We just released the new version of Noisli (http://www.noisli.com), a tool I created out of a personal need to achieve more productivity having to work on loud co-working spaces or working in total silence from home. Hope you find it useful too :)
I have always like the ambient sound stuff, but normally those sites are not well designed. This site is pretty darn good looking. Any plans on an Android app?
there are a couple guys at work who are into these types of background noise settings.. but they kept getting upset at what they found because after a while you can clearly tell the cutoff point. you'd hear a quarter drop at some point, then know exactly when it was coming later, and your mind would start focusing on that, and that defeats the point of the thing.
if you could make a mix of coffee shop sounds and then randomize them in a way that feels natural, that would be a hit ;)
I love, recommend, and use Noisli often in our open plan office.
The only tiny annoyance is that I really like the ambient cafeteria noise, and after a while I start to notice the looping! There's a very prominent bit where a lady shouts "Swwwwing!". There isn't much you can do about it though other than make the sample much longer, and it's hardly a problem. Just something I notice.
Thanks for the site. I actually registered noisebubble.com a while back with something similar in mind, but you beat me to the punch and I'm happy you did.
Thank you so much for using Noisli and for recommending it!
Also thanks for the feedback!! It's something we will definitely keep it mind to keep improving the service ;)
I have had the same problem with 'ambient sound' apps, and they eventually render them useless for me. Perhaps it would be an idea to layer two tracks of different lengths on top of each other to at least make it 'random' for longer? Have you considered this?
(Other than that, great work. I might buy the iOS version soon!)
There's a way to make this harder to detect: create "loops" which are actually a multitude of loops that have prime number lengths. The individual components will repeat, but "beats" of simultaneous repeats won't exist, giving the illusion of a much longer sequence.
I've seen an example in graphics used to create very large tiling patterns from a small image space. See:
Since people are likely to play several loops at once, you might make a policy that _all_ loops are different lengths, in prime integer numbers of seconds. I haven't checked for how long your segments are, but that would allow users to mix-and-match.
If anyone uses this on a touchscreen device, I'm curious what you think about the slider that Noisli uses for volume control. Do you prefer the slider, or would you prefer to tap on the icon to toggle pre-defined volume states (off, 33%, 66%, 100%)?
I just tried this out. I love the simplicity of the homescreen and the simple volume toggle is great.
2 things:
1. The coffee shop has the Joe Walsh song The Joker in the background. It's a ridiculously catchy song and I found it very distracting.
2. I couldn't figure out how to turn this off. It went haywire and I ended up with lots of white noise. I had to turn off my bluetooth speaker, and going to applications to force stop. Nothing I did in the app would stop the sound.
A big play or pause button might help in this situation.
A huge issue I've had trying to find music/noise that I can use to drown out background noise is the human voice. I can't find a playlist that has sounds/music without human voice! I found a couple great trance songs that just let me put my head down and really tune everything out... and then there is either a sample of a lyric or even a "hey!" added in for no reason and it pulls me out. And if they don't have a human voice, often it will have some other repeating noise that pulls my brain away from the task. I put on headphones to keep my mind from procrastinating at a time when it really, really wants to. The hardest thing is finding music/noise that doesn't give it any excuse to wander.
Well, one of the features is to be able to mix your own sound, by playing multiple sounds at different volume levels. So, what we're really doing is adjusting the volume of the app, relative to the system sound.
I hope that helps explain what I'm looking for feedback on, and why using the device's volume controls isn't a solution.
As a frequent Raining.fm and Coffitivity user, I find this awesome, and will definitely give it a try while working!
I'd strongly recommend finding an easier name to remember/spell though. If somebody told me "go to noisli.com", I'd spell it noisely.com. Ideally it should be something that's easy to remember and speaks to its function (noisey.fm, ambient.fm, and backdrop.fm are all available domains).
There are lots of apps that do this. I used to use them to help me sleep. There was a fantastic thunder storm one but it was quite expensive. The songs were incredible though.
This is great. I was using Coffitivity which has been featured oh HN before. Unfortunately they tried to launch a paid version and that didn't work out all that well. They wanted to tie it to a facebook account and I can't get on board with that strategy so I decided not to use it.
There's also the fact that they were charging either 4-5 bucks a month (can't recall exactly) for what amounted to 3 additional mp3 files. That's a tough sell.
Color of this page hurts my eyes :(
Ability to change background color would be great, after sitting in front of terminal for hours this green background is too bright.
Yes, but it does not save it's state between page reloads and not attached to my account. Also not sure what is the point of account. I would like to stop background and be able to stay anonymous.
With all 3 of my babies, there is a single magical track on iTunes that has done wonders - on the album "Sweet Dreams: Soothing Sounds for Babies", track #6, "Running Shower".
