This Ocarina Plays Itself... Summons Epona?

I'm not sure if anyone knew about ocarinas prior to 1998 and there is no possible way to find out. But the release of The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time certainly introduced an entire generation of us to the instrument. The ocarina is a key gameplay element in that installment of the franchise and its melodies are quite memorable. But if you ever got your hands on a real ocarina, then you know they aren't easy to play well. That's why 3DSage built this contraption to that can play an ocarina on its own.

3DSage has several ocarinas and chose one for this project that looks exactly like Link's iconic instrument. Like every other ocarina, this is a wind instrument and it requires airflow to produce sound. It has several open holes, which the player can close to alter the note. In order to automate that process, 3DSage needed a way for the machine to blow air and to cover or uncover the holes on demand.

Before he could begin that development, 3DSage had to come up with a method for interfacing with the ocarina without damaging it. It has a very organic shape that would be almost impossible to measure using traditional tools, so 3DSage turned to 3D-scanning. Using a Creality Ferret 3D scanner, he managed to capture a 3D model that was accurate enough for this purpose. That gave him a reference to use when doing the CAD work for the playing mechanisms.

To blow air, 3DSage designed and 3D-printed a simple fan blower driven by a DC motor. That has a basic controller with a potentiometer to adjust the blower speed. A small solenoid-actuated shield blocks the ocarina's mouthpiece when it isn't playing a note.

Solenoids also actuate plugs for the finger holes. A Microchip ATtiny84 microcontroller tells those when to open or close through transistors. To tidy up the wiring, 3DSage used a mini desktop CNC mill to fabricate a custom PCB. He also built a keypad that lets him switch notes with the press of a button. That includes an OLED screen that shows the current note.

3DSage can play the ocarina manually with that keypad, or he can code sequences of notes for fully automated music. In the latter scenario, he seems to have struggled with proper timing. But a MIDI library would solve that problem and let him play any song under the direction of a computer and MIDI file. If he gets the timing perfect, he may even be able to summon Epona.