New user's experience

[ledow]

I just discovered Piano Booster and wanted to say thanks - it looks like a perfect program for me to use to learn piano.

I recently came into possession of a (broken / electrically dangerous) Yahama Clavinova CLP-300 which, after a lot of dismantling and spare-part swappery, I managed to get working again.  This was my first ever proper musical instrument, so I was keen to get started on being able to play it (I don't want to be one of those people who has such an instrument because it looks nice in the corner of the room!).

I couldn't help but notice the MIDI ports on the back of the device and so it was inevitable that I should try to tie it into my other passion, computers, in order to encourage me to learn.  So I bought a cheap £7 USB-MIDI cable from eBay (which I later found on was the same one linked to on Amazon on the wiki), and started looking for suitable software.  Being an open-source programmer, Piano Booster came up as one of my first hits and I tried it and I have to say that it's wonderful.

Configuration is simple, the process requires no specialist knowledge and I was soon trying to tinkle along to various tunes that I knew.  I can only say how wonderfully easy it's been and what good fun to be playing along with Piano Booster, and I can't find anything else quite like it - especially not in its price range!

For reference, I use it with my dual-core Windows laptop (because that happens to sit nicely on the top of the instrument, in place of the sheet music) but I've also tried it with a netbook running Linux and it works well.  I have avoided the temptation to label the piano keys at the moment, but already I feel that I am moving quicker than I would do without Piano Booster.  Thanks for such a wonderful program, and keep up the good work.

[Louis B.]

Thanks for your input, I am glad that you are enjoying using Piano booster.

 I use PB my self quite a lot and great fun having the MIDI band following every note of my playing. I am now getting to the point where I can sight read music using both hands at the same time. This is something I never been able to do previously.

Go ahead label the piano keys, this not cheating at all, but an essential part of learning to read music. You need to learn the names of notes on the piano and the names of the notes on the score. As you progress you will find that you do not look down at  your hands on the piano keyboard but instead keep your eyes on the score. This is an essential skill in learning to read music playing without looking down at your hands.

Please feel free to contribute to PB ether through code (you are an open source programmer right?) MiDI music or through the WIKI.

Louis