iPhone Ocarina played by one million users

Millions play iPhone as musical instrument and share their recordings online

Somewhere in Japan, the one-millionth user of the Ocarina app for the iPhone has just helped the company that developed it, Smule, reach a very important milestone.



Smule (short for Sonic Mule), composed of a staff of developers notable for their considerable achievements in various music fields, is a Menlo Park-based company designing consistently innovative iPhone applications wedded with easy musical creation and sharing.

Besides Ocarina, one of Apple's all-time top 20 iPhone apps, the company has released a whole array of applications. Sonic Vox lets users manipulate their voices with the swipe of a finger. Sonic Boom simulates firecrackers for explosions that can be shared worldwide with other users.

But today, all eyes were on Ocarina as Dr. Ge Wang, Smule’s co-founder and CTO and an assistant professor at Stanford University, appeared at WWDC to announce that their popular Ocarina app now has one million users and counting.

The simple though sophisticated app allows one to play the iPhone as if it were actually an ocarina. By holding down the holes (shown on the screen as little blue holes) to change pitch, by tilting the whole phone to change vibrato rate and depth, and by blowing into the microphone, one can compose tunes on the app quickly and easily.

Advanced users will be happy to hear that you can also switch between diatonic, minor, and harmonic scales. And video game fans will be very excited by the “Zeldarian” mode:

The capability to record and share your tunes online with other users around the world, combined with an online forum for sharing and requesting scores, makes this app more impressive than any normal ocarina. According to Smule, over 40 million recordings have been shared already.

Ocarina is available now at the App Store for $0.99.

image source: technabob