This is by far one of the most fun apps I played on with it's listening to other players around the world and playing good pieces of music, but when I found the account settings and figured I'd sign up to change my location, I couldn't sign up in the app. Furthermore, when I tried signing up at the main website, I was blocked by an "object object" excuse. Am I doing something wrong?
I was so excited to see that this app was back. For years it seems we had lost it and I’m so so excited. This is the coolest app. I love that you can actually use your phone like a horn and blow in it and make beautiful music. Years ago, when we first discovered it, before it left the store for a long, long time, we had a Christmas talent show at home, and my young son played music on his phone with his mouth like a horn!!! It was absolutely beautiful and amazed everybody. I love love love this app and I hope it is here to stay!!!
I’ve been using this app since 2009 or 2010 and it has brought my life so much joy. It’s like always having a musical instrument in your pocket. I love to pull it out and play songs for my friends. I use the Ionian and Dorian modes to play everything from Somewhere Over the Rainbow to Hava Nagila. Truly the best party trick. If you have the patience to learn the instrument there’s no way you won’t love this app.
It works but I’m giving you a warning now, I legitimately broke my built in mic on my iPad 6 by using this and now no one can hear me when I voice chat with them unless they have their volume maxed out with no background noise and me yelling in the mic. The app works as it should but don’t over do it or else you won’t be able to use it.
What happened to this app?? I used to play this constantly many years ago and then forgot about it until just now. But as I’m trying to go back online to find all of the sheet music to start playing again it’s nowhere to be found. The website doesn’t even exist for the ocarina anymore. What gives?? Why take an entire website down?? If you aren’t going to keep the website then how do you expect people to learn to play songs. This used to be a great app but now I’m just disappointed.
I’d rate higher but I wish there was an alternative to the microphone. My phone doesn’t properly pick up the action, so the playing is uneven, although I appreciate the variance in breath translating to a variance in sound. A touch-only option would definitely benefit this app. Another problem was the voting system on the globe. I couldn’t tell if the votes were actually going through. Otherwise this app is fun to play with.
I wish we could have more option towrds how many holes, even if max holes is 7, that would be great. Anyhow I still VERY MUCH enjoy this and when I forgot my ocarina I can still play this with my phone, it is a very wonderful app and hope to gain more popularity.
Does as it says. What's more is that it takes it to other users who also wish to share their performance to the world. This app was very innovative with multiple touch input and a microphone back then. More apps should follow this kind of ideas.
I’ve had this since it’s first release. I uploaded hundreds of songs to my profile but now it’s all gone. All the music I’ve made is now lost in time. Very sad to see it gone. I still love and play this app continually, but as a musician to see all my work disappear with no one to ever hear my previous work saddens me.
Thank you for making it free!! I've been using Ocarina 2 for the past 3-4 years and without any updates, I was very limited on what I was able to do. Now that Ocarina is free I won't have to use the Ocarina 2 that was discontinued anymore!
Hey, I love this app a lot. I’m a HUGE Zelda fan, and this app gives that little extra immersion. But I’m trying to play Megalovania, and without two more holes at least, it won’t sound good at all. So plz, plz, PLZ add more holes to the ocarina. Other than that, Great App!
I would love if the app had more than a four hole ocarina. I have a twelve hole myself (yeah I’m that nerd) and in my opinion it’s easier to play certain songs on an ocarina with more holes.
At least make a minor update to this app like having different flute sounds and a Legend of Zelda ocarina flute as well as backgrounds since it’s a little dull. If not can you make Ocarina 2? You can promote the idea on other apps you update regularly or on your yt.
It’s weird because I have an iPad and lm pretty sure the only way to play is not blowing into the speaker from a distance 😡 I actually have to put my mouth on it to work😡 witch is disgusting!😡
Its pretty cool except for my TOY ocarina is easier to work than this i have to blow the back of my phone so i cant see what im playing and there should be more than four notes
You cannot do anything. It's rlly boring since there is one ocarina and no songbooks. Also, there is only one person in the WORLD who is even playing when I get on, so it gets boring 🚽🚽🚽🗑🗑🗑
I am not an educated music player... But I can play this instrument!
