Signal: Online MIDI Editor

(github.com)

165 points | by modinfo 8 months ago ago

25 comments

  • mkl 8 months ago

    The project looks interesting. Screenshots would help, as well as a link to the demo at https://signal.vercel.app/edit. The demo asked for MIDI permission, but didn't accept input from my MIDI keyboard until I realised you have to enable it in settings. There's enough lag in the system that most of my notes end up a bit delayed, and the snap-to-grid doesn't seem to be working.

    Please consider changing the name. A generic common word is hard to search for, and there is already well-known software named Signal.

    • WhereIsTheTruth 8 months ago

      > Please consider changing the name. A generic common word is hard to search for, and there is already well-known software named Signal.

      People are free to use the name they want, whether it is the NSA or an individual, it doesn't matter

      • latexr 8 months ago

        People are also free to smash their own hands with a hammer. Someone saying to them “please consider not smashing your own hand with a hammer because you will be in pain and may lose use of it” doesn’t stop them from doing so, it politely and helpfully gives a suggestion as to why they should think if that’s what they really want.

      • yboris 8 months ago

        Hence the "please consider" in front ;)

        I got lucky with naming my app: "Video Hub App" and despite being generic-enough, organically around 50 people find my software every day. With a name like "Signal" I suspect almost no one will ever find this software unless they already knew of its existence and searched specifically with "Midi Editor" prepended to "Signal" :/

      • mkl 8 months ago

        Of course people are free to use any name, no matter how much it sabotages their project. That doesn't mean it's sensible. Names absolutely matter. At work I use a thing called STACK, because it's the best option available to do what we need to do, but the name is a real problem as it makes it really hard to find anything about it.

  • atoav 8 months ago

    Interesting, but would be better if there was at least a screenshot in that Readme.

    • jchw 8 months ago

      There's one here: https://signal.vercel.app/

      Maybe it should be added to the readme.

      • atoav 8 months ago

        That would be good I guess, especially since it looks so good that there is no need to hide it : )

  • maroonblazer 8 months ago

    Congrats on the project. I like the layout/design. At first glance it looks intuitive and very approachable. Nice work.

    I spent much too long looking for a "Record" button. Is the idea that you're supposed to 'draw' your ideas? I have a MIDI keyboard connected to my MBP, but Signal didn't seem to recognize it.

    I'm a hobbyist musician and nearly always sketch out ideas by playing them into the DAW. Only after I've roughed out the idea do I get surgical with editing tools like those on display here. Of course to each his own.

    • mkl 8 months ago

      You have to manually turn on input for your keyboard in the settings. Then you get a record button.

    • LegitShady 8 months ago

      at its heart its a piano roll, pretty much all DAWs have them somewhere.

  • block_dagger 8 months ago

    Cool project! Please add a five minute demo video at the top of the Readme. Also I would change the name to something more unique. Naming is difficult but important in products and CS.

    • alt227 8 months ago

      > Please add a five minute demo video at the top of the Readme

      Or you could just follow the link to the website where there is a fully functioning demo of the app?

      https://signal.vercel.app/

    • zelphirkalt 8 months ago

      5 minute video in a readme ... Are you aware of how much data will need to load to display that? Maybe a link to such a video would be fine. But not 5 minutes embedded into the readme. You might get 30s for that as a reasonable video length.

      • pxoe 8 months ago

        video compression can be pretty good, and for an editor which is gonna be mostly a static image with just elements switched on and off, surely it can't be "that much". it can't be worse than some github pages with dozens of huge pngs

  • rriley 8 months ago

    Love it! This is great way to quickly explore musical ideas online. I couldn't find a way to enable looping while playing. Is this possible in the current version?

    • jmiskovic 8 months ago

      Sure. Right click the timeline/bars strip above notes to set start and end point and also enable looped playing before pressing play.

  • LegitShady 8 months ago

    It seems like I have to select the note in the piano roll to adjust the velocity, instead of selecting and adjusting in the velocity area, which is annoying.

  • Pikamander2 8 months ago

    Any idea how this compares to the Online Sequencer? I like the idea of the Online Sequencer but it feels pretty limited at times.

  • ajdoingnothing 8 months ago

    Fantastic work!

  • deadfa11 8 months ago

    Ooh very cool! I really like the logo :)

  • hkc88hkc 8 months ago

    Nice UI

  • biddendidden 8 months ago

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  • 8 months ago
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  • paxcoder 8 months ago

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