Piano Keybuild TM
Typeface for building piano keyboards
Piano Keybuild is a small font, but it contains all the tools
needed for building realistic piano keyboards. It contains
pre-made sets of keys, individual keys, parts for two-color
keys, and keys with note names. This user guide will
explain how to combine these glyphs effectively and
make use of the font’s features.
GLYPHS
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
1 23456789
0A B C D E F G H
I J K L M N O P R
S T U V W X Y Z a
bc d e f g h i j
0
A
B
C
D
E
F
G
H
I
J
K
L
M
N
O
P
R
S
T
U
V
W
X
Y
Z
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
l
m
n
o
p
q
r
s
k l m n o p q r s
t u v w x y < > :
t
u
v
w
x
y
<
>
:
-The numbers in Piano Keybuild are based on the shapes
of traditional numbers in music notation.
-The uppercase, as well as <, >, and : contain keys with
labels. These include alternates (A sharp and B flat are
the same piano key but two different glyphs).
-The lowercase contains pre-built key sets and blank key
parts plus filler glyphs for making two-color piano keys.
-Note that Q, z, comma, period, and semicolon do contain
glyphs, but they have no contours and have widths of
zero. This is designed so that in case the wrong key is
pressed, the program (such as MS Word) will not change
to a default font to display the missing character.
Methods of use
In the following pages, italicized letters refer to computer keys. Upright ones refer to
piano keys.
Piano Keybuild contains kerning pairs that allow small keys to fit
neatly between large ones. Only certain pairs will kern, however;
only key sequences that occur on standard keyboards will work.
This helps to prevent the accidental misplacement of keys,
especially labeled ones. For example, when you type A followed
by W and S, the W (A sharp) kerns into the spaces in the A and B
keys (A and S).
A W S AWS
But, typing ARH (A, C sharp, F) will result in no kerning (not to
mention an awkward set of keys).
A R H ARH
Many of these keys have alternates. A sharp is the same as B flat,
for example. Unusual “white key” alternates have been included
as well. Compare A sharp (W) and B flat (Z); also compare B sharp
(E) to C and C flat (X) to B - these two are “white key” alternates.
WZ ED XS
On a standard keyboard, there are seven octaves. Each consists
of a set of five keys and a set of seven keys. These are
represented by the a and b keys. Therefore, ababababababab
results in a standard keyboard, right?
ababababababab
Not quite. These are 84 of the 88 keys. The other four are a set of
three on the bass end (left) and a single C on the treble (right)
end. c and d contain these keys.
cabababababababd
cabababababababd
Finding the right key
The mapping layout for the labeled (uppercase) keys may be
rather confusing at first; the sequence is logical, but it takes time
to adapt to it. This should help.
You can think of the computer keyboard as a piano keyboard; the
middle row (ASDF…) contains the white keys. The keys above and
below these are black keys. Ones above are sharp, ones below
are flat. The diagram above demonstrates this concept.
To find a key’s sharp, move up and right one computer key. A
regular D sharp is T since D is F. The flats are down and left, so D
flat is C.
Using the unlabeled keys
The lowercase letters host generic keys - they don’t have labels.
However, they have their own special use. You can combine them
into two-color keys.
d through n are outlines while o through y are fillers. Therefore,
grnyhsnyitjunykvnylwnymxny (with color added to every second
letter) renders this:
grnyhsnyitjunykvnylwnymx
Type the same text with spaces between each letter. Then, select
some or all of the filler parts and apply a gradient for something
like this:
gnhnijnknlnmgnhnijnknlnm gynhynijnykynlnymgynhynijnykynlnym
Piano Keybuild 1.000
From the Type Minds foundry
Designed by Tucker Meyers
Piano Keybuild was drawn in Type 3.0.
http://cr8software.net/type.html
User Guide created in Microsoft Word 2010 beta and converted
to PDF with PDFCreator. http://store.microsoft.com/home.aspx
http://sourceforge.net/projects/pdfcreator/
Text set in Aller, Aller Italic, Aller Bold, and Aller Display.
All examples set in Piano Keybuild 1.000.
Diagram(s) created by Tucker Meyers in Paint.NET with Piano
Keybuild and Aller. http://www.paint.net