Cutoff

Cutoff is a rhythm game where the band is real: every song is composed the moment you press play, and every note you hit is sounded by one of PlasticSynth's own instruments — a 303 acid line, the PS-10 keyboard, marimba, FM bells, a plucked koto. Play it well and the music opens up. Miss, and it closes in on you.

How to play

• Hit the notes as they reach the line. Four lanes: D F J K on a keyboard (the arrow keys work too), or tap the lanes on a phone.
• Hold the long ones until their tail runs out.
• Chain them. Ten in a row doubles your score, up to four times at thirty. One miss and the count starts again.
• Charge DRIVE. Clear every note of a glowing gold phrase and press Space for double points, a pumping mix and the filter thrown wide open.

Why is it called Cutoff?

On a synthesizer, the cutoff is the knob that decides how bright a sound is — turn it down and the top end closes off until only a muffled thump is left. In this game the whole band plays through one of those filters, and your timing turns the knob. A clean run keeps it at eighteen kilohertz; every miss drags it down, the music goes murky, the tape starts to warble. Let it reach the bottom and the tape stops. The meter at the top right is the real thing, in hertz.

A new song every time

There is no track list. Each tape is written on the spot by the same engine behind the generator — lo-fi, house, techno, ambient, chiptune or funk, in a key and tempo of its own — with a lead line written to be played: a hook that comes back so your hands can learn it, a build that climbs, a drop, a breakdown of long notes. Quick play rolls a fresh one every time. The daily tape is the same song for everyone, all day, changing at midnight UTC — the one to compare scores on. Every tape has a code, so a friend can play the exact song you just played.

Night drive: the endless tape

One tape that doesn't end. It is written in laps of twenty-four bars — a verse, a build, a drop, a breakdown and a second drop, each lap with its own chords and its own hook — and every lap is harder than the last: the first is cut like Easy, the fourth like Expert, and the highway speeds up each time round. There is no finish line to aim for, only how far you got before the filter closed. Your furthest lap is kept.

Scores, levels and what opens up

Every run earns experience, and levels open more of the collection — the mallets at level 2, FM at 3, the koto at 4, the stepper lead at 5 — plus new screens for the console. Bests, your daily streak and your settings stay in this browser, with no account and no public scoreboard; the site's own anonymous counter only notes that a run was played and how it ended (see privacy).

Does it work on a phone?

Yes — the screen fills the phone while you play and the four lanes become touch zones. Bluetooth headphones add a delay that no browser can hide, so if the notes feel late, open Settings → Calibrate and tap along to the clicks: the game will judge you against your own ears from then on. On any device, a practice switch stops the filter from closing all the way, and effects can be turned down (the game follows your system's reduced-motion setting by default).

After the game

Every instrument in Cutoff is one you can play properly: the 303, the PS-10 keyboard, the mallets, the FM synth, the koto and the stepper. Or put a whole band together in the Studio.