Level Up Your Rhythm Game: How to Enjoy Custom Songs and Charts in Project SEKAI

If you’ve spent any time tapping away to the rhythm in Project SEKAI: Colorful Stage!, you’ve probably asked yourself at some point: “Can I play my own custom songs or fanmade charts here?”

Because of copyright regulations and licensing agreements, rhythm games like Project SEKAI have historically kept a tight grip on their official tracklists, leaving players longing for custom audio tracks and personalized charts. Fortunately, the landscape has evolved, opening up official ways to build and share custom layouts, alongside community-driven workarounds for those looking to push the envelope.

Whether you want to design your own rhythm patterns or dive into the world of fanmade layouts, here is your complete guide to custom songs and charts in Project SEKAI.

Method 1: The Official Way — Using the In-Game “Score Maker”

If you play on the Japanese server, the official solution for custom charting arrived with the Score Maker (譜面メーカー) feature. While it doesn’t let you import totally external, copyrighted MP3s from outside the game due to legal restrictions, it allows you to create, play, and share custom difficulty charts and rhythm layouts using the massive library of songs already available in the game.

What You Can Do with Score Maker:

• Custom Note Placement: Design your own tap, flick, hold/slide, and trace note layouts over existing official tracks (including limited-time songs).
• Share and Play: Publish your unique charts so other players can download and test their reflex skills against your patterns.
• Mirrored Editing: Use clipboard tools to quickly copy, paste, and horizontally mirror chart sections to build balanced, fun difficulties.

Key Limitations to Keep in Mind:

• No External Audio Uploads: You cannot import random downloaded songs from your device for legal/copyright reasons.
• Mode Restrictions: Custom charts created through the tool cannot be used in Multi-Live rooms, and they won’t award standard high scores, combo rewards, or full event points.
• Quality Guidelines: To prevent spam, charts must meet a minimum combo threshold (usually a minimum of 100 notes) and cannot feature broken gaps, glitch exploits, or inappropriate shapes.

Method 2: The Community Way — Third-Party Simulators and Custom Servers

If your goal is to play completely custom music tracks that aren’t natively in the game (such as indie Vocaloid tracks, obscure covers, or meme songs), the mainstream official client won’t support it natively. Historically, the global rhythm game community has solved this using external tools and third-party custom servers (such as specialized custom clients and web-based simulators like Sonolus).