
Noisli – Improve focus and boost your productivity - noisli
http://www.noisli.com/get_combo_by_link/pd8blIFySEkTOHB
======
copsarebastards
Honestly, this is one of those things that I'm never going to use because it's
Web 2.0 and doesn't need to be.

Your core functionality is cool: I definitely would like something that allows
me to mix background noises.

But why am I signing up for your service? That has nothing to do with what I
want from your app. That just gets in the way of using your app.

Why is there integration with Google Drive? That has nothing to do with
background sounds and those permissions aren't happening.

Okay, so you're using the Google Drive integration for your integrated text
editor. Why is there a text editor integrated? I have a workflow with a text
editor and unless there's something I don't know here, my text editor is
better and yours is just going to get in my way. And in fact I can probably
name 10 text editors that are better than yours--unless your core product is a
text editor, you're probably not going to beat out folks who are actually
focused on making a text-editor.

I'd pay <= $10 for your app if I could download it without signing up for
anything, without extraneous features, and use it from my taskbar without
requiring an internet connection. Ideally I'd configure it once and never have
to touch it again except to turn the sound on and off.

As is, this doesn't make it any easier to get good background noise than just
keeping a collection of .mp3s on my hard drive, because the interface comes
with so much unnecessary cruft. Tools like this don't encourage productivity,
they encourage pointless tinkering.

~~~
noisli
Thank you for your feedback, appreciate your honesty.

Of course the text editor is not something for everybody. The users that do
appreciate it want to write in a pleasant environment, without worrying to
much on formatting. Would love to understand more how Noisli could be more
useful for you. Just write me at hello (at) noisli (dot) com

~~~
Kudos
The page doesn't load for me at all because I have Facebook embeds blocked.
You should probably not be assuming third party javascript will always work
and be available.

> Uncaught ReferenceError: FB is not defined

------
sjs382
Very cool project.

I made something similar for Android last week:
[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playwithvo...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.playwithvoodoo.soundasleep)

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%)?

~~~
rsingel
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.

Hope this is helpful.

~~~
freehunter
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.

------
vowelless
Looks great! I would love it if you added a "coffee-shop" sound, something
like this:
[http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/cafeRestaurantNoiseGenerato...](http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/cafeRestaurantNoiseGenerator.php)

~~~
noisli
Suggestion noted ;)

~~~
legohead
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 ;)

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the hint ;) Appreciated!

------
thieving_magpie
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.

~~~
noisli
Thank for the feedback and for sharing your experience. Hope you enjoy Noisli
:)

------
darkFunction
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.

~~~
dredmorbius
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:

[http://web.archive.org/web/20110410071059/http://designfesti...](http://web.archive.org/web/20110410071059/http://designfestival.com/the-
cicada-principle-and-why-it-matters-to-web-designers/)

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the hint ;)

~~~
dredmorbius
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.

------
salimmadjd
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.

~~~
sosborn
>For things I don't care, I just use a simple password.

Maybe you don't care, but others might.

~~~
dredmorbius
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._

------
Swizec
Fun fact: Spotify has playlists like this. Keeps them under the "Sleep"
collection.

But this is awesome! I love the clean aesthetic.

/me goes back to blasting bad pop music through youtube

~~~
noisli
Thank you! Glad you love it :)

------
bshimmin
I discovered that if you turn all the sounds on, it quite rapidly has the
opposite effect of the submission's title.

~~~
noisli
Maybe activate just a few for now ;)

~~~
Tad_Ghostly
alert - "Whoa there, you sure that's relaxing?"

------
RobotCaleb
Neat tool. Your page completely fails to render, however, if I keep
connect.facebook.net blocked.

Stops processing at FB.init({ appId : '1496974077209368', cookie:true, xfbml:
true, version:'v2.0'});

~~~
noisli
The website should be back ;)

~~~
bhayden
Failing to load for me on Firefox 35.0.1 with the Disconnect add-in. Working
fine in IE.

