This is a virtual version of the Renaissance lute that you can play in your browser. It’s an on-screen model of a genuine renaissance lute with all its details including a carved rose, sharply bent-back pegbox, tied gut frets and even a single treble string. Zoom and rotate the lute as you are playing it.
The sound is from a real lute being played; not some electronic tone plucked by a computer. You can play it using a computer keyboard, your finger on a mobile device, or even just your mouse. You do not need to install or download anything.
How to Play the Virtual Lute
There is no individual sound button. The bottom status line says, Tap a note to play. Once you tap on your initial note, it will prepare the recording and display Sound ready. A question mark at the top of the screen takes you to a brief guide and sound credit information. Use the Full screen button to fill your entire screen with the lute. To exit full screen, just press Esc or click Exit full screen. In the bottom bar is the Volume slider.
There are seven course on the 3D lute that you can click on which will pluck the open note on each course. Alternatively, you can drag your mouse across the strings to strum along them. As they sound, the strings light up and shimmer.
There’s also a row of 44 note pads below the model. Each pad corresponds to every semitone from C2 up to G5 and is named with the note name. Sweep your mouse (or finger) over the pads to play. The notes are short, plucked sounds that fade away by themselves.
The notes run across the A W S E D F T G Y H U J K keys of a computer keyboard. From there they follow O L P; Z X C V B N M,. Then they go down the number row from 1 to 0. Finally, they finish up with (- and =). What this means is that each key produces a semitone higher then the preceding one. Thus, A plays the lowest note: C2 and the = key hits D5.
Above these are a couple of pads without any key. These you need to play either by touch or using the mouse. All the pads indicate which key is assigned to them. The note played by the space bar is the one you selected previously.
The lute rests in its own frame on the page. Before playing from the keyboard, click inside the lute once. The controls immediately above the pads are for playing like a lutenist. Seven courses are open. They are shown in the Choose course menu as follows: 1 · C2. 2 · G2, 3 · C3, 4 · F3. This is 5 · A3. This is 6 · D4. And This is 7 · G4.
Below this are the 0-12 position buttons which act as frets. You press one and the selected course plays that many semitones above its open note. The Pluck button sounds the note again. If you want to know where the notes are on the neck, a good way to learn is to move up a string and across the positions.
Strumming Buttons
The F, Am, G and C are chord buttons that strum a chord. It plays all of the notes of the chord up or down fast (lowest to highest). The Strum ↓ button strums whichever chord you selected previously. The ↑ button strums it the opposite way (top string to bottom).
Tap Auto pick to start playing hands free. It will keep picking the notes of the chord you selected, one note each beat. Tap on another chord to switch over (without stopping). Tap on a single note while Auto pick is active and it will repeat that note from then on until you select a new chord. Tap Auto pick again to turn off.
Adjust the tempo with the Tempo slider. Use the Touch slider below the pads to adjust how hard you pluck. Higher means louder, brighter notes. Lower means softer, darker notes. While you’re playing there are some short tips in the text next to this.
To play songs, open the song menu. Select Quiet evening, Rising & falling, or Little pavane. Tap ▶ Play song to listen. It will change to Ⅱ Pause then ▶ Resume. Tap the ↻ button to repeat the song. Tap the ■ button to stop sound completely. Drag the Tempo slider between 50 and 150.
When you select a song, it plays at the initial tempo set for that song. Above the pads is a strip where you can see what the next notes are and how long they last (in beats). Tap a note in the strip to hear it.
Click on ◇ Game to play the tune yourself. Now the pad you need lights up green. The following one is amber. The NEXT and NOW are marked by a strip. There it waits for you. As soon as you play the correct note on the keyboard, pads or 3D lute, it moves on. You must keep pressing the same note each time if it repeats. How far you’ve got is shown on the counter. If you get the wrong note out, it reminds you with a hint that you should try the green one. When you are done, you will see Complete! Play this again or choose another song.
Click 3D · Rotate to look around the virtual lute in this online space. Scroll to zoom, drag the background to turn, or use two fingers if on a touchscreen. While looking around, the strings will continue to play when touched. To return to the starting view, press ↺. This is equivalent to switching Rotate off.
To strum, use the Strum ↓ button for C, Am, F and G if you’re a beginner on the lute. Try Little pavane in Game mode with the Tempo slider down. As the tune becomes familiar, speed it up.
