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Practicing with headphones
Practicing with headphones

If you need to play piano quietly, headphones are a big help. There are 2 ways to use flowkey with headphones. We detail them below.

Updated over 10 months ago

As nice as it is to hear the piano’s beautiful tones, sometimes you may need to practice quietly. With headphones, you can enjoy hearing both the app and your instrument at full volume without disturbing anyone around you.

Note: If you’re simply practicing a song in flowkey’s Wait Mode, there’s no need to connect to your device. Just plug your headphones into your piano and start playing!

There are 2 options for using flowkey with headphones:

A) Using the MIDI sound of our app

B) Using the piano sound of your instrument (requires an Aux In port)

A) Using the MIDI sound of our app

These instructions work for keyboards and digital pianos, and for MIDI-controller keyboards without their own speakers.

Before starting, make sure your instrument has one of the following ports:

  • MIDI In/MIDI Out

  • USB-B to Host

Once you’ve confirmed your instrument has the necessary port, please follow these steps:

  1. Connect your device to your instrument via a MIDI or USB cable. You can find step-by-step guides for MIDI connection with each device in our help center.

  2. If your instrument has speakers, please be sure to mute them. That way, you’ll only hear the MIDI sounds from your device.

  3. Open a song in flowkey and click on the gear icon in the top right corner of the screen to open the Settings menu.

  4. Select MIDI/Bluetooth Setup on a mobile device, or Microphone & MIDI Settings on a laptop or PC/Mac.

  5. Connect your headphones to your mobile device.

  6. You’ll now be able to hear the sounds from both the app and the piano through your headphones.

B) Using the piano sound of your instrument

It’s also possible to use the sound of your digital piano or keyboard. This setup has a few more technical requirements, so please make sure these are met before starting.

Here’s what your instrument must have:

  • MIDI In/MIDI Out or USB-B to Host port

  • Aux In or Line In connection

  • Headphone jack

Here’s what your device must have:

  • USB port

  • Headphone jack

Once you’ve confirmed that your instrument and device meet the technical requirements, please follow these steps:

  1. Connect your device to your instrument via MIDI. You can find step-by-step guides for MIDI connection with each device in our help center.

  2. Plug one end of an auxiliary cable into the Aux In port on your instrument and the other end into your device's headphone jack.*

  3. Plug your headphones into your instrument's headphone jack.

If your device doesn't have a headphone jack, you can plug your headphones into this adapter.

*Note that for some setups, no additional aux cable is needed. This is true for the following combination: a digital piano + flowkey on an iPhone or iPad + a USB-C to USB-B cable. If your digital piano has a built-in audio interface, the app sounds will play through the piano’s speakers. But this only works with a USB cable—not with a MIDI cable.

If you’ve followed these 3 steps, you should now be able to hear the sounds from both the app and the piano through your headphones. If you need further support, please reach out via email or our in-app chat. We’re happy to help!

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