Tutorial:Soft inversion

This tutorial page is a work in progress.
 
Please help expand and improve it. The talk page may contain suggestions.
This tutorial page is a stub.
 
You can help by expanding it. The talk page may contain suggestions.
Instructions: This article covers an advanced redstone circuit technique specific to Bedrock Edition.
This tutorial page needs cleanup to comply with the style guide.
 [discuss]
Please help improve this page. The talk page may contain suggestions.
This tutorial is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
 

Soft inversion is a mechanic of pistons and sticky pistons that creates a compact, tileable logical inversion, or NOT gate. When a piston is activated even by a weak (soft) power source it turns off any redstone torch attached to its block within a single Bedrock redstone tick (the piston activates on a C-tick and the torch turns off on a P-tick). This NOT gate behavior is the foundational building block for more complex circuitry, all other compact logic circuit designs are built from this core property of soft inversion. The mechanic works even if the piston is blocked and cannot extend, allowing for highly compact, tileable, and high-speed logic designs that are impossible to replicate in Java Edition.

Mechanics

The key distinction of Soft Inversion lies in the way a piston processes weak (soft) power compared to other opaque blocks.

Soft powering in Bedrock Edition

I
p
Basic Concept: Pistons (P) are "soft powered" from above. The input (I) controls a block that enables/disables this power source.

In Bedrock Edition, a block is considered weakly powered (soft powered) when:

  • Redstone dust runs past it, but is not configured to point directly into it.
  • Redstone dust is placed directly above it.
  • It is adjacent to a strongly-powered block.

For most opaque blocks (e.g., Stone, Wool):

  • A block receiving soft power will not turn off an attached redstone torch. A strong power source (e.g., a redstone repeater or redstone comparator facing the block) is required to turn off the attached torch.

For pistons (the soft inversion mechanism):

  • A piston receiving soft power will turn off an attached redstone torch.

Applications

Soft inversion is prized by technical Bedrock Edition players for enabling highly efficient circuit designs.

Tileability
Tileability

The primary advantage of soft inversion is its excellent tileability. Because the core mechanism often relies on vertical power transmission through blocks, multiple inverter units can be placed directly adjacent to each other (stacked vertically or side-by-side) without causing cross-talk. This allows for the construction of dense, modular logic arrays, such as for AND gate banks or memory cells, in a footprint that is impossible with traditional 1-wide, tileable torch inverters.

Item Sorter

Hopper item sorter using soft inversion 1-wide, tileable, silent
Utilizes Bedrock-exclusive soft inversion
overflow proof

Invicon Diamond.png: Inventory sprite for Diamond in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Diamond with description: Diamond41Invicon Stick.png: Inventory sprite for Stick in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Stick with description: StickInvicon Stick.png: Inventory sprite for Stick in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Stick with description: StickInvicon Stick.png: Inventory sprite for Stick in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Stick with description: StickInvicon Stick.png: Inventory sprite for Stick in Minecraft as shown in-game linking to Stick with description: Stick

The core sorting mechanism is controlled by a soft inverter (piston + redstone torch). When the comparator turns on, it powers the block, activating the piston and turning off the torch, which locks the hopper.

Advanced Circuit Design

  • Rapid Clocks and Pulse Limiters: Soft inverters can be integrated into clock circuits to create extremely rapid, stable pulsers without the risk of torch burnout associated with 1-tick torches.
  • Logic Paths: They enable the creation of complex logic (like XOR or XNOR) where the final output is dependent on an inverted signal.
  • Compact Memory Cells: The tileable nature allows for the design of very dense memory circuits, such as shift registers or ROM arrays.
  • Implicit Latching: Some soft inverter configurations have inherent latching properties, where the output state persists briefly after the input changes, useful for filtering short pulses.

The Redstone Inverter (NOT gate)
NOT gate
NOT gate

The piston + redstone torch combination serves as a fast and compact NOT gate (inverter), taking power from adjacent dust and outputting an inverted signal.

OR gate
A
B
OR gate
A
B
OR gate

NOR gate
A
B
NOR gate
A
B
NOR gate


AND gate
A
B
AND gate - can be built vertically or horizontally.