ReferenceError: FB is not defined
application-96c626561436c4678adfdaf2587c9beb.js:11386 "SoundManager
V2.97a.20140901 (HTML5-only mode)"
application-96c626561436c4678adfdaf2587c9beb.js:20912 "SoundManager 2 HTML5
support: mp3 = true, mp4 = true, ogg = true, opus = true, wav = true"
application-96c626561436c4678adfdaf2587c9beb.js:20912 "SoundManager 2: Ready.
✓"

~~~
noisli
thanks for the feedback.

------
iqonik
I have a 4 month old daughter and paid for a white noise app to help her sleep
/ calm down. This is a perfect replacement with better design etc.

I urge you to make an app marketed towards parents - I would pay for it.

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the feedback! If you have iOS we also have an app :)
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noisli/id862773459?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noisli/id862773459?mt=8)

~~~
iqonik
Just purchased :-)

------
getdavidhiggins
I listen to this whilst surfing the web:

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZLlumRLsbQ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZLlumRLsbQ)

Also handy:

[https://coffitivity.com/](https://coffitivity.com/)

[http://www.getworkdonemusic.com/](http://www.getworkdonemusic.com/)

This is a personal favorite too - Star Trek TNG Ambient Engine Noise (Idling
for 24 hrs):

[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPoqNeR3_UA](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZPoqNeR3_UA)

Personally, whilst coding, I enjoy absolute terrifying silence.

~~~
timfreund
Can't remember where I found it, but someone once shared this command to fake
the Star Trek engine noise:

play -c2 -n synth whitenoise band -n 100 24 band -n 300 100 gain +20 flanger

~~~
noisli
that would be a funny combo :)

------
blklane
There is a free app that has the same basic functionality that came out a few
months ago: [http://noiz.io/](http://noiz.io/)

~~~
pluma
> a free [OSX] app

I was expecting a mobile app. Or at least something cross-platform.

~~~
noisli
We have an iOS app
[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noisli/id862773459?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noisli/id862773459?mt=8)

~~~
pluma
I was talking about the app the person linked to, not noisli.

------
bhhaskin
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?

~~~
noisli
Thank you for the kind comment! About Android app, yes ;)

------
jlturner
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).

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the awesome :) Give it a try and let me know how it goes :) That
would be great!!

------
noisli
We just released the new version of Noisli
([http://www.noisli.com](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 :)

------
humanrobot
Looks like [http://asoftmurmur.com/](http://asoftmurmur.com/)

~~~
flurdy
It is more the other way round. Asoftmurmur was pretty ugly
[https://web.archive.org/web/20141012204201/http://asoftmurmu...](https://web.archive.org/web/20141012204201/http://asoftmurmur.com/)
but has recently updated to look like noisli.com.

Don't get me wrong Asoftmurmur.com is also great, and I tend to use a
combination of noisli and it.

------
goronbjorn
There's an app for Mac/iOS ($4.99) called WhiteNoise that does a similar
thing. It also has a really extensive library of new sounds you can add:
[http://www.tmsoft.com/white-noise/](http://www.tmsoft.com/white-noise/)

~~~
gh02t
Android too. It was one of the first things I bought when I moved from iOS to
Android. Helps me sleep.

------
eutropia
Page a few seconds loading and ended up as a blank page, (due to Facebook not
loading).

I'm not convinced there's any reason to use this instead of
[http://mynoise.net/](http://mynoise.net/)

~~~
patrickk
Even more closely related: [http://asoftmurmur.com/](http://asoftmurmur.com/)

------
Gonzih
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.

~~~
noisli
You find the option to stop the background color clicking on the wheel icon on
the left menu ;)

~~~
Gonzih
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.

------
saganus
Is there a limit on the amount of sounds I Can activate? it seems as if after
playing with combinations for a while, something gets stuck so I can
activate/deactivate one of the sounds and nothing happens until I deactivate a
previous one.

Is this normal?

Also, is there a way to cache the files locally? if I deactivate a sound and
activate it 3 seconds later, it seems to have to load it again (there's a
delay) instead f being instant-on.

