Settings

Set The Ultimate Piano up the way you practice, once — and it stays that way. How much of the keyboard you want in front of you, whether note names sit on the keys while you still need them, which colour each hand gets, which MIDI keyboard you play. Settings is where a foot pedal takes over page turns, so your hands never leave the keys.

On this page

Settings Overview — What Each Tab Does Quick Paths General Settings Display — Keyboard Display Options MIDI Configuration Foot Pedal Progress Capture Branding License Related Frequently Asked Questions

Settings Overview — What Each Tab Does

Open Settings with the gear icon in the header. The panel has eight tabs: General, Display, MIDI, Foot Pedal, Progress, Capture, Branding, and License. General covers the keyboard range, language and the Practice Coach, Display controls the visual layout, MIDI connects hardware keyboards and checks their latency, Foot Pedal assigns pedal keys to player actions, Progress lets you start a module's progress from zero, Capture handles image export, Branding replaces the logo, and License manages your plan, privacy and account.

MIDI settings require a browser that supports the Web MIDI API — Chrome, Edge, and Opera. Safari does not support Web MIDI on macOS or iOS/iPadOS; on iPad and Mac, the free MIDIWeb Browser passes your keyboard through to the web instead.

Every setting you change is saved automatically in your browser. While you are signed in to your account, your settings are also stored there — they follow you to every browser you sign in with, including the interface language. When the app starts, the newest settings win, whether they are on this device or in your account.

Reset to Defaults sits at the bottom of the General tab and applies to the whole panel, not just one tab: it asks for confirmation first, then restores every option and reloads the app. Your practice progress is not affected — that has its own tab, Progress.

The Learn more link in the header of the panel opens this page; Support opens the support form.

Quick Paths

Common tasks and where to find them in the Settings panel:

What you want to do	Where to find it
Show all 88 piano keys	Settings → General → Start octave: 0, Octaves: 8
Adjust the visible keyboard range	Settings → General → Start octave and Octaves
Show note names on the keys	Settings → Display → Keys → Show note names on keys
Mark notes outside the selected key	Settings → Display → Keys → Mark notes outside the selected key
Switch interface language	Settings → General → Language
Enable Toggle Mode (sticky keys)	Settings → General → Toggle mode (mouse) (or press T)
Connect a MIDI keyboard	Settings → MIDI → MIDI on/off + select your device
Measure your audio and MIDI latency	Settings → MIDI → Diagnostics → Run Audio & MIDI Check
Give chords your own names	Settings → Display → Score & Chords → My chord rules
Change the colour of the falling notes	Settings → Display → Player → Falling Notes
Turn pages with a foot pedal	Settings → Foot Pedal
Start a module's progress from zero	Settings → Progress → Reset
Hide the Practice Coach	Settings → General → Practice Coach
Show the musical staff (score)	Settings → Display → Score & Chords → Show score
Make the background transparent (for streaming)	Settings → Display → Background → Transparent background
Replace the logo with your own	Settings → Branding → Header Branding
Manage your license or subscription	Settings → License → Manage License
Reset all settings to defaults	Settings → General → Reset settings → Reset to Defaults

General Settings

Tab path: Settings → General

Language, keyboard range and the Practice Coach.

Language

Select the interface language. Available languages:

English
Deutsch (German)
Español (Spanish)
Français (French)

The language setting affects all labels, buttons, and messages in the app.

Toggle Mode

Path: Settings → General → Toggle mode (mouse)

When enabled, keys stay highlighted after you click or tap them. Click the same key again to release it.

Use cases:

Build chords note by note
Display scales visually
Create diagrams for teaching materials

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

Keyboard shortcuts in Toggle Mode ("hovered key" means a highlighted key under the mouse pointer):

1–5 – Assign a finger number to the hovered key
0 or Backspace – Remove the finger number from the hovered key
F – Clear all finger numbers at once
P – Clear all highlights and finger numbers (purge all)
# – Switch the note name of the hovered black key between sharp and flat (e.g., C# ↔ Db)
S – Switch the hovered key between primary and secondary highlight color

Keyboard Range

Path: Settings → General → Start octave (C) and Octaves (1–8)

Start octave sets the lowest octave displayed on the keyboard (range 0–8); lower values show bass notes, higher values focus on treble. Octaves sets how many octaves are visible (range 1–8); fewer octaves make keys larger, more octaves expand your playable range.

Below the two fields, a picture of the full 88-key piano frames the part you have chosen, and the exact range is written next to it — for example C2 – B6. To display the full 88-key piano range, from A0 to C8, set Start octave to 0 and Octaves to 8.

