Synthesia gets you started. LumaKeys is everything after.
Synthesia pioneered learning piano from falling notes instead of sheet music, and two decades later it is still a great way to get started. LumaKeys is a modern Mac app for the same kind of pianist, built for everything after the first lesson: learn a piece, record and edit your own version, transcribe piano audio to notes, keep your repertoire in one place, and export it as a video worth posting.
Short version: if you want the cheapest way to start learning songs on any device, pick Synthesia. If you are on a Mac and want one app for your whole piano life, from first note to final video, pick LumaKeys.
| Feature | Synthesia | LumaKeys |
|---|---|---|
| The basics | ||
| Price | $39 one-time | $69 for a limited time, then $99 |
| Subscription | None | None |
| Platforms | Windows, Mac, iOS, Android | macOS, Apple Silicon and Intel |
| Learn | ||
| Falling notes, no sheet music | ||
| Loop and slow down | ||
| Hands separate | ||
| Progress tracking and finger numbers | — | |
| Optional sheet-music view | — | |
| Song library | 150 built in, store, any MIDI | Curated set, any MIDI or audio |
| Create and keep | ||
| Repertoire library | — | |
| Record your playing | Basic multitrack | MIDI or computer keys, per hand |
| Piano-roll editing | — | |
| External piano plugins | — | Pro |
| Make it beautiful and share | ||
| Customizable visuals and looks | — | |
| Video export for social | Windows only, basic AVI | 4K, 60 fps, 16:9 and 9:16 |
| Audio to MIDI transcription | — | 5 on Free, unlimited on Pro |
Synthesia here is the piano-learning app at synthesiagame.com, not the AI video company of the same name. Checked 12 July 2026: Synthesia features Synthesia price and platforms Synthesia downloads and Video Creator LumaKeys pricing
Play it in from a MIDI keyboard or your computer keys, per hand, and keep every take next to the piece it belongs to.
Every recorded note is editable in a piano roll. Fix the one wrong chord instead of playing the whole page again.
Choose a look, pick 16:9, 9:16 or 4:5, and export up to 4K at 60 fps. Straight to YouTube, TikTok, or Reels.
Synthesia turned the piano into a game long before anyone else did. Notes fall toward the keys, you play them as they land, and the app tells you how you did. That is still the fastest way to get a beginner from zero to a first recognisable song, and it runs on almost anything: Windows, Mac, iPad, Android.
It also keeps a few things LumaKeys does not have: finger numbers on the notes, progress tracking per song, and a sheet-music view for the day you want to learn to read. At $39 once, it is the cheapest serious way in.
Synthesia is a player. It shows you a MIDI file and scores your playing against it. Once you can play the piece, the app has nothing more to say: it does not record your version in a way you can edit, it does not turn a recording of a real piano into notes, and its video export is a basic Windows-only feature that was never meant for social.
That is the point where most self-taught pianists move on to YouTube, a DAW, a video editor, and a folder full of MIDI files. LumaKeys exists to be the app they move on to instead.
LumaKeys keeps the falling notes and adds everything around them. A piece comes in as MIDI, as audio that gets transcribed on your Mac, or as your own recording. You learn it with loop, slow-down, and hands split. You record your version, fix notes in the piano roll, play it back through your own piano plugins, and export a video in your colours. The repertoire keeps all of it in one place, searchable, by composer.
It is Mac only, and Pro costs more than Synthesia. Free covers the full app with caps, so the way to find out whether it fits is to download it and bring in a piece.
Like a lot of people, I learned most of my pieces from scattered Synthesia-based videos on YouTube: Scriabin, Rachmaninoff, Chopin. No sheet music, no teacher.
The original Synthesia app opened this door around twenty years ago. It is twenty years old now, so it is no surprise a lot of it feels dated, and it was never built to be beautiful.
After a while my playing outgrew the way I was learning. Nobody had built one app for this kind of pianist from beginning to end: recording, editing, your own piano plugins, a piano roll, beautiful visuals, and a video at the end. So I did.
Weighing more options? See every alternative or talk to me.
Yes, for Mac. It is built for the same self-taught, falling-note pianist, and goes further: recording, editing, audio to MIDI, a repertoire library, and 4K video export in one app.
Not yet. LumaKeys is Mac-first, on Apple Silicon and Intel. Synthesia is the better pick if you need Windows, iPad, or Android.
No. LumaKeys Pro is $69 for a limited time, then $99. Synthesia is about $39. Both are one-time purchases with no subscription. The difference is scope: Synthesia teaches you a song, LumaKeys is a whole studio. There is a free tier, so you can see the difference before paying anything.
Yes. Drop in any MIDI file or a piano recording, and it becomes a playable, editable piece in your library.
Only on Windows, as a basic AVI of plain falling notes. LumaKeys exports up to 4K at 60 fps, landscape or vertical, with customizable looks, on Mac.
macOS 12 or later · On an Intel version?
Pro launches soon.
Get one reminder when it is ready.