Feature Request - Removable keyboard

I would like this too. Although you could magnify the whole window, it goes off the page and I'm using a 28in monitor. A detachable and resizeable keyboard would be welcomed by me.

The idea of a removable keyboard sounds useful, though I might point out there are standalone keyboard apps on linux such as vmpk which can be used to show a keyboard.  Simply connect your midi source (keyboard) to both pianoteq and vmpk.   Pianoteq will make the sounds and can be minimized and vmpk can show a keyboard of what is being played.  Another app I use a lot on linux is kmid which can play midi files or a playlist of midi files which I then connect to pianoteq (or other programs) to playback existing midifiles.  kmid has a keyboard display (multiple if there are more than one channel in the midi file) to display what it being played.    Connecting multiple midi sources is easy done using the alsa or jack midi drivers in linux - see this page for some background on this:  http://www.libremusicproduction.com/article/jackguide

As an effective workaround:

Use Window->Magnification in Pianoteq, and [Alt]-[Mouse-Left-Click]-and-drag to put the keyboard in the centre/top of the screen (with the top of the Ptq window off screen).

At the highest magnification it still might not span the full width of the display (not on a full-HD; it's about 1480 pixels wide at max); if so, set the display resolution to something more suitable.

What I would find really useful would be a keyboard on which the currently depressed notes were displayed clearly. The programmer/designer on the Pianoteq one seems to have been aiming at some sort of quasi-realistic 3-d representation of what a piano keyboard looks like, which just seems pointless - cheesy even - to me.

<rant>What is it with the Pianoteq GUI design? It's as if the target audience was conceived to be a bunch of sad fantasists, salivating over the dream of being seated at the controls of a Model D - all these dreamy pictures of pianos, hammers and strings, and other silly bits of 'eye candy' - oh please! - something a bit/lot more grown-up would be a very welcome improvement. Or maybe the 'fantasy GUI' could just remain as a preference, for those who can't do without?</rant>

You can just about see which white notes are depressed but the black ones are very indistinct.

The perfect solution would be a re-sizeable keyboard - detachable if you like - on which you could customise to some extent the way in which depressed notes are (clearly) displayed.

I've tried the vmpk thing that varpa mentions but it's not really what I'm after. For one thing you can't easily see which black notes are depressed (again!) because of a half-hearted attempt at what I think the programmer took to be 'realism'. And it doesn't seem to respond to the damper pedal - unless that's some config issue which I didn't find. Also, the way in which it colours the whole of depressed white keys (blue) is a little distracting. Personally I'd rather just have something like a red dot on the key. That way you would still be able to see the pattern of white/black keys clearly at the same time as having the depressed keys clearly marked.

It's a diagram, not a pretty picture or animation, that I'm after.

@IanL
I strongly disagree with your assessment of Pianoteq's UI. There are three small representative photos which scroll out of the way once one accesses the controls (which is the way I always have it set up). The UI IMO is very well done, all the controls make good sense, mouse-hover pop-up hints are mostly good and informative. Controls are great: mouse drag or scroll-wheel for quick coarse control, click+arrow-keys for finer, and right-click + value-enter for precise control. There is very little gimmicky or superfluous about the UI.

The Pro version is even more impressive since it allows one to control some 20000+ parameters with relative ease. Next step would be some kind of scripting or text-file import for all settings (maybe it's already there but I haven't discovered it yet...? only had the Pro for a few weeks).

@Chopin87 & @OP
That would be a great option to have for the keyboard (i.e., red-coloured active keys not just for note-by-note midi playblack) and I presume it would not be difficult for the developers to implement. Maybe a brief to-the-point feature request sent directly to support would get results.

I too would love to see a detachable keyboard (very useful for making instructional or other videos, or simply to allow other people to see how the piece is played, in the absence of a notated score) and a more clear representation of the keys while they are depressed (perhaps colored red or blue or something).

However, regarding the PianoTeq user interface, I personally think that it's beautiful, very well designed and with loads of functionality in a small space. When I saw PianoTeq on my own computer, the user interface and all its features and functionality were the first things that impressed me and caused me to think very highly of the thoughtfulness and care of the developers. Of course, anyone may have a good idea or helpful suggestion for the developers at any time, and perhaps once expressed and considered, other users will think favorably of the idea or suggestion as well.