How to Download Custom Songs for Clone Hero: Step-by-Step Guide

Rocking Beyond the Track: The Ultimate Guide to Downloading Custom Songs in Clone Hero

If you have ever spent hours perfecting “Through the Fire and Flames” on Guitar Hero or Rock Band, you know the thrill of hitting that final 100% note streak. But while those classic games shaped a generation of rhythm gamers, their official tracklists eventually ran out. Enter Clone Hero, the free, community-driven rhythm game for PC, Mac, and Linux that has completely revitalized the plastic guitar subculture.

The true magic of Clone Hero lies in its community. By allowing players to chart and upload their own music, the game offers a virtually infinite library of tracks. Whether you want to play modern math rock, video game soundtracks, or hyper-difficult community memes, here is everything you need to know about downloading and installing custom songs in Clone Hero.

Step 1: Finding Your Music (Where to Download)

The Clone Hero community has built incredible, centralized databases to help you find high-quality tracks. Before you start downloading random files from the internet, visit these trusted hubs:

Chorus (The Official Search Engine): Chorus is the gold standard for finding individual songs. You can search by song title, artist, charter, or even specific instrument availabilities (like 6-button guitar or drums).

The Clone Hero Spreadsheet: Maintained by the community, this Google Spreadsheet contains massive archives of official game soundtracks. If you want the entire tracklist from Guitar Hero III, Rock Band 2, or various community-created “setlists” (like the famous Car达成 or Circuit Breaker series), this is your one-stop shop.

Custom Songs Central (CSC): This group organizes monthly releases and themed setlists featuring professional-quality charts complete with full band support and custom background videos.

Step 2: Extracting the Files

When you download a song or a setlist, it will usually arrive as a compressed file—typically a .zip, .rar, or .7z archive.

To use them in the game, you need to extract these folders. Right-click the downloaded file and use a program like WinRAR or 7-Zip to extract the contents. Inside, you should see a dedicated folder for the song containing a few essential files: song.ogg or song.mp3 (the audio), notes.chart or notes.mid (the actual gameplay data), and a song.ini file (the metadata text).

Step 3: Moving Songs to the Clone Hero Directory

Now that your song folders are unzipped, you need to place them where the game can read them. Locate your Clone Hero installation folder.

Open the directory and look for a folder named Songs. (If it doesn’t exist, you can simply create a new folder and name it “Songs” exactly).

Drag and drop your extracted song folders directly into this directory. You can organize them into subfolders (