I was just on the Ocarina users forums, reading about a "playability problem" in regard to notes not always playing as instructed ("holes" opening and closing unpredictably in certain conditions). In fact, the program creators were there also commenting on this issue. Here is what i have found out for myself: Ocarina of course drains battery power rather aggressively, and seems to consequently NEED peak power available for accuracy in note rendering. So, I have found out that keeping the phone powered via its charge cable (to outlet or USB) does stabilize operation completely. No more "holes" opening and closing willy nilly. In fact, seems that as long as battery power stays full, things work well on battery power only... Problem: it does not work well for long! So, soon I am back to charger (or USB cable) again. Perhaps it is just a coincidence with my iPhone (iPhone2g - Dec. 07). Perhaps better way for the Ocarina creators to control this situation? Otherwise, great app and beautiful sound; I live on an Indian Reservation and of course Ocarina sounds like... A Native American Flute! - Roger T
There are a few minor issue, but this is the best app out there
This application is ridiculously fun to play around with. You can either play the Ocarina or you can opt to listen in on others who are playing around the world. It would be nice if the global browsing actually had the option to choose which player you'd like to listen to, or even just the ability to cycle through the players within your area. The biggest issue with the app is touch response for the finger holes. It can get a little frustrating and annoying when the iPhone doesn't register your finger-presses or ignores a press that it has previously accepted. Hopefully these two issues will be resolved. If so, this will be a legendary application by which all other music applications will be measured. **Update** After submitting a debug email to the developers, I received a quick response covering the multitouch button response issue. I was informed that the problem with the touchscreen response is an Apple-side firmware issue that should be corrected with an upcoming firmware update. I'm hoping for the best because I love this app despite the frustrations. Still, currently it cannot serve as a practically reliable instrument until a fix is applied. **Update Pt.2** I've adjusted my score from 4stars to 5stars in support of the Smule team in light of the fact that the biggest issue I've had with this app could be the fault of Apple rather than the dev team.
I must admit that I didn't know what I was getting into when I purchased this application. I thought it would just be a cool toy, like the Sonic Lighter (which I don't own, but considering this app I will probably buy it). The Lighter just looks pretty. I thought I would blow into the Ocarina, and it would sound pretty. I would be mildly entertained for a few minutes and then probably never open the application again. Boy was I wrong. I've played with this application more in the past four days than the entirety of all of my other entertainment-based apps combined. What I didn't realize was that the Ocarina is an ACTUAL instrument. Cheapest one I've ever seen, might I add. It's fun to play, and fun to listen to others play. The online community is very active with musically-talented people. I'm not one of them, but I'm picking up on a few songs. Sheets have been made for so many different songs, from the Pink Panther theme to Mad World by Gary Jules, We Wish You a Merry Christmas to I Kissed a Girl. Playing this instrument is very fun, and very, very addictive. Hours of play, most certainly worth the money.
I download many applications; I'm a bit of an app junkie. But really, this is by far my favorite. It's easily the most creative and innovative I've seen - almost futuristic! The instrument sounds great, is completely portable, and above all is just extremely enjoyable to play! The world view is the icing on the cake... seeing the twirling column of notes spiral upwards as a stranger in a distant country trills out Imagine, Somewhere Over the Rainbow, or Amazing Grace almost brings tears to my eyes. The huge selection of sheet music on the website makes this very user-friendly and easy to grasp. There are a few little things that could enhance it a bit, such as the ability to 'favorite' players and have a list of your favorites showing the ones currently playing so you can listen to them, or perhaps being able to enter a country to hear from, or possibly to tap on the note column in world view and be told the location (more precisely) of the player. I'm sure some new perfecting tweaks will show up in future updates. But whether or not they do, this is a fantastic app in all respects!
Magnificent! While the numerous modes and root notes give this application the ability to create great melodies, I gave four stars because I want to be able to choose other wind instruments (i.e., clarinet, oboe, saxaphone, etc.). Even more, imagine what other orchestral instruments would do to improve the enjoyment of this already wonderful application on a global scale. What would a brass, string, or percussion instrument sound like when played on this fantastic application? Also, adding the ability to create our own instruments with oscilators (i.e., sine wave, squre wave, sawtooth wave, etc.) and then an option for adding effects (i.e., flange, sustain, wa-wa by tilting the phone, or even pitch bending) would make this application more enjoyable and valuable. I agree with others that more fingering options (i.e., more holes) would improve the musicality of this near perfect application. I'm glad I bought it and I would have paid more if the options were more readily available. Thank you for creating a great instrument. Just a thought, JWSTigre
It took all of five minutes with this app to realize that the visual breath indicator , looks like ripples on a pond, doesn't display no matter how hard you blow on iPhone 4s. You can change the color of the breath but it won't display while blowing. Logic would say that if it worked on other iPhones than there is nothing wrong with this app. Therefor the 4s must have some sort of noise canceling feature on the mic. To eliminate background noises such as wind. So the only fix would be to adjust the sensitivity of the mic. To my knowledge this can't be done. This to me sounds like a hardware problem so no software update would ever fix this unless the type of mic is an adjustable kind. I've no idea if it is. Good news is your new 4s will give you clearer sounding calls. Bad news is this app will probably always suffer on it. Hope for the future: an iPhone update that will allow you to turn off noise cancelation, just like a tv that can toggle on and off digital noise reduction. Hope this helps point the way to new and possibly overlooked trouble shooting points. I love The Legend of Zelda and have wanted this app for years so I'm giving it a 3 out of 5 anyway.
