Questions
The ones worth answering before you spend any time in the app.
What does it cost?
Nothing, for everything the app does today. No account, no card, no trial period. Pricing has the details.
Do I need an account?
No. There isn’t one to make. You open the page and start playing.
Where are my chords and sheets stored?
In your browser, in local storage. Nothing is uploaded to a server, and that cuts both ways: it also means nothing is backed up.
If you clear your browsing data, use private browsing, or switch to another browser or device, your sheets won’t be there. Export anything you’d be upset to lose. Back up everything writes every sheet and your whole chord library to one .keyriff.json file, and opening that file again puts it all back. It’s a file you have to remember to make, though, and it’s only as recent as the last time you made one. A PDF is for printing rather than for opening again.
Does it work on a phone?
Yes, and it’s the same app rather than a reduced one. The keyboard scrolls sideways, or moves an octave at a time with its arrows.
Which browsers work?
Recent Chrome, Firefox, Safari and Edge, on desktop and mobile.
Can I plug in a MIDI keyboard?
Yes, in Chrome, Edge and Firefox. Switch on Use a MIDI keyboard in the Help menu. Your browser asks for permission then, and never when a page loads. Safari and iPhone browsers don’t support MIDI, so the switch isn’t there.
Are there keyboard shortcuts?
Yes, on a computer. On a Mac, Option works wherever it says Alt, and Cmd wherever it says Ctrl except Ctrl + Space, since Cmd + Space opens Spotlight.
- A S D F G H J K
- Play the white keys
- W E T Y U
- Play the black keys
- Z X
- Move the letter keys down or up an octave
- Ctrl + S
- Save the chord you're holding
- Ctrl + R
- Replace the chord you picked with the keys you're holding
- Ctrl + Space
- Hear the chord you're holding
- Ctrl + V
- Light the notes you've copied, like A C E G
- Space
- Play or stop the sheet
- Esc
- Let go of the keys
- Ctrl + Z
- Undo
- Ctrl + Y
- Redo
- Ctrl + K
- Show the letter on each piano key
- Ctrl + P
- Export the sheet as a PDF
- Alt + ← / →
- Move the sheet chord you've tabbed to earlier or later
Does it need to be online?
The first time, yes. After one visit, Keyriff keeps a copy of itself and its piano sounds in your browser, so it opens and plays without a connection. Naming chords, your sheets, playback and the exports all work offline. Links to this site still need one.
The next time you open it online, you get the newest version. Clearing your browsing data removes the stored copy along with everything else, and then it needs a connection again.
Can I install it as an app?
Yes, straight from your browser, with no app store involved. The install page has the steps for each browser and says what happens to your saved sheets.
How many notes does it need to name a chord?
Three. Two notes is an interval, and there isn’t enough information in one to name a chord confidently.
How does it know which chord comes next?
It goes by the key your sheet is in: the one you pick from the Key menu by the chord’s name, or else the key most of the sheet’s chords belong to. It offers the chords that commonly follow the one you’re holding, after “next” beside or under its name. When that chord sits outside the key, it suggests nothing rather than inventing something. There’s no model and no server behind it: it’s ordinary harmony, worked out in the page.
Can I print a sheet?
Yes. Export produces a PDF laid out by section. Names print as you typed them, in any Latin or Cyrillic alphabet, and it prints readably in black and white.
Who makes this?
One person, devedco, in their own time. It isn’t a company, and there isn’t a team behind the word “we”.