Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

keyboardconnect.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

11–20 of 111 posts

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#11

Post by keycon »

Nifty3929 wrote: post #8

I'd love to give some feedback both as a teacher and a student. But I don't see a way on your website to just see what it really does and how it works, beyond just those couple of small animations. At least a YouTube demo video, or ideally direct access to a real demo interface would be more helpful. I thought Getting Started might help, but that forced me into a sign-up flow that I don't want to invest in without mo…

Thank you for the response. You're right, it didn't sit well with me putting a required log in between the landing page and the app. So I'll work on a more comprehensive video demo and make it accessible before signing up.

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#14

Post by keycon »

DrawTR wrote: post #9

Are the demo videos supposed to show the MIDI piano lighting up at the same time as the video performance? Not seeing that on my side if so

Yes, it's supposed to, (as it does in the app) but I was a bit lazy hacking together that "demo" from stock footage and didn't animate the keys.

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#15

Post by keycon »

montag wrote: post #7

This looks pretty cool! Would love to see a quick YouTube demo of the product in action. What's the biggest benefit of the MIDI capability, in practice?

Thank you! I'll definitely put together a video demo before requiring logging in. Showing live MIDI during a call sidesteps the challenge of showing and recording both yourself playing and what notes you're playing. Also, because MIDI is represented digitally, we'll be able to do things like chord/scale detection, recording and playing back, and showing live playing on sheet music.

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#16

Post by keycon »

yedava wrote: post #6

Do you have any recordings of how a digital piano sounds to the other side - like if a teacher wants to demonstrate how to play dynamics?

I'll get to work on a video demo! The app has a sort of piano VSTI running in the browser, so what you hear will be reliably reproduced on the peer side.

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#17

Post by Ferret7446 »

From what I've heard MIDI controllers are not good for learning piano. You really want weighted keys and a full 88 keys otherwise you won't learn the right habits or build finger strength.

(I learned on a physical piano in person, so I can't speak personally about learning on a MIDI controller, but it sounds plausible to me.)

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#18

Post by trust_bt_verify »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #17

From what I've heard MIDI controllers are not good for learning piano. You really want weighted keys and a full 88 keys otherwise you won't learn the right habits or build finger strength. (I learned on a physical piano in person, so I can't speak personally about learning on a MIDI controller, but it sounds plausible to me.)

Many high end digital pianos have midi io and weighted keys.

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#19

Post by williamcotton »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #17

From what I've heard MIDI controllers are not good for learning piano. You really want weighted keys and a full 88 keys otherwise you won't learn the right habits or build finger strength. (I learned on a physical piano in person, so I can't speak personally about learning on a MIDI controller, but it sounds plausible to me.)

You can get MIDI keyboard with 88 weighted keys.

Also, there are plenty of electric pianos, like the Wurlitzer or Rhodes, that have leas than 88 and only semi-weighted keys.

Re: Show HN: A platform for remote piano lessons based on the Web MIDI API

#20

Post by bluGill »

Ferret7446 wrote: post #17

From what I've heard MIDI controllers are not good for learning piano. You really want weighted keys and a full 88 keys otherwise you won't learn the right habits or build finger strength. (I learned on a physical piano in person, so I can't speak personally about learning on a MIDI controller, but it sounds plausible to me.)

Strength is an issue, but most of that is 'the only good musician has been dead for at least 100 years'. A good keyboard plays just as well as a geal piano. You can feel the difference so we can't do a real ABX test, which means unlike audio gear we cannot do objective tests.

organs have always had their own feel and plenty of greats have proven they sound great.

Post reply on HN