Web-based MIDI piano

ElPringao

New member
Hello!

Someone knows about a good online piano? My aim is a web-based virtual keyboard that accepts MIDI events from my physical MIDI-keyboard and outputs a reasonable good quality audio (also velocity-sensible) without perceivable latency.

The short story: I want a web replacement of a real piano! (maybe I ask for too much? :P)


Thanks and greetings!
 
No perceived latency? Over an internet stream? Don't be silly. The net doesn't work that way, especially with connection paths changing dynamically. I've never seen anything that let's you connect midi and send that to an online instrument for you to then record it? Nice idea but not very practical. Pianoteq do some excellent piano vsti's I can recommend, having tried many!
 
Sorry, maybe I was not clear enough. I don't need the sound engine to be on server-side (indeed, impossible to succeed with that), what I look for is some browser-based piano-emulation engine which does all the processing, both MIDI and audio, on client-side.

Some solution existing out there?
 
I'm really sorry - but I have no idea what you mean? I just don't understand the browser based bit? What do you want to actually do?
 
I've never heard of it either--but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist. I just wonder, why?
 
Seems like the simplest thing would be to find a free VST host (or grab Reaper), find either a sound font player or piano VSTi, and run it all locally. Not sure why the need for a web-based solution.
 
Are you by chance referring to Web MIDI (API for Browsers)? I'd heard it would be included in the Google Chrome browser, and now I see it was added in version 43. But I haven't looked to see if anyone's started making use of it yet. The MMA call it "the most significant advancement of MIDI since... MIDI itself!"
 
I read it, and then re read it twice - and still don't understand the point? why on earth would you want to use a web browser to produce music, when the thing the browser is on has much better software that is already integrated?
 
Rob, that was also my initial reaction when I first heard about it a few months ago in another forum. But I guess the idea is to be OS-independent, have the ability to easily access resources stored on other computers-- be it within your own LAN or out in the cloud-- and not have to install everything on your computer. And just because something is running in a browser doesn't mean it isn't on your computer-- anything that should be available "instantly" is usually downloaded into a local cache in your temporary storage, unless it's being streamed for some reason ("You can play this song/video but you can't keep a local copy that you can access offline because we want you to have to come back to us whenever you want to hear/watch it and we want to be able to make you pay for it and we want to maintain complete control so there!"). Presumably any scripts and resources (virtual instruments, soundfonts, etc.) would be downloaded rather than streamed, so you wouldn't have to worry about the speed of your internet connection.
 
Many thanks for the replies! Now this is becoming interesting ;)

So, indeed, my question was more about researching about existing technologies in this field and, as SeaGtGruff started to point out, maybe it has no so much sense the first time you think about it, but then a couple of use-cases come to your mind. Inter-operability between devices is one of them, and some devices nowadays are strongly web-focused (see chromebooks, ...).

So the point is, "I have a USB MIDI controller, and I want to plug it somewhere/anywhere(maybe a really cheap device which has nothing but a web-browser on it, maybe even some of these embedded computers like raspberry, ...) and play/practice piano with it".
As SeaGtGruff pointed out, it seems that nowadays we have the technical background to do it, so I was wondering if someone has already made a serious attempt to do it.
 
Well, ah' done know, jus' and ole bottle jockey but....
Pianoteq lets you play, save, import MIDI files, edit, export both MIDI and .wav... It has a very low CPU hit and you don't need a DAW.

Missed anything?

Dave.
 
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