Two ideas

[Lrmmu]

So I have two ideas that I feel should be added in. The first is changing the sound file of the instruments to held out versions of them. For example, instead of having the sound file for piano be a single press on the key, have the key be held down longer. Similarly, as string instruments such as violin and cello notes don't naturally die down with time, maybe add a feature where the sound file will be a continuous note that loops for however long you want it to. If you do that, then please make sure the end of the loop isn't noticeably different from the beginning of the loop. My second idea is with the popular sequences tab to the right. The tab only accounts for how many views the sequence has, letting some sequences with 5 notes in no cohesive order become the most popular one. My idea is beside the box to save/share/export there should be a like/dislike button. Since people can only like/dislike one song once per account, there will be no more spam in the popular tab. Add that function with however the site determines whether a song isn't popular anymore, and I believe the popular tab will show actually good content, and not the 13 note john cena song sequence (and others of the sort). If you want to, you could factor in the amount of likes per song as part of a user's rating. Sorry if these ideas have already been suggested. Thank you for reading this and considering my idea.

[LucentTear]

If there are any mistakes in this reply, I defend my case that it's past midnight at the time I'm writing this and I'm somewhat not thinking properly but I still want to type this.

I am not in particular rejecting any of your ideas, but these have been discussed quite a few times through the community and the first one (about sound length) isn't gonna come any time soon. You can take this with a little grain of salt, if you want, I am merely commentating on this post with what I've seen through chat logs.

If you haven't noticed already, the original instruments and the 8-bit instruments are implemented differently. The original ones are just one shot audio files of the instruments and don't hold any particular length. Best reason to consider why Jacob did this is to keep the bandwidth of the site low, faster loading times, etc. Longer audio files that are uploaded on the site will obviously take more space. Better server to maintain the site also means higher monthly payments, I think Jacob mentioned this somewhere but I can't find the original message right now. I'm saying this by what I remember don't kill me if I'm wrong. EDIT: https://onlinesequencer.net/logs?id=69352#m69352

The 8-bit instruments are created from web API resources, and the reason (?) why they have note length is because the soundfont is already existing on a different website, and OS utilizes the resource from there. I can assume that the resource isn't uploaded locally on OS, therefore not taking up any space. The only problem with the 8 bit instruments is that it can be super harsh for people with poor computers, or that it doesn't work on certain browsers.

In the end, trying to smoothen out the original instrument's "end of the note" after being held a certain length sounds hard to implement. The loop idea that you have might not sound bad, but this also means sacrificing some attack of the note (the bite that it gives when you press it down.)

As for the popularity suggestion, we actually do plan on getting it in the near future when Jacob isn't busy with work/too lazy to program the site. We've considered the like/dislike function as well as a five-star system, maybe trying to give commenting on a sequence a try. Things such as sequence rankings and composer points have been suggested as well, if that piques your interest, but I have no idea if those will come, ever. I have no idea what to say for the algorithm when the site stops deciding to consider something "popular," but I agree it should be implemented so that older sequences don't get an unfair advantage.

I apologize if I have gone off-course with your suggestion, but I hope this sheds some light on any possibilities bound to come. I guess I'll try to get Jacob to respond to this because he knows a hell ton more about his own site than I do. I just overlook the community almost every hour haha, so I see things like this pop often and I'll be happy to give out my thoughts on them.