Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device • Hacker News Board

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#91

Post by dyzone » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:31 PM UTC

tom_vidal wrote: post #61

This sort of “autocomplete” is actually fundamental to how classical composers were trained. For anyone interested, I’d highly recommend reading Robert Gjerdingen’s article Gebrauchs-Formulas. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/259731561_Gebrauchs... You can also listen to the transcript of four Russian composers, including Rachmaninoff, playing this pattern recognition and generation game at a dinner party in…

I'm a little lost. What am I listening for in that video?

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#92

Post by ABNW » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:33 PM UTC

karmelapple wrote: post #56

Hearing the start of Für Elise, and then it being taken in an incredibly different direction, is surprisingly disconcerting.

I found it refreshing and interesting, not really disconcerting. Show's how AI can extrapolate in novel ways. An interesting feature.

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#93

Post by [deleted] » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:36 PM UTC

killerstorm wrote: post #40

hliyan wrote: post #33

Ah, MIDI files. The only type of music you could realistically download from the internet back in the day, and you had to wake up at ungodly hours so that your dialup modem would not rack up a massive phone bill.

MIDI is still widely used for professional music production. It sounded goofy back in the day because synthesizer it was played on was not very good.

[deleted]

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#94

Post by dyzone » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:45 PM UTC

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyo3JDMsWyM

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#95

Post by dyzone » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:48 PM UTC

I wonder if training SOTA models on this will make them more humane?

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#96

Post by Ohentis » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 5:58 PM UTC

It occurres to me that the relationship between pitches usually matters more than the pitches themselves. Perhaps the pitches could be encoded in a vector like what is typically done for position.

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#97

Post by rajivayyangar » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 6:00 PM UTC

The results strike me as comparable or worse than you could get with a Markov model. I think it reveals the gap in understanding between LLMs and music. I think you need to either: - Set up a pipeline to decompose music into, say, harmonic sequences and melodic sequences, and then have the LLM work on some more fundamental or more high-level layer of musical composition and then re-translate it back into actual sounds. - Develop a better dataset and train the LLM more natively on musical examples.

Does anybody know of a project that has produced more convincing results?

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#98

Post by luciana1u » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 6:06 PM UTC

next step is a model that autocompletes the part where you actually practice. mine just sits there judging my scales.

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#99

Post by joshuamerrill » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 6:16 PM UTC

Classical pianist and software product designer here.

I see so much in common with this project and the numerous AI-based UX design tools out there. Whether it's music or UI, now that the "generation" portion of the work costs zero, all that remains is taste.

And so much of taste comes from exploring and killing off possibilities that turn out to be dead-ends. I love the idea that models like these will help us find the dead ends faster, or even produce a gem here and there.

P.S. if you want another uncanny version of Fur Elise, listen to Beethoven's own 1822 revision: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s24TtiGgb6k. His 1810 version that we all know was simpler and more balanced. But for what it's worth, Beethoven didn't publish either of them.

Re: Show HN: I trained a 125M model to autocomplete piano on-device

#100

Post by nuancebydefault » Thu, Aug 20, 2026, 6:32 PM UTC

joshuamerrill wrote: post #99

Classical pianist and software product designer here. I see so much in common with this project and the numerous AI-based UX design tools out there. Whether it's music or UI, now that the "generation" portion of the work costs zero, all that remains is taste. And so much of taste comes from exploring and killing off possibilities that turn out to be dead-ends. I love the idea that models like these will help us find…

Thanks. I found the 1822 version actually quite agreable