Show HN: Maroofy – Search for songs that sound similar
maroofy.com
maroofy.com
So I’ve been working on this project where you can search for similar-sounding songs.
Basically, you enter the name of a song in a search bar, and it will use an audio-based search algorithm to return a list of other songs that sound similar.
Since the similarity search is audio-based, it attempts to prioritize songs with similar melodies, beats, and feel, irrespective of their popularity.
Here are a few example searches for similar songs:
- Fetish (feat. Gucci Mane) - Selena Gomez: https://maroofy.com/songs/1563859943
- Faded - Alan Walker: https://maroofy.com/songs/1087732055
- Bandit - Juice Wrld: https://maroofy.com/songs/1577864923
- L.I.F.E - Remady & Manu-L: https://maroofy.com/songs/1170014710
- A chill instrumental track: https://maroofy.com/songs/1592077074
It’s still a very rough prototype, but thought it would be nice to share it here to get some early feedback! :)
Some current limitations:
- Sometimes, the results may contain similar songs that are duplicates under a different name
I'm having decent success for searched songs so far. Sometimes I'm not sure why the top songs were picked for similarity but as I go further down the list I can start to hear some similar sounds, but I guess that's just my subjective opinion so I'm not sure how helpful that is.
I looked up Roy Orbison's "In Dreams", and the top result had a VERY similar accompaniment, which was great to hear. But then listening to the next one down on the list, it's the exact same song mislabeled as a completely different one, not sure what happened there, or if that's a bug in the sound loading logic (looking up that song on Youtube it is totally different). Also was surprised going down that list how many singers have similar voices to Roy Orbison, unless that's also mislabeling? Not sure what to think there.
Yeah, currently the indexed catalog has some metadata issues, where some songs can have the wrong audio associated with them.
And since the search algorithm is only audio-based, this can cause it to return results where the audio is similar but the associated song/artist name for that audio is incorrect. This can also cause issues such as having duplicates of the same song under different names, etc.
I definitely agree that this can be confusing, and I’m still trying to figure out a way to best address this issue.
And the search ranking algorithm can definitely be improved too! :)
However, in my experience no system ever managed to find genuinely similar songs, in terms of style, feeling, structure (notes, rhythm etc.), voice (pitch, strength ratio when compared to the accompanying instrumentation, ), and genre. One could find some of these, but very far from enough to satisfy my need. I appreciate though that some songs are so unique in this sense that finding similar ones will be a serious effort.
Let's take, for example, Evidence by Faith No More: https://maroofy.com/songs/1271787478
The suggested songs appear to share a similar structure sometimes, a similar genre and even a feeling at times. But none are coming within the range of the cue song.
What I'm looking for is a combination of multiple details that make this song unique: bassline, rhythm, feeling and voice.
Still, it must be said that in some cases, where the song follows a popular or fairly strict rhythm, like in some blues styles, the algo works a lot better:
For example, Heather Nova - That's All That I Need: https://maroofy.com/songs/275983279
Many of the suggestions fit the rhythm and, since the feeling of these songs is heavily based on the rhythm, we have multiple winners.
https://maroofy.com/songs/1288698663 vs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EqGAAwAwWjo
Same thing happened with Satl - Portal: https://maroofy.com/songs/1535147851 vs. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wQGPZs1s_Ig
I found what I think is an off-by-one bug, but for some reason it only seems to reproduce on "Uprising (by Muse)": https://maroofy.com/songs/539822007
The top track is listed as "Sojourner (Phillip Keveren & London Symphony Orchestra)" but when one clicks play, it plays "Uprising (Muse)". I found the link to that song on YT Music and it doesn't seem in the same vein as Uprising at all:
https://music.youtube.com/watch?v=NuwmYxf2aC0&list=OLAK5uy_l...
But, for clarity, the rest of the suggestions did sound like Uprising, so again: congratulations!
Re: the off-by-one bug, it appears that it's actually due to the underlying indexed catalog having some metadata issues, where some songs can have the wrong audio associated with them.
And since the search algorithm is only audio-based, this can cause it to return results where the audio is similar but the associated song/artist name for that audio is incorrect.
In your example, for instance, the underlying catalog has the "Uprising (Muse)" duplicated under an incorrect, different name "Sojourner (Phillip Keveren & London Symphony Orchestra)". This tricks the search algorithm into thinking that this is another very similar track, when in reality it's just a duplicate version under an incorrect name.
This is a tricky bug that I still need to figure out how to solve.
Nevertheless, thanks a lot for your feedback! :)
Then I found a song with correct album art and title, but when I play it, it's a different song played out, I try to look up Sway by Bic Runga.
But finally I strike gold with More Than Words by Extreme, although I couldn't find the exact song, just a cover is enough to bring tons of very similar songs.
There might be some things still need to be ironed out, but overall I love this service, the ability to find similar songs to your favorite song is invaluable :)
But I ended up not liking the song that much, since what I like about Benzin is the eerie sounds behind guitar and tempo maybe.
But interesting project indeed !
Reminds me of [every noise at once](https://everynoise.com/) - which I found awesome for genre-finding, as my specific musical tastes are obscure.