''Synthesia'' is a piano keyboard trainer for

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, and

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which allows users to play a MIDI keyboard or use a

computer keyboard A computer keyboard is a peripheral input device modeled after the typewriter keyboard which uses an arrangement of buttons or keys to act as mechanical levers or electronic switches. Replacing early punched cards and paper tape technology ...

in time to a

MIDI file MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and ...

by following on-screen directions, much in the style of '' Keyboard Mania'' or '' Guitar Hero''. Additionally, Synthesia can be paired with MIDI keyboards that have illuminated keys, or with virtual player piano on screen, which some people believe makes learning piano easier for beginners. It was originally named ''Piano Hero'', due to the similarity of gameplay with '' Guitar Hero''; this was until Activision (the owners of the rights to ''Guitar Hero'') sent a

cease and desist A cease and desist letter is a document sent to an individual or business to stop alleged illegal activity. The phrase "cease and desist" is a legal doublet, made up of two near-synonyms. The letter may warn that, if the recipient does not dis ...

to the program's creator, Nicholas Piegdon.

History

Synthesia was started around 2006 by Nicholas Piegdon, and was originally named "Piano Hero". Hosted as an

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project on

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, it was released under the MIT license. The program was originally for

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-only, but after a donation drive in early 2007, it was ported to

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. An open source fork for

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called Linthesia also exists, which is used as a base of other forks to fix compilation issues on recent Linux systems.

Cease and desist letter

In a letter dated 26 March 2007, Activision requested that Piegdon ''"immediately cease any and all use of the "Piano Hero" name in connection with the distribution and promotion of isvideo game and agree not to use such in the future"''. Piegdon responded by hosting a contest for a new name for the project, resulting in the name, Synthesia, suggested by Daniel Lawrence.

Continued development as closed-source project

After May 2012, Piegdon decided to stop releasing the

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, as he saw the potential commercial value of the program. However the last

release version 0.6.1b is still available for download. In the continued commercial version the basic functionality was still freeware. A "Learning Pack" key could be purchased to unlock the freemium additional features, such as a

sheet music Sheet music is a handwritten or printed form of musical notation that uses List of musical symbols, musical symbols to indicate the pitches, rhythms, or chord (music), chords of a song or instrumental Musical composition, musical piece. Like ...

display mode. In December 2014, with Version 10 of Synthesia, the ability to use the program without purchasing it was removed, with the exception of several playable included demo MIDIs. However, an older version can still be downloaded, thus still being able to use the program for free.

Features

Synthesia has support for playing custom

MIDI MIDI (; Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is a technical standard that describes a communications protocol, digital interface, and electrical connectors that connect a wide variety of electronic musical instruments, computers, and re ...

and MusicXML files, as well as linking with MIDI controllers. Synthesia will rate the player's performance afterwards, and give a score which can be submitted to an online scoreboard. Synthesia also has a paid "Learning Pack" that allows users to view music in

musical notation Music notation or musical notation is any system used to visually represent aurally perceived music played with instruments or sung by the human voice through the use of written, printed, or otherwise-produced symbols, including notation fo ...

, as well as multiple practice features, such as "Melody Practice" which pauses the piece whenever the user misses a note, and only continues when the right note is played.

References

External links