Not an oscillator pretending to be a piano - real recorded notes, loaded from the shared sample library and pitched across the keyboard. Shape the envelope, add reverb, drop chords from the pads, and record the result on the built-in sequencer.
Every note starts as a recording. The sampler loads real piano notes and pitches between them, then the envelope and the effects rack shape what comes out - which is why it holds up under a sustain pedal.
The keyboard is the easy part. What makes it useful is everything sitting either side of it.
The engine loads real recorded piano notes from the shared GOONS library and pitches between them, rather than approximating a piano with oscillators. The difference is obvious the moment you play a chord and let it ring.
Attack, decay, sustain and release are all editable. Shorten the release and it becomes a staccato keys sound; stretch the attack and the same samples turn into a pad. One instrument, several jobs.
Reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, distortion and filter, each a single click. Reverb and a little chorus is the default answer for anything melodic; distortion and filter are there for when it should not sound like a piano at all.
C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim and C7 sit under one hand. Useful if you cannot voice chords quickly yet, and useful when you can - one hand holds the progression while the other plays over it.
Record what you play, loop it, and keep building over the top. There is a panic button for the moment a stuck note ruins a take, which is the kind of control you only appreciate after you have needed it.
Connect a controller and it plays properly: velocity is respected and the sustain pedal works. The computer keyboard and mouse both work too if you are on a laptop with nothing plugged in.
Nothing here needs a new sample set - only the envelope and the effects change.
Default envelope, reverb on, nothing else. The instrument as recorded - the setting to write with before you start processing anything.
Soft attack, shortened release, filter engaged to take the top off. Close, quiet and slightly dull in the way felt pianos are.
Long attack, full sustain, long release, reverb and chorus wide. Hold a triad and it stops being a piano and becomes a bed.
Distortion on, filter down, delay feeding back. The sampled source is what makes this work - the artefacts land on a real recording rather than on a sine wave.
Browsers block sound until you interact with the page, so click Start Piano once and the sampler loads its notes.
Play with the mouse, the computer keyboard, or plug in a MIDI controller - velocity and the sustain pedal both work if you have them.
Move the release first: it changes the character more than anything else on the panel. Then add reverb, and only then consider the rest of the rack.
Use the chord pads to hold a progression, record it on the sequencer, loop it, and play a melody over the top.
| Type | Sampled acoustic piano with sequencer and effects |
|---|---|
| Engine | Sampler loading recorded notes from the shared GOONS sample library, pitched across the range |
| Range | C3 to C6 on screen, with octave selection |
| Envelope | ADSR - attack, decay, sustain, release, all editable |
| Effects | Reverb, delay, chorus, phaser, distortion, filter |
| Chord pads | C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim, C7 |
| Sequencer | Step grid with record, play, pause, stop, loop and panic |
| Visualiser | Spectrum, waveform and 3D modes |
| Input | Web MIDI with velocity and sustain pedal, computer keyboard, mouse and touch |
| Requirements | Any modern browser with Web Audio - Chrome, Edge, Firefox, Safari. |
Most browser pianos are a row of buttons wired to a sine wave. Modern Piano loads real recorded notes, respects velocity from a MIDI controller and responds to a sustain pedal, which is the minimum bar for an instrument you would actually sit down at. Everything else on the page - envelope, effects, sequencer - exists to keep you there once you have.
Because the envelope and the effects rack sit in front of the samples, the same instrument covers a natural grand, a soft felt-ish sound, a long ambient pad and a deliberately broken lo-fi keys patch. You do not need a different app for each of those; you need a release control and a filter.
The eight chord pads cover the C major family - the progressions most songs start life in. They are a shortcut for anyone who can hear a progression faster than they can voice it, and they stay useful afterwards as a way to hold a harmony while the other hand plays.
Modern Piano draws on the same 5000-sample library as the rest of the catalog and shares the studio audio graph, so a part recorded here can sit under a drum machine, a sequencer or a vocoder. One subscription covers everything, and a 7-day free trial covers the deciding.
Sampled. The engine loads real recorded piano notes from the shared GOONS library and pitches between them to cover the keyboard, which is why sustained chords keep the character of an acoustic instrument instead of turning into a flat tone.
Yes. Modern Piano requests Web MIDI access, so any class-compliant USB or Bluetooth controller plays it - with velocity, and with the sustain pedal working as you would expect. The computer keyboard and the mouse work too.
Eight one-touch chords - C, Dm, Em, F, G, Am, Bdim and C7. They let you hold a progression with one hand while playing a melody with the other, and they are the quickest way to sketch a harmony if you are still learning to voice chords.
The built-in sequencer records your playing, loops it, and lets you build over the top. A panic control kills any stuck notes, which matters more than it sounds like it should.
Browsers block audio until the user interacts with the page. Clicking Start Piano satisfies that policy and gives the sampler its cue to load - after that first click the instrument responds immediately.
It is part of the GOONS Studio subscription (€9.90/month), which unlocks every app in the catalog, the 5000-sample library and cloud projects. New accounts get a 7-day free trial with full access and no card required.
Modern Piano comes with the GOONS Studio subscription at €9.90/month, alongside every other app in the catalog. Start with the 7-day free trial - no credit card, cancel whenever.
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