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A Note Block is a block added in the Beta 1.2 patch, 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:

Ingredients Input » Output
Wooden Planks + Redstone Dust Template:Grid/Crafting Table

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).

File:2011-01-13 13.05.46.png

A Note Block being triggered and playing a note.

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.[1]

Pitch (Octave One) Number of right-clicks
F#/G♭ 0 clicks
G 1 click
G#/A♭ 2 clicks
A 3 clicks
A#/B♭ 4 clicks
B 5 clicks
C 6 clicks
C#/D♭ 7 clicks
D 8 clicks
D#/E♭ 9 clicks
E 10 clicks
F 11 clicks
F#/G♭ 12 clicks
Pitch (Octave Two) Number of right-clicks
F#/G♭ 12 clicks
G 13 clicks
G#/A♭ 14 clicks
A 15 clicks
A#/B♭ 16 clicks
B 17 clicks
C 18 clicks
C#/D♭ 19 clicks
D 20 clicks
D#/E♭ 21 clicks
E 22 clicks
F 23 clicks
F#/G♭ 24 clicks

Alternatively, there is a graphical version available:

Noteblock reference

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

Large note colors

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

Block Type Instrument
Wood-based blocks (including another note block) Bass Guitar
Sand / Gravel / Soul Sand Snare Drum
Glass / Glass Panes Clicks / Sticks
Stone-based blocks (e.g. ores) / Obsidian / Netherrack / Bricks Bass Drum
Dirt and all other blocks including Air Piano

Wiring

5clocknoteblocks

A pair of note blocks wired to a 5-clock redstone circuit to play alternately.

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 not work.

Chords with Note Blocks

File:2011-10-10 20.49.41.png

A simple chord with note blocks

If one wants to get a richer tone in the song/sound they're creating they can bind different notes together into a chord, just like in most instruments. This will not only get a better sound to the song, it will also be simpler to place the Redstone. You can connect as many Note Blocks as you need to the same redstone wire, that eventually will lead to a pressure plate, lever or button.

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.

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.

  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.

This enables a screen recording of the created song without having the pressure plate sound messing up their recording.

  1. Also if you are not that "techy" you could put three of four redstone repeaters maxed out at four. By doing this, the sound of the pressure plate is heard before the song actually starts.
File:2011-01-16 20.05.45.png

A set of inverters connected to Note blocks, playing a simple melody when the button is pressed.


Other Information

  • Note Blocks can only play when there is at least one block of air above them, so you cannot place blocks like torches and signs directly above Note Blocks (this includes water)
  • 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 [2]

Trivia

  • The sound files for the note blocks can be found in resources\newsound\note, If you can see that the piano sound is named harp and also that there is an unused sound called pling

References


See also

Mcnbs pic1

The Minecraft Note Block Studio.

  • Minecraft Note Block Studio - a music editor for Minecraft

External links

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