congrats! what made you decide to Show HN now?
Honestly I've always felt it wasn't done enough. It still isn't done enough against what I'd want but obviously I was years late on when I should have shown it haha
Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
111–120 of 140 posts
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#112Earlier quoted context omitted.
Maybe more importantly, it is in that specific order because it is the key of C major! The A major scale is for example would be A, B, C♯, D, E, F♯, and G♯ ... In fixed Solfège, that would become La Si Do ... but in movable Solfège, Do would be A, Re would be B ...
Of course, there's the C Major thing :) And I didn't know about Movable Solfège, thanks! I'll have to study that. But, to put it in audio perspective rather than comparing words and letters, why is the note that corresponds to 440 Hz named A and not F -- implying that, going lower and lower from 440 Hz for each note, 261.63 Hz would not be named C but rather A instead. Or, to use maybe a comparison that would work fr…
Ah, right, so the question of the starting point is a good one. I don't know the exact historical answer, but it's worth noting that if your are in minor scale (or Aeolian mode) then the tonic of the scale (for A minor) is indeed A.
Quick check with Claude hints that various modes were in common use in church music prior to major scale (Ionian mode) taking more central place in (western) music theory.
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#113Yet another HN moment for me: I use it, and as I bought/downloaded like 50 or more - I think it is the best out there. Given that I might have you „on the feedback phoneline” I have thoughts, I’d like to share: - It might not be true, but it seems that notes are picked at random so sometimes I feel there’s disharmony which somewhat distracts me - in age of LLMs maybe it would be plausible to ask for generation of mor…
This is all really great feedback and it's great to hear you've used my app! A couple of things:
1. I'm currently testing a new way of generating practices with some patterns and elements that make it feel more musical. I'd love to have you test the beta if you're interested. You can just email me in the settings screen.
2. I updated the lessons visual aids by only showing the hint on the staff itself for what was new to that lesson. It was previously overkill to do all notes if it was just adding a couple to the range. The visual aid of notes on the keyboard may also be too far but I think it's helpful or maybe I can fade them out eventually.
3. I hear this and something I should address. Years ago I originally made extremely long lessons but I'd get feedback asking me to make lessons that had an end. I could very easily make the lesson length configurable.
4. I really appreciate the coffee subscription idea. Maybe I can consider adding that and be explicit that it doesn't provide anything other than support of me.
It's great to hear the app practice has helped with your eye. Maybe it's the repetitive back and forth of the reading?
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#114Guitar player here. App looks great, but shame it's only for piano. I used a different app that does pretty much the same thing and really benefited from it, the improvement was noticeable after each session. If you add guitar support it will be an immediate download for me.
I hear you on the other instruments and guitar request. I tried making a violin app years ago and it was a tiny fraction of the traffic of the piano version which I'm guessing is common theme amongst other developers. That's not an excuse but just the reason I didn't focus on other instruments in the past. Now technically I did slightly support guitar in my app in that you can offset the input of notes in settings which would mean you could use the mic as input and play the guitar as you'd expect while sight reading but the onscreen is still piano. Maybe sometime soon
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#115Impressive to see an app dedicated to sight reading stick around for 10 years. Must be doing something right!
I mostly just solved my own problem for a lot of those years and it was always a bonus that others used it.
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#116What basic midi/piano do you use these days to start learning using an app like this?
I'd say the best thing to do would be to get a keyboard you enjoyed and make sure it was compatible with iOS. The quality of instrument will hopefully keep you interested for all of the learning/playing.
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#117I'm not in the target audience, but as an iOS dev myself, I have to say—your app is an ASO wet dream: - Nice logo - Clear, engaging screenshots - Solid title/subtitle with relevant keywords - Amazing reviews and ratings Really well done!
I appreciate it
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#118Earlier quoted context omitted.
Of course, there's the C Major thing :) And I didn't know about Movable Solfège, thanks! I'll have to study that. But, to put it in audio perspective rather than comparing words and letters, why is the note that corresponds to 440 Hz named A and not F -- implying that, going lower and lower from 440 Hz for each note, 261.63 Hz would not be named C but rather A instead. Or, to use maybe a comparison that would work fr…
The easy answer is that the piano is not the "reference" instrument. If you look at a violin, the A major scale is generally the first scale you learn -- not C. The piano has C natural in the middle of a full 88 keyboard, which is why it is a "natural" scale to pick (C major only uses the white keys, while A major would use three black keys). So if you are learning another instrument, your "base" note will sometimes…
> The easy answer is that the piano is not the "reference" instrument.
The question make sense without ever thinking about piano. The question is: how come the notes named only by letters (without any accidentals) form a major scale, and yet the note A is not the first note (or tonic) of that scale.
The answer is probably related to the fact that those notes also form other scales (seven of them - seven diatonic modes, one of which corresponds to major scale), and it's only relatively recently that the major scale took a central role in music theory.
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#119Earlier quoted context omitted.
The easy answer is that the piano is not the "reference" instrument. If you look at a violin, the A major scale is generally the first scale you learn -- not C. The piano has C natural in the middle of a full 88 keyboard, which is why it is a "natural" scale to pick (C major only uses the white keys, while A major would use three black keys). So if you are learning another instrument, your "base" note will sometimes…
> The easy answer is that the piano is not the "reference" instrument. The question make sense without ever thinking about piano. The question is: how come the notes named only by letters (without any accidentals) form a major scale, and yet the note A is not the first note (or tonic) of that scale. The answer is probably related to the fact that those notes also form other scales (seven of them - seven diatonic mode…
You will need to blame Boethius, musical notation is a quagmire of many systems that have been merged over centuries. If you venture into non-western systems, it becomes even more fascinating.
Maybe we should make one more standard .. that consolidates all of them? ;-)
Re: Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)
#120Earlier quoted context omitted.
I made a similar app for both iPhone and Android called Note Flash. Works with microphone and MIDI: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.pranapps.n... https://apps.apple.com/ca/app/note-flash-music-sight-reading...
Needs to be updated for a modern version of Android:(
Let me update it to the latest SDK this weekend. If you email me (in my profile), I can reply to you when update is available.