Nearly everything is available on the Web nowadays, and that is also true for tools and, well, musical instruments: there are A LOT of virtual pianos that you can play (or at least pretend to do that, considering how different is the way you play notes in a computer tool).
Actually some of those are nothing more than toys and online games, while others are a more accurate emulation of the sound of an actual pianoforte, while others even have the support for a MIDI setup as well, making you able to play that with a MIDI controller (that can also be a keyboard or any other external controller that supports MIDI).
But stop with the boring introductions, if you’re here it’s only because you simply are researching some browser tool, so let’s start with the actual list now!
1. VIRTUALPIANO.EU
Virtual Piano is an online instrument that allows you to play 128 musical instruments for free, and for controlling this online tool you can use your PC keyboard, your mouse or also any other MIDI keyboard and controller that you have with you.
In this page you can easily adjust the volume, the amount of reverb, editing and setting up the loop and also the overall sound quality. Use the sustain and adjust the octaves, you can also select and set different channels including the one for the drums.
2. VIRTUAL PIANOFORTE OF RECURSIVEARTS
This version emulates the sound of a Grand Piano and its features are:
- Sustain, Metronome, Transposition and Tempo controls;
- Free Interactive songs within this browser tool;
- Additional instrument’s sound available in this, for example Harp, Synthesizer, Harpsichord and Organ;
- You can record and save your songs and then share them with an invitation link;
- MIDI support if you use this in Chrome or Microsoft Edge browsers
3. FLASHPIANO
This other simulator that you can use inside your browser is definitely a more simple version, but is still good for visualizing the notes and learn the position of those on the keys of this instrument, so it’s worth checking out.
You can record and use the registration in playback, as well as combining keys and make chords (using the row A-S-D and Z-X-C of your pc keyboard, while the row of Q-W-E plays single notes) and you can also create new combinations if you want to.
You can also export and save the playings locally to your own computer as well.
SPECIAL MENTION: SINTHESIA
Sinthesia isn’t actually a browser tool that you can directly use visiting the page, but you have to download a software: if you have at least seen a video about this topic, though, then you’d probably seen that screen and the interface of Sinthesia, as it is definitely one of the most famous softwares for practicing even without having the actual instrument under your hands.
Despite being a paid software, there is a free trial, so you can check out whether it might be interesting for your needs.
CONCLUSION
Today the emulation of musical instruments has gone so far that it’s very difficult to actually recognise a true instrument from a “fake” simulated one (well, at least if you compare a good quality synthesizer and not a bad piece of plastic that has come out a junkyard years ago), so even if those tools are only suitable for some kind of practice there will surelly be a lot of growth in this field in the next years, also considering the huge upgrades of Artificial Intelligence that might give us, normal Internet users, some very powerful tools in a few years (or maybe even in a few months, who knows).
In the meanwhile, I hope that this short tools list can be useful to your musical needs!
