The Minecraft Note Block Studio is a fan-made, external music editor for Minecraft. With it, users can compose complex note block songs without redstone knowledge, though some minor musical instrument knowledge is required. In the software, the range of the note blocks can go far beyond the 2 octaves allowed in Minecraft and custom instruments may be added from sound files. In January 2019, the program was discontinued by David Norgen, however, in the webpage, he mentioned an open-source continuation made by HielkeMinecraft.

The program supports MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface), both from input files (.mid files) and from connected electronic keyboards. Songs can be exported into .mp3 files and converted into data packs that can be used to play them in the game, and also .schematic files, that can be imported into a Minecraft world using MCEdit.

MIDI file compatibility

Green cells = Compatible
Yellow cells = Partially compatible
Orange cells = Very restricted compatibility

MIDI file format	Channel modes	Drum kit layout
GM (1991)	10 = drums 1-9, 11-16 = normal	47
GS (1991)	10 = drums 1-9, 11-16 = normal	47(GM) + 14
XG (1994)	10 = drums 1-9, 11-16 = choice	47(GM) + 22 different from GS
GM2 (1999)	10, 11 = drums 1-9, 12-16 = normal	47(GM) + 14 same as GS
MT-32 (1987)	10 = drums 2-9 = normal	34 from GM + 33 from GS sound effect kit

MIDI import problems:

• Tempo changes aren't supported. If a tempo is supposed to change in the middle of a song, the tempo will remain the same, resulting in the song becoming faster or slower.
• Time signature changes aren't supported. This can cause problems in a large amount of XG MIDI files that have their loading data in the first measure, but the first measure has a time signature different than the rest of the measures.