Ocarina Update – Now Allows Recording of Audio

Available In: App Store

Price: $0.99

There are quite a few cool new things going on over at Ocarina.com as well as with the application itself. For those of you who are not familiar with Ocarina, it is a musical instrument that uses the microphone to detect breath and then uses the iPhone’s touch screen to play different notes (similar to a flute or recorder). Check out THIS POST for more info.

In the last day, Ocarina was updated to version 1.2 adding a very cool, and much awaited, feature…the ability to record your music! Below are the specs we received from Smule and my how-to on how to use the new features.

Update Includes:
• Users can record personal libraries of their music
• Smule will host your personal libraries http://ocarina.smule.com/, allowing users to link to their own music from their favorite pages
• Users can share their recordings with non-Ocarina users and even non-iPhone users over email
• Just in time for the holidays, users can now record their favorite holiday songs and send one-of-a-kind musical greetings to friends and family
• New default “Staggered” finger-holes resolves the dreaded “Multi-touch” fingering bug! For those intrepid “Square” fingering layout users, you can still select “Square” finger-holes from the preferences pane.

Once you have updated Ocarina via the AppStore on your iPhone…you can open the application and go into the Settings (gear icon on the lower menu bar). You will now see the option for the new Staggered layout or the Square layout. You will also see the option to “record and share your melodies.” To record your melodies, you will need to select the Manual option. But, before you record anything, you will want to set-up an account.

To do so, select the Account Settings option in the upper right corner and create an account. Once you have sent the request email, you will receive an email in your inbox that has an activation link (it takes a few minutes to get the activation email). When you select the link, you will be able to set-up your username (Handle) and password. Once you have that set-up you can go back into Ocarina and the Account Setting and it will automatically log you in. If not, just enter your Handle and password.

Once your account is set-up, and you have selected Manual, you can go back into the main play screen. You will notice that it has added a menu bar to the top of your screen. To record your melody, tap the record button…this will add a blinking red dot at the bottom of your screen indicating that it is recording. You can then begin to pay. Once you are finished just tap Stop on the upper menu bar. You can then choose to archive the melody or to send it via an email. Archiving the melody will upload it to the Ocarina website in which you can then sign-in and see/hear your recording. You can also give the melody a title, enter the artist of the melody and select a genre for the melody. You can also download the audio file as an AAC file. If you choose to email the melody, it will send an email (a very pretty email) with a link to the melody on Ocarina’s website where they can then listen/download the file. If you receive the email on your iPhone, you can select the link and then select the Download AAC File option and it will play right on your iPhone. See screenshots below.

There are also a few cool new things on Ocarina’s website…Smule.com. You can download a PDF of Holiday melodies which include the a score on how to play each song including the correct finger positions, new note instructions, note practice guide and music theory information. It is very detailed! The Holiday songs include; Good King Wenceslas, Jingle Bells, Jolly Old St. Nicholas, We Wish You a Merry Christmas, Up on the Housetop, Joy to the World and Deck the Halls.

Another cool thing going on is they are having a contest right now. It is a video contest in which the top ten videos will each win $1,000. Below is a video about the contest and how to enter. You can also visit – ocarina.smule.com/contest But, I would suggest watching the video!

Last but not least, the introductory price of $0.99 ends December 31st. So, if you are still looking to purchase this application, you will want to do it quick before the price goes up.

Screenshots: