[HN Gopher] Show HN: Perfect Pitch Puzzle - a musical Wordle dai...
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       Show HN: Perfect Pitch Puzzle - a musical Wordle daily ear training
       game
        
       Hi all! Thanks for checking out the side project my family and I
       have been working on (on and off) for the past year. We were
       playing wordle when we thought: wouldn't it be fun if you had to
       guess musical notes (ABCDEFG) instead of words? And what if the
       notes you had to guess were actually the first six notes of a
       familiar melody?  My brother and I both have perfect pitch, which
       has been really helpful when we want to cover a song that we like,
       or improvise in a jazz or blue grass setting. We don't promise that
       this game will help you gain perfect pitch, but it _is_ possible to
       train your ear to more accurately gauge sounds, and our hope is
       that this game will help with that.  So far we've gotten feedback
       from consistent players that the game _has_ helped non-musicians
       more easily identify notes based on relative pitches, and helped
       even musicians improve their ability to remember tunes better,
       which is good to hear.  The game has evolved with different
       instruments and difficulty modes (easy, normal, hard), but the
       essence has remained the same: - One new musical puzzle a day - The
       octave moves with the melody, so you don't need to worry about the
       octave; you just need to guess the pitch  There are a few things we
       want to improve as well, like: - improved mobile support
       (especially Android) - a "practice mode" - allow users to play more
       than one game per day, or multiple variations of notes, with visual
       feedback on how close they were to guessing the note - making it
       easier to add new songs to the database (currently it takes 5-10
       minutes to code in a new song) any other feedback that we get here
       or in our Discord. :)  PS. If you already have perfect pitch or
       want to challenge yourself to the impossible, I'd recommend playing
       the "bird_tweet" instrument in "hard" mode!
        
       Author : lpnotes
       Score  : 199 points
       Date   : 2023-11-24 20:54 UTC (1 days ago)
        
 (HTM) web link (www.perfectpitchpuzzle.com)
 (TXT) w3m dump (www.perfectpitchpuzzle.com)
        
       | MisterKent wrote:
       | I like the idea, but it doesn't work on Firefox Mobile.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thanks for the bug find! That's one browser I didn't test
         | against :facepalm:
        
           | AndyKluger wrote:
           | Thanks, after trying on Firefox Mobile, I didn't have any
           | luck getting audio on Chrome Mobile either. Which browsers
           | are tested and expected to work on Android?
        
             | almostnormal wrote:
             | "Internet", the samsung default browser works for me. Less
             | nice looking, but audio works.
        
             | cipherboy wrote:
             | Chrome 119.0.6045.163 (Official Build) (64-bit) on Android
             | 14 worked for me, but Firefox Nightly Mobile 122.0a1
             | didn't. I've built other apps with Tone JS that work fine
             | in Firefox (outside of a few pops as the complexity
             | increases) but I've not looked for error messages.
        
       | 0x416c6578 wrote:
       | An "impossible" mode could remove the sound played when selecting
       | a note. Only those with perfect pitch would be able to get it
       | though (or someone using another piano / keyboard for reference).
       | 
       | As a slight aside, I have always wondered (and never really found
       | a conclusive answer) whether it's possible to train your absolute
       | pitch perception. I have perfect pitch so I can't really test
       | myself fairly (although it does make this puzzle very easy for
       | me!). I've read on multiple occasions that exposure / training as
       | a child is the best way to get it for life, and being musical as
       | a kid might explain my ability to detect absolute pitch.
        
         | ska wrote:
         | I remember reading a paper ages ago that claimed perfect pitch
         | rates were higher in populations whose 1st language was tonal -
         | if true that's support that it is to some degree evidence of
         | learn-ability, but maybe only extremely young (even pre-
         | language).
        
           | mkl wrote:
           | This is well-established:
           | https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Absolute_pitch
        
           | anon291 wrote:
           | There's good evidence that adults can learn. Studies show
           | that adults who practice everyday achieve significantly
           | better than random scores on tests of perfect pitch.
        
         | aidos wrote:
         | Or maybe make it so there's no backspace? It's a bit easy in
         | it's current form.
        
