• Me.

    My sister showed up at one Christmas with an Ocarina app on her phone. It was really cool; I’d never played Zelda nor understood the relationship, so I thought it was a real instrument and spent some time in a Zelda rabbit hole.

    Still haven’t played the game, and I still wish there was a real instrument that sounds as cool as that app. The real difference between that and a recorder is the reverb; a real ocarina would have to have some difference sound-making mechanism than a whistle; there’d have to be some vibrating component, like in a harmonica.

    • @[email protected]OP
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      311 month ago

      I still wish there was a real instrument that sounds as cool as that app

      a real instrument

      Like… An ocarina?

    • Miles O'Brien
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      251 month ago

      so I thought it was a real instrument

      … It is a real instrument. Like over 5,000 years old.

      • Neither. I honestly found mainly references to Zelda when I went looking, and thought the IRL ones were made based on the game.

        The app must have simulated the game instrument, which had some sort of sustaining reverb. However, that wikipedia article is fantastic! There are multi-chambered ocarinas, which would support chords, which recorders don’t; that’s cool!

        I honestly didn’t know there was a real version first!

        • @johnthebeboptist
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          51 month ago

          I mean, you can definitely make recorders with multiple chambers. Check out native American flutes - lots of which are essentially recorders. Just search for double flute or drone flute on YouTube.

        • @[email protected]
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          11 month ago

          There are many reproductions of the ocarina from the game but there are also like a billion different styles.

          The Zelda ones are definitely the most popular though.