Ocarina vs GeoShred
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Ocarina
Transform your device into a virtual flute and create music with intuitive touch and breath controls. Explore a global community of players, share your performances, and access a vast library of popular song scores.
- Virtual ocarina instrument
- Breath and touch controls
- Global player community
- Performance sharing
- Online songbook
- Customizable keys and modes
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One of Apple's All-Time Top 20 Apps, Smule’s Ocarina turns your iPhone into an ancient flute. With no musical training required, you'll blow away your friends and family with your new talent. "If everyone had the Ocarina app there would be no more wars" - David Pogue "One of the most original entertainment programs to emerge from the App Store" - Wall Street Journal "Ocarina is one of the most magical programs I've ever seen" - NY Times ___________________________ Sensitive to your breath, touch and movements, Ocarina is more versatile than an actual flute: • Blow air into your mic to create music • Touch combinations of holes to play notes • Tilt to change vibrato rate and depth • Advanced users can change keys and modes, including C-Major and Zeldarian mode With Ocarina, you can also hear people learning to play around the world: • Listen in on Ocarina players all over the world just by tapping the globe icon • Rate your favorite performances • Name your Ocarina so others can listen to you play • Share your favorite performances with family and friends via e-mail • Record and archive your favorite performances on your own “My Ocarina” web page ___________________________ Ocarina fans from all over the world have posted hundreds of free easy–to-read scores for popular songs. Just go to http://ocarina.smule.com and click on 'Songbook'. Top Songs: Theme from Zelda Amazing Grace Theme from Harry Potter My Heart Will Go On Mario Brothers Theme Zelda's Lullaby Poker Face ___________________________ Watch some great (and not so great) Ocarina performances on YouTube: www.youtube.com/smuleage Follow us on Facebook: www.facebook.com/smule Follow us on Twitter: www.twitter.com/smule Try other Smule apps: iPad: Magic Fiddle, Magic Piano & Glee Karaoke iPhone/iPod: I Am T-Pain, Glee Karaoke, Leaf Trombone, Sonic Lighter & Zephyr
GeoShred
This app is a fluidly expressive musical instrument for multi-touch devices. It offers a unique performance surface with advanced pitch rounding and physical modeling of various instruments. Expand your sonic palette with a wide range of purchasable instrument add-ons.
- Fluidly expressive playing surface
- Physically modeled guitar and effects
- Extensive in-app instrument purchases
- AUv3 plugin support
- MIDI/MPE IN/OUT support
- Support for world scales and temperaments
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GeoShred Pro Version 7 With in-app purchases for GeoSWAM and Naada instruments on devices running iOS 13 or later. Imagine a new kind of musical instrument, an instrument that lets performers fluidly express multiple independent voices. An instrument with continuous pitch control that also helps players precisely land on the right note in any temperament. GeoShred Pro is an award-winning, deeply expressive musical instrument for multi-touch devices. Its innovative performance surface features “almost magic” pitch-rounding algorithms and is coupled to physically modeled instruments and effects. GeoShred Pro also supports AUv3, MIDI In/Out, MPE, and 3D Touch. It combines Jordan Rudess’ groundbreaking performance concepts with powerful physically modeled guitar and effects technology based on the research of Dr. Julius O. Smith III of Stanford/CCRMA. GeoShred’s expressive control surface can also be used to play external synthesizers. 300,000 artists in over 120 countries perform with GeoShred, with a strong global community that includes many musicians in India. Awards include: • 2nd Place Winner, 2022/2025 MIDI Innovation Award for Software • Gold Medal Winner, 2019 Denny Award • Winner, 2019 Guthman New Musical Instrument Award • Winner, 2017 Electronic Musician Editor’s Choice Award GeoShred Pro Version 7 Features • Send/Connect support so GeoShred for iOS/iPadOS can control GeoShred Studio for macOS • A fluid, expressive playing surface with finger vibrato, slide, and intelligent pitch rounding • Built-in physically modeled guitar • Physically modeled effects including Distortion, Wah, EQ, VCF, Flanger, Phaser, Chorus, Tremolo, Reverb, Sympathetic Resonator, Echo Looper, Multi-Tap Echo, Amp and Cabinet Modeling, Modeled Feedback for Guitar, and VCF effects • In-app purchases for 22 Naada instruments: Bansuri, Bass, Bass Clarinet, Carnatic Violin, Cello, Dizi, Duduk, Erhu, Gaohu, Guan, Nadaswaram, Pan Flute, Pipa, Rudra Veena, Sarangi, Saraswati Veena, Sarod, Shehnai, Sitar, Suona, Viola, and Zhonghu • In-app purchases for 11 GeoSWAM instruments: GeoViolin, GeoFlute, GeoTenorSax, GeoCello, GeoClarinet, GeoOboe, GeoTrumpet, GeoBassTrombone, GeoBassFlute, GeoViola, and GeoPizzBass • AUv3 plug-in support with parameter automation • iCloud preset synchronization • MIDI/MPE In/Out support • MIDI configuration presets • Customizable control surface mapping to physical MIDI controls • Diatonic keyboard mode, where every key is in the scale • Support for world scales and temperaments, including Indian ragas, Arabic scales, and Balinese scales • 3D Touch support on compatible iPhones • Backing tracks • Built-in arpeggiator • Easy preset sharing via email or iCloud The GeoSWAM and Naada instruments can be performed from the GeoShred keyboard, MPE controllers, conventional MIDI controllers, and wind controllers. Praise for the GeoShred Family of Apps “GeoShred is brilliant—it’s a real instrument.” — Eddie Jobson “A fantastic new invention which is going to revolutionize the way music is played, expressed and learned! ‘GeoShred’ is one of the foremost best musical inventions I’ve had the pleasure to experience in recent years. Definitely 5 stars out of 5! GIGANTASTIVISSIMO…..R…A…Z!!!!!” — Patrick Moraz “That’s just nuts. You’re the best guitarist without a guitar of all time.” — Joe Satriani Our Commitment We are dedicated to providing the highest level of musical instrument experience for our customers worldwide. If you enjoy GeoShred, we would greatly appreciate your positive review on the App Store. If you have any questions, we would love to hear from you at: support@moforte.com Minimum Requirements iOS 13 or later is required for AUv3, iCloud, and GeoSWAM and Naada instruments. * Note: Due to App Store limitations, previously purchased individual instrument in-app purchases cannot be applied toward the purchase of collection in-app purchases.