           | lpnotes wrote:
           | @aidos Did you try "hard" mode, out of curiosity? If that's
           | still easy, maybe an "impossible" mode with 3 listens, 8
           | tiles, and no backspaces is something we can do...
        
         | mkl wrote:
         | It is technically possible to acquire as an adult, but
         | challenging: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18227794,
         | also https://news.uchicago.edu/story/acquiring-perfect-pitch-
         | may-...
        
           | dwringer wrote:
           | I've always had great relative pitch but not "perfect pitch";
           | hearing a note out of the blue without any known context and
           | being able to name it was always a struggle for me, but I did
           | manage to do it first try on this quiz. Different timbres
           | make it easier or harder in my experience. I'm also pretty
           | sure the only reason I can do it now is because with age I
           | got some hearing loss that's not evenly distributed across
           | frequencies so now the difference between different notes is
           | more pronounced.
        
         | jrajav wrote:
         | It's possible but for anyone who would actually care to acquire
         | it (i.e. musicians), relative pitch is just as useful for any
         | task that matters and much easier to acquire. Most acquire it
         | by accident. And arguably, perfect pitch isn't desirable
         | anyway, since standard 12-tone equal temperament is not the
         | "perfect" form of music by any measure. The tuning basis of
         | 440hz is completely arbitrary, and there are plenty of examples
         | of the tuning in any genre being changed (usually to a higher
         | pitch) for excitements' sake. Plus, mathematically any form of
         | dynamic just intonation is superior to fixed 12-tone equal
         | temperament. Relative pitch remains useful in these contexts,
         | while absolute pitch does not.
        
           | xeonmc wrote:
           | > relative pitch is just as useful for any task
           | 
           | relative pitch is not just useful, it is absolutely
           | _mandatory_ to do any music at all. Absolute pitch on the
           | other hand is just a convenience.
        
             | Zircom wrote:
             | There's plenty of percussion instruments where pitch isn't
             | a concern at all.
        
               | AlecSchueler wrote:
               | But enough where it does matter that a percussionist will
               | probably have to consider pitch often enough.
        
       | InCityDreams wrote:
       | Guitar sound didn't- it stayed as piano. I think the easy mode
       | could be easier - people without perfect pitch need to warm up a
       | bit first. Thanks, great idea.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Ah -- can you share which browser you're on? I hadn't heard of
         | any bugs with instrument selection so far (until your comment).
         | Thanks!
         | 
         | > I think the easy mode could be easier - people without
         | perfect pitch need to warm up a bit first
         | 
         | Will think about that, thanks! Maybe immediate visual feedback
         | to give you a hint if you're close to the note, or the first
         | two notes are given instead of just the first note? Otherwise I
         | can't think of other ways to make it more easy, but am open to
         | ideas!
        
       | empressplay wrote:
       | Cool but way too easy! There should be a hard mode where there
       | are no pitches generated while choosing notes. Great job so far
       | though!
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | > There should be a hard mode where there are no pitches
         | generated while choosing notes.
         | 
         | I challenge you to the "bird_tweet" instrument in "hard" mode,
         | lol. The bird tweet notes are almost indistinguishable it might
         | as well be silent. It's hard even for me!
        
         | bskrobisz wrote:
         | No pitches at all would render it extremely difficult for those
         | without perfect pitch, but supplying a reference tone or scale
         | (like Earmaster) and highlighting the appropriate key rather
         | than providing each tone on demand would be a good challenge, I
         | think.
        
       | lilactown wrote:
       | No sound in Mobile Safari
        
         | slau wrote:
         | Disable silent mode on your iPhone.
        
       | bigyikes wrote:
       | Fun game, cool idea.
       | 
       | Being able to backspace and replay my selection makes it too
       | easy. I can just keep changing my first guess until it sounds the
       | same.
       | 
       | Hard mode seems a little too hard.
       | 
       | Can I have a kinda-hard mode? :)
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thanks for checking out the game! "Hard" mode actually used to
         | be only 6 tiles, but some folks complained that it was too
         | easy, so it became 8 tiles
         | 
         | I think we'll definitely have to do more brainstorming to
         | figure out the right features for each difficulty level; I
         | think I saw some ask for an even more difficult mode.
        