Update: The only real gripe I have now is that Apple moved the microphone to the left side of the iPhone 4 and changed the sensitivity of the microphone. Nothing wrong with the app though. Maybe it would be cool to take advantage of the iOS4 multitasking so I can listen to the globe while doing other things. Still a great app. Go Smule! Such a simple yet powerful little instrument in my pocket! From now on I Will never be able to say I'm bored. I can play along with songs on the radio and use it to tune my guitar or as a pitch pipe when I need to find a note and don't have a piano handy. The fact that Smule has free sheet music for this instrument available on their website is also a really cool feature. Plus it's cool to hear other people around the world. I do wish I could choose different generas to listen to or there was a way to weed out the performances that are obviously just messing around. But that would require a lot more than this app set out to accomplish. Well done!
I have four pages full of apps on my iPhone and this is my favorite. I am a professional musician, producer and engineer and I can say that this instrument has real MUSICALITY. I own a couple other iPhone instruments and while they can have cool sounds or effects or features, I have found no other instruments that are actually musical (meaning that the sounds you make on it could be used in a real song, recording, performance, etc.) Ocarina is also just plain fun, and it's fun for anyone--kids and adults alike. It's so easy to load it up and start making cool sounds. Being able to listen to others around the world is extremely cool, almost magical. You get a 3d globe interface (multitouch zoomable) where you can see other Ocarina players. There are 2 features I'd like to see in this app: 1) Ability to choose a specific person/place in the world to listen to (right now it just randomly switches around) and 2) Ability to record your performance.
This is an incredibly innovative way of using the hardware features of the iPhone, and it's totally great for impressing friends who don't have iPhones. ( I wonder, though, why it shouldn't be just as impressive to whip out the recorder you had in elementary school music class and start playing that.) I really like the idea of listening to other people's Ocarina music around the world, and I like seeing which part of the globe the music is coming from. Unfortunately, most of the music seems to be just meandering series of notes with no melodic or harmonic structure, which is maybe cool if you're Philip Glass but not so cool if you're just some random person using Ocarina. I know they have "sheet music" that is kind of like tablature for Ocarina, which is probably nice for people who don't read music. It would be cool to have a dynamic Rock Band-like instruction, too.
I've purchased a boatload of apps on the App Store (80+), but this is the first time I've felt compelled to write a review. This is an outstanding piece of software that represents the efforts of a group of people thinking way outside the box. I'm musically inclined (classical piano and guitar), so I'm enjoying the app very much (plus the scores on the Smule site are a nice touch). Every other person that has seen/tried the app on my iPhone has also been blown away by the implementation of the ocarina plus the worldwide view. The app needs some touch up work. Sometimes a note will get "stuck" (meaning it thinks my finger is still pressing a hole when it is definitely not). Also, as others have pointed out, the app needs a recording function that will allow the music to be transfered off the phone. Lastly, a "favorite musicians" feature for the worldwide view would also be nice. Well worth the $0.99. Great job, Smule!
This Application I bought without any awareness of what it actually was, I just saw that it made sounds and music, it was a very cheap price and looked amazing. So I bought it and found it to be a 12,000 year old instrument origianting in Ancient South America. It has more capacity and is worth a lot more than any 300 dollar Ocarina and you can make the most beautiful folk songs you could imagine. It works as a genuine instrument completely to your own liking and sound. It is stunning, fun, you can name the ocarina, have many modes to use, and notes. It is an unbelievable price worth more than 99 cents! It could have many more options, but really it is still better than any Traditional Ocarina. If yoyu have never played or used an instrument and want to you must get this! It is worth it and you will never get bored. Practice makes perfect and it is not as easy as it looks.
