Tanager Audio Works Chirp Virtual Keyboard Controller

The Tanager Audio Works Chirp Virtual Keyboard Controller lets you capture musical inspiration on the go without having to connect a hardware MIDI keyboard. Just use your laptop's keyboard or mouse to enter notes and chords in any music software requiring MIDI input or providing MIDI output. Want to write that masterpiece or work on that string part in your DAW during your cross-country flight? Chirp makes it both possible and easy. The keyboard is resizeable on the user's display, and the computer key mappings are shown as labels on the piano keys and trigger pads/controls.

Tanager Audio Works Chirp Virtual Keyboard Controller Features:
-Runs on Mac OS X or Windows XP/Vista
-High quality re-sizeable keyboard display shows piano keys being pressed with photo-realistic shadowing
-Includes 10 programmable trigger pads map-able to any MIDI event-even SYSEX commands
-2 controller wheels allow mouse or trackpad entry of any MIDI continuous controller
-Installs as a virtual MIDI port-appears in the MIDI Devices menu of any music software application

Tanager Audio Works Chirp Virtual Keyboard Controller turns your computer or laptop keyboard into a virtual MIDI keyboard controller with 18 piano keys, 10 drum triggers and all the control you'd expect from a piece of hardware. The program produces no actual "sound" itself - instead it produces MIDI notes and messages, which in turn "drive" any music software application, MIDI instrument or plug-in soft synthesizer capable of generating sound from MIDI input. Many music software applications and soft synths include some virtual keyboard capability, but very few allow the MIDI notes to be generated using your computer keyboard. Many limit input to a mouse click, which makes chord entry and real-time playing virtually impossible. Chirp accommodates up to 7 notes on the keyboard to be played simultaneously and in real-time, allowing for even complex 9/11/13 chord entry over 2 octaves.

Tanager Audio Works Chirp Virtual Keyboard Controller was designed to be a low latency controller capable of both supplying MIDI notes and displaying played notes from any music application with MIDI I/O capabilities. We envisioned the primary computer platform as a Windows or Mac laptop, and most likely in a remote environment where the use of a physical keyboard is impractical, such as an airplane seat, bus seat, or even your desk at work. Chirp allows the user to choose which computer keys are mapped to the piano keyboard keys, as well as assign the trigger pads to any MIDI event.

Tanager Audio Works Chirp Virtual Keyboard Controller Specifications:
-Ports
  -16 Channel Virtual MIDI Input/Output Port (installs via driver on Windows or Mac and appears in any MIDI music host application)
  -Piano Keyboard and Trigger Pads assignable to different MIDI Channels
-Virtual Keyboard
  -High resolution photo-realistic display - large and small display sizes available
  -18 to 21 notes mapped to computer keyboard keys for generating MIDI data with assignable velocities
  -18 to 21 on-screen keys to display incoming MIDI note data
  -Note: velocity controlled by graphical slide or preset values assigned to top row number keys; graphical octave control allows access
    to all 127 defined MIDI notes
-Controls
  -2 programmable continuous controller wheels operated with the mouse or glide pad - assignable to any continuous controller
  -Space Bar assignable as on/off pedal (damper/sustain, etc)
  -10 trigger pads assignable to any MIDI event (on a different channel than the keyboard keys)
  -"All Notes Off" Panic button
  -Ability to send note data even when Chirp is not the focused application
-MIDI Data Capable From Continuous Controller Wheels
  -Control every MIDI continuous controller defined in the latest MIDI Specification
  -Pitch Bend and Mod wheel set up as default controllers; user can define any combination of MIDI Controllers to assign to wheels
-MIDI Data From Trigger Pads
  -Note On/Off with assignable velocity
  -Program Change messages
  -Specific Controller Values
  -SYSEX Messages
  -Default mapping to GM Drums on MIDI Channel 10 for most commonly used drum sounds