         | isoprophlex wrote:
         | Huh. Not trying to diss you but apparently musical ability
         | varies super wildly. I'm not a musician, I don't play anything,
         | but got hard in two tries. In my opinion hard was too easy?!
        
       | akdor1154 wrote:
       | Ah i thought it would be for training perfect pitch, but it's
       | solveable with relative pitch (due to being able to hear your
       | guess).
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | I am regretting the name choice a little, lol. Originally we
         | just called it "musical wordle" but we didn't want to infringe
         | copyright with "wordle", and we liked the alliteration in PPP.
         | And then I spent a few hours making the logo in Canva. That was
         | the main reason! :)
        
       | aji wrote:
       | fun idea but "perfect pitch" is a little off the mark imo, as
       | other people have mentioned. i think this sort of exercise would
       | be good for training transcription skills and relative pitch if
       | you weren't able to hear your guesses and the grading factored
       | out global transposition i.e. by always considering the first
       | note correct and applying the offset to the remaining notes
        
       | mkl wrote:
       | One a day makes it hard to get better. Why not let us just keep
       | doing them one after the other? E.g. the fretboard game currently
       | on the front page (I prefer the neverending practice mode):
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38407780
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | We originally wanted to stick to the daily simplicity of
         | wordle, but a "practice mode" is on our roadmap! (I agree, more
         | practice would help people improve their auditory skills
         | faster.)
        
       | IMcD23 wrote:
       | Nice work! I was initially confused how to enter the notes, as I
       | didn't realize I needed to scroll down to see the keyboard (on
       | mobile). I kept tapping the white squares but it did nothing.
       | 
       | I also wish there was a way to play more than one. Maybe allow me
       | to do the previous days?
        
         | Tempest1981 wrote:
         | On mobile, did you find a way to "backspace"?
        
           | lpnotes wrote:
           | On mobile, the backspace on the piano keyboard should work!
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | > I didn't realize I needed to scroll down to see the keyboard
         | (on mobile)
         | 
         | Oof... we'll have to make sure the piano keyboard is more
         | visible earlier in mobile mode :sweat-smile: I'm glad it worked
         | for you in mobile, though! I've gotten mixed feedback about the
         | notes sometimes not playing in mobile.
         | 
         | > I also wish there was a way to play more than one. Maybe
         | allow me to do the previous days?
         | 
         | That's a great idea! We were originally thinking we needed to
         | add support for user accounts to support this, but actually, it
         | shouldn't be hard to allow people to toggle back to previous
         | days as is. Thanks for the feedback!
        
       | jrajav wrote:
       | Great work! Had no trouble playing the game, and it's a well
       | thought out concept.
       | 
       | I know you're invested in the 'perfect pitch' framing, since you
       | mention that you have it in the family. Since it seems like your
       | goal is to have this be a useful and accessible educational tool
       | for those breaking into music, I would highly recommend pivoting
       | this to have a strong focus on relative pitch, and specifically
       | _intervals_, instead. Knowing how to distinguish intervals is
       | both more accessible, and also much more useful for actually
       | playing and creating music. As is, this tool clearly
       | deprioritizes intervals with the fixed piano-key input and
       | melodies in a key other than C. This will really only help one
       | get better at this specific game.
       | 
       | If you haven't already, give Earmaster a try and see how they
       | approach it - it's one of the most referenced and well-regarded
       | training apps on the market. Earmaster, and others like it, start
       | with a focus on relative intervals, then expand out from there to
       | enhance instant recognition and memory of relative intervals
       | across a melody - but the focus is almost never on absolute pitch
       | 'across the piano'.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thank you for the thoughtful comment, @jrajav!
         | 
         | We originally just thought of the game as "musical wordle"
         | since we didn't want to infringe on the "wordle" name itself in
         | case there were copyright issues, and PPP seemed like nice
         | alliteration, which is how we ended up with the current
         | branding. But I've started to realize that people have
         | expectations when they hear it -- i.e. I've heard someone ask
         | if the game was only for musicians who have perfect pitch, and
         | that was not my intention at all!
         | 
         | Re: intervals -- right now in "easy" mode, we give users the
         | first note, which gives them a start at identifying intervals.
         | But I'm starting to wonder if maybe a given first note should
         | be the default "normal" mode, now. And maybe "easy" mode will
         | give more visual cues, maybe? (Just thinking out loud here.)
         | 
         | > melodies in a key other than C Funny story -- it took me
         | _forever_ to add in support for sharps and flats to the game,
         | which is why the first ~50 songs in the database all had
         | melodies whose first six notes _had_ to be in C major. Luckily
         | this is not the case anymore (we 're at Day 111 now).
         | 
         | > If you haven't already it would be good to give Earmaster a
         | try and see how they approach it Thank you for the
         | recommendation! I've checked out a few other online ear
         | training games but not Earmaster yet.
        
