Tech Trumpet: Global Ocarina Jam
Social networking meets live performance in this week’s Tech Trumpet. Ocarina is a virtual musical instrument for the iPhone that has become incredibly popular. Simply by blowing into the iPhone’s microphone and pressing combinations of four buttons on the screen, you can create notes from a variety of musical scales.
What’s also great is that you can listen to what other people are playing on the instrument in real time, represented visually as sound waves emanating from a globe.
I decided to jam along to a number of ocarina players this morning on bass (synth bass of course). What follows is a genuine, unedited, live performance (recorded at about 11am GMT).
As you’ll hear, several people are trying to play Amazing Grace (in different keys, mind, just to keep me on my toes), and one does a pretty good rendition of Joy to the World. One player even sees how long he can hold a note for, allowing me a nice little bass solo.
Great fun, and thanks to anyone who was playing this morning. We must all do it again sometime.
Just to clarify, the flutey type sounds are what Ocarina users are generating, while the bass line is what I’m playing.
Previous Tech Trumpets:
6th November: The Noise
30th October: Synth in the Pond
23rd October: Mr Do! Mix
16th October: iPhone Bloom
9th October: The Cosmovox Mixes 1 & 2
2nd October: Old ’80s Computers Rickrolled
25th September: Mad Skype Mix
