Item — HN Reader

Hello,

I'm contacting you, because I read an article of yours about computers and music ([article title]), and thought that you might be interested in my project as well - http://computoser.com

It provides a very simple web interface to a (practically) unlimited set of music tracks, generated without any human input. And although it is not the first algorithm to generate music, I think it's the first web-based, user-friendly interface to such an algorithm.

When I first released the project, I submitted the story to HackerNews to gather initial feedback from fellow "hackers", and the it was very positive - https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4819269, which inspired me to make some improvements.

The improvements are already in place, and although the algorithm is not perfect, I think it's worth taking a look at. I'd be happy to get your feedback, or in a best-case scenario - get it covered.

2 comments

You make Computoser sound dry and boring. Tell a story!

You say "I think it's the first web-based, user-friendly interface to such an algorithm." That's not unique or notable. What makes your algorithm different? What challenges did you face while building it? What fun/interesting interactions have you had over it? What sort of feedback did you get about it?

You need to work on your PR-speak. Simple = "dumb". You need a word without such unfortunate connotations, like elegant or uncluttered. Try something like this:

I recently read your article about computers and music titled ([article title]). Thus, I thought that you might be interested in my project as well <a href="http://computoser.com>Computoser</a>, which provides a very accessible and intuitive web interface to a virtually unlimited set of music tracks, all generated without any human input. Although it is not the first algorithm to generate music, to the best of my knowledge, it is the first time such an algorithm has been available via web with a user-friendly interface.

Announcement of the project, and later the related app, made the front page of Hacker News, an accomplishment in itself. Initial feedback from fellow tech professionals was very positive (See https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=4819269 and {the other hn link}). I was surprised that it did so well on such a large and competitive forum. The experience inspired me to make some improvements. Those improvements are already in place. There is no doubt still room for improvement but initial response is extremely encouraging.

I am currently looking for feedback from industry insiders like yourself and offering you the chance to be the first to cover the story, assuming you find it worthy.

Thanks so much for your time.

Respectfully, Bozho

Edit: "Computoser" should be clickable but it should be the name of the site, not the url. Similarly, you should name the two hn links. But hn is mucking up my formatting etc.

Thanks :)