~~~
noisli
Unfortunately, we know about this problem :( and actually this is also a
browser limitation. Definitely working to enhance this!

~~~
saganus
Awesome! will keep using it anyway :)

~~~
noisli
You are great! Thanks for the support ;)

------
jpatte
This is great! Being able to save my favorite combos and set an "off" timer is
nice, now would it be possible to set a timer to automatically switch to
another (random or specific) combo? I'd light to define day/night cycles or
sun/rain cycles :)

Also, once you saved a combo, how do you edit it? It seems there is no way to
get back to the home page once a fav combo is started.

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the feedback! Just click on the star icon to open/close the combo
view ;)

------
publicfig
I wish it would tell you somewhere that you can only have a certain amount of
sounds at once, that was a bit confusing. Great work though!

~~~
noisli
The sound limitation is actually due to browsers limitation. Will keep working
to enhance the experience! Thanks for the feedback!

------
dariot
Nice! Might I just propose better color contrast between text and background?
Sometimes it's a little hard on the eyes.

~~~
noisli
Thanks! Actually, now there is the option to stop the background color at any
time ;) Just click the wheel icon on the menu and there it is :)

------
gabemart
In case anyone is interested in getting this functionality on Android, I run a
competing service that has an Android app:

[https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabemart.a...](https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.gabemart.asoftmurmur&hl=en)

~~~
dpham
Can't download it on my oneplus one, says it's not compatible. Do you know why
that might be?

~~~
gabemart
Yeah, unfortunately there's a persistent problem with the One where playing
more than a few audio streams simultaneously results in stuttering or crashes.
I've looked into it but never found a reliable workaround. Every few months I
take another look, but no luck so far. It's the only modern device that I've
had to list as incompatible, but it's a real shame because it's a great phone.

------
Flow
Looks like a nice app, bought it for iOS.

I love the "animate" feature of this page:
[http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php](http://mynoise.net/NoiseMachines/rainNoiseGenerator.php)

Any change of the app getting something like it? Or perhaps a new app?

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the support and for the kind feedback! Definitely will keep it in
mind for further developments ;)

------
colund
This is like anti-noise-reduction. Which to me is weird. It's the fan white(?)
noise which makes my blood pressure go up not down. So I wonder if it isn't
just a myth that this should be calming at all.

That said, I still think the page is very well made and the sounds sound
great! Well done!

------
clafferty
Great job, I'll be trying this out during my next sprint. So far Soundrown is
my favourite. Both seem very similar in functionality but I prefer the visual
style of Soundrown more. [http://soundrown.com/](http://soundrown.com/)

~~~
noisli
Please give Noisli a try and let us know ;)

------
character0
I'm in my happy place.

www.noisli.com/get_combo_by_link/LfuyDN4ryc0DE7x

Where did you source these loops for this project?

~~~
noisli
So glad you found your happy place on Noisli :)

------
davej
The Soundcloud links are giving me a 502/504 which means that I don't hear
anything.

~~~
gre
Open the browser console, go to the resources tab, and delete all the
soundcloud api local storage/cookies/etc. Perhaps at soundcloud.com too. I had
that problem, mine works now.

------
Xorlev
I've noticed on the propeller and nighttime sounds that there's a gap in their
playback as the loop starts again that's honestly quite jarring. Especially
when the propeller is the primary background sound.

Even the fire has a noticeable pause.

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the feedback!

------
jader201
The iOS app ($1.99) should more prevalent here too (it's buried in comments
below):

[https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noisli/id862773459?mt=8](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/noisli/id862773459?mt=8)

~~~
noisli
Thank you for the support :)

------
sergiotapia
Awesome tool! I've been a big fan of Rainy Cafe for quite some time but I'm
going to give this one a shot this week. Thanks!

