Piano Playing Online

The keyboard in The Ultimate Piano plays with a mouse, with your fingers on a tablet, and with a real MIDI keyboard. Look a voicing up during the day, drill it at the instrument in the evening — it is the same app either way. Whichever input you use, the keys light up and the chord you are holding is named on screen.

For the most realistic feel, connect a MIDI keyboard. MIDI is the universal standard for sending musical data between instruments and software, and it adds velocity sensitivity and sustain that mouse and touch cannot.

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Play Piano With Mouse, Touch, or MIDI

Three input methods let you play piano with mouse, finger, or hardware keys, and they all drive the same on-screen keyboard. The virtual keyboard covers up to 8 octaves (set the range in Settings), and a connected MIDI keyboard maps directly to the full 88 keys of a real piano.

Play Piano With Mouse (Desktop)

To play piano with mouse, click any key — the key presses down visually and plays the matching piano sample. Release the mouse button to stop the note.

• Click and hold – Play a note for as long as you hold the mouse button
• Click and drag – Glide across keys to play glissando-style runs

Touch (Tablet)

Tap keys to play on a tablet touchscreen in landscape orientation. The app is a browser piano and locks below 600 px width, so phones are not supported.

• Tap – Play a single note
• Several fingers – Play chords; each finger sounds its own key
• Swipe – Glide across keys for glissando effects — each finger glides on its own

MIDI Keyboard

Connect a MIDI keyboard for the most realistic playing experience. See Settings → MIDI for setup details — MIDI is off by default, so you open Settings → MIDI once, turn on MIDI on/off and tick your device.

• Velocity sensitivity – Volume responds to how hard you press the keys
• Sustain pedal – Connect a pedal for natural sustain; a pedal indicator shows when it is down
• Full 88-key support – Play any note across all 88 keys your keyboard can produce

Piano Input Methods Compared

The three piano input methods differ mainly in expression. Mouse and touch are always available and need no hardware; a MIDI keyboard adds velocity and pedal control that click-based input cannot reproduce.

MIDI works in Chrome, Edge, and Opera, and in Firefox after a one-time permission prompt; Safari has no Web MIDI support. On iPad and Mac, the free MIDIWeb Browser passes a MIDI keyboard through to the web — install it and open The Ultimate Piano in it.

Toggle Mode

Turn on Toggle mode (mouse) in Settings → General to make keys stay highlighted after clicking or tapping. This is useful for:

• Building chords note by note
• Creating visual diagrams for teaching
• Exploring scale patterns without holding keys

In Toggle Mode, click a highlighted key again to deactivate it. Dragging across the keys switches every key you pass over.

Keyboard Shortcut: Press T to quickly toggle this mode on or off.

Keyboard Shortcuts

A few keys speed up common actions while you play:

When Toggle Mode is on, extra keys help you build teaching diagrams — press 1–5 to write a finger number below the key under your cursor (or the key you tapped last), 0 or Backspace to remove it, S to switch a key to the secondary color, # to flip a black key between sharp and flat spelling, F to clear all finger numbers, and P to clear all highlights and finger numbers.

Piano Playing Visual Feedback

Every piano playing interaction provides clear visual feedback:

• Highlight color – Active keys light up in your chosen color; a second color marks keys you switch with S
• Note names – The pressed keys show their names, and a bar above the keyboard repeats them
• Chord names – Hold three or more keys and the score window names the chord; two keys are named as an interval

Audio

Piano samples play instantly when you press a key. The audio engine provides:

• Polyphonic playback – Play multiple notes simultaneously
• Natural release – Notes fade out naturally when released
• Low latency – Responsive playing without delay

To turn the sound down or off, click the speaker icon in the header: the Audio Mixer has a volume slider and a mute button for Master, Piano (what you play) and Player (the song players).

Tip: Combine Toggle Mode with the Capture feature to create chord and scale diagrams for teaching materials.

Looking for a quick, casual session? See Just Playing for the simplest way to enjoy the piano.

Playing Along with Music

Use the built-in players to practice with real music:

• MIDI Player – Load MIDI files, see falling notes, and adjust tempo from 30–300 BPM
• Audio Player – Play along with audio files (MP3, WAV, OGG, FLAC, M4A and more)
• Video Player – Slow down YouTube tutorials or your own videos, loop sections, and play along with the keyboard below the video
• Sheet Music Player – Follow a MusicXML score and get your playing scored
• PDF Score Reader – Read PDF sheet music and turn pages with a foot pedal

The MIDI Player can also shift the whole song up or down by up to 2 octaves so you can match your keyboard range.

New here? See the Getting Started guide for setup instructions.

Frequently Asked Questions

Can I play piano with mouse or touch?

Yes. You can play piano with mouse clicks or touch input directly in your browser — no MIDI keyboard needed. For velocity sensitivity and the most natural feel, connect a MIDI keyboard in The Ultimate Piano.

What piano input methods are supported?

3 piano input methods: mouse clicks, touch input on a tablet, and any MIDI keyboard connected to your computer. No download or installation is required — just open the app in your browser on a desktop, laptop, or tablet and start playing.

How many keys can I play?

88 keys. A connected MIDI keyboard maps to the full 88 keys of a real piano, and the on-screen keyboard shows up to 8 octaves depending on your Settings range.

Ready to try it?

Open The Ultimate Piano in your browser — no download needed.