BUT, I had to edit it so that it stitches together when played on repeat. It fades out and then comes on loud again, startling the baby awake.
>"Upload, download, update, and delete files in your Google Drive. Create, access, update, and delete native Google documents in your Google Drive. Manage files and documents in your Google Drive (e.g., search, organize, and modify permissions and other metadata, such as title)"
to give you context to that permission: If someone stores business information there, then they're giving your free reign to view/change/delete their taxes, invoices, payroll etc.
Or maybe they store something personal there: Selfies and private cat photos... I basically do not give this permission to anything because there is too much at stake. I wish there was a way to give that permission to a single folder or file.
Is that how permissions work? I was under the impression if you gave the app permissions to read write and delete files in your storage, it could (in theory) read/write/delete anything it wanted?
I can't access the site so I'm not sure what scope you use on the API, but it sounds like you're requesting full scope on drive. You might be able to get by with only requesting access for just the app files you create for the user:
This is great. Why do you need an 8 character password? Are you planning on adding some kind of a payment feature later?
For things I don't care, I just use a simple password.
One problem that is exposed by low-quality / frequently reused passwords isn't so much poor password protocol among users (though there's that), but overauthentication on the part of sites and apps.
If your users are giving you poor passwords, maybe you shouldn't be using accounts.
163 comments
[ 4.8 ms ] story [ 207 ms ] threadif you could make a mix of coffee shop sounds and then randomize them in a way that feels natural, that would be a hit ;)
The only tiny annoyance is that I really like the ambient cafeteria noise, and after a while I start to notice the looping! There's a very prominent bit where a lady shouts "Swwwwing!". There isn't much you can do about it though other than make the sample much longer, and it's hardly a problem. Just something I notice.
Thanks for the site. I actually registered noisebubble.com a while back with something similar in mind, but you beat me to the punch and I'm happy you did.
(Other than that, great work. I might buy the iOS version soon!)
I've seen an example in graphics used to create very large tiling patterns from a small image space. See:
http://web.archive.org/web/20110410071059/http://designfesti...
I made something similar for Android last week: https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playwithvo...
If anyone uses this on a touchscreen device, I'm curious what you think about the slider that Noisli uses for volume control. Do you prefer the slider, or would you prefer to tap on the icon to toggle pre-defined volume states (off, 33%, 66%, 100%)?
2 things: 1. The coffee shop has the Joe Walsh song The Joker in the background. It's a ridiculously catchy song and I found it very distracting.
2. I couldn't figure out how to turn this off. It went haywire and I ended up with lots of white noise. I had to turn off my bluetooth speaker, and going to applications to force stop. Nothing I did in the app would stop the sound.
A big play or pause button might help in this situation.
Hope this is helpful.
The coffeeshop noise is my favorite and I've definitely noticed the song, as well. I plan on replacing it with a similar audio track this week.
I hope that helps explain what I'm looking for feedback on, and why using the device's volume controls isn't a solution.
I'd strongly recommend finding an easier name to remember/spell though. If somebody told me "go to noisli.com", I'd spell it noisely.com. Ideally it should be something that's easy to remember and speaks to its function (noisey.fm, ambient.fm, and backdrop.fm are all available domains).
Only annoyance is that the sounds are stacked in 2 columns on a laptop. I'd love it if I could see more of them on my screen at once.
But this is awesome! I love the clean aesthetic.
/me goes back to blasting bad pop music through youtube
I was expecting a mobile app. Or at least something cross-platform.
There's also the fact that they were charging either 4-5 bucks a month (can't recall exactly) for what amounted to 3 additional mp3 files. That's a tough sell.
I urge you to make an app marketed towards parents - I would pay for it.
BUT, I had to edit it so that it stitches together when played on repeat. It fades out and then comes on loud again, startling the baby awake.
Though the page colors vary over time.
www.noisli.com/get_combo_by_link/LfuyDN4ryc0DE7x
Where did you source these loops for this project?
>"Upload, download, update, and delete files in your Google Drive. Create, access, update, and delete native Google documents in your Google Drive. Manage files and documents in your Google Drive (e.g., search, organize, and modify permissions and other metadata, such as title)"
Hell. Fucking. No.
Or maybe they store something personal there: Selfies and private cat photos... I basically do not give this permission to anything because there is too much at stake. I wish there was a way to give that permission to a single folder or file.
https://developers.google.com/drive/web/scopes#google_drive_...
Edit: I see Disconnect was the reason I couldn't access your site. The page doesn't seem to load when "FB" isn't defined.
Maybe you don't care, but others might.
If your users are giving you poor passwords, maybe you shouldn't be using accounts.