VMPK & FluidSynth

Introduction

Virtual MIDI Piano Keyboard (VMPK) is a MIDI events generator. This is the version for Nokia N9 mobile devices with touch screen. There is another VMPK version for desktop computers using Windows, Linux or Mac OSX, which is available on the project's website download area.

FluidSynth is a MIDI software synthesizer based on SoundFont files (SF2). It includes the SF2 file Vintage Dreams Waves v2.0, created by Ian Wilson, but there are hundreds or perhaps thousands of free SoundFonts available in the Net.

This package, VMPK & FluidSynth, combines both applications with your preferred SoundFonts, forming a virtual musical instrument for your smartphone.

Features

In the first row of the screen you can find a bar with 5 buttons, selecting the features shown in the row immediately below. These are the usual controls of any MIDI controller keyboard, with some particularities.

Some sliders can change its value using the device's accelerometer. This feature is activated by the switches labeled "Turn".

The piano keyboard initially shows 2 octaves, but there is an option in the Settings page to select between 1 and 9 octaves. By selecting a larger number of octaves, the key size becomes smaller to fit on the screen. You can press up to six keys simultaneously.

The program's menu is available from the icon at the bottom right of the screen. The "Show note names" option activates tags over the piano keys displaying the names of the notes and their octave numbers. The "Settings" menu option opens a configuration page where you can change several options:

Number of Octaves: you can choose a value between 1 and 9.
Key Pressed Color: there are 16 colors available.
SoundFont File: you can choose a SF2 file installed in the program directory or in "MyDocs/Downloads". SF2 files are usually large, so it is advisable to download them into a PC and transfer them later to the device via USB cable or Bluetooth.
Language: you can choose from several translations of the program texts.
Inverted Theme: the black screen background uses less power, enabling longer battery life.

The main volume of the synthesizer can be changed using the side buttons of the phone. Pressing these buttons shows briefly in the middle of the screen an indicator of the current volume value.

It is recommended to use headphones to avoid disturbing others nearby.

Credits

This software is in active development. Please contact with the developers team to ask questions, report bugs and propose new features. You can use the tracking system at SourceForge project site.