Clef is a gamified sound synthesiser that allows the creation of NFT-melodies using a set of NFT-chords. It is inspired by a groundbreaking “breeding” mechanic in the WavesDucks game.

People have fun pushing random buttons that trigger sounds. Apple-native application Garage Band is rated as No.1 in App store category Music and has been downloaded 1million times in April 2022, according to Sensor Tower app analytics. The app allows the user to tap keys or chords to play music and requires no specific music literacy, thus a hypothesis that people enjoy simply combining chords to play some digital music as an entertainment.

Vision

Building on the hypothesis, the proposal is that the game will provide users with a simple mechanic of combining music elements that are randomly combined at the back end into a track. Player’s output is a simple NFT-melody consisting of chords and any additional music elements added to the game.

No music knowledge is needed for the player since the game uses music theory (Circle of fifths) and proposes combinable music elements that are harmonic with each other to create simple melodies.

“Musicians and composers often use the circle of fifths to describe the musical relationships between pitches. Its design is helpful in composing and harmonising melodies, building chords, and modulating to different keys within a composition.”

Game mechanics implies two categories of melodies: genesis melodies made of the initial combination of music elements and ready-for-production melodies created by mixing genesis melodies. Here are the examples of two generated melodies and their mix:

I) primary order/genesis melodies (several generations starting with the first, e.g.1…n) are created with a set of music elements, they are simple and are supposed to be mixed with each other

II) Latter order melodies (generations n+) are created by mixing genesis melodies, they are unique and extraordinary among the pool of all melodies within the game, they generate more income (royalties), have a potential to be sold as a ringtone

Because melodies are created as NFTs, users instantly become the owners of the melodies they create and can trade their ownership.

Initial game entities are:

• $CLEF game token
• Melody consisting of 8 beats
• Chord
• Key
• Artist (music creator)
• Listener
• Record (melody release)
• Release chart/list
• Royalties as income for creators
• Likes as a measure of melody success

Sophisticating melodies

Because initial melodies consisting of chords solely are very simple, soon after the mvp mechanics is adopted by early players, additional music elements have to be added to advance melodies sounding.

Game elements to be added that help users create more sophisticated releases:

• Duration Notes or rhythmic patterns (e.g. 1,½, ¼, ⅛, 1/16). These notes can be minted and added with chords to the mixing interface. They will randomly playout notes of the chords in the corresponding values.
• New keys/scales. These would bring new collections of NFT-chords and will add new tones/moods to the music.
• Pitch. Initially game chords are pitched 4, new pitches will diversify melodies.
• Samples. These are jackpot mixing melodies that would add unique sounds to the game.

Versions 1&2

Version 1 of the game is the kick-off mechanics mainly consisting of the MVP and launches of additional game elements for sophisticating creators’ melodies. It deploys simple user mechanics and the main goal is to set the foundation by bringing gamification and NFTs to a music generating algorithm.

Version 2 is planned to update the game, adding listen-to-earn mechanics, advanced features for passionate creators (non-random melody creation) and connection with real/celebrity artists (e.g.through dropping jackpot samples created by famous musicians). This version is seen as a further development to the game not discussed in the current proposal.

Proposed game mechanics

1. The user buys the game token $CLEF.
2. Creator pays $CLEF to mint NFT-chords. Alternatively, chords could be purchased second-hand from NFT market (Puzzle Market).
3. Two chords are combined together in a mixing interface. Chords are randomly distributed along an 8-beat melody, one chord per beat, forming a melody. The melody is added to the creator's wallet as an NFT, signifying the creator's ownership of the melody.
4. Melody can be developed further through the mixing interface in iterations. By default, the melody would get burnt from the wallet, unless the user redeems the original by duplicating it to keep for later use.
5. Creators can “release” their melody as a chart-recogniseable record as long as the melody is unique. Thus, no identical melodies can be released to the chart as this will be considered plagiarism.
6. Users listen to melodies listed in the release chart and give likes to melodies (e.g. using governance mechanics).
7. Chart participant creators benefit from regular reward distributions in royalties, depending on the popularity (liking) of their melody.

Therefore, the game combines NFT collectibles, yield farming and governance mechanics to sustain game process providing incentives to users to create unique melodies that gain popularity in charts.