Note Block

A Note Block is a block that plays a single note when struck by the player or powered by redstone. An indefinite number of note blocks can be connected this way to form music.

Note blocks will play when next to a powered block, which allows for more compact music circuitry.

Music


Note blocks play a musical note when hit or when powered by redstone. Redstone current only causes the note to play once, even if it is a continuous current. A note block must have at least one block of air above it to play a sound. Notes can be heard up to 48 blocks away.

Note blocks will play when next to a powered block. Each time a note block plays a note, a note particle will fly out of the top, with the color depending on the pitch (but not the instrument).

Right clicking increases the note pitch up a half step, with a total of two full octaves being available to play. The range of notes span from F#3 to F#5. After reaching the highest note, right clicking again resets it back to F#3, as does breaking the block and picking it back up. The exact pitch to click assignment is shown below.

Alternatively, there is a graphical version available:



You can roughly check the tuning of a block by looking at the note icon.



The instrument played depends on the block underneath the note block:

Wiring


In order to wire note blocks to play a note, power must be applied to the side of the note block using redstone dust and a switch or redstone torch, or to the bottom using a redstone torch directly. Simply placing a switch or pressure plate on an adjacent block or providing power to the block beneath the note block will work too.

Chords with note blocks


If you want to actually make music, you can combine different notes together into a chord. Two note blocks will create harmony. The number of steps required to make different tones (like a 3rd or 5th) are the same as a piano. You can connect as many Note Blocks as you need to the same redstone wire which can lead to a pressure plate, detector rail, lever, etc.

Sequencer
It is possible to link together a set of inverters, connected to note blocks, which are then played after each other when the first inverter is given power. This can be used to create songs, without having to manually give power to every note (through pressure plates for example). See also: Redstone circuits.

Redstone repeaters make the process of making a series of notes much simpler. The delay can be set to one, two, three, or four steps, which simplifies the construction of multiple delay circuits.

As of Snapshot 13w01a Comparator can be used for shorter delay of only 1/2 tick.

Another way is putting down a railway of detector rail and powered rails and connect the detector rails to note blocks beside the track. This is useful if you want to hear your music without the degrade in sound as the note blocks play from farther and farther away. However, due to new minecart sounds added in the 1.4.2 update, this option is no longer practical.

Pressure plates - removing the click
Stepping on a pressure plate is a simple way to trigger a note block, but also triggers the pressure plate sound effect. People can remove the pressing/clicking sound by modifying the plate's sound file in the Minecraft folder. This enables a screen recording of the created song without having the pressure plate sound messing up their recording.
 * 1) The sound file is .minecraft\resources\newsound\random\click.ogg (Note: this is also the sound for the in-game menu buttons).
 * 2) Replace the file with a blank text file, with the ".txt" extension replaced with a ".ogg" extension.
 * 3) Set the file as read only, thus preventing Minecraft from re-downloading the sound file.



Trivia

 * The sound files for the note blocks can be found in resources\newsound\note, you can see that the piano sound is named harp and also that there is an unused sound called pling
 * You can tune a note block even if there is a block above it, however the note will not be seen nor will any sound be made.
 * When a note block is in lava, before it burns it makes a sound that sounds almost like a drum when played
 * If you are 18 or more blocks away from a note block you will not see the note coming out.
 * If you are 47 or more blocks away from a note block you will not hear the sound.
 * There is a glitch that allows you to place a torch or water directly on top of a note block (put a torch on a piston on a side corner of the note block).
 * Note blocks use the same texture as jukeboxes but the top texture is the same as the side textures.
 * Triggering (playing) a note block or changing the note played does not count as a block update.
 * Note blocks do not work in giant red mushrooms.
 * Note blocks play the harp/piano if placed on a Monster Egg yet they are still stone in a way.