BUILT IN THE OPEN · PREEMPT_RT · PIANOTEQ

Commodity hardware. Purpose-built firmware. Under 5 seconds to Pianoteq.

PianoRT is an open-knowledge project: a PREEMPT_RT Linux build tuned to deliver 1.3ms latency and boot into Pianoteq in under 5 seconds. We’re documenting the whole build as we go — the code is headed toward being fully open source.

SEE THE BENCHMARKS RESERVE A FOUNDERS UNIT
TuxPiano — the boot-splash mascot, seated at a piano

This is TuxPiano — the actual boot splash, on screen the moment coreboot hands off to the Linux kernel.

<5s
BOOT TO PLAYABLE
1.3ms
MEASURED LATENCY
250+
VOICES, 0 XRUNS
<30μs
MAX SCHEDULING DELAY

1.3ms sits well below the ~10ms threshold where delay becomes consciously perceptible. Press a key and the sound feels directly connected to your touch — not routed through a computer.

WHAT PIANORT REMOVES

It removes everything that doesn’t help you play.

Most software-piano setups start with a general-purpose computer, then add applications, services, drivers, and configuration on top. PianoRT works the other way.

Automatic
Boots straight into a stripped Weston (Wayland) session showing Pianoteq — no desktop environment, no login screen.
Your digital piano, detected
A U2Midi Pro carries MIDI from the piano to Pianoteq automatically.
Recovers on its own
Power loss returns to a known playable state — no manual steps.

READ THE FULL BUILD →

WITH THANKS

PianoRT stands on work other people gave away for free.

None of this happens without the communities that built and maintain the software underneath it. That’s worth saying plainly, not burying in a footer.

Linux Kernel
kernel.org
The foundation of the whole stack.
PREEMPT_RT
linuxfoundation.org
The real-time patch set that makes 1.3ms latency possible.
coreboot
coreboot.org
Open firmware — loads the Linux kernel directly, no EDK2/UEFI layer.
Debian
debian.org
The base distribution PianoRT’s kernel and userspace run on.
PipeWire
pipewire.org
JACK-compatible low-latency audio, routes itself on boot.
Pianoteq
modartt.com
Modartt’s physical modeling piano engine — the instrument itself.

An instrument should disappear into the act of playing.

PianoRT was built to remove the computer from the software-piano experience. No desktop environment. No DAW. No waiting. Just a dedicated Pianoteq system, engineered in the open.

JOIN THE FOUNDERS EDITION — $100 DEPOSIT