The Keyboard Piano

November 28, 2009 4:16 AM

Sure, the site around it is not in English but since Music is a language we can all appreciate, the Keyboard Piano is a ton of fun. (Requires Silverlight)

Hint: alphabetical order makes scales happen.

Oh, and if you check out the links, they have some really funky sounding songs you can try.

posted by empatterson (17 comments total)

Weird... the alpha order makes it feel like a different instrument. M-x garage-band does the same thing, but feels completely different.

Silverlight flameout in 3.. 2...
posted by you at 4:42 AM on November 28, 2009

Also I'd love to hear how the perfect-pitch crowd feel about this, given that it seems to be lodged somewhere between B♭ and B...
posted by you at 4:48 AM on November 28, 2009

Is this something that needs windows to work? All I see is a picture with four links, and some advertising.
posted by ts;dr at 4:58 AM on November 28, 2009

M-x garage-band does the same thing, but feels completely different.

What version of emacs are you using?
posted by haltingproblemsolved at 5:38 AM on November 28, 2009 [9 favorites]

What's the deal with Silverlight?
Should I fear it, as its sinister name suggests I should?
I'm rocking Windows 7, but have resisted installing this so far.
posted by Flashman at 6:14 AM on November 28, 2009

Silverlight is a proprietary technology, a plugin for your browser similar to Adobe's Flash player, that is rather harmless to anyone as an end user. It is also harmless in the more general sense of the word.
posted by localhuman at 6:50 AM on November 28, 2009

Turns out that I have installed Silverlight. Can't remember for the life of me when that might have been, but I'm not complaining if I get to make sweet, sweet alphabetical music. Anyway, yeah, this is fun, I just wish it responded to keypresses a bit faster.

Also, my name sounds pretty.
posted by ZsigE at 9:01 AM on November 28, 2009

virtual keyboard
posted by various at 11:40 AM on November 28, 2009 [1 favorite]

localhuman: "I agree with your disagreement."

I counter with Games For Windows Live. it is the worst.
posted by boo_radley at 2:25 PM on November 28, 2009

stepheno: "do you think Flash®™ is a beacon of open free standards"

Well, the file format specification is 100% open, and there are (mostly) working open source third party players, and high quality third party compilers and development tools.

It could be more open, surely, but AFAIK it is leagues beyond any software Microsoft makes. Microsoft has an explicit anti-compatibility agenda - if they can make not using Windows inconvenient, they will do it.
posted by idiopath at 3:04 PM on November 28, 2009 [4 favorites]

[comments removed - if you want, take silverlight derail to metatalk]
posted by jessamyn at 5:49 PM on November 28, 2009

You can play with pretty much the same thing using Flash on this site. The notes are tied to the keyboard based on QWERTY, not alphabetical order, which makes it easier to play. Also, you can click the onscreen keys (though you'll want to toggle sustain mode using the Ctrl key if you want it to sound any good). Use Shift to hit the sharps and flats, or Caps Lock to restrict yourself to them.
posted by Rhaomi at 1:25 AM on November 29, 2009

This is ridiculous. How can this be "best of the web"? Rather it's part of a *assault* on the very idea of the web - open standards.
posted by mr. strange at 1:44 AM on November 29, 2009

This is really cool! I had a lot of fun playing with it, although there is a delay between the keyboard and the note playing. I kind of liked the alphabetic scales. It was different than what I'm used to, so I had to figure out what all the intervals would be and made some unexpected sounds, which was cool.

Also, maybe I'm dense, but what does it matter that someone took a proprietary tool and made something interesting with it? If you don't want to install the program, don't, but I don't see why you need to be so snobby about someone's choice of medium. They aren't forcing it down your throat. Perhaps because I can't read the wording on the page, I am missing the part where they are using mind control on you to do their bidding.
posted by bluefly at 10:12 AM on November 29, 2009

I just came here to see how long it would take for the MS/Silverlight hate-flame to ignite, and Jesssamyn pretty much gave me the quick précis. So I'm good.
posted by Greg_Ace at 3:14 PM on November 29, 2009

Meta regarding the silverlight derail.
posted by idiopath at 11:34 AM on November 30, 2009 [1 favorite]

I like playing my name over and over again. It sounds like an arrogant Phillip Glass composition.
posted by elmer benson at 3:13 PM on November 30, 2009