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Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

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Re: Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

#2

Post by hkgumbs »

Hi HN! I’ve been working on Typebeat for a year and a half, and I decided yesterday to make the code public. There’s also a website where you can download the macOS build and try an online demo:

https://typebeat.kofi.sexy

The project was initially conceived as “vim for music”. All of Typebeat is controlled by the 30 main character keys on the computer keyboard. The result is a workflow that’s a little tricky to learn but fast to use once mastered. (So I suppose I nailed the vim experience in that regard.) If you’d like to see how I use it at top speed, you can check out this 2-minute jam I made recently:

https://youtube.com/watch?v=RT0qUB4gbas

Re: Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

#4

Post by tiborsaas »

I'm a long time bedroom producer and I find this tool an interesting concept, but I couldn't get through the initial step to create a 4/4 kick loop. There's too much internal state going on with no indicators about what's active or what mode I'm in that it feels more like a memory game than a fun music toy. Maybe it's not a coincidence I'm not a vim/emacs fan? :D

What I'd add is a few tutorial videos to explain the basic concepts from scratch.

Re: Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

#5

Post by hkgumbs »

raviisoccupied wrote: post #3

I really love it, I'm fascinated by the quirky design and UI that a lot of music gear like this uses. You've really captured that in this!

Thanks a bunch! I wonder which gear brands you had in mind when commenting. Teenage Engineering had a big influence on how I make music, and I like to think some of their charm shines through in Typebeat.

Re: Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

#6

Post by nkozyra »

tiborsaas wrote: post #4

I'm a long time bedroom producer and I find this tool an interesting concept, but I couldn't get through the initial step to create a 4/4 kick loop. There's too much internal state going on with no indicators about what's active or what mode I'm in that it feels more like a memory game than a fun music toy. Maybe it's not a coincidence I'm not a vim/emacs fan? :D What I'd add is a few tutorial videos to explain the b…

This is the creators dilemma when it comes to UX - you know how it works so it feels intuitive.

Re: Show HN: Typebeat: Keyboard-controlled music sequencer, sampler, and synth

#8

Post by ruined »

ruined wrote: post #7

god damn it. if i'd seen this yesterday i probably wouldn't have blown rent on a couple of volcas.

now i'm thinking about some kind of qmk integration that provides step indication and other status info directly on the keyboard. there's LEDs in it anyway right
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