HN recommends it as the canonical video on how music theory is really the theory of one Western tradition, with the raga example.
Topics › Arts, Comedy, Music & Film
The best music theory, synthesis & production videos, according to Hacker News
103 videos about music theory, synthesis & production that Hacker News commenters keep pointing each other to, ranked by how many separate months they were recommended. Part of Arts, Comedy, Music & Film.
Recommended as the most entertaining serious critique of a software interface, and a crash course in UX mistakes.
It is the go-to chronological, in-depth overview of tracker music, recommended whenever trackers, the Amiga or the demoscene come up.
HN repeatedly recommends it as a delightful talk that makes music theory click and introduces Clojure and Overtone.
Repeatedly called the best beginner course on audio synthesis, since the concepts have not changed since it was made.
HN recommends it as an insightful explanation of why modern film scores sound alike, with lessons beyond Marvel.
Repeatedly recommended as the definitive, well-made explanation of why attempts to reinvent music notation fail and what tradeoffs the current system makes.
HN raves about it as one of the best conference talks, showing a master's creative process and sound design.
HN commenters call it the best video overview of Orca, the explanation that makes the unusual interface click.
HN recommends it as an entertaining look at how hard notation fonts are to make, and it comes up in threads on music engraving and open source.
Commenters call it a mind-blowing, beautiful talk and cite it among their favorite tech talks.
HN recommends it for a deep theory of why music sounds the way it does.
HN recommends it as a concise, approachable starting point for anyone asking how to learn music theory.
Recommended as a well-produced, accessible explanation of Giant Steps and the harmonic ideas behind Coltrane's work.
Recommended as a fun, in-depth look at how sampling and music production work, and as proof that skilled humans can reconstruct tracks from scratch.
Shared as a beautiful example of lattice-based harmony visualization.
Cited as a fun, experimental debunking of tonewood claims that shows electronics dominate electric guitar sound.
Cited as a funny, informative teardown of bad interface design, and for the story that MuseScore hired him as head of design afterward.
HN points to it as the standard explanation of why perfect pitch is a childhood window, in threads about absolute pitch training.
HN calls it the video that started the one-line-code music trend and recommends exploring the demoscene author's channel.
HN links it in threads on absolute pitch as a musician's useful summary of its downsides and age-related decline.
HN points to it whenever the 432 Hz versus 440 Hz debate or tuning systems come up, and as an accessible entry point to music theory for non-musicians.
HN commenters point to it when discussing how to teach children or beginners, as a language-like alternative to formal instruction.
HN points to it in Atmos and spatial audio threads as a knowledgeable critique of why the format rarely delivers.
HN recommends it as a striking visual breakdown of how the song was constructed.
Used as an example of prototyping music and, in a Copilot copyright thread, of a handmade reconstruction that sounds like the original.
HN recommends the series as great fun, following a talented and enthusiastic amateur rebuilding a pipe organ.
Commenters recommend it for the mind-blowing connection between rhythm and pitch and as an approachable intro to music theory.
Recommended as a candid, in-depth look at hard UX redesign work and the limits of MIDI for notation.
HN commenters recommend it as a favorite synthwave album, good for programming and long drives.
HN recommends it as a clear, short but in-depth explanation of harmonics and overtones, useful even for musicians.
It is the go-to explainer whenever HN discusses brute-forcing melodies, copyright, or AI-generated content, since it features the project's creators.
Recommended in threads on music copyright and chord progressions as a funny, accurate demonstration that a few chords are fundamental to music.
HN commenters regard it as an inspiring, all-time favorite demonstration of live coding music.
Commenters link it as a quick, clear explanation of why twelve notes only approximate simple ratios.
HN commenters recommend it for its historical context on tuning systems and for how instruments influence what music gets composed.
HN users share it as a delightful example of people making real music from obsolete electronics and self-built instruments.
Offered as an example of live-coded music and a fun entry point to Sonic Pi.
Brought up in threads about chord progressions and musical copyright as the funny canonical version of the idea.
HN people recommend it as the most impressive demonstration of live coding music, especially to those curious about programmable music.
HN recommends it as the best talk from Sonic Pi's creator, with live-coding examples and technical and teaching insights.
HN people recommend the series as a good, approachable introduction to music theory with historical context.
HN points to it in threads on black MIDI and player pianos as a look at an artist writing tuneful music beyond human playability.
Recommended in threads on chip emulation as a look at how hard it is to emulate vintage sound hardware accurately.
Recommended in DX7 reverse-engineering threads as a look at the effort behind bit-accurate emulation.
Linked in music theory and tuning threads as a listenable example of microtonal guitar that sounds good.
Recommended as a music visualization that makes the structure easier to follow than sheet music.
HN commenters use it as the canonical demonstration that popular songs reuse one chord progression, especially in threads on music analysis and AI-generated music.
Pointed to in tuning and temperament threads as an audible demonstration of how meantone differs from equal temperament.
