Ocatune - dynamic practice drone for ocarina
Note that you must wear headphones for the dynamic drone to work correctly.
Ocatune is a dynamic practice drone. It listens to the note you are currently playing on the ocarina and plays the closest equal-tempered note for you as a reference pitch. You can then easily hear intonation errors by listening for the difference between the two notes.
If you want to open this page directly, it can be accessed at the following URL in any web browser:
https://pureocarinas.com/ocatune-dynamic-drone
How to use Ocatune
When you click 'start' in the tool above, your browser will ask you for permission to use the microphone. Once you allow it, Ocatune will begin detecting the notes you are playing and play the closest in-tune note for you as a reference.
By observing the difference between this note and the note you're playing, you can easily hear if you're playing in tune due to the interaction of the two tones:
- When your pitch and the reference match exactly, you will hear a clean sound.
- If they don't match, you'll hear a 'warbling' sound. The speed of this warbling will increase the more out of tune the note is.
The warbling effect produced by two slightly differing tones can be observed with the tool below. Notice how the sound changes when you drag the pitch slider left or right:
Ocatune is best suited for slow practice due to the latency between your input and the reference pitch playback. Give these things a try:
- Play a scale, aiming to get every note in tune.
- Play a song slowly and use Ocatune to check your intonation.
- Practice intervals, listening for a consistent, clean sound.
Usage notes
Visualisations
Ocatune offers several options to visualise the tuning of the note you are playing in relation to the reference pitch. The tool is primarily intended to guide you by ear, but you may find the visualisations helpful to understand what you're hearing at first.
Audio latency
The time between when you start playing a note and Ocatune beginning to play the reference pitch is called 'round-trip audio latency'. It varies from device to device, typically being lower on desktops and laptops than on mobile devices, based on my experience.
Finding a device with lower latency is desirable, as higher latency limits your playing speed.
Microphone audio quality
Note that pitch detection using the built-in microphone in a laptop or other device with a fan may be unreliable due to noise. If you experience any difficulty, using an external microphone will help.
Other tools
You may also find these tools useful: