%% Image restored per Image Pickin' thread: https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1469048756097397000
%% Other threads:
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1446433346059974400
%% https://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/posts.php?discussion=1526509673073169600
%%
%% DO NOT start a new thread without a replacement suggestion.
%%
[[quoteright:256:[[VideoGame/EarthBound1994 https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1giantstep_9024.png]]]]
[[caption-width-right:256:After all of that [[FetchQuest work]], this song better be good...]]

->''Take a melody...\\
Simple as can be...\\
Give it some words and sweet harmony...\\
Raise your voices\\
All day long now\\
Love grows strong now\\
Sing a melody of love\\
Oh, love''
-->-- '''Eight Melodies''', ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings''

The Sound Stone is a specific type of MacGuffin which is an instrument, melody, music track, or part of a song which must be used or collected in order to achieve some purpose. Often a Sound Stone instrument must need another Sound Stone melody to work.

Very common in VideoGames, especially [=RPG=]s. Often a form of MagicMusic.

The TropeNamer is the Sound Stone, a plot-critical key item in ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' which collects and records eight melodies from around the world.

----
!!Examples:
[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Anime & Manga]]
* The Pink and Black Notes collected by My Melody and Kuromi respectively, in ''Anime/OnegaiMyMelody''. Their MacGuffin nature is most prominent in Season 2: having collected a complete octave supposedly grants the owner a wish, but the two ditzes always waste the wish in nonsensicals, so that StatusQuoIsGod.
* ''{{Anime/Pokemon 2000}}'' had a magical song that could calm the legendary birds, but will not work properly unless the [[PlotCoupon magic spheres]] are placed in the temple. At the end of the movie, the whole temple turns into a music thing, with the pillars lighting as the different notes are played (and it conveniently gets offscreen when the song strays from those eight notes). Slightly subverted though, in that the "song" was just a duplication of Lugia's cry, and thus would (probably) not have been necessary if the titular Pokemon hadn't been incapacitated.
** ''Anime/PokemonTheRiseOfDarkrai'' also had a music disc that must be placed at the tower to keep the two CosmicHorror-level Pokemon Dialga and Palkia from destroying the town of Alamos.
* Level Upper from ''Literature/ACertainMagicalIndex'''s spinoff, ''Manga/ACertainScientificRailgun''. The only real trial is finding out what it is ([[spoiler:a sound file that works using synthesia]]) and, after the protagonists do that, it serves no purpose anymore.
* ''Manga/ElfenLied'' has a music box that’s connected to both Kouta’s and [[spoiler:Lucy’s]] dark and troubled past. In the anime adaptation, it plays an instrumental version of the opening song.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Fan Works]]
* One of the components of the Nine-part Key in ''Fanfic/TheKeysStandAlone'' is an Instrument of Uncommon Matter (e.g., a horn made of cloud), which is to be played in the background while three good voices chant three stanzas of poetry. Getting an Instrument is a huge pain in the ass.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Films -- Live-Action]]
* ''Creator/AlfredHitchcock'''s ''Film/TheLadyVanishes'' features a secret message in the form of a tune.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Literature]]
* The second ''Literature/{{Dinotopia}}'' book, ''The World Beneath'', has a scene where one of the characters, Oriana, plays her dragon flue instrument to calm the tyrannosaurs and keep them from attacking her, Arthur Denison, Bix, and Lee Crabb.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Live-Action TV]]
* The first season of ''Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers'' had the Green Ranger's dagger flute, which he used to control the Dragonzord.
* ''Series/{{Psych}}'' had an episode with a computer program that needed a quartet to work.
* ''Series/BattlestarGalactica2003'' has "All Along the Watchtower" as its musical macguffin.
* In the ''Series/Merlin2008'' episode "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon", Arthur accidentally released his father's ghost into the living world. The only way to force Uther back into the world of the dead was for Arthur to blow an enchanted horn by him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Radio]]
* In the ''Radio/TheGoonShow'''s ''Whistling Spy Enigma'' the British spies in Hungary identify themselves by whistling the Hungarian Rhapsody.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Video Games]]
* ''VideoGame/EarthBound1994'' is the {{Trope Namer|s}}. Ness carried an object called the Sound Stone, which recorded eight melodies from a series of Sanctuaries around the world to allow him to channel the Earth's power. The preceding installment, ''VideoGame/EarthBoundBeginnings'', had an ocarina which Ninten used to play eight different melodies from memory.
