Note Block

The Note Block is a block added in Beta 1.2, and 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 a song.

As of version 1.0.0, note blocks will play when next to a powered block, which allows for more compact music circuitry.

Crafting
Note blocks can be crafted by placing 8 wooden planks in a square with Redstone Dust at the center:

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.

As of the official release of Minecraft, 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 one wants to actually make music they 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. Three notes or more are needed to make a chord. 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.

With the introduction of redstone repeater in Beta 1.3, the process for making a series of notes is much simpler. The delay can be set to one, two, three, or four steps, which simplifies the construction of multiple delay circuits.

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.

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.



Other Information

 * There is a glitch in minecraft 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.
 * In the coding, note blocks are referenced as "musicblocks".
 * Triggering (Playing) a note block or changing the note played does not count as a block update.

Uses

 * Create music.
 * Make doorbells - for example, you can connect a pressure plate or button next to your front door wired to a Note Block and it can be used as a door bell. The most common notes are B Flat (16 hits) for the 'Ding' and F Sharp (12 hits) for the 'Dong' for the classic 'Ding Dong' of most real-life doorbells. This can also serve as an alarm for enemies.
 * Come up with pranks, such as modifying the Note Block to be constantly playing notes and hide it underground to irritate a player.
 * Make subway chimes - When a minecart reaches the end of the track, make note blocks play (similar to a real life subway)
 * Communication - Use different notes and instruments to send different messages
 * Combined with a simple redstone clock, you can make a ticking clock (put a glass block under the note block to create a ticking sound).
 * Make an alarm system, similar to the doorbell.
 * Make Pressure Plate pathways to play music, as seen here
 * Add an extra output to complex redstone circuits, rather than just on/off torches. For example, work out how to ring changes with blocks and redstone.

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.
 * In the xbox edition, note blocks don't play when they recieve redstone current (as of 22/6/12).