Name: the Craic
Rating: 4.4 (10 reviews)

User Reviews for the Craic

4.4 out of 5

10 Ratings

7 years ago, MostlyFromMaine

Nice app

This is a nice app for my practice and for jams. I keep all my tunes in it. Very easy to copy and paste abc files into it. Would be nice if it visually highlited the notes as it plays them, but otherwise I love it.

3 years ago, Hawks-Eye!

The Craic

Been using this for the last few years as I’ve gone down the rabbit hole of Old Time fiddle music. So many tunes to learn and so little time... Love the ability to do online searches and download straight from the program. Love having an easily portable memory bank cause I sure can’t remember all these tunes. Love being able to alter notes, add bowings, fingerings, ornamentations. Love being able to save a PDF or print it out to share with friends. My only issue is when I’m editing first and second endings, I often do something that makes the program freeze up. But it’s not the end of the world. I just close out the program and boot it up again.

5 years ago, reviewer98103

Well designed and well organized

I have been using this ABC player, version 2.1, for many months, and strongly recommend it. It is simple and easy to use. It is easy to add tunes to your library, either from the web, or by cut-and-paste from email, or manually by keyboard. The smart search makes it easy to find tunes in your library or on the web. The search will find partial matches as you type, and will match on any words in any title tag (T in ABC notation). I have many tunes with two title tags, where the second tag is the subtitle, and it is very handy to search across all titles and subtitles. When playing a tune, the app will use the tempo specified in the ABC notation (the Q tag), which means you don’t need to fuss with the slider to adjust the tempo. I love that feature! If the tune doesn’t have a tempo specified, you can always use the slider. (One nice improvement would be to have a bigger slider, and I understand that is coming in another release. ) It is easy to email a tune to someone, open a tune as a PDF, open it as ABC notation for editing, or print it. Overall, it’s a great app. Larry Hohm, Seattle

5 years ago, D_Whistle

Great App got better

I started with the old app and loved that I could take my new tunes with me on my phone to learn and practice anywhere. The new features made it that much easier. Now I can hear the tunes “at speed” (as I’d eventually play them) with the note stress feature. I’m also using it on my iPad to notate as well. Bravo Macaulay!

3 years ago, mountainflutist

Great except one thing

I love this app for learning tunes and keeping up my tune library. I only wish there was a way to sync with iCloud so that when I add a tune on my iPad, it is automatically in my iPhone’s version of the app the next time I open it too instead of manually adding it there also.

6 years ago, Groovetown

Simple, Functional, and Effective

This is a simple, functional, and effective app for finding, learning, and editing traditional tunes in abc notation.

6 years ago, Pixelpshr

It’s back! Excellent!

Wil made a quick recovery and the app is back to it’s full glory. Now to poke around and look for any new goodies!

4 years ago, istuart45

No bagpipe option

I just bought it for bagpipes and it’s not in the instrument selection.

11 years ago, Jim bagsh

Craic is in a class all its own

Wow, this app has been needed ever since the iPad was introduced. Not only can you view (and even play) songs written in ABC Notation, but you can create new ones right on the iPad. Now I can carry my music on the iPad, and even edit songs while away from my home computer. Like all new apps, the developer is quickly adding as many features as he can get to. And is very responsive to questions and comments. This app should breath new life into ABC Notation, opening it up to a new generation of users, both young and old alike. And, please, if you need other features, don't complain - send in suggestions. That's how to make this an even greater app.

10 years ago, Astro sister

Fantastic app for music practice

This app is probably intended mostly for players of Irish traditional music, which I am, but I imagine any musician playing tunes from any tradition would benefit. It comes stocked with a pretty good Irish tune collection but it is easy to find music online in ABC format and download directly to the app. Or you can create a tune in ABC yourself and have it played through the app. From there you can set the app to play the tune and to repeat at the speed of your choice and practice away. Hopefully future versions will allow you to pick the instrument playing the tune. That is the only thing missing as far as I can tell!

10 years ago, RaeHolmen

Great Helper for Learning New Tunes

The Craic's newest version (late April, 2014) let's you input and hear harmonies as well as a single melody line. A basic template appears when you want to add a new tune, and there are simple ways to import whole libraries from the web, of songs already entered using the text-only ABC format. You can speed up or slow down a tune As It Is Playing, which is really useful. I'd never take a music class again without The Craic as my companion. -R Holmen, Berkeley, CA

11 years ago, pstolley

Craic is just what I was looking for!

I love this app. It's straight forward, and allows for easy access to hundreds of tunes on my ipad. no need to lug around a bunch of printed music. I came across a minor bug and Wil quickly helped me with a work around. I look forward to the having the ability to separate music by colllections - which he tells me is coming. I haven't triied his other app, SideBand, yet - but I plan on it.

7 years ago, Mary (engineering prof)

Excellent support!

I just purchased this yesterday and ran into a problem associated with using the Smart Keyboard on an iPad Pro — I contacted the support and they were great. They were able to figure out what was going on quickly and easily. My first attempts at entering my own songs using ABC notation are going great now. This app does what it says it does and it does it well.

11 years ago, brainfreezey711

VERY PLEASED

This app is well worth your money. The interface is well designed and very user friendly. It is so easy to add new songs to your library. You can do it right in the app as long as you have Internet. Just try not to get addicted. Also prompt help from the creator if you experience problems. Five stars is not enough in my opinion!

