Skip to content

tools / midi keyboard

MIDI keyboard

Play notes into your DAW, synth or any MIDI app from the computer keyboard, mouse or touch screen. With velocity, sustain, pitch bend and a mod wheel.

Without MIDI the keyboard plays its built-in sound. Connect to send notes to other apps and devices.

Note---
Vel100
OctC4
Ch01
Prog---
Pitch
Mod

A–; white keys · W E T Y U O P black keys ·Z X octave · C V velocity · Space sustain ·← → pitch bend · ↑ ↓ mod wheel

Play your DAW from the browser

  1. Create a virtual MIDI port. On a Mac: open Audio MIDI Setup, choose Window → Show MIDI Studio, double-click IAC Driver and tick Device is online. On Windows: install the free loopMIDI and add a port.
  2. Press Connect MIDI above and choose that port as the output.
  3. In your DAW, enable the port as a MIDI input and arm a track with an instrument. Everything you play here now plays there.

Hardware synths work the same way: pick the USB or MIDI interface port as the output. Use the Program menu to switch sounds on General MIDI devices.

Questions

How do I send notes from this page into my DAW?

Your browser needs a MIDI port to send to. On a Mac, open Audio MIDI Setup, show the MIDI Studio, double-click IAC Driver and tick "Device is online". On Windows, install the free loopMIDI and create a port. Then press Connect MIDI, choose that port as the output here, and pick it as a MIDI input in your DAW.

Which keys play which notes?

The middle letter row plays the white keys (A S D F G H J K L ;), the row above plays the black keys (W E T Y U O P). Z and X shift the octave, C and V change the velocity. Space is the sustain pedal, the left and right arrows bend the pitch and the up and down arrows move the mod wheel. Turn on "Key labels" to see the letters on the keyboard.

Does it work in Safari or on an iPhone?

You can play the built-in sound in any browser. Sending MIDI to other apps needs Web MIDI, which Safari and every browser on iPhone and iPad do not have yet. Use Chrome, Edge, Firefox or Opera on a computer, or Chrome on Android.

Can I control velocity with the mouse?

Yes. With "Velocity by position" on, clicking near the bottom of a key plays louder and near the top plays softer, as on a real piano. Otherwise every note uses the velocity slider.

What does MIDI thru do?

Pick an input and everything it sends is passed on to the output, and shown on the keyboard. That turns this page into a simple MIDI router, for example from a hardware keyboard into a synth plugged into another port.