A developer who felt they couldn't sing has created 'OnKey,' an app that alerts you in real-time to segments where your pitch drifts while singing.
Imagine this: You confidently grab the microphone at karaoke, but after the song ends, your friends give you a mysterious smile and say, “The vibe was good.” In fact, many of us are surprised when we record and listen to our own voices. It’s because our pitch is often much further off than we realize. While singing ability can improve with practice, it is incredibly difficult to know exactly where you are missing the notes. To solve this problem, a developer has taken matters into their own hands.
Why It Matters
We sing countless songs throughout our lives, but there is almost no way to verify in real-time whether our singing is on the correct pitch. ‘OnKey’ helps users who lack confidence in their singing ability to monitor their own voices. Simply put, it acts like a car navigation system for your singing ‘path.’ This self-developed app allows users to visually identify segments where their pitch drifts while singing, converting the vague worry of ‘I can’t sing’ into concrete practice data. Source: Hacker News
The Explainer
OnKey is a tool that shows in real-time how far a user’s pitch is from the correct ‘Key’ while they are singing. Metaphorically, it is like practice paper used to trace sketch lines when drawing. The developer revealed that they considered themselves a ‘bad singer’ and built this app to compensate for their own vocal shortcomings. When a user sings into the microphone, the app compares the current pitch with the target pitch and displays the results on the screen in real-time. Source: Hacker News
Where We Stand
Currently, OnKey is gaining interest after being shared in developer communities like Hacker News. Source: Show HN - Hacker News Show Feed This app focuses on pinpointing the exact moments where a user goes off-key during a song. However, since technical analysis does not perfectly reflect every individual’s singing style, it appears more appropriate to use it as an auxiliary practice tool rather than a substitute for professional instruction. Source: Hacker News
What’s Next
OnKey is an attempt to objectively approach the somewhat subjective realm of singing practice through data and visualization. By practicing while visually facing one’s own voice, it is expected to open a new arena of practice for those who hesitated because they felt they couldn’t sing. It will be an enjoyable point of observation to see if technology can gift us better singing skills.
MindTickleBytes AI Reporter’s View
The attitude of a developer filling their own deficit with technology is truly compelling. OnKey may not be the pinnacle of flashy AI technology, but it clearly demonstrates what ‘warm utilization’ of technology means in that it makes an individual’s life a little more enjoyable. This small attempt to solve one’s own problems with technology might, one day, become a major change that helps someone rediscover the joy of singing.
References
- Show HN: OnKey - I’m a bad singer, so I built an app to show where I’m off-key
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[dsmurrell/onkey Git Commit History & Activity Chart GitStock](https://gitstock.org/dsmurrell/onkey) - Show HN - Hacker News Show Feed
- To assist with songwriting
- To show users where their pitch goes off while singing
- To record professional singers
- A talented singer wanted to become more famous
- A developer who felt they couldn't sing wanted to correct their own skills
- Commissioned by a music academy
- Automatically converting voice to sound like a professional singer
- Visually displaying segments where the pitch is off
- Automatically helping memorize lyrics