* Most of ''Franchise/TheLegendOfZelda'' games have a musical instrument of some sort. [[MagicMusic Musical instruments are always a little bit magical in the Zelda universe]].
** You could collect different songs for your ocarina/flute in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOcarinaOfTime Ocarina of Time]]'' (obviously), ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaMajorasMask Majora's Mask]]'', and ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaLinksAwakening Link's Awakening]].''
** Other installments used different instruments in the same manner. ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker Wind Waker]]'' had a conductor's baton [[TitleDrop called the Wind Waker]]. [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Spirit Tracks]] had pan pipes. [[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaOracleGames Oracle of Ages]] had the Harp of Ages.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaI'' had a Recorder that could reveal secrets. ''VideoGame/ZeldaIITheAdventureOfLink'' had a magic flute that helps you unlock one dungeon. ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaALinkToThePast'' had its own Ocarina which could be used to summon a neato bird that significantly cut down on travel time across the map, but most of the dungeon-opening puzzles were handled by the elemental medallions.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTwilightPrincess'' had wolf calls which were automatically used in the areas they were necessary, and you could also make grass whistles to summon Epona (eventually you got a whistle item for this). The harp/lyre in ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword'' was also used automatically to progress the plot.
** ''VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks'' uses a pan flute with very simple musical tunes (from two to five notes) that are represented by colored spheres emanating from a Sound Stone, each color corresponding to a tube in the flute. Their use is much more situational that other games, even considering one song replaces the ''shovel''.
* ''VideoGame/PokemonRedAndBlue'' and ''VideoGame/PokemonGoldAndSilver'' have the Poké Flute, which is needed to [[BrokenBridge wake a sleeping Snorlax]] in order to pass. [[PlotCouponThatDoesSomething It can also be used to wake up your own Pokémon.]]
** Later games have other flutes as well. The White Flute lets you encounter more Pokémon, the Black Flute reduces Pokémon encounters, the Blue Flute works like the Poké Flute, the Yellow Flute snaps a Pokémon out of confusion, the Red Flute snaps them out of infatuation, and there was an Azure Flute to summon Arceus in ''VideoGame/PokemonDiamondAndPearl'' , but Game Freak never released the item. Then there's the move Grasswhistle, which puts an opponent to sleep.
** ''VideoGame/PokemonColosseum'' has the very rare Time Flutes. They have the ability to summon Celebi to have it completely purify a Shadow Pokémon. They are "one-use" items and only 3 of them may be obtained throughout the whole game
* ''Star Trek: The Next Generation — A Final Unity'': The "orchestrions".
* ''VideoGame/IllusionOfGaia'' has Will's flute, which can play a few plot-relevant songs over the course of the game to help advance the plot.
* ''VideoGame/QueenTheEye'' is about collecting these. Given that it's based on a band, that's hardly surprising.
* The ''[[VideoGame/ExaPico Ar tonelico]]'' series has Hymn Crystals. When one of these crystals is Downloaded into a Reyvateil, it allows her to sing the [[MagicMusic Hymmnos Extract]] song contained within.
* ''VideoGame/{{Solatorobo}}'' has the [[spoiler:Flute]] which is used to [[spoiler:call the Master of the Clouds]]. Though it's not shown or referenced, whatever Red is using to collect the [[DoubleUnlock notes to buy songs he's heard]] likely counts as well.
* ''VideoGame/HarvestMoon: Magical Melody'' is all about collecting music notes (via completing various game tasks). Every five notes can be transformed into a musical instrument, and collecting ten instruments in total (fifty notes) is required to revive the Harvest Goddess.
* ''VideoGame/KnightsOfTheOldRepublicIITheSithLords'' had a variant where the player has to duplicate a man's voice to access a computer system that he had voice-locked. One method is to run around with a sound recorder, gathering pieces of the code from various logs and transmissions; the other is to trick a protocol droid (which can mimic voices) into doing it for you.
* ''VideoGame/BlackAndWhite'': One {{Sidequest}} has the player reassemble a scattered CircleOfStandingStones that play notes when tapped. When the complete circle can play again, it creates a MiracleFood dispenser for the player's use.
* ''VideoGame/DivinityOriginalSinII'': The Seekers commandeer a SapientShip that refuses to acknowledge them, leaving the player characters to find a way to command it. It turns out to have a RestrainingBolt SlaveBrand that's controlled via a [[MindControlMusic song]], which is recorded in a book that's hidden in the ship.
* The ''VideoGame/DaymareTown'' platformer spinoff ''Daymare Cat'' has you collecting records, each of which contains one instrumental or vocal line from the Cat Jahnke song "Better". When they're all assembled, you've won.
[[/folder]]
----