[http://rainycafe.com/](http://rainycafe.com/)

~~~
noisli
Thank you! And please let me know how it go ;)

------
ceeK
Looks and sounds fantastic. Very well done. Love the simple interface.

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.

~~~
noisli
Thank you for the suggestion!! Will keep it in mind!

------
kj87175
Very nice, I've been listening to
[http://rainytunes.com](http://rainytunes.com). Good to know I have yet
another option.

------
traduz
This is awesome, looking forward for an android app so I can use on my tablet
and try with my daughter. Too bad that the website is going offline :(

~~~
noisli
We are working on it :)

------
notimpotent
FYI I get a blank white page with Chrome. Version 40.0.2214.111 m (64-bit).
Checking source, it's all loaded. Just nothing showing.

Works fine in IE 11.0.15

~~~
noisli
Experiencing some load problems. Please, be patient :)

------
ianopolous
I would pay for a version that had an Australian bush option with occasional
kookaburras and bell birds, maybe lyre birds and wattle birds too.

------
NIL8
HEY NOISLI !!!

Your site isn't loading in Firefox or Chrome.

Others have mentioned it, but it looks like you missed their comments. Just
thought I'd mention it again.

------
chipuni
Thanks for reading our comments!

What does your site offer that [http://mynoise.net/](http://mynoise.net/) does
not?

~~~
Arag
Can you consider sharing your Mnemosyne deck about Ruby and other technology?
I am currently making something identical and it would be pointless energy on
duplicating something already done.

Note: I am posting here as commenting on
[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8184615](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8184615)
expired.

------
afarrell
This might be niche, but if you happen to have access to creative-commons
liscenced fiddle and mandolin music, that helps me focus.

~~~
noisli
Will keep it in mind ;)

------
rajacombinator
I like it. I've used Simply Noise in the past but will give Noisli a try next
time I think of it!

------
Yhippa
Future feature request: ASMR sounds.

~~~
noisli
Gotcha ;)

------
fiatjaf
The thing that will improve your focus most is called "The Well-Tuned Piano".

------
lentil_soup
What's the benefit of signing up? Couldn't find any information about it

~~~
noisli
Here you can find more info ;)
[http://www.noisli.com/features](http://www.noisli.com/features)

------
atmosx
Hm, this is maybe the smartest project I've seen, in a while. Great work! :-)

~~~
noisli
Thanks ;)

------
jakobegger
Reminded me of Myst. So nice.

~~~
noisli
Thanks ;)

------
gr3yh47
tool to drive you nuts at work if white noise isn't your thing

~~~
noisli
We have a selection of other sounds too. What about birds and water stream? :)

------
snoopybbt
For a splitsecond i read Nisoli, and i had a micro-heart-attack.

------
keithxm23
Lovely webapp. Looking forward to your android port! :)

~~~
noisli
Sure ;)

------
jaigouk
noisli is one of product I love to use. and it seems server is on fire! I hope
lots of people can get some productivity boost by using it.

~~~
noisli
Thanks ;)

------
it_learnses
can you also add a frequency bar? I like the sound of the train, but not
constantly. I'd like to adjust how often it happens.

~~~
noisli
Thanks for the suggestion! Will keep it in mind ;)

------
toddsiegel
Love the coffee shop. Great job.

~~~
noisli
Thank you!

------
Mithaldu
Just a white page in Opera 12.

------
xbeta
noisli, where's your android app and mac app?

------
saganus
This is delicious!

~~~
noisli
Thank you :)

------
maerF0x0
Sign up with google permissions:

>"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.

~~~
namuol
I'd guess that these permissions actually only pertain to files that the app
itself creates.

~~~
meat_fist
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?

~~~
DrJosiah
You are right, that's why the permissions are scary as hell.

