{"slug": "overtone", "name": "Overtone", "category": "media", "category_name": "Media and creative", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 4, "warners": 0, "score": 3.667, "rising": 1.35, "first": "2026-03-10", "latest": "2026-09-02", "why": "Overtone looks like a great way to explore MusicBrainz data", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 3, "neutral": 1, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 1, 0, 1, 0, 0, 1, 0, 0], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "Overtone looks like a great way to explore MusicBrainz data", "kind": "", "icon": true, "domain": null, "github_repo": "github.com/overtone/overtone", "official_url": "https://overtone.github.io", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["Overtone"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 792526240, "item_id": 49532890, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49532890", "by": "chris_j", "date": "2026-09-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "having great fun playing with it", "excerpt": "Overtone [0] is a precursor to Sonic Pi that uses Clojure. Sam used to work on it before he created Sonic Pi. I remember having great fun playing with it at a Clojure meetup in about 2011. Overtone appears to still be going if you want to check it out. [0] https://github.com/overtone/overtone", "context": "", "use_case": "music creation in Clojure", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sonic Pi"}, {"id": 788067616, "item_id": 49254226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254226", "by": "simongray", "date": "2026-08-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Consider his his older project instead? https://overtone.github.io/", "excerpt": "> I always wish I could replace the UI with my own embedded editor (emacs in my case) Consider his his older project instead? https://overtone.github.io/ He even used to perform using emacs before he created Sonic Pi.", "context": "", "use_case": "music programming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sonic Pi v5 Released"}, {"id": 768139745, "item_id": 48008734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48008734", "by": "1313ed01", "date": "2026-05-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there used to be a nice Clojure front-end", "excerpt": "I have not used SuperCollider in a long time, but there used to be a nice Clojure front-end (with some Emacs integration) and it looks like that still exists even if most recent commit was 8 months ago: https://github.com/overtone/overtone", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Supercollider"}, {"id": 757278240, "item_id": 47329890, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47329890", "by": "vansbel", "date": "2026-03-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Overtone looks like a great way to explore MusicBrainz data", "excerpt": "Overtone looks like a great way to explore MusicBrainz data\u2014the subgraph expansion is really slick. Since you mentioned you're looking for feedback, I ran your landing page through a conversion tool I'm working on. It gives a prioritized plan on how to make the value prop even clearer for new users. Might be helpful as you move toward adding the playlist features! https://websiteroasters.com/ Let me know if it help y", "context": "", "use_case": "Visualize MusicBrainz relationships", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["music creation in clojure", "music programming", "visualize musicbrainz relationships"], "compared": [{"slug": "musicbrainz", "name": "MusicBrainz", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "sonic-pi", "name": "Sonic Pi", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 757044448, "item_id": 47315278, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47315278", "by": "proper_black", "date": "2026-03-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "a tool that allows one to visualize the relationships documented in MusicBrainz", "excerpt": "Still working on Overtone, a tool that allows one to visualize the relationships documented in MusicBrainz, probably the largest crowdsourced music DB in existence, using graphs. You can right-click anything to expand into its subgraph. It already runs pretty smoothly. Next steps are adding a way to make playlists and listen to them right there, without leaving the page. Check it out and let me know what you think! A", "context": "", "use_case": "music relationship graph visualization", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}, {"id": 751164832, "item_id": 46947802, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46947802", "by": "proper_black", "date": "2026-02-09", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "but already works well on desktop", "excerpt": "I\u2019ve been exploring graph theory and built Overtone, an interactive graph that maps musical artists, genres, albums, labels, instruments, and their relationships using MusicBrainz data. This spun out of a separate graph-based fraud-detection project that I hope to introduce on HN sometime soon. It\u2019s a beta, but already works well on desktop and makes it easy to explore musical neighborhoods and discover new artists b", "context": "", "use_case": "Music discovery graph", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (February 2026)"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49482099", "title": "Sonic Pi", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47303111", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49208296", "title": "Sonic Pi v5 Released", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47999760", "title": "Supercollider", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46937696", "title": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (February 2026)", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-06": {}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {"recommend": 1}, "2026-09": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-10": {}}, "versions": [], "version_unnamed": 0, "family_ref": null, "runs_on": null, "lines": [], "quotes": [{"id": 792526240, "item_id": 49532890, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49532890", "by": "chris_j", "date": "2026-09-02", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "having great fun playing with it", "excerpt": "Overtone [0] is a precursor to Sonic Pi that uses Clojure. Sam used to work on it before he created Sonic Pi. I remember having great fun playing with it at a Clojure meetup in about 2011. Overtone appears to still be going if you want to check it out. [0] https://github.com/overtone/overtone", "context": "", "use_case": "music creation in Clojure", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sonic Pi"}, {"id": 792525936, "item_id": 49532871, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49532871", "by": "chris_j", "date": "2026-09-02", "version": null, "stance": "neutral", "quote": "I haven't used Overtone in many years but it looks like it's still going", "excerpt": "Sam previously worked on Overtone, which is a Clojure library for driving the Supercollider synthesiser. I understand that he decided to create Sonic Pi in Ruby in order to make it more accessible to beginners. (And Ruby was all the rage back then.) I haven't used Overtone in many years but it looks like it's still going: https://github.com/overtone/overtone", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sonic Pi"}, {"id": 788067616, "item_id": 49254226, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49254226", "by": "simongray", "date": "2026-08-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Consider his his older project instead? https://overtone.github.io/", "excerpt": "> I always wish I could replace the UI with my own embedded editor (emacs in my case) Consider his his older project instead? https://overtone.github.io/ He even used to perform using emacs before he created Sonic Pi.", "context": "", "use_case": "music programming", "switched_from": "", "story": "Sonic Pi v5 Released"}, {"id": 768139745, "item_id": 48008734, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48008734", "by": "1313ed01", "date": "2026-05-04", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "there used to be a nice Clojure front-end", "excerpt": "I have not used SuperCollider in a long time, but there used to be a nice Clojure front-end (with some Emacs integration) and it looks like that still exists even if most recent commit was 8 months ago: https://github.com/overtone/overtone", "context": "", "use_case": "", "switched_from": "", "story": "Supercollider"}, {"id": 757278240, "item_id": 47329890, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47329890", "by": "vansbel", "date": "2026-03-10", "version": null, "stance": "recommend", "quote": "Overtone looks like a great way to explore MusicBrainz data", "excerpt": "Overtone looks like a great way to explore MusicBrainz data\u2014the subgraph expansion is really slick. Since you mentioned you're looking for feedback, I ran your landing page through a conversion tool I'm working on. It gives a prioritized plan on how to make the value prop even clearer for new users. Might be helpful as you move toward adding the playlist features! https://websiteroasters.com/ Let me know if it help y", "context": "", "use_case": "Visualize MusicBrainz relationships", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What Are You Working On? (March 2026)"}]}