfully.

I can confirm, doesn't work from UK IP but does work from USA.

Very nice but very frustrating that you can almost play "Happy Birthday" except for 1 note missing!

Ah, you're right! Here's the first part http://goo.gl/doodle/tdXk2

I'm late to the party :) .

Labamba: http://goo.gl/doodle/JQgc

Creating these full-time must be an incredible blast: http://www.google.com/intl/ln/jobs/uslocations/mountain-view...

It wasn't making any sound for me, then I realized it needed Flash. Very nifty.

Mary Had a Little Lamb http://goo.gl/doodle/3aEE

Works on my Android phone too, even the keyboard (Motorola Droid). Can't press the record button though.

This video shows how it's done: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zaeO99SbgFc&feature=youtu...

This is great. Too bad recording/playback doesn't work for people outside of the US.

Here's the intro to "Redemption song" since I can't record it: a sd a fhgd asdg dgdas.

"Rolling in the Deep", by Adele http://goo.gl/doodle/DCvZJ

Automated Chopsticks: http://pastebin.com/tCpg7jjw

Tik Tok by Ke$ha

http://goo.gl/doodle/Yr6r

Telephone by Lagy Gaga http://goo.gl/doodle/yXZK

i like the cut of your jib - But, really, i think this is a good illustration of what can be done with minimal notes. I've heard a few people complain about not having sharps/flats. It might take a little more work, but there's still a ton you can still do.

It also taught me that yes, i can play by ear just fine, but I am no good at transposing real time. that's tough.

I think this was ample, feature-wise, for a 1-day Google homepage logo :)

Simple Do-Re-Mi

http://goo.gl/doodle/9giY

This is excellent! You can really easily play "Ode to Joy" with it.

I couldn't hit the low note :)

http://goo.gl/doodle/eXKz

Yeah it's all great until that point :)

I went an octave up: http://goo.gl/doodle/4Bq1

random noodling http://goo.gl/doodle/a85r

It works on Chrome but not on Firefox. Interesting.

It works in my copy of FF4 on Win7.

Firefox 4.0.1 on Win7. No sound. Chrome works fine.

Works on Firefox 4 for me.

I've tried it on FF4 on both Linux and Mac OS X. Works just fine on both.

As other commenters mentioned, it requires flash for sound. Any flashblocker or clicktoflash will render the page mute (like on my Safari). Maybe you have one of those installed?

Ah yes, Flashblock. I didn't see the little icon on the page, so it didn't cross my mind.

Thanks for pointing that out.

If Moe's can be successfully sued over using dead people's likenesses, how can Google get away with living people?

Do they have to get permission for each one?

Les Paul is dead. Died in 2009.

The only "living people" that get a doodle are you. Search from the homepage on your own birthday when you're signed in, and if your Google Account has a birthday associated with it, you'll get a special doodle.

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