Odisei Play - Learn Sax the fun way!

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Inspiration

Imagine picking up a saxophone for the first time. Most people are told: "First, you’ll spend weeks on scales, then months on theory, then maybe you’ll play a song." We thought: what if it could be the opposite? What if, like Guitar Hero or Duolingo, you could start playing and having fun from day one??

At Odisei Music, we first reinvented the instrument itself with the Travel Sax, the world’s smallest electronic saxophone, and the Travel Clarinet. But we knew instruments alone weren’t enough.

Music is a language, and should be learned the way we learn our mother tongue: speaking first, writing later. Today’s system flips that upside down, burying beginners in endless theory before the joy of playing. Odisei Play was created to reverse this, to make the first experience of music about expression, not restriction.

What it does

Odisei Play is a gamified learning app that makes saxophone practice feel like play. It guides absolute beginners and advanced players alike through four pillars:

• Learn: interactive courses mixing video, playing exercises & songs, all with real-time feedback.
• Play: a growing catalog of 100+ songs, with for each different levels, step-by-step tutorials, instant scoring and powerful practicing tools (slow down tempo, wait for you to play the right note, etc.)
• Practice: reimagine your practice with our RoutineLAB, auto-generating complete routines from scratch or a growing catalog of expert and community exercises, always rooted in the power of harmonies. Not sure where to start? Talk to your AI coach get meaningful guidance and even custom exercises built just for you!
• My Odisei: your personal hub to set goals (small and big), track streaks and milestones, dive into rich analytics, and connect with your instruments. It shows you not just what you played, but how far you’ve come and where to go next.

One unifying element: Odisei Play feels like a game. You earn streaks, unlock awards, and progress through levels that keep you motivated day after day.

You can play using:

• Odisei Travel Instruments like the Travel Sax or Travel Clarinet
• Any electronic wind instrument compatible with MIDI
• Your acoustic saxophone using our Sax2MIDI engine, which transforms your device mic into pitch-accurate feedback. This breakthrough makes acoustic practice as interactive as digital, opening new possibilities for every Sax player in the world!

How we built it

Odisei Play started as a one-person tech team, wearing every hat: development, design, and content. We chose React Native + Expo so that one codebase could be run everywhere: iOS, Android, Mac, and Web. This was key to match the portability of our instruments and build it fast.

Music apps are unforgiving: if UI and audio aren’t perfectly in sync, it breaks the experience. That's why we built a custom low-latency game engine, optimized for <5ms delay at 60 FPS. On top of that, we created a unique playing interface showing fingering in real-time alongside sheet music, so whether you can read music sheet or not: you can play.

We also involved users early: some buttons don’t unlock features yet, but instead open a notify me modal. This allowed us to validate demand, keep excitement high, and build only what mattered most.

Accomplishments that we’re proud of

• Absolute beginners can now play their first song in minutes, not weeks or months.
• Our Sax2MIDI breakthrough brings real-time pitch accuracy feedback to acoustic saxophones, something no other app offers and opening the door to revolutionize all the wind-instruments playing experience.
• The AI coach ties everything together, creating personalized routines and guiding players like a personal teacher available 24/7 (although not replacing real-life teachers, just complementing them :)

Most of all, we proved that music education doesn’t have to start with barriers. It can start with joy and unleash everyone's creativity.

Challenges we ran into

Every step forward came with obstacles. At first, it felt impossible to push React Native far enough to handle professional-grade audio with a real-time game engine. Yet we refused to compromise on latency. We had to get <5ms delay or the rhythm would fall apart.

Luckily, the amazing React Native & Expo community showed up to the challenge and built some amazing open sources libraries, unlocking some of our biggest barriers.

As a tiny team, we also faced the tension between ambition and focus. With limited resources, we learned to prioritize, sometimes leaving features as “dream buttons” that sparked user imagination while we built the essentials.

And then there was the reality check of app store submissions: long nights deciphering cryptic errors & feedback message, often alone, until we made it through and could share our struggles publicly to help the next creators. 🙏

These challenges shaped Odisei Play into what it is today: a product forged through love for music, community, and a deep belief that playing an instrument should be joyful from the very first note.

What’s next for Odisei Play? 👀

Wind instruments are still waiting for their digital revolution. Pianos, guitars, and drums already have their electric companions and gamified apps. It’s time for saxophones, clarinets, and trumpets to join the 21st century.

We’ve only started scratching the surface of what’s possible with Odisei Play. Our next priorities are:

• Adding more courses: teaching players to use every note and key while understanding the musical context, so they learn to play in harmony rather than in isolation. And cover more advanced topics like Jazz Improvisations, etc.
• Ensuring a delightful UIX on every platform: after nailing the Playing Interface, we want the rest of the app to feel just as native and joyful on every platform. From micro-interaction gratification to polished UX patterns, we aim to guide the player seamlessly forward. Exciting designs are already in the pipeline. 🚀
• Supercharging Practice: making the AI coach more knowledgeable about music theory and each user’s unique journey. Adding new exercises like rhythm training, ear training, and mini-games. And opening the practice ecosystem to the whole community. 💫
• Expanding to all wind instruments: starting with Clarinet via the Travel Clarinet, then Trumpet, and eventually the entire family of wind instruments. We began with 6,000+ Travel Sax players, and now we’re growing to serve the 40 billion wind instrument players worldwide, just as many as piano players!

Our mission is simple: remove the friction, amplify the joy, and let everyone speak the language of music.

Built With

• expo-router
• expo.io
• netlify
• react-native
• react-native-audio-api
• react-native-reanimated
• react-native-skia
• revenuecat
• supabase