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Ocarina at Free against GeoShred's $24.99. Ocarina also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 27) and iOS requirement (8.0 vs 15.0). GeoShred's advantage is rating (4.8 vs 3.6) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On ads, monetization model and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Ocarina is free to download; GeoShred costs $24.99 up front. GeoShred sells 25 one-off in-app purchases. Ocarina asks for nothing beyond the download.
GeoShred holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.6. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: GeoShred has 1.4K ratings behind it against 138, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 78% of Ocarina's written reviews are positive against 91% of GeoShred's.
Ocarina ships an update every 2 months, GeoShred fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 23, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Ocarina | GeoShred |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free — better | $24.99 |
| Rating | 3.6 (138 ratings) | 4.8 (1.4K ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 78.4% of reviews | 90.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 138 | 1.4K — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Free with in-app purchases | Free with in-app purchases |
| Devices | iPhone, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod — better |
| Requires iOS | 8.0 — better | 15.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 6 MB | 837 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 9+ |
| Developer | Smule | Wizdom Music LLC |
Customer experience
Ocarina
GeoShred
User reviews
Ocarina
From 138 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 👍 Great for Zelda fans
- 👍 Easy to use and learn
- 👍 Impressive global community
- 👍 Versatile and customizable
- 👍 Excellent value for money
Room to improve
- 🐛 Microphone/touch sensitivity issues
- 🔋 Potential damage to device microphone
- 🔋 Low volume on newer devices
- 🐛 Bugs and crashes
- 🔍 Lack of advanced features
GeoShred
From 1.4K App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎸 Expressive and responsive playing surface
- 🎨 Vast array of high-quality instrument sounds
- 🎶 Excellent for creating music with great expressiveness
- 🎹 Intuitive and easy to use for both beginners and professionals
- 🎚️ Highly customizable with deep editing capabilities
Room to improve
- 💰 Expensive for some users, especially with additional in-app purchases
- 🤔 Steep learning curve for some users
- 🔌 Occasional issues with stability and crashes
- 🔍 Difficult to navigate menus and settings for some users
- 🔇 Some users desire more dry/unprocessed instrument sounds
Bugs and requests
Ocarina
Reported bugs
5 issues- Microphone not working properly
- Buttons not registering properly
- Frequent crashes on newer devices
- Compatibility issues with iPhone 4/4S
- Random notes playing unexpectedly
Requested features
5 requests- Add more instrument sounds
- Implement recording and sharing features
- Provide in-app song sheets and tutorials
- Add more holes/notes for better playability
- Improve global community features
GeoShred
Reported bugs
2 issues- Inconsistent performance and note retention issues when used with other apps
- Occasional crashes and freezes, especially after updates
Requested features
5 requests- More classic acoustic and electric guitar sounds
- Improved scale and mode selection interface
- Ability to save and load custom presets
- Support for external MIDI controllers and keyboards
- Recording and looping capabilities within the app
In-app purchases
Ocarina
No in-app purchases
GeoShred
- GeoBassTrombone$10.00
- Naada Duduk$11.00
- Naada Carnatic Violin$14.99
Show 22 moreShow fewer
- Naada Sitar$14.99
- GeoClarinet$14.99
- GeoOboe$14.99
- GeoCello$14.99
- GeoViolin$14.99
- GeoTenorSax$14.99
- GeoFlute$14.99
- GeoTrumpet$14.99
- GeoPizzBass$14.99
- Naada Bansuri$14.99
- GeoBassFlute$14.99
- GeoViola$14.99
- Naada Collection III$50.00
- GeoSWAM Collection II$59.99
- GeoSWAM Collection III & IV$73.00
- GeoSWAM Collection Classic$74.99
- Naada Collection 1$74.99
- Naada Collecton IV$89.99
- GeoSWAM Collection I & II$119.99
- Naada Collection I & II$119.99
- Naada Collection I & II & III & IV$173.99
- Naada Collection I & II & III$179.99









