Revision 16

Music plays several roles in Starsand Island: it provides ambient atmosphere for your farm via records and the Record Player, is a practical animal care tool through the Ukulele and Music Box, and features in the Beach Festival's Bonfire Party as a playable rhythm game. The music system ties into Sylvain's shop (Silvan Notes), the Ranching profession's animal happiness mechanics, and seasonal festival events.

Silvan Notes and the Record Player

Silvan Notes is Sylvain's music shop on the south side of Starsand Town, near Lex Woodworks. The shop is open from 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM and sells musical instruments, vinyl records, and the Record Player Blueprint.

The Record Player is a craftable furniture item. Once built, place it on your farm or inside your home, then interact with it to swap between any vinyl records you own. Each record plays a different ambient music track. This is a low-cost quality-of-life purchase that lets you customize the mood of your homestead. Buy the blueprint early from Sylvain; at 540 coins, it pays for itself in atmosphere.

The Ukulele

The Ukulele is a craftable instrument unlocked at Intermediate Rancher certification. It has a practical gameplay function rather than being purely decorative: playing the Ukulele near animals boosts the mood of all animals in the enclosure at once, making it one of the most efficient tools for maintaining animal happiness alongside regular brushing and feeding.

The Ukulele is crafted at a Worktable and is categorized as an animal care tool. Walk into an animal enclosure, equip the Ukulele, and play it. Every animal within range gets a happiness boost. This is faster than brushing each animal individually, especially in enclosures with many animals.

Animal happiness directly affects product quality. Higher happiness means better eggs, milk, wool, and other outputs. See the animals article for details on how the happiness system works.

Music Box

The Music Box is an automated version of the Ukulele, unlocked at Senior Rancher certification. Unlike the Ukulele (which requires the player to stand in the enclosure and play it manually), the Music Box is a placeable device that provides a passive happiness boost to all animals in its area. Place one near each of your most-used enclosures and it works continuously without player input.

The tradeoff is that the Music Box is unlocked much later in the Ranching progression than the Ukulele. Most players will rely on the Ukulele for animal happiness during the mid-game and transition to Music Boxes once they reach Senior Rancher.

Beach Festival Bonfire Party

The most interactive music experience in the game is the Bonfire Party at the end of the annual Beach Festival. The Beach Festival runs from Summer 25 to Summer 27 on the in-game calendar, with preparation events on the 25th and 26th. The Bonfire Party begins at 7:00 PM on Summer 27.

Stella and Sylvain perform on stage at the bonfire. The player can join the performance by walking onto the stage, where they pick up a guitar and participate in a rhythm game minigame. Notes scroll on screen, and the player must hit the correct keys in time with the music.

Controls

The rhythm game uses a dual-input control scheme: both arrow keys and WASD keys simultaneously. This can be challenging because you need to track inputs from two separate key groups at the same time. Not all visual beats have corresponding keystrokes, so watch for the actual prompts rather than trying to hit every beat you hear.

Community feedback on the controls has been mixed. Some players find the dual-input scheme awkward, particularly on keyboard. The developers may simplify it in future updates based on player feedback. That said, the minigame is completable with practice; it has a real difficulty curve but is not punishingly hard.

Important Notes

• Once you join the Bonfire Party, the other Beach Festival events (including the Beach Market) become inaccessible. Finish your shopping and other festival activities before heading to the bonfire stage.

• The festival ends at midnight (12:00 AM) after the performance.

• The Bonfire Party is the final event of the Beach Festival each year.

Stella's Evening Performances

Stella performs music at Aurelis's restaurant (Aureleaf Kitchen) in the evenings. This is a scripted daily event that reflects her background as a former pop idol. The performances are ambient: they add life to the restaurant scene but do not require any player interaction. If you are building a relationship with Stella, visiting during her performances is a good time to chat with her.

Dance Animations

The game includes traditional dance animations tied to the ethnic Chinese outfit system. When wearing one of the 10 ethnic Chinese-inspired outfits, your character can perform matching traditional dance moves. This works both in solo play and in the upcoming multiplayer mode (planned for June 2026). See character customization for details on the outfit system.

Tips

• Buy the Record Player Blueprint (540 coins) from Silvan Notes early. It is cheap and lets you set the mood on your farm right away.

• The Ukulele is worth crafting as soon as you hit Intermediate Rancher. Playing it once in an enclosure boosts every animal at the same time, which is much faster than brushing them one by one.

• Place Music Boxes near your biggest enclosures first. The passive happiness boost matters most where you have the most animals producing goods.

• Finish all your Beach Festival shopping before joining the Bonfire Party. Once you step on stage, the other festival activities close for the year.

• During the rhythm game, focus on the visual prompts rather than the music beat. Not every beat has a keystroke, and the dual-input scheme can be disorienting at first.

• Combine the Ukulele with regular feeding and brushing for maximum animal happiness. The happiness boost from music stacks with other care actions.