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Project ideas from Hacker News discussions.

Show HN: I made a memory game to teach you to play piano by ear

Original Article

Hacker News Discussion

📝 Discussion Summary (Click to expand)

1. Utility for Ear Training

Praised as effective for developing pitch recognition and playing by ear, especially for musicians and beginners.
"This is a great learning tool. Every musician should be able to play by ear" (teiferer).
"as a musician, this is a great learning tool... 100% a useful tool" (dvt).
"I love this... lets me practice on what I'm most insecure about....my ear" (polarbearballs).

2. Feature Requests and UX Improvements

Common calls for noodling mode, keyboard mapping, adjustable difficulty/tempo, pause, and better feedback.
"could you make it so you can noodle around on the keyboard without submitting the answer" (allenu).
"Maybe the waiting times between new notes... can be faster?... Difficulties can be increased" (TZubiri).
"One improvement... is to control the playback speed" (ElijahLynn).

3. AI Skepticism and Defenses

Criticism as "AI slop" dismissed by users valuing its niche utility over generation method.
"Click the "?"... to see the AI slop popup dialogs" (gowld).
"AI generated or not, this is useful" (teiferer).
"those not in a subgroup... fail to see utility... built for that subgroup" (ianbutler).

4. Technical Issues and Compatibility

Reports of MIDI bugs, iOS sound failures, and mobile quirks, with responsive fixes.
"my midi board triggers a key input both when I press it down, and when I let it go" (catapart).
"Don’t seem to get any sound on iPhone 16" (hooloovoo_zoo).
"the last played key remains highlighted after the 'Wrong' message" (c7b).

🚀 Project Ideas

EarFlow: Universal Pitch-to-MIDI Bridge

Summary

  • A browser-based utility or desktop driver that converts real-time audio from a microphone into MIDI signals.
  • Solves the gap for users with acoustic instruments (guitars, upright pianos) who want to use MIDI-only learning apps without expensive hardware upgrades.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Acoustic guitarists and piano owners without MIDI ports.
Core Feature Low-latency pitch detection (FFT) mapped to virtual MIDI output.
Tech Stack Web Audio API / Pitchy.js (Web) or C++ / JUCE (Desktop).
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: $15 lifetime license or "Pro" subscription.

Notes

  • Multiple HN users asked for this: "Would love to support universal pitch detection... with the number of guitar tuner apps out there it shouldn't be tremendously difficult."
  • Directly addresses a core limitation of the discussed app: "I don't have a midi piano... wondering if it is easy for you to support my inputs using microphone."

TrackerKey: The High-Density Keyboard Controller

Summary

  • A specialized virtual MIDI driver and WASM overlay that implements the "4-row tracker layout" for computer keyboards.
  • Enables two+ octaves of musical range on a standard QWERTY keyboard, far exceeding the standard "one-row" approach.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Bedroom producers and hobbyist developers without desk space for a MIDI controller.
Core Feature Multi-octave mapping (QWERTY + ZXCV rows) with velocity simulation.
Tech Stack Rust / WASM for low latency; WebMIDI API.
Difficulty Low
Monetization Hobby

Notes

  • Commenters specifically requested this layout: "Use the 4-row layout that dozens of tracker programs used... to fit over 2 octaves on the computer keyboard."
  • Solves the "no MIDI keyboard" frustration mentioned by several users who found on-screen clicking tedious.

HymnalSight: The Incremental Sight-Reader

Summary

  • An automated sight-reading platform that uses Public Domain 4-part harmonies (like the Episcopal 1940 hymnal) to teach reading.
  • Uses a "noodle-first" mode and algorithmic progression to prevent the frustration of failing instantly on a wrong note.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Adult beginners and "Suzuki-trained" players who can't read music.
Core Feature Progressive difficulty curves using 4-voice polyphonic sheet music.
Tech Stack VexFlow (rendering) + Tone.js (audio) + WebMIDI.
Difficulty Medium
Monetization Revenue-ready: $10/mo for curriculum access.

Notes

  • Inspired by the developer’s recommendation: "I highly recommend picking up an old Episcopal Church hymnal... all pieces are four-voice... great for sight reading."
  • Solves the "memory vs. reading" pain point: "I have to sign every note with a letter... only other way to 'read' music... is count lines... which is unbearably slow."

EchoLogic: Markov-Chain Ear Training

Summary

  • An ear-training API and game engine that generates "grammatically correct" melodies rather than random intervals.
  • Solves the "un-melodic" frustration where notes don't make musical sense, making them impossible to memorize or predict.

Details

Key Value
Target Audience Serious music students and theory teachers.
Core Feature Markov-model or Transformer-based melody generation in specific keys/modes.
Tech Stack Python (fastAPI) / TensorFlow Lite + React front-end.
Difficulty High
Monetization Revenue-ready: B2B API licensing for music schools.

Notes

  • Directly responds to a specific UX complaint: "Melodies it generates are tough... because they don't really sound like a real melody... like memorizing a random string of words vs. a normal sentence."
  • High practical utility for users wanting "structured, incremental" learning rather than "AI slop" or random note mashing.

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