Online Piano

How to play

1. 1Open the piano at the top of this page. Click or tap any key to start audio — browsers usually require a gesture before sound can play.
2. 2Play with the mouse, a touchscreen, or the computer keyboard. Hold keys for longer notes. Several keys at once form a chord.
3. 3Set the starting octave (2–6) so the visible keyboard sits in the range you want. Z lowers the octave, X raises it.
4. 4Use volume, sustain, note labels, and keyboard-shortcut labels as needed. Focus mode hides the site chrome so the piano has more space.

Keyboard controls

White keys use the home row. Black keys (sharps) use the row above. The mapping moves with the octave control so A is always the C of the selected starting octave.

Letter keys are ignored while you are typing in a text field so the piano does not steal input from forms on the same page.

Features

• Play a 3-octave virtual piano in the browser
• Use mouse, touch, or the computer keyboard
• Play chords with polyphony — several notes at once
• Shift the keyboard range with octave controls
• Adjust volume and hold notes with sustain
• Show note names and keyboard shortcuts on the keys
• Focus mode for a larger playing surface
• Runs locally with the Web Audio API — no signup and no upload

How the sound is made

Each note is a short stack of oscillators through a low-pass filter and an attack–decay–sustain–release envelope. Releasing a key starts a fade unless sustain is on. Several voices can sound together, with a cap so the browser does not create unbounded audio nodes. This is not MIDI playback, not a lesson app, and not a recorder — those are out of scope for this version.

Privacy

Playing stays on your device. Toolshelf does not upload performances, does not ask for microphone permission, and does not put notes in the page URL. Site analytics, when enabled, may record anonymous events such as opening the page or playing a first note — not the notes themselves.

Frequently asked questions

Can I play piano online for free?

Yes. Toolshelf Online Piano is free to use in your browser. There is no account, subscription, or download.

Can I play the piano using my computer keyboard?

Yes. The home row maps to white keys (A, S, D, F, G, H, J, K, and nearby keys) and the row above maps to sharps (W, E, T, Y, U, and nearby keys). Labels on the keys show the mapping when Shortcuts is on.

Does the piano work on mobile?

Yes. You can tap and hold keys on a phone or tablet. If the keyboard is wider than the screen, only the piano area scrolls horizontally so you can reach every key. Playing the keys should not scroll the rest of the page.

Can I play chords?

Yes. The audio engine plays multiple notes at once, so you can hold several keys with the mouse, several fingers, or several computer keys.

Does it require installation?

No. Open the page and play. The sound is generated in the browser with the Web Audio API.

Does it work without an account?

Yes. There is no sign-in. Settings such as octave and volume live only in the current page and reset when you leave or press Reset.

Is this a sampled grand piano?

No. V1 uses a piano-like synthesized tone (oscillators, a filter, and an envelope). It is meant for practice and sketching ideas, not as a studio-sampled instrument.

Does the piano upload what I play?

No. Notes never leave your browser. The page does not record audio, does not use the microphone, and does not store a performance on a server.

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