Keyboards, microphone and on-screen piano

Plug in a digital piano, pair one over Bluetooth, let SightReader listen to your acoustic piano, or tap the keys on screen. Every way marks your playing, all three are free, and you can switch whenever you like.

Choose how you play

The button at the top of the screen shows how you are playing: your keyboard’s name, Microphone or On-screen piano. With nothing connected it reads Connect keyboard. Tap it to open How do you want to play? and pick one:

• Keyboard: a digital piano or keyboard, by cable or Bluetooth. This is the most accurate way: every note is marked exactly.
• Microphone: any piano, including an upright or a grand.
• On-screen piano: nothing to set up.

While a keyboard is connected, SightReader listens to it first.

A keyboard with a USB cable

1. Use a data cable. On most pianos the port is labelled USB TO HOST, not USB TO DEVICE (that one is for memory sticks). A charging-only cable carries no notes, and it is the most common reason a keyboard doesn’t show up.
2. On a computer or an Android phone or tablet, use Chrome or Edge.
3. Tap the button at the top of the screen, choose Keyboard, then Connect with a USB cable, and plug in. If your browser asks to use your MIDI devices, allow it.

You can plug in at any point, even halfway through a piece, and your keyboard stays connected as you move from piece to piece. On an Android phone or tablet, use a USB-C to USB-B cable, or an adapter for your piano’s own cable. If Android asks what to use USB for, don’t choose MIDI.

If your keyboard makes its own sound, SightReader offers once to Mute ours, so you hear each note the instant you play it.

Bluetooth

Pair inside SightReader, not in your device’s Bluetooth settings. Those pair audio, and a Bluetooth MIDI keyboard paired there won’t reach the app.

1. Switch Bluetooth MIDI on in your piano’s settings (the MIDI side, not Bluetooth audio) and put it into pairing mode. If it usually connects to another tablet or phone, disconnect it there first.
2. Tap the button at the top of the screen, choose Keyboard, then Connect over Bluetooth.
3. Pick your piano from the list.

What you see next depends on your device:

• Windows, or Android in Chrome or Edge: the browser lists nearby keyboards.
• Mac: the same in Chrome, but after a page reload it may ask you to pair again. Set your piano up once in Audio MIDI Setup instead and it reconnects by itself; /help/midi shows how.
• The Android app: SightReader scans for nearby keyboards itself.
• The iPhone and iPad app: iOS opens its own panel. Tap your piano, wait for it to say Connected, then tap Done.

iPhone and iPad

No browser on an iPhone or iPad can talk to a MIDI keyboard: Apple makes every browser there, Chrome included, run on Safari’s engine, which has no way to reach one. The SightReader app can, by cable or Bluetooth. Find it on the apps page.

For a cable, a USB-C iPhone or iPad can use a USB-C to USB-B cable; an older one with a Lightning port needs Apple’s camera adapter plus your piano’s own cable. In the browser on an iPhone you can still play with the microphone or the on-screen piano.

The microphone, for an acoustic piano

Choose Microphone and allow your browser or the app to use it. If you tell SightReader at setup that your piano is acoustic, it checks the microphone first: turn it on, play middle C, and you’ll see it heard. If your piano sounds out of tune, it tells you, because some correct notes may then be marked wrong. If it can’t hear the piano, you get tips to fix it.

To help it hear you:

• Put your phone or tablet near the piano; the music stand is ideal.
• Practise in a quiet room, with no music or TV in the background.
• Wear headphones if you use the metronome.

What it can’t hear so well:

• Chords are marked on their overall sound rather than note by note.
• Timing: a microphone can’t hear it closely enough to mark it fairly, so Pitch & Rhythm needs a keyboard.
• Note lengths, dynamics and pauses aren’t judged in Review mistakes.

Everything happens on your device. SightReader never records or keeps your audio.

The on-screen piano

Tap the keys to play. Every white key carries its name, and each C its octave number. The piano opens on the notes the piece uses, and you can slide a finger along the keys to hear each one. Swipe the dark bar at its top downwards to put it away, and bring it back with the keyboard button on the controls under the score (Show virtual piano).

On a computer, the keys on your computer keyboard play it too. Turn on Keybinds in the piano’s top bar to see which letter plays which key.

When it won’t connect

• Check the piano is on, and the cable is a data cable in the right port.
• If you once blocked MIDI for this site, allow it again in your browser’s site settings.
• Close other apps or tabs that might be using the keyboard.
• Still not listed? Reload the page with the keyboard plugged in and switched on.
• Notes an octave out? Your piano may be transposing; set its transpose and octave back to zero.

/help/midi has the full steps for each device and tips for Yamaha, Roland, Casio, Kawai, Korg and Nord. Its sound and MIDI check shows what SightReader can see on your device, and you can attach it to a message to us.

Bluetooth speakers and headphones

Bluetooth speakers, headphones and Bluetooth pianos play the click a moment late, so playing in time with what you hear can be marked late. Set Sound delay once and the marking follows your ears: How you’re marked explains how.