In your music program

PianoFlex also comes as a plugin, so you can play it inside your music program (often called a DAW) on Windows. The plugin is in the VST® 3 format (VST3 for short), which most music programs on Windows use. It's the same piano as the PianoFlex program, with the same sound controls: every slider and preset.

Installing and finding it

The PianoFlex setup puts the plugin in your own plugin folder, %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Common\VST3, where music programs look for plugins installed for you alone. Leave the plugin ticked when you install. To open that folder, type its name into File Explorer's address bar and press Enter.

To use it in your music program:

1. If your music program doesn't find PianoFlex by itself, ask it to scan for new plugins.
2. Add PianoFlex to an instrument track. You'll find it as an instrument (piano) from Flex Music Labs. Some music programs list plugins by maker, others by type.

If your music program doesn't find PianoFlex, add %LOCALAPPDATA%\Programs\Common\VST3 to its list of plugin folders. In File Explorer that folder is C:\Users\<your name>\AppData\Local\Programs\Common\VST3.

How the plugin differs from the program

In the plugin, your music program sends the notes and takes the sound. That's why some parts of the PianoFlex program don't appear in the plugin:

• MIDI in, Output and Delay, because your music program handles them, and OSC, ComposerFlex's link to the PianoFlex program;
• File, Open MIDI…, Play, Render to audio, the strip beside Play, Record and the Files: button. Record and export in your music program instead;
• the MIDI out box beside the slots, since your music program sends its MIDI wherever you choose;
• Quit.

Everything else is the same: the presets, the sliders, the layers and Compare.

• Your music program saves the piano with your project: every slot that's on, with its sound and its layer settings. When you open the project again, those slots sound as they did. Slots that are off aren't saved, and neither are S and M (solo and mute), so a slot you had muted plays again.
• The level: the plugin opens at 0 dB, a level that sits with your other instruments in a music program. Like the program, it has a safety limiter: the loudest chords hold just under the top instead of going over, and ordinary playing passes through it untouched. The volume buttons, and the - and = keys, also work in the plugin, but the volume isn't saved with your project: it always opens at 0 dB.
• Your own presets are shared between the plugin and the PianoFlex program.
• The sustain, sostenuto and soft pedals reach the plugin from your keyboard, and your music program can also record and automate them.