The versatility and all-around awesomeness of the iPhone continues to amaze me on a near-daily basis. Last night while sitting in my living room, I was playing one of the all-time best video games around: Pac-Man. I then downloaded (another) weather app for the iPhone: The Weather Channel’s iPhone app, which is the best one yet since it includes current conditions, a 36-hour weather report, hourly updates, weather maps, and even local video reports of the weather. Too cool.
But I digress.
The coolest app I’ve seen in a while and which I bought earlier this week is Ocarina, billed as “the first true musical instrument created for the iPhone.” Further, “Ocarina is sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, making it even more versatile than the original.”
But wait, there’s more. What makes the Ocarina so crazy cool in this digitally networked world is that not only can I play music I find in the Forum of Musical Scores, but I can switch to a view of the globe that randomly selects someone else playing his or her Ocarina on the iPhone right now. I can bookmark my favorite players if I want to listen to them again in the future. It’s pretty incredible when you stop to think about it. TechCrunch also likes it.
Here’s this application that runs on my cell phone that makes music when I blow into the speaker. And I can listen in real time to others around the world doing the same thing. Too cool.All that and there’s even a Zelda mode, so all of us Zelda fans can make music like that from the classic game, which transports me back to 1986 when my friends and I would set up a tent in my backyard, run a long extension cord from inside my house, and carry my TV and Nintendo into the tent, where we’d stay up all night playing Zelda.Here’s the Smule team playing Stairway to Heaven on their iPhones via Ocarina:
I can’t do that… yet. But I have been able to make Joy to the World sound somewhat decent. I played the sax for most of my life growing up, so maybe it’s the pseudo-musician in me (even though I may still be tone deaf), but I’m having a great time rockin’ out with my virtual musical instrument.