Don't let it simplicity fool you, this app. is one of the best app in the App Store. It's now on my top list of the app on my iPhone that I actually use. I have all those pianis, guitarist, pocket guitar, digidrum but I'd give it up to Ocarina.. It looks confusing at first but you can learn with in a day if you already have music backgroud. For those who don't have , i can imagine learning it within a week or so. The website also has a score generator that you can actually record the notes of your favorite songs or you can play other people bandscores. Another cool thing is that you can hear music from all over the world and actually know where it comes from. There's also a feature that people who like your song can give you a feedback which you can track by going to the information window. With only $0.99, nothing can go wrong.
Plays great! Records like a glitchy chipmunk randomly running over piano keys
I have loved this app for ages. It's a shame that the ocarina plays great now (something that used to be a problem) but now the recording aspect is completely glitchy on my iPhone 4 (32gb). Not only does the digitizer fail to catch most of the notes I play, even when I play slowly, but the rendered recording on their website is soft to the point of inaudible. So I can't share tunes anymore using this app. The shame is it seems you can't share songs with Ocarina 2, either. Perhaps Smule will be phasing out the "My Ocarina" aspect of their website soon. At any rate, this app still works great if you are looking for a 4-hole ocarina app for your iPhone. Although Songbird Ocarina has more instruments (and tilt and slide note bending), the 4-hole, staggered layout of Ocarina is superior and less cramped–therefore less prone to touch errors. (Although, with Ocarina 2 available now, you may be better off purchasing that.)
This is a great app, especially for so cheap! It's a great value. I only have a few minor complaints. It asks me every time I open the app if I want to l let it use my current location. It would be great if you could set this once and have the option of changing it in settings. Also, I find it mildly difficult to hold while still seeing the buttons. I realize it's not necessary to press exactly on the button, but I like to look at the screen. Finally, it is a bit hard to learn; there's a lot of different button combinations and the sounds aren't always logical in my mind. That's probably how a regular ocarina works but I don't actually know. However, you don't need to memorize what buttons make what sounds to have fun with this app. It's entertaining and great to mess around with. It sounds great and the only problems I have are minor.
I have to say, I love this app! Me, my sister, my dad, and my mom all have iPhones and we all have this app. We love to play together, and we even are going to put together a show on Christmas for the family. It's great how many different songs there are on the web site. I just have one question though. Are the people on the Global Community playing in real time? I ask this because I found myself on it and the songs that I heard were from a couple if days earlier. Anyway I have one suggestion I would like to see in the next update. I would like to be able to pick a song from the web site, directly from my iPhone and have it so that the keys light up according to which note I should play next. That way I don't need to be around my computer, to play the sheet music. Thanks!
One of Apple's All-Time Top 20 Apps, Smule’s Ocarina turns your iPhone into an ancient flute. With no musical training required, you'll blow away your friends and family with your new talent. "If everyone had the Ocarina app there would be no more wars" - David Pogue "One of the most original entertainment programs to emerge from the App Store" - Wall Street Journal "Ocarina is one of the most magical programs I've ever seen" - NY Times ___________________________ Sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, Ocarina is more versatile than an actual flute: • Blow air into your mic to create music • Touch combinations of holes to play notes • Tilt to change vibrato rate and depth • Advanced users can change keys and modes, including C-Major and Zeldarian mode With Ocarina, you can also hear people learning to play around the world: • Listen in on Ocarina players all over the world just by tapping the globe icon • Rate your favorite performances • Name your Ocarina so others can listen to you play • Share your favorite performances with family and friends via e-mail • Record and archive your favorite performances on your own “My Ocarina” web page ___________________________ Ocarina fans from all over the world have posted hundreds of free easy–to-read scores for popular songs. Just go to http://ocarina.smule.com and click on 'Songbook'. Top Songs: Theme from Zelda Amazing Grace Theme from Harry Potter My Heart Will Go On Mario Brothers Theme Zelda's Lullaby Poker Face ___________________________ Watch some great (and not so great) Ocarina performances on YouTube: www.youtube.com/smuleage Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/smule Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/smule Try other Smule apps: iPad: Magic Fiddle, Magic Piano & Glee Karaoke iPhone/iPod: I Am T-Pain, Glee Karaoke, Leaf Trombone, Sonic Lighter & Zephyr
