Frequently Asked Questions

• What is Synthesia?
• How does it work?
• Where can I find more songs?
• What are the system requirements?
• The built-in Windows synth is slow and doesn't sound great.
• I found a bug. What can I do?

What is Synthesia?

Synthesia is a game that can help you learn how to play the piano using falling notes.

If you're looking for a project that was called "Piano Hero", you found it. For those wondering where it went, I received a cease and desist letter from Activision requesting the name be changed. The cease and desist page has all the details.

I held a name contest to decide the new name. Daniel Lawrence from vgmusic.com suggested Synthesia and won. Thanks again Daniel!

The project used to be donation run (you guys rock!) but since I started selling Learning Pack keys, that has tapered off. You can still check out the hall of fame at the old donors page though.

The Learning Pack is this cool extra thing you can get that adds even more to Synthesia.

How does it work?

Watch the notes fall and follow along.  Or, connect a piano and join in the fun.

Synthesia reads MIDI files and generates the falling note (and sheet music) display from it.

If you have a piano connected to your computer (via USB, MIDI cables, or an adapter) then Synthesia reads from it and scores your playing.

Don't have a piano? Check out some that I recommend.

Where can I find more songs?

Search for your favorite song name or author and add the word MIDI to the search.

Synthesia can play any song that uses the MIDI file format. This forum post is a good starting point to find thousands of MIDI songs.

Otherwise, if you're looking for something specific, you're almost always a quick Google search away. There are usually lots of versions of the same song to choose from and they're all usually free.

What are the system requirements?

A Windows PC or Mac made in the last 5 years is usually plenty.

On the Windows side Synthesia supports Windows XP (SP2 or later), Vista, or Windows 7. On the Mac side, OS X 10.4 and above are supported.

As for system speed, the most important thing you need is 3D hardware acceleration. Otherwise, the game only uses about 20 MB of RAM and should run on anything about 1 GHz or faster.

If you are having trouble with speed, using the "Synthesia Configuration" tool to reduce the video resolution the game uses will often help. In Windows, sometimes switching to the OpenGL renderer (in the same tool) can help, too.

To use online features like the online recital scoreboards, you'll need an active Internet connection.

(A native Linux version isn't planned -- see this forum post for the discussion -- but I've had plenty of reports that it works just fine under Wine.)

The built-in Windows synth is slow and doesn't sound great.

Use your keyboard's synth or a free software driver.

If your keyboard has an on-board synth, that's usually your best bet. It will be the fastest and usually sounds pretty nice. Otherwise, one great (and free!) alternative is using a software MIDI driver and a "Sound Font" to go with it.

The BASSMIDI driver (by Kode54 and MudLord) along with the WeedsGM3 sound font (by Rich Nagel) are just such a combo. BASSMIDI improves latency and WeedsGM3 sounds great. Lots of information over here, but here are the short instructions:

1. Download the BASSMIDI driver and install it.
2. Download the WeedsGM3 sound font.
3. Extract the sound font archive and then run the WeedsGM3.sfArk.exe file to unpack the SF2 file.
4. Run the "Configure Driver" start menu item for BASSMIDI driver, click Add, point it at the WeedsGM3.SF2 file, and click Apply.
5. Open the Synthesia Configuration tool, go to Advanced, and disable the "Midi.HardReset" option.

Once you've done that, a new output device will appear in Synthesia. It should be faster and sound better than the built-in Windows synth.

I found a bug. What can I do?

Tell me about it in the forums or email.

The goal is that Synthesia "just works" for every single user. If you find something out of the ordinary, please report it!

Head over to the bug reports section of the forum and make a post. Everyone there is friendly. In an emergency, email directly.