AudioTheory Piano Keys News

All requests Friday. A new update is here and it's composed entirely of features requested by you, the users of AudioTheory Piano Keys. Let's have a look at what's new:

[h2]Revised Keyboard Design[/h2]

Someone kindly pointed out that the piano keyboard had a few differences when compared to a real piano, specifically in the placement and size of the black keys. The keyboard layout has been revised to address this, and now the position and placement of the black keys has been adjusted to match a real piano with greater accuracy.

I've also added in a depth effect so the black keys now look like they sit above the white keys (also to better match the look of a real piano). This can however be turned off in the settings if you prefer a flat, more abstract look.



[h2]Custom colours for the black keys[/h2]

Iit's now possible to set unique custom colours for the black keys. The default option is still for the black keys to automatically match the natural note colours (so C♯ uses the colour for C, where as D♭ uses the colour for D), however this can be changed using a new dropdown in the settings. If the black keys display mode is changed over to use custom colours then you'll see an additional set of black key notes for which individual colours can be set.



A benefit of displaying notes this way is that an incremental colour hue can be used that matches the pitch increment between the notes.

[h2]Export chords as MIDI[/h2]

You can now export your chord progressions directly from AudioTheory Piano Keys and import them as 'Chord packs' into your DAW. Select the new MIDI toolbar option, 'Export Chords to MIDI' and specify a location for the file to be saved. This will export all visible chords in the main application view, one bar for each, in sequence, ready for use in other applications.

A new version of AudioTheory Piano Keys arrives today. Lots of things have changed behind the scenes and there's some new features too, let's take a look a what's new.


[h2]Additional Minor Scales[/h2]

Full sets of harmonic and melodic minor scales have made their way to the scale library. To find these you should select the minor type first and then you'll see below the different subtypes – natural (the standard minor scales that were already available) as well as harmonic and melodic. I've also made some changes to the labels within the scale library, both to give clarity now that there's multiple minor scales to choose from, and also to better differentiate between the diminished scales that are also available.


[h2]The Chromatic Scale Wheel[/h2]

The scale wheel was initially designed specifically for scale presets, but this update adds in some extra features to make the wheel useful in chromatic mode too (when a scale preset is not loaded). The relative note labels (by default the Roman numerals) around the edge of the wheel now increment to match the available notes set in the selector (bottom left).

The inner wheel itself can now also be spun independently of the outer wheel. Whilst it's purposefully locked when a scale preset is loaded (ensuring that the correct scale degrees are presented, starting with position 1 for the root etc.), in chromatic mode you're free to rotate both the outer wheel (the chromatic notes; C, C# D etc.) and the inner wheel (the Roman numerals that correspond to them). This means that the wheel can be configured to show any custom progression starting at any point. All you need to do is select the notes to include and then drag the wheel around as needed.


[h2]New Relative labelling options[/h2]

There's a new dropdown in the options to configure how relative labels display for dual scale highlighting and the scale wheel. Previously these would always show as Roman numerals, but now the default setting is to match the main note name language, meaning that if this is set to degrees then the labels here will show as degrees too. It's possible to change this behaviour and specify for the labels to always show as either degrees or Roman numerals (or even turn them off entirely if you'd like).


[h2]Bug fixes and more[/h2]

Numerous systems within the app have been overhauled internally. The following bug fixes and improvements make their way into this update:

• Relative Roman numerals review to ensure consistent sharp/ flat information across all scales
  
• Solfege standardisation – all notes now use Do Re Mi for fixed do
  
• Standardisation of default sharp/ flat display across all scale types
  
• B now displays as C♭ when appropriate in scales (e.g. G♭ major)
  
• Hotkeys for swapping note language (buttons 1 – 4) now also work when viewing scale and chord sheets
  
• Chords are now added to the main view already in 'edit' mode
  
• Adjusted position of keyboard input overlay on black keys
  
• The top section of the app is now offset on 16:10 screens to better fit the screen space
  
• Slight offset for piano keys when they are viewed without the scale wheel so that they better fit the screen space
  
• User guide button now correctly links to the Piano Keys specific page
  
• Fixed an issue where the dropdowns under chords would not display if the scale is changed whilst the padlock is unlocked
  
• Fixed an issue where note labels would not display correctly in the chord-match ear training mode when using fixed do
  
• Fixed an issue where pentatonic and blues dual-scale name labels would display incorrectly
  
• Fixed an issue where the answer octave could display incorrectly in note match when multiple octaves where in use
  
• Fixed an issue where the relative notes on the scale wheel would not display correctly if removing a scale preset
  
• Fixed an issue where under some circumstances piano chords would not correctly save and load between sessions
  

A set of AudioTheory Piano Keys Steam Trading Cards are now available. Have fun collecting these, and crafting a series of badges based on the AudioTheory logo ːsteamhappyː

A small update for AudioTheory Piano Keys arrives today. It includes the following changes:

• Note selector scale label is now appended with an asterisk when modified. This is to support some changes made in the last update to how relative note names display, and makes it clear what scale these labels are in reference to when the scale is modified.
  
• Fixed an issue where the current note highlighting colours would inadvertently be reset
  
• Fixed an issue where one of the F# keys would also play an octave up when using the full keyboard overlay
  

Just a quick update today, mostly focused on fixing some bugs that have been found in the last week. There's also some improvements to how hotkeys work, as well as a new note colour theme. Full list of changes is as follows:

• An extra note colour sets can now be loaded directly from the options popup
  
• Custom sharp and flat states now save between sessions (where as previously it was only the scale as a whole that would save)
  
• A message has been added to the options popout to clarify that the buttons 1–4 can be used to swap the note display language from the main application view
  
• A message also appears on the main display when swapping note language via hotkey, just to clarify what change has been made
  
• Hotkeys now also respond to the keyboard number pad
  
• Fixed an issue with certain pentatonic scales not highlighting correctly
  
• A couple of corrections have been made to how notes display when using Solfege
  
• Movable do positions now display correctly in training modes