Arcadópolis
Eight Notes
Eight Notes: compose a melody a day, free online
Eight Notes is a free daily music challenge that runs in your browser, with nothing to download. Every day, everyone gets the same eight notes and uses them to compose a 16-step melody: you tap the grid to put a note on each step, listen to it and share it.
The notes come from one of nine scales and modes (from major and minor to Dorian, Lydian or pentatonic) in any of the 12 keys, so every day sounds different. Three goals are worth a star each, and anyone who opens your link or code hears your melody exactly as you made it. The challenge changes at midnight, Mexico City time.
It’s the daily music challenge on the Arcadópolis desktop, with its own big icon outside the Games folder.
Free, no ads, nothing to install.
Install Eight Notes on its own on your home screen
What it has
- The same eight notes for everyone, every day, on a 16-step grid.
- Three stars: use all 8 notes, end on the home note and meet today’s goal, which rotates among six.
- “Surprise me” writes a random melody and “Clear” empties the grid; you can undo both.
- Tempo from 70 to 160 BPM, loop playback and note names as Do Re Mi or C D E.
- Share with a link, a code or a card with your melody, in post (4:5) or story (9:16) format.
- Download it as MIDI or audio from Compose, Listen or History.
How to use it
- Tap Eight Notes on the desktop: at the top you’ll see the challenge number, its scale and the eight notes, which play when you tap them.
- Start from the example melody or a blank grid, and tap to put a note on each step (an empty step is a rest).
- Tap “Play” to hear it and tweak it until you meet all three goals.
- Tap “Copy result” or make the card to share it: that’s what counts the day toward your streak.
The three goals and today’s goal
The first star is for using all eight notes; the second, for ending on the scale’s home note, the one shown in a different color. The third is today’s goal, which keeps changing: start on the home note, don’t repeat a note twice in a row, fill all 16 steps with no rests, make a leap of a fifth, end by going down three notes one step at a time, or use at least 12 notes. The first time you get all three in a day there’s a celebration and the Perfect challenge achievement.
Listen, History and streaks
In Listen you paste the code or link someone sent you and hear the melody with that day’s notes; if it’s from today’s challenge, you can use it as a starting point for yours. History keeps your last 30 melodies, ready to play or download, along with your streak of days in a row. Today’s melody can also be played in Happy Sisyphus, and Musical Snake uses the same eight notes of the day.
Common questions
Do I need to know music?
No. The eight notes come from the same scale, so they go well together. You can tap each note to hear it before using it, and “Surprise me” suggests a melody to get you started.
When does the challenge change?
At midnight, Mexico City time. Every challenge has its number and date, and a melody’s code remembers which day it belongs to, so an old melody always plays with its own notes.
Can I play on my phone?
Yes. On narrow screens the grid turns vertical: time runs downward and the note names stay on top. On a computer you can also use the arrow keys, Space and the 1 to 8 keys.
Also in Arcadópolis
Musical SnakeEvery bite is a note: eat them in order to build the scale while the snake plays the melody of what it has eaten.
Happy SisyphusA rhythm game: notes come down the track and you play them on time; in Realistic mode, on a real piano.
StudioThe music-making apps: Staff, Endless Jam, Chord of the Day, Humming and more.
Arcadópolis has 66 more apps on the same desktop: games, music, a 3D museum and a 3D library.