Flat
Creative
music notation software
SHOW HN2016
207points
69comments
#129of 2,264 in 2016
Top 6%of 2016 by points
How HN took it
MixedNo clear lean
9 positive, 14 neutral or asking, 8 mixed, 14 critical, out of 45 comments about the project. Thread score -0.05.
Idea: 4 for, 3 againstDesign: 1 for, 5 againstExecution: 1 for, 1 againstPerformance: 0 for, 2 againstPrivacy: 0 for, 2 against
The thread, comment by comment
Each row is a top-level comment and its replies, in HN's order. Select a cell to open that comment on HN.
positive neutral or mixed critical about another commenter or something else the maker
What HN said
What people liked
Delightful, impressive execution and collaborative editing.
From 3 comments
GitHub for music sheet. The execution of this app is just so delightful. Next up: Forks and pull requests? :)
arturadib on HNThis is a very impressive piece of work. It's addressing a similar problem to my friend Adrian's project www.soundslice.com - the complexity of hosting interactive sheet music…
simonw on HNWow! It's Etherpad for music scores. Very impressive and very useful to people like me who don't have the interest in purchasing or maintaining something like Sibelius but want…
qq66 on HN
Easy to start writing without instruction.
From 1 comment
As an electronic musicial (http://www.soundcloud.com/decklyn) I'll give you some feedback from years of hanging out in a DAW. I'll bring up my perspective on some points others…
ninjakeyboard on HN
MIDI export prevents lock-in.
From 1 comment
This is great and an idea I've toyed around with building. I think we'll eventually see web-based music composition and DAWs in the browser take off. As someone who's become used…
joeyrobert on HN
Objections
Missing notation features and rudimentary typography.
From 2 comments
So, I managed to import one of my compositions here: https://flat.io/score/56d88e7af9e84f623ce60fb0-sonata If anyone wants to test out collaborative editing, be my guest. Some…
pervycreeper on HNAs someone who recently switched from academic music composition to a corporate job, this is really cool. I've used Finale in its various versions for over 6 years now, and it's…
monsk on HN
Terms of service grant broad license over user content.
From 2 comments
Just found the TOS while browsing. The link under "sign up" (leading to https://flat.io/legal) was the one I referred to as broken. ``` (...) you grant us a worldwide,…
gnud on HNAs written, it applies to the "music, sounds, text or information that you make available or create whilst using the Service" and gives Flat a "worldwide, nonexclusive,…
etjossem on HN
Scrolling in playback is laggy and annoying.
From 3 comments
Initial thoughts after playing one popular score[0] in FF dev 46.0a2 (3/2). I can only see four measures per screen, which is fine. However, by the time it scrolls to the next…
pc86 on HNAgreed. The scrolling effect is really annoying and unnecessary for the task of actually displaying what's playing.
barkingcat on HNI'm a hobby pianist with occasional paid gigs. I'd love to use this to play along with scores. Here is my feedback purely from a playback perspective. I haven't tried entering /…
verst on HN
Requires internet connection; offline version only planned.
From 1 comment
Can someone remind me why i am supposed to need an internet connection to score a piece of music?
laurentoget on HN
Landing page does not explain the product clearly.
From 1 comment
How is a user supposed to find out what this site really does without putting in an email address and agreeing to terms of service? So many sites do this: > Cool Title! > Sign up…
SamBam on HN
Requests
Piano roll view for MIDI input.
From 2 comments
I'd like some way to write music like a piano roll or a pad system, or just some alternative to Western classical notation, which I find hard to translate to sounds in my head.
qq66 on HNWe will probably release a piano roll view in order to simplify any MIDI input first, so stay tuned!
cocoggu on HN
Better note entry and length editing, like a DAW.
From 1 comment
As an electronic musicial (http://www.soundcloud.com/decklyn) I'll give you some feedback from years of hanging out in a DAW. I'll bring up my perspective on some points others…
ninjakeyboard on HN
Demo videos or tutorial.
From 2 comments
Looks tantalizing, but I couldn't find any demo videos, which would be crucial for understanding how it works.
cpr on HNI can't see how you can make such a comment while being efficient. When you're looking for some software, you don't want "X that does Y". There are already solutions (maybe hacky…
logicrook on HN
Multiple systems per page and horizontal scrolling.
From 1 comment
I'm a hobby pianist with occasional paid gigs. I'd love to use this to play along with scores. Here is my feedback purely from a playback perspective. I haven't tried entering /…
verst on HN
Guitar tablature support.
From 2 comments
This is great and an idea I've toyed around with building. I think we'll eventually see web-based music composition and DAWs in the browser take off. As someone who's become used…
joeyrobert on HNIs there a similar tool for guitar tablature (not guitar pro)? This is fantastic.
kerryritter on HN
Questions
Is it legal to publish copyrighted music here?
From 1 comment
Is there a reason to have a scroll at all? When seeing the pagination, I imagined the app's author thinking it would make people right in their element. However, realistically,…
espadrine on HN
Can note values be rebound to keys?
From 1 comment
As someone who recently switched from academic music composition to a corporate job, this is really cool. I've used Finale in its various versions for over 6 years now, and it's…
monsk on HN
Alternatives named
Finale
From 2 comments
Awesome jobs. It has been a long time, but in high school I was on nationally competive drumline and spent a lot of time with [Finale](http://www.finalemusic.com/products/),…
nodesocket on HNAs someone who recently switched from academic music composition to a corporate job, this is really cool. I've used Finale in its various versions for over 6 years now, and it's…
monsk on HN
Sibelius
From 2 comments
Awesome jobs. It has been a long time, but in high school I was on nationally competive drumline and spent a lot of time with [Finale](http://www.finalemusic.com/products/),…
nodesocket on HNBut why would someone use this instead of Finale, Sibelius, or even MuseScore or Lilypond, all of which are very much better at score editing? It's really not hard to email…
TheOtherHobbes on HN
MuseScore
From 1 comment
But why would someone use this instead of Finale, Sibelius, or even MuseScore or Lilypond, all of which are very much better at score editing? It's really not hard to email…
TheOtherHobbes on HN
Lilypond
From 2 comments
Just found the TOS while browsing. The link under "sign up" (leading to https://flat.io/legal) was the one I referred to as broken. ``` (...) you grant us a worldwide,…
gnud on HNJust use lilypond in a github repo. I guess that is too complicated ;)
radarsat1 on HN
Soundslice
From 1 comment
This is a very impressive piece of work. It's addressing a similar problem to my friend Adrian's project www.soundslice.com - the complexity of hosting interactive sheet music…
simonw on HN