         | bradrn wrote:
         | For relative interval training I also know of [0], which works
         | pretty well. The other music theory tools on that website are
         | pretty cool too!
         | 
         | [0] https://offtonic.com/theory/applets/intervaleartrainer.html
         | (NB on my Firefox I needed to enable auto-play for this to
         | work, even though it doesn't actually play anything
         | automatically)
        
       | yawnxyz wrote:
       | I love this!! But you could you please let us manually scroll the
       | keyboard (or just reveal the entire thing), rather than move it
       | around based based on the try position?
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thank you for checking out the game and for the feedback! :)
         | 
         | > please let us manually scroll the keyboard
         | 
         | Letting people change octaves instead of letting the game pick
         | the right octave for each note was something I really struggled
         | with, because I think it would make the game a lot harder.
         | 
         | For example, if the right note was "C5" and the user picked
         | "C4", they would hear "C4" when they played the note on the
         | keyboard to input it, but if they clicked the button on the
         | right side to listen back on their guess, should they hear the
         | note in the correct "C5" pitch, or the wrong "C4" pitch?
         | 
         | If we accepted the entry even though it was in the wrong
         | octave, it might be a little confusing since the playback would
         | be different from what they heard when they input the note.
         | 
         | However, if we did not accept the entry because it was the
         | wrong octave, we'd have to refactor to adjust the tiles to show
         | the full octave number (like "C4" or "C5" instead of "C" or
         | "Bb4" and "Bb5" instead of "Bb")... and maybe this would be a
         | good candidate for a harder mode than the current "hard" mode.
         | 
         | =============
         | 
         | Letting users scroll the keyboard to change octaves is
         | something I definitely want to put into the future "practice"
         | mode, though! Since the feedback will be quicker, it will be
         | easier to tell a user immediately if they chose the right note
         | but the wrong octave.
        
           | albert_e wrote:
           | Tiles should show the full note like C4#
           | 
           | Otherwise what we see and what we hear don't match (showing
           | CC and playing C4C5 for instance)
        
       | fernly wrote:
       | What is the rule for the shifting octave? The first puzzle I got
       | starts with E4 E4 and as soon as I click that on the keyboard (or
       | type EE), the keyboard jumps to octave 3 and I can't enter the
       | next note which should be C4.
       | 
       | Or... is that the game, I should be able to ID the notes
       | irrespective of octave?
        
         | sp332 wrote:
         | The octave is automatically correct for each note. You only
         | have to choose from the notes in the given octave.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thanks for the question! The octave will shift according to the
         | solution note.
         | 
         | For example, if the solution was:
         | 
         | Bb3 Bb4 Dd5 Db5 C5 Bb4 (the first 6 notes of a "Believer"
         | melody)
         | 
         | ... the piano octaves will be [3,4,5,5,4]
         | 
         | In today's puzzle, the first note is in octave 4, and the
         | second note is somewhere in octave 3.
         | 
         | In a VERY early version of the game, we didn't show where the
         | octave positioning was, only 7 white keys, and people got
         | confused because even when they accurately thought that the
         | next note was higher based on the interval, it actually ended
         | up being a "lower" note because it was a lower note on a higher
         | octave scale.
         | 
         | So now we give you the octave positioning.
        
         | cperciva wrote:
         | Came here to mention this too. It seems to adjust octaves for
         | you automatically, but that's not at all clear... and I really
         | don't see why it's necessary either.
        
           | lpnotes wrote:
           | > It seems to adjust octaves for you automatically, but
           | that's not at all clear.
           | 
           | Thanks for mentioning it! I really struggled with this
           | octaves decision, and wrote about it here:
           | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38410228
           | 
           | However, starting to also think that maybe I should just
           | write a note on the page explaining what it's doing, lol.
        
       | mnemotronic wrote:
       | How do I control the octave of the note I select?
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Sorry for the confusion here -- you're not the first to ask,
         | but the TLDR is that you can't (right now)!
         | 
         | We do hope to allow octave selection in a future "practice"
         | mode where you're not limited to one puzzle a day, though.
         | 
         | The reason you can't right now is because it gets a little
         | complicated if the user selects the right note but the wrong
         | octave; they'll hear the correct pitch when they play the note,
         | but should we record the wrong octave in the playback, or play
         | the right octave (but potentially cause confusion, because it
         | wasn't exactly the note the user selected?) The easiest thing
         | to do seemed to select the octave _for_ the user, but I 'm open
         | to feedback on how to make this less confusing with the maximum
         | fun.
        
           | retsibsi wrote:
           | > The reason you can't right now is because it gets a little
           | complicated if the user selects the right note but the wrong
           | octave; they'll hear the correct pitch when they play the
           | note, but should we record the wrong octave in the playback,
           | or play the right octave (but potentially cause confusion,
           | because it wasn't exactly the note the user selected?) The
           | easiest thing to do seemed to select the octave for the user,
           | but I'm open to feedback on how to make this less confusing
           | with the maximum fun.
           | 
           | Is there a big downside to storing and displaying the octave
           | along with the note? (Perhaps you could also give the player
           | an easy way to change the octave of a note _after_ inputting
           | the note, to save them from having to backspace - > change
           | octave -> input note again.)
        
             | lpnotes wrote:
             | No big downside; it will just take some refactoring of the
             | code, and I originally hesitated to have three letters in
             | an input box since two letters (e.g. an A#) already fills
             | up a lot of space.
             | 
             | > Perhaps you could also give the player an easy way to
             | change the octave of a note after inputting the note
             | 
             | I really like this idea, and will have to think about maybe
             | putting a superscript next to each input tile (or
             | something) that lets you toggle up or down to change the
             | octave. Will have to think about the design!
        
       | smeej wrote:
       | From your comments, I think I understand why the "choose an
       | octave" thing was such a hard choice, but I think what you
       | settled on was quite possibly the least intuitive option for me.
       | Even once I thought I understood how it worked, it kept jumping
       | around on me every time I wanted to try another note. It was
       | frustrating enough that I wouldn't come back to the game over it,
       | because I can't even practice with it until I do get the hang of
       | it with the "one puzzle a day" limitation. And most of the
       | comments support that it wasn't intuitive for the majority of
       | people.
       | 
       | Virtually everyone has at least _some_ relative pitch, enough to
       | know  "the next note should be right/left of the last one."
       | Moving the whole octave, and only really showing that with the
       | highlights on a tiny keyboard above is just confusing.
       | 
       | I'm one of those people who virtually never puts my phone in
       | landscape mode, but I would rather unlock landscape mode for one
       | puzzle a day so you could display the full range of applicable
       | keys for the featured section of the song than try it the current
       | way again.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thanks for your feedback about the octaves!
         | 
         | There is one question that I haven't entirely figured out how
         | to ask but am curious about -- if we let you adjust the
         | octaves, and if you select the correct note but the wrong
         | octave, would you want the game to highlight the note as
         | "green" (correct) when you submit the attempt? Or would you
         | prefer to have to guess the right octave along with the right
         | note before the answer is accepted?
         | 
         | (Unrelated side note: I am a desktop person, and thus surprised
         | that so many people are playing it on their phones, haha. I'll
         | have to check the google analytics for that.)
        
           | aeonik wrote:
           | Bottom line is: if it's the wrong octave it's the wrong note.
           | 
           | Recommendation: add a 4th color for correct note, wrong
           | octave.
           | 
           | Err on the side of just making it wrong.
           | 
           | Another recommendation: make an easy mode in a single octave
           | for practice. Allow progression to more octaves once easy
           | mode is mastered.
        
