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Piano software: the 10 best on the market

You want to use the best piano software to learn the instrument alone or to compose? You’ve come to the right place!

It is always difficult to find the right tools when you start learning the piano or want to develop your skills in musical composition. Moreover, there are a lot of them on the market and, as you can imagine, not all of them are equal. Some are expensive, others of mediocre quality. On the other hand, some software are either free or inexpensive and allow you to acquire the basics in what you are looking for.

In order to save you time in your research, we have listed in this article our selection of the 10 best piano software on the market. This is of course our own opinion, but it will allow you to have a first overview of the good software that are developed and offered on the internet.

Sommaire :

1. La Touche Musicale (free)
2. KB piano
3. Virtual Piano MIDI
4. Synthesia
5. Free Piano
6. Piano Booster
7. Toontrack EZKeys
8. Native Instruments Alicia’s Keys
9. MIDI Piano
10. Everyone Piano

1 – La Touche Musicale (free) 

Objective: learn piano with the songs you like

La Touche Musicale is an online software that allows you to learn your favorite songs on the piano. Intuitive, you just have to create your account and connect your piano in MIDI-USB to be able to learn hundreds or even thousands of musics.

The notes are symbolized by sticks that descend on a virtual piano. When the notes arrive on the keys of this piano, you must play the same notes on your connected piano.

The advantage of this software lies in the interaction that the developers have set up between the learning interface and the connected piano. Indeed, the software waits for you to play the right notes before moving on to the next ones. You can therefore learn at your own pace.

The number of songs offered in the tool is just enormous: 2,500 songs of all genres and all levels of difficulty. Both beginners and advanced players will be able to learn the piano easily with this software.

Video presentation of La Touche Musicale

The song catalog of the piano software La Touche Musicale.

The learning interface of La Touche Musicale software

2 – KB piano

Objective: to create small pieces of music on the piano

KB Piano is more a software to compose music with a piano than a teaching tool. You can, as on La Touche Musicale, connect your piano to your computer so that it is recognized by the software. Once this is done, you interact with the virtual piano and can record your composition or interpretation. You can also add sound effects to enrich the piece you create.

The KB Piano software in context of use.

3 – Piano Virtuel MIDI

Objective: compose with a virtual piano

Virtual Piano MIDI allows you to simulate a real piano directly in your computer. A virtual piano is present in the center of the interface with which you can play at will. You can use either your mouse or your keyboard to press the keys. With this software, you can also compose your own songs and export them in MIDI format.

If the piano remains the instrument of choice for this tool, it also allows you to emulate hundreds of instruments on your computer (guitar, violin, flute, bass, drums, …). It’s up to you to choose the ones you like the most and compose with them!

The user interface of the Virtual Piano MIDI software.

Recommended guide: The 8 best piano exercises to improve your piano playing

4 – Synthesia

Objectives: learn piano with the songs you love

Synthesia is a piano software that allows you to learn the instrument easily. You can connect your keyboard to your computer and play notes and chords interactively.

The software is mainly based on MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface). As with La Touche Musicale (which works online), you can import your own MIDI files to play them on the piano.

If you want more information about this tool, you can read our article dedicated to Synthesia.

Context of use and learning interface of the Synthesia piano software.

5 – Free Piano

Objectives: compose music with a MIDI keyboard

Free Piano is a software that allows you to connect your piano or keyboard in MIDI in order to transmit the data from your piano to your computer. You can compose the songs you want directly from your connected piano.

The software contains many features that give you indications and assistance when you play, such as the position of notes on the score, the pedal, the velocity, the octave, …

This is a good piano music composition software, so don’t hesitate to go and have a look!

Use of the Free Piano software.

6 – Piano Booster

Objective: learn the piano and how to read notes on a score

Piano Booster is a software that has for primary vocation to make you learn the piano via the musical theory. You will learn to read the notes on the score. If the method is based on the reading of scores, the software has a practical approach to the piano. Indeed, as for the other tools of this classification, you can connect your piano or your keyboard in MIDI to your computer. The software will wait for you to play the right notes before moving on to the score.

All in all, Piano Booster is a very good program that will satisfy you if you want to learn scores. The only negative point concerns the design and ergonomics of its interface, which is quite difficult to understand and to get used to at first.

Interface of the Piano Booster software.

7 – Toontrack EZKeys

Objective: simulate playing a Steinway & Sons piano

Toontrack ZEKeys is a software that simulates piano playing on a Steinway & Sons model. It is a software whose ergonomics are quite good. For example, you can import a MIDI file and see it being played on the piano in real time, with the keys being depressed.

Toontracks EZKeys piano software interface.

8 – Native Instruments Alicia’s Keys

Objective: simulate the soulful sounds of Alicia Keys on a virtual piano

Native Instruments Alicia’s Keys is a software designed and developed by the Native Instruments team. Its main originality lies in the fact that the tool reproduces the soulful sound of the artist Alicia Keys when she plays the piano. It is this sound that has allowed the internationally recognized artist to shine and win several Grammys.

Alicia’s Keys was sampled from the artist’s own playing and recorded in her studio. With this software you can hear the best sounds of the American singer being played.

Native Instruments Alicia's Keys : a good piano software.

9 – MIDI piano

Objective: to play MIDI data on a piano

MIDI Piano is a very complete program that allows you to play with MIDI data to produce the sounds you want. The interface is composed of sticks representing the notes on the top, which scroll horizontally and arrive on a virtual piano. A second virtual piano is located at the bottom of the interface and shows in a clearer and more precise way the keys that are being played at the moment.

A multitude of options are available and you can configure the software as you wish.

User interface of the MIDI piano software.

10 – Everyone Piano

Objective: to learn to play the piano

Everyone Piano is an educational software. It allows you to learn to play the piano in a relatively easy way. Like many tools of this classification, you can connect your piano or keyboard in MIDI to interact with the software.

Other features allow you to customize your learning: speed of the piece you are learning, support for rhythm and synchronization, and much more.

The software can also tell you how to position yourself correctly. To learn more about this, please see our article on piano fingering.

Everyone Piano is a very practical tool for those who want to start learning piano.

If you are interested in more tools similar to this one, you can check out our article about apps offering online piano lessons.

Everyone Piano learning interface.

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