Smule’s Magic Fiddle for iPad – App Review
The creative folks from Smule are at it again, bringing another fun and creative musical instrument to your favorite iOS device. Magic Fiddle is the company’s most recent virtual instrument app and it’s available exclusively for the iPad.
Magic Fiddle rounds out Smule’s lineup of music apps following on the successful launch of iPad hits Magic Piano and Glee Karaoke. As you probably guessed from the name, Magic Fiddle lets iPad users rosin up their bow and play a mean fiddle just like Charlie Daniels.
Magic Fiddle is very well laid out and walks users through all the steps needed to get started playing the fiddle. Users can register on Smule to track progress and compete on leader boards or simply login as a guest to get right to fiddling. If it’s your first time playing Magic Fiddle, you’ll be led through a series of tutorials teaching you how to play the instruments and even the proper posture for playing your new fiddle. The app teaches would-be fiddlers various playing techniques such as how to pluck, bow, glissandi and vibrato.
Anyone who’s played Rock Band or Guitar Hero will be instantly familiar with how to play the Magic Fiddle. Users must hit the proper notes by touching the strings of their virtual fiddle . The musical notes are represented by lines that stream across the screen to give you visual clues on which note to hit, when to play them and how long to hold the note. Anyone with even a little bit of eye-hand coordination will be belting out basic tunes in no time.
Once you’ve completed the tutorials and played a few simple songs like Mary Had a Little Lamb, you’re off to the races. Players can choose to play one of the 20 songs included in the Song Library or, if you’ve mastered all the included songs, you can add new songs to your library via an in-app purchase. The music in the Song Library ranges from very simple classics like Twinkle Twinkle Little Star to the more difficult video game inspired Mario Brothers Theme. If you have the fiddle down, you can also opt to play solo which lets you jam on the fiddle freeform instead of playing music form the Song Library.
Magic Fiddle is simple to learn thanks to the eight chapter tutorial and well laid out user interface but don’t expect to be a fiddling champion overnight. Like with any real instrument, practice makes perfect and with the in-game awards, badges and leader boards, users will enjoy playing Magic Fiddle again and again.
Magic Fiddle is available in the App Store for $2.99, so pick up a copy and play your fiddle hard, just like Johnny.
What I liked: If you’re a musician at heart, Magic Fiddle is fun to play. In the right hands, the sky’s the limit.
What I didn’t like: Would like to see a larger library of songs included with the app. Experienced one or two random crashes.
To buy or not to buy: If you love playing music, this is a great app to get. Both musicians and non-musicians will find it easy to start playing as they work their way up to becoming the next Charlie Daniels.
- App Name: Magic Fiddle
- Version Reviewed: 1.0.1
- Category: Games
- Developer: Smule
- Price: $2.99
- Score:
