HearCloselyKeys
UK

A desktop app for pianists

A piano video with notesfrom your MIDI file

Open a MIDI file, choose a look and a frame - and get a finished video for YouTube, Shorts and Reels.

Soon for macOS, Windows and Linux

What it is

You open a MIDI file, choose how the notes look, and save a video with sound.

Pianists who post their playing usually record the screen of a teaching app or spend hours in a video editor. HearCloselyKeys does one thing: a clean video of the keyboard with the notes of your piece, in the frame your site needs.

Your files stay with you: MIDI, sound and video are processed on your computer and are not sent anywhere.

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Looks

A look is not a set of colours: each has its own light, backdrop and way of drawing a note.

  • A screenshot of the app will be herelook-lacquer.jpg · 1600×900Lacquer

    A dark stage, three-dimensional keys, light and sparks over the keys that sound.

  • A screenshot of the app will be herelook-night.jpg · 1600×900Night sky

    Stars and the Milky Way behind the notes.

  • A screenshot of the app will be herelook-watercolor.jpg · 1600×900Watercolour

    Paint on rough paper: the one light look.

How it works

Three steps from a file to a video.

  • Open a MIDI file

    Or drag it into the window. The app works out which hand plays what.

  • Choose a look

    Notes, effects, note names, captions, a frame for YouTube or for a phone.

  • Save the video

    MP4 with sound: the app’s piano or your own recording.

Nothing is uploaded: the video is made on your computer.

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What it can do

  • Frames for every site

    16:9 up to 4K, 9:16 for Shorts, Reels and TikTok, 1:1 and 4:5 for the feed.

  • Your own recording

    Put your recording in place of the app’s piano and set it in time with the notes.

  • Hands and tracks

    The right and the left hand in their own colours; a single track is split into hands automatically.

  • Note names

    On the notes and on the keys: C D E or do re mi, with the octave or without.

  • Hall and loudness

    A room, a chamber hall, a concert hall or a cathedral; the loudness of the video is set for YouTube.

  • Transparent video

    Notes without a backdrop, to lay over your own video in an editor.

Questions

  • May I post the videos and earn from them?

    Yes. The video is yours. On the free plan it carries our mark.

  • Whose piano sound is it?

    Samples of the Salamander Grand Piano by Alexander Holm, licence CC BY 3.0. If you use the app’s piano, mention the author of the samples in the description.

  • Which MIDI files fit?

    Any standard MIDI file with piano notes. Best of all - with the hands in two tracks.

  • Do I need the internet?

    Not for making videos. The internet is needed only to sign in to your account, and from time to time for the app to renew its licence.