Practice Coach

Path: Settings → General → Practice Coach

Show Practice Coach controls whether the coach button and window appear. The coach is shown by default.

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Display — Keyboard Display Options

Tab path: Settings → Display

The Display tab controls every visual aspect of the keyboard display: note names, highlight colors, the score and chord names, the falling notes, the pedal indicator, and the background. Options are organized into five collapsible cards: Keys, Score & Chords, Player, Pedal, and Background. Opening one card closes the others.

Keys

Path: Settings → Display → Keys

Setting	Description
Show note names on keys	Display C, D, E, etc. directly on each key
Always show (not only when pressed)	Keep note names visible on every key, not only while a key is pressed
Octave markers on the C keys	Show a permanent octave marker (C4, C5 …) on every C: at the top of the key, at the bottom of the key, or off
Show note names above keyboard	Show note names in a header bar above the keys
Default highlight color	Choose the primary highlight color (purple by default)
Secondary highlight color	Choose a second highlight color for diagrams (orange by default). In Toggle Mode, press S while hovering over a key to switch it to this color. Useful for showing chord structures, scale degrees, or left/right hand parts.
Mark notes outside the selected key	Played notes that do not belong to the key selected in the header light up in a third colour (off by default)
Colour for notes outside the selected key	The third colour (red by default)
Show kids icons	Display educational icons (Cow for C, Dog for D) for young learners
Rainbow Keys	Tint the white keys in rainbow colours: C red, D yellow, E green, F cyan-green, G light blue, A purple, B pink

The ↺ button next to each highlight color sets it back to its default.

Sharp or flat names: Black keys are named after the key you select in the header — for example B♭ in F major and F♯ in G major; with no sharps or flats in the key signature they read D♭, E♭, F♯, A♭ and B♭ (C major), and G♯ in A minor. While you play a chord, its notes are named after the chord. In Toggle Mode, press # while hovering over a black key to switch that key between sharp and flat.

Score & Chords

Path: Settings → Display → Score & Chords

Setting	Description
Position	Dock the info window above, below, left, or right of the keyboard (default: below)
Show score	Display the musical staff showing notes you play
Grand staff (2 staves)	Display both treble and bass clefs together (enabled by default)
Show chord names	Show chord symbols (Cmaj7, Am, etc.) on the staff
Show intervals	Show interval labels within detected chords (requires Show chord names)
Show chord degree	Show the degree relative to the current key — as Roman (I, IV, vi) or Nashville (1, 4, 6m) numbers, or Off. The key is set via the Key button in the header (Circle of Fifths).
Chip background color	Customize the background color of the chord name chip
Chip text color	Customize the text color of the chord name chip
My chord rules	Open the rule editor with Edit rules and switch your rules on or off

The options below a switch are greyed out while that switch is off — intervals, chord degree, chip colours and My chord rules need Show chord names. The small menu in the top right corner of the score window switches the same view directly: score and chord, score only, or chord only (large).

My chord rules

The app names every chord you play. With My chord rules you decide how a chord is named instead — for example a jazz symbol you prefer, or a name your teacher uses.

1. Click Edit rules. The Settings panel closes, and the rule editor opens next to the keyboard, so the keys stay free to play.
2. Play the chord you want to change, then click Use played chord.
3. Choose what the rule covers: Only this voicing (exactly these notes from bottom to top, in any octave) or This chord type. For a chord type, tick how far it reaches: in every key, in any voicing or doubling with the same bass, also with another chord tone in the bass (inversions), and also without the fifth.
4. Type My name — it is shown first — and untick any of the app's other names you want to hide.
5. Click Save.

The Live Test strip at the bottom shows what the chord chip would display for the chord you play. Rules are checked from the top of the list down, and the first match wins; drag a rule to change its place. Your rules apply to the chord name shown while you play, once the My chord rules switch is on.

Player

Path: Settings → Display → Player

The Falling Notes section sets the colours used by the MIDI Player and the Sheet Music Player. Each hand has its own pair, so left and right stay apart at a glance — on the falling notes and on the keys alike.

Setting	Description
Right hand (and unassigned) — White key note color	Colour for white keys, right hand and any notes without a hand (default: #b4d7ff, light blue)
Right hand (and unassigned) — Black key note color	Colour for black keys, right hand and any notes without a hand (default: #5082c8, darker blue)
Left hand — Note colour, white keys	Colour for white keys of the left hand (default: #ffd0a8, light orange)
Left hand — Note colour, black keys	Colour for black keys of the left hand (default: #d97b32, darker orange)

The default blue/orange pairing is deliberate: the two hands sit nearly opposite each other on the colour wheel, and blue against orange stays distinguishable for colour-blind players — where red against green would be the worst possible choice.

