How to play the online piano
- Click or tap the keys. On a touch screen you can play chords with several fingers and slide across the keys.
- Or use your computer keyboard: the bottom letter row Z X C V B N M plays the white keys of the lowest octave, with S D G H J for the black keys. The Q W E R T Y U row plays the next octave, with the number keys as black keys.
- Pick Grand piano, Electric piano or Organ. Hold Space or tick Sustain to let notes ring, and press Metronome to practise in time.
Playing with a computer keyboard
The keyboard layout copies the shape of a piano: two rows of letters for the white keys, with the row above each one for the black keys. The bottom row starts at Z for the lowest C shown; the top letter row starts at Q, one octave higher. Keys are matched by their position, not their letter, so on AZERTY and QWERTZ keyboards the same physical keys play the same notes (the Keys labels show the US letters).
Hold several keys for chords. Most keyboards can report only a handful of keys at once, so very large chords may drop a note; the keyboard tester shows how many keys yours can handle.
About the sound
Grand piano plays recordings of a real concert grand: the Salamander Grand Piano, a Yamaha C5 sampled note by note by Alexander Holm and shared under a Creative Commons licence. Only the notes on screen are downloaded (2 to 3 MB), the first time you open the page; until they arrive, the electric piano fills in so you can start playing straight away.
Electric piano is made live in your browser with FM synthesis, the same method behind the classic 1980s electric piano sounds: a warm bell-like tone with a bright bark when you strike a key. Organ imitates a tonewheel organ with several drawbars pulled out, including the short key click. Both load instantly and work offline.
Every note fades in and out over a few milliseconds so nothing clicks, and a gentle limiter keeps big chords from distorting.