Show HN: My iOS app to practice sight reading (10 years in the App Store)

rooster117 | 313 points

This is incredible because it exactly matches my needs. I started learning the piano 3 years ago as an adult, I love it, but my biggest difficulty is reading scores. I do want to practice but also I'm very lazy, I tried to find a tool to help but never found yours before.

Tiny question before I purchase to unlock the microphone feature (which is really what makes sense for me): does the app understands do ré mi via microphone?

Thanks for your work.

pil0u | a month ago

I'm not in the target audience, but as an iOS dev myself, I have to say—your app is an ASO wet dream:

- Nice logo

- Clear, engaging screenshots

- Solid title/subtitle with relevant keywords

- Amazing reviews and ratings

Really well done!

gustanas | a month ago

That’s awesome! I’m not a musician but just impressed by an app with great focus that stands the test of time. Makes me wonder why Apple doesn’t have an area for exactly this type of app; the opposite of Latest Apps.

ppetty | a month ago

Hi, I've been using notequest before and this really hits a string for my needs. There are some places that could be improved. 1. There is lacking logic in the notes, there should be some kind of pattern that an LLM could create that sounds better. For example for left hand usually there could be eg. walking bass/ chord progressions etc, instead of just random notes. If you need ideas and help on that, you can contact me at (myhackernewsname_at_gmail_dot_com) I am willing to help

2. Now the game is like, press the notes as fast as you can, instead, a musician needs to practice, pressing the note at the right time, which means you can make a metronome + press the notes on time mode, which is even more useful than the present version.

tianshuo | a month ago

Thanks, just downloaded it to try and purchased instantly - great app! Have been “playing” Für Elise for so many years on piano, but forgot how to read sheet music years ago and didn’t quite know how to get back into it. Thought Synthesia would help but struggle at certain parts so the repetition and score based learning will help a lot.

mortar | a month ago

Been using this for years now, it's precisely what I needed given that I came to bass clef late in life

benoliver999 | a month ago

Chiming in to say I downloaded this what feels like ages ago and occasionally come back to it when I’m away from my keyboard for too long, so thank you for this amazing app!

hackerdood | a month ago

Please add the ability to import midi into the songs section. I would prefer to use this app to learn new music than my current solution. Great app!

pseudosaid | a month ago

I am a paying user! the app is really good, it helped me as an adult starting piano 2 years ago.

Main feature request would be to generate the notes from a score, focusing in the intervals, ranges and patterns the score uses. Doing random notes feels weird, it helps with quick recognition but feels very different to what my head wants to do while playing.

mmacvicarprett | a month ago

Excellent timing, as I was just looking at some apps to help get back into after 20 years away. I’ve noticed that a number of them, including yours, do include microphone input. That’s great since I only have an upright, but I wondered how well it actually works, especially with more complex drills, or if I should look at getting an affordable midi keyboard for the app-supported practice sessions?

LVB | a month ago

I've been using Simply Piano for a while, but will give this a try.

Noticed a typo: "Notes is your is your tool..." in the app store description.

block_dagger | a month ago

I'm trying it and I love it! can I ask you a question? I'm not playing piano since at least 15 years, but why are you using C,D,E,etc instead of the real notes? I found an option to enable do,re,mi,etc but it's only applying on the piano notes instead of the middle screen "note" to play

Am I missing something?

palla89 | a month ago

Anyone have recs for good Android equivalents?

aterp | a month ago

Impressive to see an app dedicated to sight reading stick around for 10 years. Must be doing something right!

Tewboo | a month ago

Yet another HN moment for me: I use it, and as I bought/downloaded like 50 or more - I think it is the best out there.

Given that I might have you „on the feedback phoneline” I have thoughts, I’d like to share:

- It might not be true, but it seems that notes are picked at random so sometimes I feel there’s disharmony which somewhat distracts me - in age of LLMs maybe it would be plausible to ask for generation of more harmonic sounding sequences?

