LMMS • Forums

I do not have a midi keyboard yet, and I am thinking of purchasing one.

Yet, the letters on my pc keyboard act as keys. I noticed that I cannot press more than 4 keys simultaneously. Sometimes 3 is maximum.

Is this normal, or does it have to do with my pc's power?

Will I encounter the same problem using external midi keyboard, that is, not being able to press more than 4 notes simultaneously?

Hello! Please refer to this picture for the most widely used PC keyboard layout:

I don't know how familiar you are with the layout, so if you already knew this, just keep reading

Theoretically you should only be able to play as many as you can press, but LMMS has a few quirks with different key combinations. While I haven't tested it much myself, I do recall being able to play chords with over seven notes at once, so it could be your PC or the notes you are trying to play. From my observations, LMMS doesn't always like to play notes on the PC keyboard an octave apart when playing chords.

I would advise getting a midi keyboard. If you just want something to doodle and play around with, you'll probably be good with a 49 key. They are much easier (and fun) to play than a keyboard, and if you get one with knobs and faders those can be mapped to controls in LMMS for even more fun.

Eh, nothing to do with LMMS actually. It's just the way computer keyboards work, they're not really designed for playing music... most keyboards have a limit to how many keys can be held simultaneously, also this varies with different key combinations... it's to do with how the keys are multiplexed or something.

If you want polyphony, get a MIDI controller. Simple as that.

I was worried that even with the midi keyboard I would encounter this polyphony deficiency. So midi keyboard is the solution. Thank you all!