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Show HN: Tones.fm – Make synth music

tones.fm

41–50 of 51 posts

Re: Show HN: Tones.fm – Make synth music

#41
post #21

Very much like a Yamaha Tenori-On. Nice work.

The Tenori-On iOS app saved my wallet and probably one of the most used apps on my device (other than "Dungeon Raid", a match-three game with RPG elements). $20 dollars for a software version of a $1,000 instrument? YES PLEASE

Re: Show HN: Tones.fm – Make synth music

#42
post #38
post #36

Maybe I'm blind, but is there a way to create an original composition? I tried clicking "Create" but it doesn't seem to do anything. Is it also possible to save the music we create?

Edit > Clear

Yes, I noticed that, but then the music I create is still classified as a remix of the original track that I cleared.

Re: Show HN: Tones.fm – Make synth music

#44
post #42
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Edit > Clear

Yes, I noticed that, but then the music I create is still classified as a remix of the original track that I cleared.

when you go to save, you can change the name. This is sufficient, I believe.

Re: Show HN: Tones.fm – Make synth music

#47
post #46

This is fun, but (at least for me) there's awful scratch noise when each note's sound starts playing, which unfortunately doesn't make it enjoyable at all.

if this can help: for me, this happens when i turn the buffer on my sound card down (to avoid playback delay when using a midi keyboard)

Re: Show HN: Tones.fm – Make synth music

#48
post #40

Nice idea to provide only notes from a chord! It's really motivating if you never made music before. ("Wow I can do this!")

Would you mind explaining the mechanics of this in more detail? I too was wondering why whatever I did seemed to sound good.

All the notes are from a single scale. You pick one of two available scales, the "major" and "minor", which in this case are the Pentatonic major and minor scales respectively. That it has 5 tones is obvious since you might notice that each tone is repeated 5 steps above, in the next octave up.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pentatonic_scale#Major_pentato...

The reason this scale is so popular for this type of music device - "penatatonic sequencers" - is because it's almost impossible to screw up. So you could describe using the pentatonic scale as removing some of the opportunity for making the music more interesting, but in return you almost completely eliminate any opportunity to make it "sound bad". Any note can follow any note in the pentatonic scale, which is why "randomize" or handing it to a child (which is the same thing) works as a creation method.

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