- I don’t practice sight reading often but when I do I usually practice longer than 1-3 minutes - clicking through lessons to get to the next one is distracting - I’d enjoy endless auto-progress (that is - keep progress structure so no free training but just auto start next one)

- I’d like to have minimalistic practice mode (I.e. follow progression but without any aids at all) - I repeat lessons but my brain flips lazy mode when it sees helpers.

I’d like to thank you for making this app accessible in terms of price though. However I have resources and want to support developers I believe in which includes you and your application. I’d suggest „coffee subscription” - I.e. completely optional no-features added but visible and I’d be glad to enable and forget about it.

In fun-fact context: I have some uncommon traits and my educational needs are different from general population (I cannot do repetitions and I have multisensory aphantasia - can’t hear sounds in my head - so can’t memorize them) and your app so far helped building passive eye-muscle link which I find fascinating on its own.

xlii | a month ago

Guitar player here. App looks great, but shame it's only for piano. I used a different app that does pretty much the same thing and really benefited from it, the improvement was noticeable after each session.

If you add guitar support it will be an immediate download for me.

roydivision | a month ago

What a wonderful logo!

I'll see if my daughter is interested, but I'd love a guitar version (hint, hint).

jkmcf | a month ago

Looks great! Bookmarked so I can play around with it later.

cmstoken | 25 days ago

I was looking for this actually lol! Downloaded it will try it out soon! :)

appsDev | a month ago

I’ve been using your app for years, you’ve done a great job with it! Thank you!

dsabanin | a month ago

Unsolicited advice but I think you’re too timid with the IAP! It’s a superb app and there is no shame in asking for the upgrade. I tapped the button labeled “mic (premium required)” fully expecting the paywall, and it had a prompt to ask if it was okay to show the paywall… it’s not a hard paywall, there’s a visible X icon, nobody’s going to be mad if it pops up.

If you want to go a step further, you have only 1 one-time-purchase, what if you tap the mic icon, and a popover modal has the required disclosure text and the “purchase” button right there? The Slopes app did this to significant effect I believe - reduce friction.

TheJoeMan | a month ago

Thank you! I use this app every day to practice. Never thought you’d be on HN!

sergiomattei | 24 days ago

I would love to see a video of someone reviewing the app to understand a little bit more.

onkkos | a month ago

What basic midi/piano do you use these days to start learning using an app like this?

kvbe | a month ago

I've been using this for a year, it's really great. Thanks for making it!

DesaiAshu | a month ago

Thank you, I love this app.

arkano | a month ago

I tried the app and I honestly am pretty disappointed. I know the app is for note training but the rhythms are completely broken. In Ode to Joy and Minuet, there are notes that should be dotted but are not. And in Practice modes there is also no consistency; some measures have 4 beats, others 6. I'd consider removing the measure bars entirely and/or making all notes have the same duration if note pitch is the only goal.

swixed | a month ago

I learned on this. It’s near perfect. Nothing to say but thank you!

devonsolomon | a month ago

There is a typo in the description "is your is your"

xnickb | a month ago

congrats! what made you decide to Show HN now?

swyx | a month ago

Huge fan, awesome work, I use it all the time!

graveltongue | a month ago

this is so great! out of curiosity how long did it take to develop this app? what was the process like?

anythingworks | a month ago

Amazing!

karol | a month ago

How's it compare to SightReadingFactory? Can I use it for trumpet?

MarcelOlsz | a month ago

Sight reading is equal parts being quick to parse the score and being quick to understand the piece harmonically/rythmically. This is why random exercises or simple songs don't really cut it.

Also, it's all about compromise. When sight reading a serious piece you will almost never be expected or be capable of playing every note. You have to understand what's important and what's feasible, and to do that on the fly you need tons of musical experience.

Almondsetat | a month ago

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im_a_walrus | a month ago

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SpaghettiBoi | a month ago

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Gmage | a month ago

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Gmage | a month ago

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Gmage | a month ago

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sneak | a month ago