Pedal

Path: Settings → Display → Pedal

Setting	Description
Show Pedal Display	Display the sustain pedal indicator when notes are sustained
Pedal Position	Place the pedal indicator above the keyboard, below the keyboard, or as an overlay at the top of the keyboard (default: Overlay (top))
Pedal Alignment	Align the pedal display left, center, or right (default: right)
Display Sustained Notes/Chords	Show sustained notes visually on the keyboard highlights
Floating Pedal Window	Show the pedal display as a large, draggable floating window

Pedal Position and Pedal Alignment appear only while Show Pedal Display is on.

Pedal Position Options:

Position	Description
Above keyboard	Pedal appears in a bar above the keyboard
Below keyboard	Pedal appears in a bar below the keyboard
Overlay (top)	Pedal appears as an overlay at the top of the keyboard (default, semi-transparent)

Background

Path: Settings → Display → Background

Setting	Description
Transparent background	Make the background transparent for embedding and streaming (on by default)
Background color	Set a solid background color — shown when the background is not transparent

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MIDI Configuration

Tab path: Settings → MIDI

Connect and configure MIDI keyboards.

MIDI on/off

Path: Settings → MIDI → MIDI on/off

Turn MIDI input on or off. When enabled, you can play using any connected MIDI keyboard. MIDI is off by default.

Device Selection

Select which MIDI devices to use. The app supports multiple devices simultaneously – useful for using a piano keyboard and a foot controller together, for example.

How to select devices:

1. Each detected MIDI device appears in the MIDI devices list as a row with a checkbox
2. Check the box next to each device you want to use — checking a device switches MIDI on, unchecking the last one switches it off
3. Multiple devices can be active at the same time
4. The device selection takes effect when you close Settings

Device status indicators:

Color	Status	Meaning
Green	Connected	Device is plugged in and active
Yellow	Disconnected	Device was selected but is currently unplugged — it reconnects when you plug it back in
Gray	Available	Device is detected but not selected

New devices are detected automatically when plugged in (hot-plug). If a keyboard does not show up, click Refresh below the list to search again.

When MIDI cannot start, the tab says why:

MIDI access is blocked in your browser — the browser was told to block MIDI for this site. Click the icon to the left of the web address, allow MIDI there and reload the page.
On iPad, MIDI needs the MIDIWeb Browser — no ordinary iPad browser supports Web MIDI, Chrome included. Install the free MIDIWeb Browser from midiweb.app and open the app in it; the tab links to it.
MIDI is not available in this browser — switch to Chrome, Edge or Opera on your computer.

Audio & MIDI Check

Path: Settings → MIDI → Diagnostics → Run Audio & MIDI Check

The check measures your full audio and MIDI latency chain while you play — the time from pressing a key to hearing the sound and to seeing the highlight.

1. Click Run Audio & MIDI Check. The window first shows your system, audio and MIDI input details.
2. Click Start Test and play exactly as you normally would, for as long as you need. At least 10 keypresses are needed for the latency figures.
3. Click Stop & build report.

The result lists each stage in milliseconds — minimum, average, maximum and 95th percentile — together with display figures such as refresh rate and dropped frames. A short verdict appears above the table when the sound arrives quickly: Excellent below 20 ms, Good below 30 ms. Copy Report and Download everything give you a plain-text report to send to support; nothing leaves your computer unless you send it.

See Optimizing Audio Latency for tips on reducing latency.

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Foot Pedal

Tab path: Settings → Foot Pedal

Turn pages and start playback with your feet, so your hands never leave the keys. A Bluetooth foot pedal connects as a keyboard: pair it in your operating system, then use Learn to teach the app which key it sends. If your pedal has several modes, switch modes until the key you want arrives.

What you can put on a pedal:

Group	Actions	Keys already assigned	Active when
PDF Score Reader	Next page · Previous page	Page Down, → , Space · Page Up, ←	The PDF Score Reader is open
MIDI Player	Start / Pause · Stop	Space, Page Down, → · Page Up, ←	The MIDI Player is open
Metronome	Start / Stop	not assigned	No player is open — while you are just playing

Many pedals send Page Down / Page Up or the arrow keys, so they work without any setup. For any other key, assign it yourself:

1. Click Learn next to the action you want
2. Press the pedal within 10 seconds — the app captures whatever key it sends (Esc or a click anywhere else cancels)
3. The key appears next to the action and works immediately

Each key can be removed with its ×; once you have changed an action, ⟲ puts it back to its default keys. Within one group a key can only do one thing — if it is already taken, the app names the action holding it. Across groups, sharing is intended: the app tells you what else the same key does.