             | lpnotes wrote:
             | > add a 4th color for correct note, wrong octave.
             | 
             | I really like this idea! Maybe the 4th color will be pale
             | green (aka you're close)
             | 
             | > Another recommendation: make an easy mode in a single
             | octave for practice. Allow progression to more octaves once
             | easy mode is mastered.
             | 
             | This is unfortunately hard to do in the regular daily game
             | cadence because I'd have to limit myself to songs that span
             | only one octave within the first 6 notes, but I can
             | definitely see it as an easy mode feature in "practice"
             | mode. I'm also thinking that ironically, fixing the octave
             | makes it easier for users because it limits the choices, so
             | maybe:
             | 
             | 1. easy: the octaves switch for you 2. normal, hard: you
             | have free reign to switch octaves, but right_note &&
             | wrong_octave === pale green tile
        
           | kzrdude wrote:
           | Consider if you can simplify the game so that it's only
           | played on one or two octaves, and the full range is shown at
           | all times. I believe that's the best way forward.
           | 
           | Maybe a simple mode (one octave) and an advanced mode (more
           | octaves..).
           | 
           | Thanks for the nice game! And because there is a keyboard
           | right there to compare with the recording, this is just as
           | much a game of relative pitch as it is perfect pitch. (With
           | that said I don't mind the name, it is a fun one and can be
           | good branding.)
        
           | smeej wrote:
           | The wrong octave is the wrong note.
           | 
           | I don't think this would really be an issue, since anyone who
           | played the sample and then played their entry would
           | immediately hear that it isn't the same.
        
           | amarant wrote:
           | I think your current implementation of choosing the octave
           | for us is good, but it would be nice if it was possible to
           | play the notes without guessing them, and thus causing the
           | octave to change(ie moving to the octave of the next note).
           | 
           | If I understand OP correctly that should help with their
           | issues as well. I don't know what an "e" sounds like, but if
           | I'm allowed to play the tones,I can quite accurately decide
           | if it's the correct note or not.
           | 
           | I didn't try hard mode yet, but I suppose one of the harder
           | difficulties could be that you have to choose octave as well.
           | That'd really make it difficult!
        
         | fredguth wrote:
         | Same for me, I can play just using the keyboard not the GUI.
        
       | spencersolberg wrote:
       | Nice, I used to play "Melodle" (https://melodle.yesmeno.com/)
       | which seems very similar, but I like that this uses real songs.
       | 
       | I think it would be great to have an option that disables playing
       | the pitch that I select, as for me the pitch removes most of the
       | challenge.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Nice! I just checked out their game -- yes, very similar.
         | 
         | Would you prefer to play a "super hard" mode with disabled
         | pitch and no backspace (and 8 tiles and only 3 listens), or the
         | option to disable the pitch at any level?
        
       | retsibsi wrote:
       | I've been playing around in test mode and I noticed that
       | sometimes the first note or two don't play properly when I click
       | 'play the tune' for the first time. Frustrating in hard mode with
       | limited plays!
        
         | jacquesm wrote:
         | That may well be because the browser wants you to click the
         | page before it allows the sound library to produce output.
         | 
         | Suggested fix: play a very short but silent sound before the
         | actual game.
        
       | glennonymous wrote:
       | Seems to be more or less impossible to play on my iPhone.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Do you mind sharing which browser + iOS version you're using on
         | your iPhone? And is the issue the design or that the music
         | isn't outputting when you try to play?
        
           | omnicognate wrote:
           | I'm on iOS 17.1.1 Safari and the sound doesn't play. Shame,
           | I'd love to try it.
           | 
           | Edit: Ah, it's because the phone was in silent mode. That
           | usually doesn't prevent website sounds playing. Not sure
           | what's different here.
        
           | kamma4434 wrote:
           | I am on Brave / ios and it's silent.
        
       | jacquesm wrote:
       | That's lovely. Question: what is your take on that perfect pitch
       | can not be learned by adults? Relative is relatively (hah!) easy,
       | but absolute is very hard.
        
