Can we Assign to QWERTY (not MIDI) Keyboard

[sqgl]

Used to be able to trigger visuals and/or effects like this with the old Arkaos VJ a decade ago.
Could either drag and drop them onto a virtual QWERTY piano-style MIDI keyboard.
Now it seems we can only do the latter.

If I must I will use a free programme which converts my qwerty keyboard to a MIDI keyboard
but first I would like to know if I can keep it simple the old way.