Music is experienced by people in many different ways. Sometimes music includes visuals, beats, a band, art, dancing, and even things like echos and animal sounds. Create a soundscape for your music maker.
Think about your instrument and what it sounds like. What would you like to add to create a soundscape?
You can See inside the example projects to look at how they work.
Example projects:
Tip: Use the Backpack to copy scripts or sprites and use them in your project.
You could add to the theme of your soundscape.
You can use backdrops in a Scratch project to create different pages or levels.
Changing backdrop tutorial: See inside
Click on the Stage pane and then the Backdrops tab to view the backdrops for your project. You can drag the backdrops to reorder them.
There are lots of ways to move to the next backdrop
. Choose one that works for your project.
Go to the Choose a Backdrop menu and click on Paint:
You will be taken to the Paint editor, where the new backdrop will be highlighted in the list. If you have other backdrops in your project, you will also see them in the list.
To set the main colour of the backdrop, click on the Rectangle tool, then use the Fill colour chooser to select a colour, then drag the shape over the full backdrop canvas:
If you want to add more details to your backdrop, you can use the Rectangle tool, Circle tool, or Brush tool, or a combination of all three!
When you have finished, make sure that you give your new backdrop a name that makes sense:
Your new backdrop will be shown on the Stage and will be available to use in Looks
blocks.
Rooster effects: See inside
The set color effect to
and change color effect by
blocks both have drop-down menus in which you can choose from a range of different graphic effects that can be used to change your sprite’s appearance:
color
: from 0
to 199
(bigger numbers will wrap around, so 200
is the same as 0
)fisheye
: 0
means no effect, bigger numbers cause a bigger ‘fisheye’ effect, and negative numbers cause a reverse ‘fisheye’ effectwhirl
: 0
means no effect, big numbers make a big whirl to the left, and big negative numbers make a big whirl to the rightpixelate
: 0
means no effect, and bigger numbers create more pixelsmosaic
: 0
means no effect, and bigger or negative numbers affect the number of copiesbrightness
: 0
means no effect, numbers up to 100
make the sprite lighter, and negative numbers down to -100
make the sprite darkerghost
: 0
means no effect, and numbers up to 100
make the sprite more transparentTry to
the different effect values to see what each one does. Explore how different effect changes make your sprite look.set
Tip: A color effect
of 225
is the same as a color effect
of
, so you can keep changing the colour. For other graphic effects, no other changes will be made after you reach the maximum or minimum number for the effect.25
Use the clear graphic effects
block to start again. Clicking on the green flag also clears all graphic effects.
To set a graphic effect for a sprite when the project is started, place a set graphic effect to
block under a when green flag clicked
block:
Tip: You can also set
and change
graphic effects for the Stage.
Your instrument could play along to some background music, or you could add other sprites that make sounds (for example, a bird chirping). You could even add in a song you like.
Select the sprite that you want to have the new sound, then select the Sounds tab. Each sprite starts with a default sound:
Scratch has a library of sounds that you can add to your sprites. Click on the Choose a Sound icon to open the Sound Library:
To play a sound, hold your mouse cursor (or your finger, if you are using a tablet) over the Play icon:
Click on any sound to add it to your sprite. You will be taken straight back to the Sounds tab and you will be able to see the sound that you have just added:
If you switch to the Code tab and look at the Sound
blocks menu, you will be able to select the new sound:
Tip: You can also add sounds to the Stage.
Select the sprite that you want to have the new recorded sound, then select the Sounds tab:
Go to the Choose a Sound menu and select the Record option:
When you are ready, click the Record button to start recording your sound:
Click the Stop recording button to stop recording your sound:
Your new recording will be shown. You can Re-record your sound if you are not happy with it.
Drag the orange circles to crop your sound; the part of the sound with a blue background (between the orange circles) will be the part that is kept:
When you are happy with your recording, click the Save button. You will be taken straight back to the Sounds tab and you will be able to see the sound that you have just added:
If you switch to the Code tab and look at the Sound
blocks menu, you will be able to select the new sound:
Pico and Giga talk with the speech extension: See inside
Click on Add Extension:
Choose Text to Speech:
You will get a new Text to Speech
blocks menu:
You can use the blocks in the
blocks menu to make your sprites talk out loud.Text to Speech
You can make a sprite talk out loud when clicked:
You can even give your sprite a kitten voice!
You can make your music maker more interactive. Does it move? If you have any characters, do they emote?
Abby thinks “Hmm”: See inside
You can use switch costume to
blocks before and after a say for
, think for
, play sound
, or wait
block to make your character show their feelings
Tip: Make sure that you use a block that has a time value, not a start sound
, say
, or think
block, otherwise, you will not see the costume change.
You can use switch costume to
and move
blocks in a repeat
loop to animate a moving character. Change the time in the wait
block to change the speed.
Tip: If you want to use all the costumes that a sprite has, you can just use the next costume
block in a loop.
Tip: Increase the number of steps in each move
block to make the sprite go faster. Change the number in the
loop to adjust the distance.repeat
Tip: To make the sprite move
backwards, you can use negative numbers, for example, move
-3
steps
. Or, you can use a point in direction
-90
block to change the sprite’s direction before the sprite moves (-90
points to the left).