VirtualKeyboard

VirtualKeyboard is a highly configurable virtual keyboard for use as a MIDI Instrument or Logic MIDI Effect plugin, or as a standalone program. Display multi-channel MIDI notes in a resizable keyboard layout to visualize the harmony, learn new songs, show what you are playing in your video demos or send notes by clicking or tapping on its keys if you don't have a MIDI controller.

Use VirtualKeyboard is also a live MIDI looper: record, play and loop MIDI play-alongs in any DAW and set the tempo live with a tap button. Set time and key signatures and transpose your MIDI recordings quickly without having to open a DAW.

A free download of an acoustic piano is included.

Demo limitations:
The demo is free and fully functional but stops working after 3min and includes an add banner.

You'll find this virtual keyboard more flexible than other ones because it allows you to:

• Stop the cursor in your DAW and still see what notes were being played (note that most virtual keyboards will clear all notes when you press stop).
• "Mute" or "Solo" MIDI channels and display their notes in different colors. To mute a channel: "Cmd"-click (Mac) or "Ctrl-click" (Win) on the MIDI channel legend or click on the "Mute" button. To solo it: Alt-click on the MIDI channel legend or click on the "Solo button".
• Make the notes fade away instead of ending abruptly to help you visualize quick runs. Use the "Fade" sliders to set their visual queue in milliseconds for each channel. Notes sustained with the sustain pedal can be set with a longer, independent fade out. Tip: set the sliders to the maximum for infinite fade outs.
• Visualize the Soft, Sostenuto and Sustain pedals and play them with your mouse (or hide them by dragging the top of the pedals to the bottom). You can also use the "Shift" key to control the sustain pedal if you don't have a physical pedal. Please click inside the plugin if the keyboard focus is lost while switching between plugins.
• Use multi-touch devices to play notes and control the mod and pitch wheels.
• "Tap to record" or "Tap to play" to start recording / playing at a live tempo.
• Transpose MIDI recordings/files. You can define the signature key of a MIDI file before you record and change it to transpose the MIDI content.
• Drag-and-drop the MIDI of the player / recorder.
• Display the Pitch and Mod Wheel changes or use them to send your own values. You can also hide them by dragging their right border to the left.
• Change the color of the highlighted notes that are on or sustained.
• Hold "Alt" to drag the keyboard horizontally with your mouse.
• Hold "Alt-Cmd" (Mac) or "Alt-Ctrl" (Win) and drag the keyboard to stretch it (changing the key width).
• Resize it: drag the bottom-right corner of the keyboard to change its height and width, drag the pedal boundaries to change their dimensions and edit the key width in the menu.
• Label the keys with their note name, octave or MIDI number.
• Hide all settings to show only the keyboard by clicking anywhere on the keyboard while holding the "Cmd" (Mac) or "Ctrl" (windows) key.
• Control it with your MIDI controller/keyboard. Simply right click on a button to open the "MIDI learn" controls and press a pad or a note to assign that button to it.
• Use it to trigger notes with different velocities (clicking at a different height of each key if "Velocity" is 0 or send constant velocities if "Velocity" is greater than 0).
• Play, pause and resume MIDI files at different speeds. In Settings you can define options for it such as "Play on MIDI load" (to start playing a MIDI file when you open it). You may also find the following keyboard shortcuts useful:
  • 'spacebar': play / pause.
  • 'ESC': rewind.
  • 'left arrow': rewind 4 seconds.
  • 'right arrow': fast forward 4 seconds.
  • 'up arrow': increase the speed.
  • 'down arrow': decrease the speed.
  • 'del/supr': unload file.
• Record MIDI files. In Settings you can define options for it such as "Precount after tap", "Mute Tap" and "Play after Rec". You may also find the following keyboard shortcuts useful:
  • '1': start/stop recording.
  • '4': record tap tempo.
  • 'ESC': cancel recording.
  • 'del/supr': unload recording (delete if it wasn't saved to a file).
• Play notes too with your computer keyboard. Click on 'Settings' to configure your computer keyboard. The key mappings for a QWERTY keyboard are:
  • '1 octave' mode:
    • "asdfghjkl" for notes CDEFGABCD.
    • "z": decrease octave.
    • "x": increase octave.
    • "c": decrease velocity.
    • "v": increase velocity.
  • '2 octaves' mode:
    • "zxcvbnm" for notes CDEFGAB, "qwertyuiop" for notes CDEFGABCDE (+1 oct).
    • ", ": decrease octave.
    • ".": increase octave.
    • "k": decrease velocity.
    • "l": increase velocity.
  • Use "Shift" to control the sustain pedal in both settings.
    Important: please click inside the plugin if the keyboard focus is lost while switching between plugins.
• Save your settings automatically with your DAW project.
• Finally you can use the VirtualKeyboardStandalone version to open, play, pause and resume MIDI files at different speeds without loading a full featured DAW.

This download includes 2 plugins: VirtualKeyboard and VirtualKeyboardSynth, and a standalone program: VirtualKeyboardStandalone.

VirtualKeyboard doesn't produce sound.
If you need it please use VirtualKeyboardSynth or VirtualKeyboardStandalone: they both have a SFZ (aka sound font) Sampler built-in.

{See video at top of page}

VirtualKeyboard - Create your MIDI play-alongs easily

VirtualKeyboard adds multi-touch

VirtualKeyboard introduces "Tap to Record"