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And .... your credentials as a piano tone critic are ???

I've played a grand piano and the Roland sound is off. He could adjust some settings? I'm just trying to be helpful.

Right, what you are describing is what is commonly called a "reactive visualizer" or "LED piano visualizer". And once you have the LEDs above or integrated into the the keys and triggered on midi input from the keyboard for real-time play, it should be absolutely trivial to have them trigger on midi input from a file for note following (it's really the same thing). In fact I bet most if not all of these keyboards can do exactly that.

So when "Mac" said this ....


He is completely mis-informed on the subject ?

I mean, if you really have to put it abrasively...? Mac is in a different target market. These features are popular enough for multiple manufacturers to support on various models, but they tend to be more on lower end devices than the high end consoles/hybrids Mac seems to be interested in. You won't find light up keys on an AvantGrand, but you will find them in DP/keyboard products from Yamaha, Casio, and others.

As for the Roland-with-lights piano featured in the opening video ... I noticed the lights.
I just assumed they were a clever aftermarket addition, possibly one of those Arduino specials or a CyberGene inspired original.
I didn't notice that they were "original equipment".

That aside ... I was not aware of ANY piano that came with such lights, save for the $200-$300 crapola pianos (so-called!) that I've seen at appliance stores, Wal Mart, Sams Club, and the like.

As I recall one of those was a Yamaha. Shame on them for selling such crap.
BTW, not crappy because of the lights. Crappy because the keys were so light I suspect they'd break after three or four key presses.

Shame on Yamaha for making such crap!
If you've ever seen one of these you'll know that crappy is a generously favorable description.

I presume that the Roland in that video is not of that ilk, right?

Yes, you are absolutely right joemama420,
If I invest time and money, and buy a fast computer with dedicated SSD drive, a MIDI software to record and playback and a top of the line VST like the "Garritan CFX Full", I agree with you, the piano sound will be a bit better.

Oooh, we need a blog article with details!

So you are using the Neopixels LED strips. How did you affix them to your piano? Where did you stuff the wires back to the Arduino Nano?

And is there 1 LED for each note, or, do you light up an LED that is "close to" the played note?

It would be nice if you could have the colors fade as you hold the keys, but when you release the colors fade very quickly.

Q: LED strips. How did you I affix them to your piano
A: The strips have a sticky backing

Q: Where did you stuff the wires back to the Arduino Nano?
A: At the left of the piano under the horizontal fallboard, then into the piano.

And yes, there 1 LED for each note.

Oooh - so you actually took apart the DP's chassis and put the bits inside.

Did you place the Raspberry Pi on the outside of the piano, maybe at the back? For power, perhaps MIDI, and to access the SD card for changes?


That is quite a thing! But I guess from a software perspective, it would be easier deal with note-for-note than some sort of "proximity" scheme.

You have good eyes Kimby. Yes, I took apart the piano top cover and place all the electronic inside.

The LEDs lights schemes has two logic circuits:
The Raspberry PI produce the Note by Note LEDs scheme
and the Arduino board produce the Proximity lights strip scheme, locate above the Note by Note LEDs strip.


If you replay the first video of this thread "I Will Wait for You", you will see the two schemes in action.
And, the second video "Marriage d"Amour" use only the Note by Note logic scheme.

Oh, I didn't notice you had two strips going, I thought it was just bleedthrough from one strip. That's definitely a nice effect.

I thought you were using the pi as a controller because maybe the Arduino library didn't support midi.

When I was working with neopixels, I learned the Arduinos had so little ram that it was hard to get really long strips going using the default library, but there were ways to get around it programmatically. I assume you had no problem with 88 LEDs?

You know your stuff Gombessa! Yes, the PI process the MIDI data and the Arduino process the AUDIO output velocity level.

The MIDI strip has 179 LEDs but only the LEDs exactly in front of the keys are use and light up.

But why use a arduino? The pi is powerful enough to handle the leds too. You only need 1 or 2 io pins.
Or are you depending on the FastLed or Neopixel library?

Any thoughts on where an LED strip might be installed and concealed on an NV10? I guess it could go behind the fallboard, but the black felt on the keys might dampen the effect... though that might not be such a bad thing.

The PI process the MIDI data and the first LEDs strip
And the Arduino via the Neopixel library, process the AUDIO and the second LEDs strip

Good question. I'm sure someone on YT has a visualizer on an acoustic...

I would think the easiest would be to mount the LEDs on a board and place it against the fallboard (you want to be able to adjust the height of the LEDs for maximum effect, so trying to hide them under the felt would seem limiting). You could also remove the fallboard entirely, which gives you more than enough space to play with placement behind the keys. Just guessing...

I kind of like the subtle effect of Piano Luminescent's secondary strip, but I agree that hiding it behind the fallboard would probably kill the effect entirely.

Now that I think about it, when the lid is open, the top part of it provides a nice edge to temporarily affix an LED strip and be out of sight... the light would shine straight down onto the keys.

What credentials are necessary to express an opinion on the sound of a piano?