Because each group only listens while its own module is open, the same pedal key can turn pages in the PDF Score Reader and start the metronome when no player is running.

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Progress

Tab path: Settings → Progress

Want a clean start — after a break, or once you have outgrown your first attempts? Here you reset the progress of a single module, or of everything at once. Each row shows how many saved runs the module holds:

Group	Modules
Practice	Notes, Chords, Scales, Arpeggios
Ear Training	Intervals, Chords, Scales

Reset asks for confirmation, then deletes that module's saved runs for good — on this device and, if you are signed in, from your account. Its levels, charts and statistics start again from zero. Reset all progress does the same for every module in the list. Your practice time and the practices you saved stay untouched.

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Capture

Tab path: Settings → Capture (standalone app only)

Configure image export quality and format. Press C to capture the keyboard instantly. See the Piano Diagram Maker for detailed capture instructions.

Presets

Quick presets for common use cases:

Preset	Format	Scale	Best for
Web	PNG	2×	Websites, blogs, online content
Print	PNG	4×	eBooks, handouts, high-resolution print
Social	JPG	2×	Social media sharing

Custom Settings

Setting	Options
Format	PNG (supports transparency), JPG (smaller file size), WebP (modern, compact)
Resolution	1×, 2× (Retina), 3×, 4× (high-res)

Higher resolution values produce larger, more detailed images. JPG has no transparency, so JPG captures always get a white background.

Note: When you manually change the Format or Resolution, the preset automatically switches to Custom. Select a preset button to restore preset values.

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Branding

Tab path: Settings → Branding (standalone app only)

Replace the Ultimate Piano branding with your own. Uploading a logo requires being signed in to your account.

Capture Branding

Control the branding badge that appears on exported images (Capture).

Setting	Description
Show badge on captures	Toggle the branding badge on captured images on or off (default: on)
Custom badge text	Your own text for the badge — leave it empty for the default "made with the-ultimate-piano.com"

Choose one of the two:

Use Logo – Upload your own logo image (PNG, JPG, SVG, WebP). Recommended: 24 px height, PNG or SVG.
Use Text – Enter custom text to replace "ULTIMATE PIANO" (leave it empty for the default)

A preview shows the uploaded logo; Remove deletes it again.

Splash Screen Logo

Replace the logo shown on the loading screen. Recommended: 200 px width, PNG or SVG. Without an upload, the default logo is used.

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License

Tab path: Settings → License (standalone app only)

Your plan, privacy choices and account.

Current Plan

Displays your active plan: Premium (License) after a one-time purchase, Premium (Monthly) while a subscription runs.

Manage License

Manage License opens the Paddle customer portal, where you can:

View billing history and download invoices
Update payment method
Cancel monthly subscription (if applicable)

Privacy

Setting	Description
Allow analytics cookies and ID	Consent to the analytics cookie and device ID. Turn it off to withdraw the consent you gave when you first opened the app; turn it on to give it later

Account

Change Password – Set a new password for your account (at least 6 characters, entered twice)
Delete Account – Permanently delete your account and all associated data. While a subscription or license is active, cancel it or let it expire first.

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Optimizing Audio Latency — Tips for reducing latency
Account — Manage your account
Piano Diagram Maker — Capture instructions
Troubleshooting — Need help?

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I open the settings panel?

8 tabs open when you click the gear icon in the header — General, Display, MIDI, Foot Pedal, Progress, Capture, Branding, and License. Every change you make is saved automatically, and while you are signed in it is also stored in your account.

How do I connect a MIDI keyboard in the MIDI configuration tab?

Open Settings, switch to the MIDI tab, turn MIDI on, and check the box next to your device. The MIDI configuration supports multiple devices simultaneously. Green means connected, yellow means disconnected, and gray means available but not selected. If your keyboard is missing, click Refresh.

Can I customize the keyboard display?

Yes. The keyboard display is fully adjustable. In Settings → General, set the octave range from 1 to 8 octaves (up to 88 keys). In Settings → Display, show note names on or above the keys, choose 2 highlight colors, mark notes outside the key, enable rainbow keys, and dock the score above, below, left, or right of the keyboard.

Does The Ultimate Piano work without a MIDI keyboard?

Yes. MIDI is off by default, so The Ultimate Piano works with a mouse or touch straight away. You only open the MIDI configuration tab when you want to connect a hardware keyboard, which needs Chrome, Edge, or Opera on the desktop, or the free MIDIWeb Browser on iPad and Mac.

How do I reset all settings to their defaults?

1 button handles it: click Reset to Defaults at the bottom of the General tab. It asks for confirmation, then restores every option — keyboard display, MIDI configuration, foot pedal, capture, and branding — to its original value and reloads the app.

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