         | Madmallard wrote:
         | it can't. it's already settled science
        
           | jacquesm wrote:
           | That's what I thought, hence the question given the text
           | above. Not promising something isn't quite the same as saying
           | it is impossible if you don't have it yet, also the 'already'
           | is a bit suggestive.
        
             | kortex wrote:
             | I disagree it's "settled science". There's mild evidence
             | depakote (valproate) re-opens the critical period and
             | allows improved pitch learning. Personally I like to avoid
             | betting against neuroplasticity. Historically that pans out
             | to be a bad bet again and again.
             | 
             | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3848041/
             | 
             | Drugs may not even be necessary.
             | 
             | https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=18227794
             | 
             | https://www.biorxiv.org/content/10.1101/355933v1
             | 
             | Anecdata: https://www.reddit.com/r/perfectpitchgang/comment
             | s/or0sye/ad...
        
               | jacquesm wrote:
               | Very interesting. I can fairly reliably whistle a
               | middle-c but I find it hard to take it from there (other
               | than just the scale in the key of 'C') and picking out
               | absolute pitches by ear is not something that I think I
               | can do reliably. But I did get that tune right on the
               | first try (probably just luck).
               | 
               | I've been doing a ton of relative pitch ear training in
               | the last couple of months and I'm slowly getting better
               | at it but this is very hard work once you get past say P5
               | and harmonic I find much, much harder than melodic.
               | 
               | edit: nice app from that last link:
               | https://www.musictheory.net/exercises/ear-note
        
       | zkdiff wrote:
       | Maybe make the keyboard contiguous like a piano -- this should
       | "just work" on a desktop -- it can go below the grid even. On a
       | phone, scroll the keyboard on the x-axis and make it full width
       | of the screen.
       | 
       | Just my two cents
        
         | zkdiff wrote:
         | Also, leave the keys that have been used colored like in the
         | original wordle game so there is some visual reference of what
         | was previously used/correct/incorrect/misplaced etc
        
           | lpnotes wrote:
           | > On a phone, scroll the keyboard on the x-axis and make it
           | full width of the screen.
           | 
           | Thanks for the feedback!
           | 
           | > leave the keys that have been used colored like in the
           | original wordle game so there is some visual reference of
           | what was previously used/correct/incorrect/misplaced
           | 
           | Oh, this is a good feature call. I'll need to look up how the
           | original wordle deals with multiple of the same letters in
           | the same solution -- e.g. if the puzzle is EEFGGF (the first
           | 6 notes of Hallelujah) and you entered EFEGGE, should "E"
           | display as yellow or green? (On second thought, probably
           | yellow.)
        
       | taylorius wrote:
       | It's a cool game. I didn't like the automatically shifting octave
       | window thing though. An option for a longer piano keyboard?
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Thanks for the comment!
         | 
         | You are maybe the fifth person to mention the octaves, haha. At
         | the moment, I'm starting to think something like:
         | 
         | Easy mode: we give you the octave guardrails Normal, hard: you
         | have to select the right octave and the right note; if it's the
         | right note but wrong octave, the tile turns pale green. Also,
         | maybe some new design for the grid so that you can toggle the
         | octave up or down beside the superscript of each tile
        
       | alana314 wrote:
       | Don't have perfect pitch but do do lots of transcriptions - got
       | it first try Perfect Pitch Puzzle - Song #111 1/6 - Piano
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Nice job! :)
        
       | jldugger wrote:
       | I got it in one submission by playing the sample, picking a note
       | and removing it if they don't match what I heard. Was that
       | cheating? It's been a few decades since I last played viola and
       | I've honestly forgotten the tone:letter mapping.
        
         | lpnotes wrote:
         | Definitely not cheating; that's exactly how you should play the
         | puzzle! :) It's all about listening and comparing, and
         | listening and comparing again. If you're playing in "normal" or
         | "easy" mode feel free to also make use of that button on the
         | right, which will play your attempt in the row so far so you
         | can compare it to the puzzle before you submit your attempt.
         | 
         | My partner (who finds these puzzles more challenging) does this
         | but still often completes the puzzle in more than one guess
         | because they just want to test out how accurate they were on
         | the first try and make use of the grey/yellow tiles to get
         | closer to the answer, haha.
        