HN points to it as a demonstration of the OP-1, a well-designed instrument and an accessible way to start making music.
Recommended as a systematic, surprising experiment, often cited in audio and gear-obsession threads.
Recommended as an incisive look at the real potential and common misuse of data sonification, often brought up in threads on space sonifications.
HN points to it as the canonical example of extreme audio stretching making pop music into something entirely different and relaxing.
HN points to it as an explanation of how Max Martin builds hit songs.
Recommended as a showcase of Collier's harmonic and microtonal skill.
HN shares it as a delightful demo of the pentatonic scale's near-universal appeal and of a crowd syncing without instruction.
Shared as an example of Artemyev, called the Russian Vangelis, and of great Soviet electronic film music.
The go-to reference in threads on chord progressions, pop music similarity and music copyright.
Shared as a quick audible demonstration of the errors that equal temperament introduces compared with pure intervals.
HN points to it as the clearest short demo of iMUSE, considered a high point in video game music.
HN cites it as the early example of voice cloning and audio deepfakes, with some recommending Peele's reaction and others calling the demo fake or never shipped.
HN recommends it as a rigorous, entertaining example of interface design review and notes the author later became head of design at MuseScore.
HN uses it as an example of radically different musical notation and as a favorite, if challenging, modernist piece that anticipates sounds like the THX Deep Note.
HN points to it as an example of algorithmic, reactive live music that blends programming with jazz performance.
Pointed to in threads on training absolute pitch in children as a practitioner's account.
HN shares it as an impressive early example of computer-generated music and of Kurzweil's precocity.
Used as an example in music theory and tuning discussions of continuous-pitch thinking beyond equal temperament.
Cited as an inspiring example of quickly picking up a new piece by ear and of expertise transferring across genres.
Recommended as a gentle explanation of harmony for beginners and cited as the model of the 'explain at five levels' format.
HN commenters recommend it as a clear demonstration of Amiga-era sampling and tracker workflows.
HN links it mostly for the glimpse of Cook's studio and his decades-old Atari ST, and as an example of a sample-based track.
HN points to it in AI music and data-poisoning threads as the source for this technique.
Recommended as a clear explainer on Nyquist, aliasing and sample rate conversion artifacts.
Recommended as a sharp piece of media criticism by a well-liked music YouTuber, and cited for the concept of reification.
Used in techno-history threads as evidence of Kraftwerk's role in the genre's origins and as an example of original work.
HN uses it as a go-to critique of bland corporate music and as a punchline whenever a slick corporate video appears.
HN recommends it as an interesting explanation of how concert pitch ended up at exactly 440 Hz.
HN mentions it as a good high-level tutorial when threads on tracker music and the Amiga scene come up.
Mentioned as a striking example of sound producing physical effects and a favorite among his videos.
HN recommends it in threads on AI music flooding streaming platforms, for its practical detection ideas such as compression artifacts.
Cited as a short, fun introduction to the phenomenology of music and as an explanation and critique of vaporwave.
HN recommends it during the Muse Group acquisition controversy for its funny, pragmatic take on usability and open source stewardship.
Linked in threads about Dune's sound design as a first-hand interview about the squirrel recording.
HN mentions it as an early example of corpus-based concatenative synthesis and audio-matching techniques.
Shared as a great talk showing Knuth's musical side and how he applies constraint techniques to composition.
Brought up in Amiga threads as a classic example of what the demoscene achieved on old hardware.
HN points to it as an early acid-style record that came before Chicago acid house, and as a way into ragas for electronic music fans.
Linked in threads about algorithmic and demoscene music as the canonical introduction to bytebeat.
Cited as a classic of Amiga music, and commenters use it as a reference or comparison track.
HN mentions it in threads on the OP-1 and gear acquisition syndrome, as a look at the OP-1's feature set and a cheaper alternative.
HN cites it as an infamous example of terrible advertising, though a few mention how big a splash it made in 2009.
Used as a concrete example of split-key instruments and an audible demonstration of the D-sharp versus E-flat difference.
HN cites it as an example of early academic FM synthesis composition and the Golden Mean in music.
Used as a counter-example in music theory discussions to show how mode changes a melody's mood.
HN uses it as the reference example of the illusion and as a metaphor for endless escalation.
HN uses it as the reference for counting how many songs or melodies are possible from a finite set of notes.
HN uses it as a reference for how DX7 patches and FM synthesis actually sound.
Cited as a demonstration of how samey pop music is, in threads about chord progressions and homogeneous music.
Used as an example of computer-generated music in threads on AI creativity and music.
Cited in discussions of chord complexity and key changes in pop music.
HN people cite it as a canonical example of iterative degradation and as an analogy for repeated copying, AI bot loops, and dissociative listening.
Used as the canonical example of striking absolute pitch in children in discussions on how perfect pitch is acquired.
Cited in tracker and black-MIDI threads as an example of dense breakcore made in Renoise.
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