Myst

The requirement for this achievement is to solve the piano puzzle located within the rocket ship on your first try. Definitely a great idea to save your game before attempting this.

The solution to the puzzle is given in the blue Selenitic Age journal in the main Myst library. Flip through the pages until you find a drawing of a piano with a combination of keys written out on it.

If you're musically challenged like me, simply count the numbers of keys the note is from the leftmost piano key. The number of keys corresponds to the times you need to move that slider up from the bottom. For example, using the classic Myst solution, the first note is the eighth piano key from the left, so move the slider up seven times (since all the sliders start at position one.)

Playing on classic, move each slider up the following number of times: 7, 19, 22,12, 5.

You can use the exact same method for determining the solution on randomized mode, just check the book in the library for the combination.

Author's commentary: the controller makes this puzzle way less frustrating than using ye olde mouse back in the olden days.

UPDATE: For those of you playing Myst for the first time (first of all, congrats,) the "piano" puzzle is the mechanism within the rocket ship located opposite the actual piano, the one with five sliders you can drag up or down. The piano in the rocket is there as a reference. However, using the advice above, one should never even have to look at the piano in order to solve the puzzle.

I found the other two guides way too confusing, thinking I needed to actually play the piano itself but that’s not the case.

Tozi Tiberius’s guide does make a good point of saving before attempting this so as not to void the achievement and his slider numbers did help me so credit him for that.

When entering the rocket, turn left and you’ll see 5 yellow sliders. Going from left to right, push up this many times before moving onto the next slider: 7, 19, 22, 12, 5. Then push up the handle on the right, achievement will then unlock.

This guide assumes you are playing in the classic 1993 mode. The answer will be slightly different if not but the steps should be the same.

One of the books in the library with a crystal on the front cover contains a picture of a piano with 5 keys highlighted and numbered. Once you have the rocket ship open (See the "Journeyman Electrician" achievement) you can play these keys on a pian inside to work out what note they are. You can play the piano as much as you like it won't affect the achievement. After this, I would recommend saving. On the machine opposite the piano change the sliders to match these notes from 1-5. Then pull the lever to input your answer. You must input the correct answer first or else reload your save.

To save any trouble the notes you need to enter from left to right are

This achievement can be easily done in either 1993 mode or in randomized mode. The key is to ensure that you have “Display Gameplay Context Subtitles” activated in the display settings. While under normal circumstances you would need to use your ability to determine pitch, the context subtitles will actually tell you the note that you play on the available keyboard and the note you select for the code.

Assuming that you already have the power turned on to the rocket (ie have correctly gotten the number of volts required to open the door which is related to another achievement) you will need to go to the selenitic age book on the bookshelf (as a picture of crystals on the cover) and grab a screen grab of the page with a keyboard picture and notes with numbers.

With this in hand, go to the rocket with the keyboard and play the notes in numerical order ensuring you take note of the notes that come up (ie D#1, F0, G#2, etc.). At this stage, to remove the possibility of losing progress, perform a quick manual save at this point. With the five notes recorded, go to the code and enter each of them using the sliding scale. Once complete, throw the lever and it should open the case in front of you to reveal the book.

Hopefully this helps!

I was reading through all the listed solutions and honestly they all made me very confused. The achievement isn't as hard as you think it is. Just make sure you have the "Display Gameplay Context Subtitles" option set to on in your Display Options.

So heres what you do. And this is mainly for a randomized playthrough.

First, check the book in the library, which has the crystal cover. Flip through the pages (right stick to choose the page and A to flip) until you see the keyboard sequence. Write it down for yourself in an easy to understand fashion. In my case I did as follows, with the numbers being counted started from the first white key at the left of the keyboard/bottom of the picture:

6 Black
13 White
6 White
9 White
10 White

So write down your sequence in a similar manner. Now solve the voltage puzzle and get into the ship. Turn right and look at the piano. Play each key you have written down in order, and the context subtitles will appear on screen. Again, using my randomized example:

F#1
E2
E1
A1
B1

Go to the slider behind you, and save beforehand in case you mess up. Move each slider up and down, and the context subtitles will show you which note you're on. So just set the sliders one at a time, from left to right, exactly as you got them from the keyboard. Then flip the switch. That's it! Congratulations.

Why are all the other guides making this more difficult than it needs to be?

If you look at the sliders you will see marks on either side of them. The marks on the left correspond to the white keys and the marks on the right are the black keys. The bottom of the slider corresponds to the left of the keyboard.

Just move the slider to the required key.