           | IshKebab wrote:
           | But then what's the point of the guesses since you can always
           | get it first time? Surely it would make more sense as a
           | puzzle without backspace?
        
             | drexlspivey wrote:
             | I think the point is that not all people can tell if the 2
             | melodies are the same (tone deaf?) but I agree it's too
             | easy that way. Maybe remove the option to replay your own
             | melody before submitting.
        
               | IshKebab wrote:
               | The number of people _that_ tone deaf must be very very
               | small.
        
       | ArekDymalski wrote:
       | That was fun, especially as it convinced me that my pitch isn't
       | that bad after all. I have a suggestion for an option where to
       | choose a different instrument for the melody and the other to
       | play back your guesses. That would help practice your pitch
       | without focusing on the timbre.
        
       | auggierose wrote:
       | How can I choose the blue range on top? It seems on multiple
       | presses of the same key different ranges are chosen, but it is
       | really not clear what is going on there.
        
       | levidos wrote:
       | Is there a way to do backspace on mobile?
        
       | carom wrote:
       | I feel like you should only be about to play the tune once per
       | guess.
        
         | isoprophlex wrote:
         | Hard mode gives you three plays at most, which seems fair.
         | 
         | The octaves moving are too easy tho. Just lemme enter C4
         | instead of any C.
        
       | soneca wrote:
       | Great game! I am not a musician and very far from perfect pitch
       | (I would say I am closer to the tone-death end of the spectrum).
       | I also have no interest in training my ear. Still, I had a lot of
       | fun playing the game.
       | 
       | I had to replay _a lot_ of times the tune and my versions to be
       | able to get it right in three attempts.
       | 
       | One feedback is that I would like to be able to play more times a
       | day. Unlike Wordle, your game has a few interesting variations.
       | In particular, the instrument options. I would like to keep
       | playing with it to explore those options. I imagine other people
       | would like to test the hard mode as well, to see if they can get
       | it right with the replay limitation. But after playing the first
       | time to understand the game, you can't explore more.
       | 
       | Finally, I personally would like to choose the music genre of the
       | puzzle. I would likely choose classical music, so it would also
       | add some discoverability aspect on a music genre that I enjoy.
       | 
       | Anyway, congrats on the well done game!
        
       | ksherlock wrote:
       | I'm using it wrong, but I love it. I've been working on ear
       | training/interval training so I play the melody a couple times,
       | then play it on my piano, then play the game. I don't want to
       | tell "it's perfect, now change everything" but a practice mode
       | would be helpful for that use case.
        
       | marekdedic wrote:
       | No sound on FF mobile on Android :(
        
       | js2 wrote:
       | Safari mobile folks: you have to turn off silent mode.
        
       | thot_experiment wrote:
       | the song referenced in the puzzle is an absolute banger btw
       | https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZIIT9hO1EZE
        
       | smusamashah wrote:
       | I have no idea about notes or anything piano related. I remember
       | trying some other online game about testing if you are pitch
       | perfect and I was a total failure because I have no idea what any
       | of this is.
       | 
       | But I was still able to get it right in the first row by running
       | the sample lots of times, hitting a key and listening if my
       | combination matches the original music. My point is that I don't
       | think this is for checking pitch perfection if it can be done
       | this way be someone who don't understand a thing about music.
        
       | potatosalad21 wrote:
       | Have perfect pitch so this is super easy. Maybe the ultra ultra
       | hard mode should be no sounds on tap, only one go for each try
       | (no submit button or delete), song only plays on failure of each
       | try.
        
         | xeckr wrote:
         | I understand that what you described is the actual meaning of
         | perfect pitch, isn't it?
        
       | TheBozzCL wrote:
       | It's a fun idea! Sadly, I found it to be trivial with relative
       | pitch.
       | 
       | Could I suggest adding some extra challenges? Maybe define notes
       | in terms of intervals to the root. Or maybe removing the sample
       | tune and give us more guesses? I don't even know if that would
       | work TBH, I'm just spitballing.
        
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