Update #2 for AudioTheory Piano Keys is here and this one makes some pretty big 'under the hood' changes. Following on from a similar update for AudioTheory Guitars last week, version 1.2.0 of AudioTheory Piano Keys adds support for the ASIO4ALL audio driver, designed to give lightning fast response times and improve the latency of the application.
AudioTheory Piano Keys and the ASIO4ALL driver
ASIO4ALL is a freeware audio driver designed for low latency playback. Most DAWs require the use of an ASIO driver, and whilst it is optional for AudioTheory Piano Keys, it's highly recommended. It's very easy to install and you are guaranteed to get better performance than the built-in Windows driver.
Oh and yes, to confirm this is a Windows specific feature. Mac and Linux come with audio drivers that can handle very low latencies out-of-the-box. More on how the settings have changed on these platforms in a bit.
Changes to the Windows version of AudioTheory Piano Keys
There are a few things now in place designed to help swap you over to the ASIO driver. If you load up the application without this installed you will see a one-time notification directing you to the ASIO4ALL website.
Once installed, the application will automatically swap to use the ASIO driver when its next loaded. You can see which driver is currently in use from the settings popup. Here can also swap driver using the dropdown, meaning you can revert back to the built-in driver if required. Please note that any driver changes here require the application to be restarted before they take effect. Oh, and if you swap to ASIO here but the driver isn't installed then it's not going to work. In this scenario the application will prompt you to install it on your machine.
If the ASIO driver is in use, you will also see a 'config.' button that lets you open up the ASIO4ALL settings. Here is where you configure your output device as well as the DSP buffer size. If you are not receiving any audio, the likely cause is that the correct output has not been selected here.
Changes to the Mac and Linux versions of AudioTheory Piano Keys
These still use the DSP latency settings that were previously in place. As above, the built-in drivers are able to support low latency without the need for an external driver. However I have swapped over the selector to a new dropdown which makes it a bit quicker and easier to select the value you're after.
Velocity playback
Oh, another change along the same lines. MIDI input playback now registered the note press velocity, meaning the playback volume is controlled by how hard you are pressing the notes. This helps better simulate the effect of a real instrument.
That's all for today. The same update will be arriving soon for AudioTheory Grids, there are a few extra changes I need to make it work here first however.
That's all for today. Thanks for reading.