Music Mouse

Move your mouse. Make music. An interactive musical canvas inspired by Laurie Spiegel's 1986 classic.

3 Mar 2026 🤖 Built with Claude Code 🌐 HTML · CSS · Web Audio

What is Music Mouse?

Music Mouse is a browser-based musical instrument where your mouse position controls what you hear. Moving left and right changes the harmonic pattern; moving up and down changes the rhythm and density of notes. It's endlessly playable and requires no musical knowledge.

The original Music Mouse was a software instrument created by composer Laurie Spiegel for the Macintosh in 1986. It was one of the first truly accessible digital instruments — the idea that anyone could make music just by moving a pointer was radical then, and still feels magical today.

Key Features

Real-time synthesis using the Web Audio API — no samples, pure tone generation
Mouse position maps to pitch and rhythm simultaneously
Multiple scale and mode options to change the musical feel
Visual feedback showing notes being played
Works on desktop and touch devices
Zero dependencies — just open the file and play

Who is it for?

Anyone curious about music. You don't need to know how to play an instrument. Just move your mouse around and discover what sounds good to you. It's also a great toy for kids, a meditation tool, or a creative starting point for musicians.

The idea

I'd always loved the concept of Laurie Spiegel's Music Mouse — the idea that an ordinary computer mouse could be a musical instrument. I wanted to see if I could bring that experience to the modern web browser, accessible to anyone with a link.

Building it with Claude Code

I described the concept to Claude Code: a canvas where mouse movement controls pitch and rhythm using the Web Audio API, inspired by the 1986 original. What came back was a working prototype in the first conversation. From there, it was about refinement — adding scales, improving the visual feedback, making it feel responsive and alive.

The entire project was a conversation. I never opened a code editor. I described what I wanted to hear, what I wanted to see, and Claude Code translated that into working JavaScript.

What surprised me

The Web Audio API is surprisingly expressive. What started as "just make sounds when I move the mouse" became a genuinely playable instrument with real musical depth. Claude Code knew the API well enough to implement things I didn't even know to ask for.

"I described a feeling. An AI built the instrument that creates it."