Piano Suite Premier 2.6

This is great software for beginners. No big jumps in lession difficulty, just a steady progression. Lots of user interaction with the software (ie, feedback about your playing, etc), games, computer generated vide, lots of songs to play and lots of different styles from classical to rock.

I'm not even using the suggested Adventus set-up, that is, using a internal soundblaster wavetable sound card. Adventus warned of a lag in hearing a note after it was pressed and when the sound was produced if you didn't have an internal wavetable soundcard. I'm not having any "latency" issues. Maybe it is because I have a 1.7ghz computer, with a external M-Audio Firewire soundcard. This is a "pro" external sound card (it has no built in sounds of its own it just processes digital sound files that come out of your computer. For access to sounds you'll need software or you can rely on the internal Microsoft GS WaveTable Software Synthesizer built into Windows XP) and Firewire is fast. For those people using the external Soundblaster Audigy cards, I've read that there may be a "latency" issue.

Read the magazine reviews at the Adventus Website if you don't believe me - www.adventus.com.

Also, I recommend http://www.tweakheadz.com/ for lots of info on equipment for making and recording computer music. The forums are great, especially.

This is quality software.


Excellent Full-Featured Piano Software for All Ages   November 1, 2007
cab26715 (Ringoes, NJ USA)
6 out of 6 found this review helpful

This program accepts any size MIDI keyboard, up to a full-size 88-key one. The installation program automatically downloads any available updates from the Internet, so you should have no problem getting it installed. The requirements say Windows 95 to XP, but I have Vista 64-bit and it runs fine. Piano Suite starts off slow, has you play a song, then recommends other songs to play, based on your current skill level and/or what you need to work on. You will learn how to play many popular songs, including ones by The Beatles, Elvis, and Frank Sinatra. Many songs have multiple skill levels, so you can start playing the song at say Level 3, then work your way up to Level 5 (which has more notes and is harder to play). In my opinion, the best feature is the "MIDI Song Input", where you can download a MIDI file from the Internet or elsewhere and learn how to play it in the program. Piano Suite Premiere includes 500 songs. This program is also very customizable -- you can adjust the size of the music notes, the speed of the metronome, practice a song with left hand only, right hand only, or both hands, and select any song you want to play within the song list. You start off with the "Theory Thinker," which gradually teaches you how to play the piano with harder and harder components (triplets, arpeggios, different time signatures, etc). The program even remembers where you left off, so all you have to do is click a button to continue. Last, but not least, the program also includes games to help you become a better piano player, biographies of composers, progress reports for multiple users, and the ability to record your own songs from your MIDI keyboard.


Very happy and learning fast!   August 13, 2006
Vega (San Diego)
4 out of 5 found this review helpful

This software is excellent. The feature that really got me interested is the ability to load MIDI files from the internet into the program and then be able to actually see the score and play it with the features of this program (ability to slow tempo, mark parts of the score for practice, show right hand only, left hand only, both, evaluate your errors).

You can play along with the song and use a metronome , I find it very helpful. The lessons that come with the software are fingered, the ones you load from the internet won't show any fingering.
Every song-lesson comes set up (when you play it, to hear the song before you start to practice) with different instruments, but you can change this settings. You have 3 note sizes, great.

Every time you use this program you have to use the keyboard tunning tool, I guess it's a downer, but takes 1 minute. Don't forget to set your monitor at a low resolution. If you don't do this, the program will show up in a small window.

The classical library is pretty good for the begginer and I would say the intermediate. It includes contemporary music too (rock).

The lessons are very simple , to the point, you can practice as much as you want. The games are fine too, there are staff lessons which I find more helpful than the games, like "find this note and put it on the staff" where you use the computer mouse to do so, not the keyboard, even though you don't use the piano it's good practice, I'm doing much better reading music now thanks to this.

I had no problems at all with installation, I use my laptop Dell, I read all the manual and everything went smooth. I would highly recommend to follow-instructions. I don't know why other people had some problems. My midi connection is Edirol UM-1EX, I already had it installed and used it with another piano software. I am very happy with this, having used other options I am really glad I bought this one!!


Adventus   September 15, 2004
Dumb as Mud (USA)
12 out of 16 found this review helpful

The lessons do very well teaching a middle aged person with zero music experience how to play correctly. The software does not use ASIO driver so there are latency problems no matter what kind of sound card you have. To get around it will cost major bucks. The software is designed for young folks and the graphics can be annoying at times. The disk is copy protected and impossible to duplicate but they will sell you a duplicate for around $10. The printed sheet music is very good and if directions are followed they group formal music at levels to practice with. There are no lyrics on the printed music but are included in the software, there seems to be a lot of copyright disputes taking place.


Good for adults too   July 26, 2008
Curious Cat (Southern Oregon)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful

I'm an adult learner, determined that *this* time I'm going to get past the "right hand or left hand, but not both at the same time" stage. This has been a great program for doing that. You can take it at your own pace, and repeat exercises over and over again, going back to them to refresh. You can do the exercises in either "Wait for the Note" or "Notes and Timing" modes (there's also a mode called "Rhythm" that I haven't figured out yet). "Wait for the Note" helps you learn finger placement and note location; then you move on to "Notes and Timing" when you play what you've learned to the beat of the dreaded metronome. The program gives you a score each time you play a piece and lets you know what bars you need to work on. There are also a few games to relieve some of the necessary tedium of learning the notes.

I'm taking one star off for a problem mentioned by another reviewer -- the program doesn't remember your preferences. If you have a good computer screen and can use the smaller notes, you have to tell it every time. The metronome is even worse -- not only do you have to set it for every exercise, but if you push one of the other settings and then come back to the exercise, the metronome has to be reset. This is very annoying.

The program is challenging, to a point. There are lots of exercises for each lesson, so you don't go bonkers playing Ode to Joy over and over again. However, the lessons stop after a very truncated section on chords. Perhaps this is because there's no way to learn chords other than to practice them, but a little more instruction and guidance would have been appreciated. On the other hand, there are many song choices in the Piano Player section that use chords, so that's good.

I'd definitely recommend this software for adult learners as well as children.