9 years ago, Rightgood1112

Impressed

My first not free app, and I'm right thrilled. The search for sheet music function is wonderful. I play the tin whistle and this app has been a blessing. My only suggestions would be a bit wider range for the speed mainly a bit slower, and a slight pause before the tune starts playing. Maybe even a drone note before. But as is it is still a great app. Bravo

10 years ago, Matthew Hardy

Love it... Can you?

A phenomenal resource. I'm going with five stars because my ideas and recommendations are simply that...personal preference. Maybe a choice of two or three GM instruments for playback? Or at least a light, bar, or dot that follows the notes as they are being played by the app. Great work.

11 years ago, dhbailey

The Craic Is Wonderful!!!

The Craic is fantastic for displaying the music for any of the hundreds of thousands of tunes that dedicated musicians have put into ABC notation format. I am still discovering all that tha Craic can do, but it has leaped to the top of my music reading apps, alongside forScore (which is great for reading PDF music files), as one of the best apps for musicians!

8 years ago, Spodddy

Super!

Nice job! Clean and easy to use interface. Importing tunes from abcnotation and thesession websites works flawlessly --- and was EASY! The music display is easy to read and easy on the eyes. Thanks to the developer! Best of luck with this and any new projects! Clearly you have the user in mind with this app.

8 years ago, PMacanudo

Terrific App

I use this app daily to learn Irish tunes on banjo. It's easy to find classic collections to import (e.g. O'Neill's, Carolan's) as well as single tunes out of the many thousands that are available. One suggestion: Would be nice if it was simpler to add tunes to a set list. Otherwise, I love it! Thanks for making such a great app.

10 years ago, BristolBaySenior

A grand app

This is the app I have been looking for for fiddle tunes. However it has a problem that makes it unusable for me. Sometimes I try to download a tune and the app gets stuck in a loop. Everything stops. You can't go forward go back. Could you please add a provision to stop or interrupt downloads that are not working?

7 years ago, Fonzee23

Not worth it.

purchased this yesterday and removed it from my tablet. App freezes up. Looked up sheet music, and nearly every tune I am working on is unable to be down loaded. Wanted to use this app to aid in learning bagpipe songs. I couldn't even use the app as it froze up after a couple minutes. I have the latest updates on my device.

11 years ago, old 999

Need newer OS

I downloaded for my iPod Touch 2nd Generation. Too bad. I need a later version of the OS, which is not available. 5-star rating because I WISH I could use it.

9 years ago, Bbvfiddler

Great app!

I love this app! It does everything I want it to do, and does it quickly and reliably. Never crashes! The perfect tool for practicing session tunes.

9 years ago, Marc in Maine

Fine collection of tunes, notes.

Worth buying for aspiring Irish flute players. Don't get stuck in the "about" section.

11 years ago, Wolfhill5

The Craic

This app is awesome. Comes with 76 common session tunes; very easy to search for and add new tunes.

12 years ago, Dustyfrets

Does Not Play

Will not allow playback of the tune to be able to listen to it. Description also states 1000's of tunes. Instead 76 in actuality. You must find and download any additional tunes yourself. Not impressed.

6 years ago, TomTaylor83

Needs to be updated

The app was fine with the previous version of iOS. With iOS 12 it now does not display the staff lines, only the notes. I would have rated it as 4 stars if it still worked.

10 years ago, NewMoon04

Froze up

Just installed this app today. While searching a tune, it froze on "downloading tune" with the apple whirly thing. Can't make stop and now the app is unusable. May have delete it. Very disappointed!

9 years ago, Texfid5

Good and very useful

Excellent!!!

11 years ago, PiperTwobcont

Not the best for bagpipes

Looks like a good app but isn't the best for bagpipes. It works fine but PipeTunes and Tunebook are a little easier to use. .

8 years ago, duffyb

Great Resource

Love this app!

11 years ago, Feadan

I like Tunebook much better...

Instead of one massive collection of tunes I prefer the ability to have groupings for different genres…Irish, Scottish, French, Morris, etc. I much prefer 'Tunebook' to 'the Craic' for that reason as well as the fact that 'Tunebook' seems less anal about code. Wish I could get a refund.

8 years ago, Chuck Mahenski

Not 4 drums

Sadly does not support drum notation.

Description

Stop rummaging through paper tunebooks - turn your iPad or iPhone into a portable tunebook. Quickly search, display and hear thousands of Irish, Scottish, Cape Breton and other tunes for fiddle, flute, bagpipes, banjo, mandolin, concertina or accordion. Please leave a review or rate the app if you enjoy it - it helps! Subscribe either monthly or yearly to help support ongoing development. - includes a selection of 76 commonly played session tunes (lots more on the Internet!) - create, play and print sets of tunes - create collections of your favourite tunes and sets, print them as tune books or as incipits - import ABC notation via iTunes, cloud services like iCloud and Dropbox, email or the internet - bagpipe notation for tunes with HP or Hp key - search online or on your iPad or iPhone - online search results can be quickly imported into your library - simple playback with tempo control and looping - choose flute, whistle, fiddle, banjo, guitar, piano, harp or accordion - create and edit ABC notation on your iPad with a keyboard extension to simplify entry - external keyboard fully supported - print - share via email as ABC notation or PDF - open as a PDF in other applications Use of the Craic is governed by the standard Apple Terms of Use. You can view this at https://www.apple.com/legal/internet-services/itunes/dev/stdeula/