The hills are alive

The hills are alive with the sound of silly software

This month’s roundup includes a bunch of musical projects. Read on for unconventional instruments, a game with a musical twist, and more.

If you like music, you’ll like this one. And if you don’t like music… wait, who doesn’t like music?

A Side

Track 1: Homedays

My buddy Dave is in a band called Homedays. He’s also a developer. So he did what any of us would do. He completely over-engineered a website for his side hobby.

His band’s new website lets you listen to their music in a creative way. Click a casette tape to listen to the song on the player. When you switch out the tape, it switches the song.

I love a good touch of nostalgia, and this site fits the bill.

Track 2: Musical Snake

Next up: a creative take on the classic game Snake.

Musical snake

See project

This was built by the creative mind behind funwithcomputervision.com. He’s built tons of other projects that Silly Software enjoyers would appreciate, like a fruit xylophone.

Track 3: Train Jazz

Josh assigned an instrument to every train in New York.

He writes:

Every dot is a real subway train. Eight hundred of them, give or take, form a small jazz combo (walking bass, piano, sax, vibes, brushes) that has been playing without pause for over a hundred years. On the platforms they are hot, screaming, full of complaint. This is the music inside the noise.

Track 4: Laptop Trumpet

Krish made his laptop into a trumpet and performed with it, live on stage.

B Side

There are many more musical projects to discuss, but let’s veer slightly off-course, instead. Welcome to the B Side.

Track 5: Birdsong Collage

Teddy mounted a microphone on his apartment balcony to listen for birds. As it picks up a bird sound, it builds a beautiful collage.

This is a sweet project, and I love the illustrations.

Building this kind of hyper-specific personal software is so much more accessible these days with the speed boost we can get from AI.

Bonus track: Liquor Store Compass

Someone built a compass with one very specific purpose.

That’s some silly software, right there.

Whimsy-Driven Development

I spoke at React Miami last month, and the G2i team just published the recording.

Listen on to learn why you should build more silly software.

I love hearing from you all. What other silly software have you seen recently?