The one-wide tileable AND gate is constructed using soft inversion mechanics. It requires two inputs, each connected to a solid block with an attached redstone torch. These torches serve as inverted inputs. The two inverted signals (the torches) are positioned to soft-power a single central piston. An obsidian block is placed on the piston face. The gate functions as an AND gate because the piston is only unpowered (and the output torch is thus powered) when both inputs are ON, which simultaneously turns both input torches OFF. If either input is OFF, its corresponding torch is ON, soft-powering the piston and keeping the output OFF.

NAND gate
A
B
NAND gate

The one-wide tileable NAND gate is built by taking the output of the AND gate and inverting it with a final redstone torch. The initial structure is identical to the AND gate. Two inputs feed into two inverting redstone torches, which soft-power a central piston. An obsidian block is placed on the piston face. By attaching a final redstone torch to the output side of this obsidian block, the signal is inverted. The NAND gate outputs ON whenever at least one input is OFF, and outputs OFF only when both inputs are ON. This makes it the inverse of the AND gate.

XOR gate
A
B
XOR gate

XNOR gate
A
B
XNOR gate

Compact Memory (RS NOR Latch)

Soft Inversion allows for the creation of extremely compact, one-wide, tileable, and silent RS NOR Latches (1-bit memory cells). These latches are immune to the noise and signal strength issues of standard dropper-based latches.

  • This design requires an input pulse of at least 2 game ticks to prevent the circuit from entering a clocking state.
  • The use of pistons (as transparent blocks) in the structure enables a simple, interference-free global reset line to be wired across the top of multiple latches.

One-Tick Pulse Circuits (Monostable Circuit & Clocks)

Soft Inversion is the foundation for creating the fastest possible one-tick pulse limiters and one-tick clocks in Bedrock.

  • One-Tick Pulse Limiter: A piston/torch inverter is looped back to power itself, creating a momentary pulse (1 game tick) before the circuit snaps back to its stable state. This is highly compact, silent, and one-wide tileable.
Clock
I

Switchable one-tick clock

1-wide, tileable, silent
Can be toggled on and off via the input line (I)
  • One-Tick Clock: Two piston/torch inverters are connected in a loop, creating a self-sustaining oscillation that toggles every game tick (a 2-tick cycle). This is the fastest, silent, and one-wide tileable clock .

Design Principles and Examples

Core Design

A fundamental soft inverter design involves:

  1. A (sticky) piston facing upwards or sideways.
  2. A redstone block or other conductive block in front of the piston.
  3. A control line that directly powers the piston to make it retract.
  4. An indirect power source (e.g., redstone dust on a block above the piston) that would cause the piston to extend if it were directly powered.

When the control line is OFF, the indirect power extends the piston, pushing the redstone block to power the output. When the control line is ON, the piston is directly powered and retracts. If the timing is arranged so the indirect power is removed in the same tick, the piston retracts without ever extending, leaving the output OFF.


Limitations and Considerations

  • Version-Specific: This technique works reliably only in Minecraft: Bedrock Edition. Designs will not function in Minecraft: Java Edition.
  • Update Order Sensitivity: Performance can be highly dependent on update order and location. Circuits may require careful placement within a chunk.
  • Design Complexity: While the principle leads to compact circuits, designing reliable soft inversion circuits requires a deep understanding of Bedrock's redstone mechanics.
  • Difficulty of Debugging: Unexpected block updates or loading/unloading of chunks can sometimes disrupt finely-timed soft inversion circuits.

Videos


History

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.16.0This mechanic was first documented in Pocket Edition.[1]

See Also

References

  1. ↑ MCPE-17909 — resolved as "Won't fix"

Navigation

  • v
  • t
  • e
Redstone
  • v
  • t
  • e
Tutorials
ItemSprite redstone-dust.png: Sprite image for redstone-dust in Minecraft Mechanisms
Basics
Components
Decorational
Transportation
Storage
PVP
Logic
Miscellaneous
This article is issued from Minecraft Wiki. The text is available under CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.