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New Orchestral String Playing App – FingerFiddle
https://itunes.apple.com/app/id1057024351?mt=8
As I began my musical studies as a violinist, I am extremely excited about this app. But let me start out by saying that it doesn’t currently have IAA or Audiobus. But the creator has told me he will be submitting it soon and hopes that the update with IAA/Audiobus functionality will be in the store in a month.
By coincidence I was recently thinking back to my early teenage attempts to play the violin, before I gave up and switched to guitar. There were so many different kinds of sounds that I could make with the thing. Apps didn't do it for me. The closest was Thumbjam. On the PC with Garritan there were some ways to modify the sounds (use the mod wheel for vibrato, etc.) And with the Miroslav Orchestra add-on in SampleTank, you can have things like trills, pizzicato, staccato, tremolo, etc. But this isn’t tremendously useful, because you have to switch to different instruments for each style of play.
So along comes FingerFiddle. Using your finger you can:
Add vibrato (To my ears it is more realistic than Thumbjam)
Bow back and forth. If you do it slow, it’s scratchy. Faster, it has higher harmonics.
Push harder and it’s louder (this works by the amount of finger surface on the screen)
You can change the distance between the bow and the bridge of the instrument. Close to the bridge has higher harmonics. Over the fingerboard is not as good a sound as between the bridge and fingerboard.
Likewise when you play pizzicato, it sounds different depending on where you pluck between bridge and fingerboard.
You can experiment with various bowing techniques, like tremolo, trill, spiccato (bounce the bow on the string), etc. If you choose to play two notes at once, it’s going to sound a lot more real than what you would do on a conventional synth. (There are realities—you are probably only going to hit two strings and the notes won’t be far apart. ) If nothing else, fooling around with this app for a bit will give you ideas for playing orchestral string instruments on your other synths.
The notes are handled in a way that will be familiar to users of iFretless.
The app comes free with a Cello. You can buy an additional instrument for $4.99 or get a violin, viola, and double bass for $11.99. There is a second “con sordino” set, also $4.99 per instrument or $11.99. You can try the instruments before you buy them.
I didn’t ask the developer, but it sounds to me that this is not sample based, but physical modeling, like Sculpture in Logic.
My main issue with it is that it works best for a Cellist or Double Bass player than it does for an ex-violinist like me. Based on how the UI is set up, I can see why he did it that way, but I can actually hold Thumbjam like a violin, and that is something I really like about it.
I look forward to putting some rosin on my bow, putting this through a nice reverb, and finding out what I can achieve with it! I spent too many years of my life in the back row of the second violins.
Comments
I also think this app has great potential. I am excited by the physical modeling aspect of the sound and realistic bowing behavior. With AB/IAA support it would allow for using much better reverb/fx, although the dev should improve the in-app one as well.
Thanks for the fulsome intro @Reid and the generous comment @sonosaurus....
Sounds very interesting.... would like to hear some performances with it..... damn....again no demo videos on release!
It´s one of the most important things.... why the hell are there NO F...... demo videoooooooos
Sorry.... had a little rant.
The app sounds (from the written things) very interesting. Of course i miss the iPhone version (3 D touch would fit well here) but i can understand that it might be difficult.
Looking forward for some demos, whoever makes some!
base app is free (and small), so you can try it
just downloaded it, thx for the info
No i can´t.... have no iPad but searching for new apps which are worth to buy maybe again an iPad as controller device and additional sounds source.
Those apps looks interesting but the ongoing thing in iOS to release apps without any demos is really one of the worst thing i experienced in all my years of iOS usage. Maybe it´s just me and then i´m sorry but as a "consumer" it´s maybe the most important thing for me to get interested in an app.
Even if i could use it now, it would be great to see a few little tutorials, tips how to use it etc.
Some apps needs months or even years to create and there is no time to do some proper tutorials/demos? C´mon!!
There's no way to record from this app. no AB/IAA, so no routing to an EFX. And no built in recorder. Otherwise...the bowing in interesting and the sound, to me, compares a little bit to something like the LaPlace synth.
@TozBourne As I wrote above, the developer is currently making an AB/IAA update. He hopes to have it to Apple in a week and in the store in a month. I told him to check in with this forum, so hopefully he will chime in with updates.
Until then, I'm going to try to learn how to play the thing!
Also, I told him to contact Jonatan Liljedahl for some IAA tips.
This is great fun, I rate the thumbjam cello highly, but this offers sounds, lifelike performance and features for solo strings that no other app does at present. It really needs AB/ IAA though
This is really good. I've just tried it into to Ableton Live and it sounds really nice when you stick some quality reverb on it. You can record with it if you have an audio interface of course.
I find it a little difficult to stroke with my right hand and fret with my left. The coordination reminds me of tapping your head, and rubbing your tummy in circles at the same time. It takes some practice. I really like the sounds and articulation of the instrument. Excellent tutorial.
Another consideration, I am basically a keyboardist with a little guitar under my belt; so I find it difficult to play scales on the frets. Someone who has a string instrument training could adapt to it much better.
I wrote the developer about possibly adding the option of an abstract keyboard, locked into scales like ThumbJam. I think if he got more requests for this feature, he might consider it. Also, I mentioned the lack of a demo video, showing someone really playing it and making real music. He said he is working on it.
Edit: I finally realized why I was having trouble with the fretting; because it is tuned to 5ths instead of 4ths like a guitar.
It is puzzling why he released it without IAA/AB--and he actually apologized for that in his email to me-- but he's essentially given us a totally free, quite sophisticated Cello app to play around with. Consider it a sneak preview of the actual pro app, which will turn up in a month.
Personally I think this is a much better deal than Skram, which has AB, but requires a trip to New Zealand.
https://forum.audiob.us/discussion/12590/skram-app-from-liine-lemur-what-is-it#latest
Just tried it out, really good stuff! I wonder what the pro app does that the basic one does not?
I propose that New Zealand becomes the forum pejorative for all things that are difficult, inconvenient and/or plainly foolish in their design.
Does it play portamento slides?
Yes
Nice... so could someone please make a sound demo.
Seems like it has a lot of potential but also a lot of crackles on my iPad Air 2! Even when it is the only app open.
@AlterEgo_UK it also crackles on mine, especially if the iPad volume is turned up, i turned it a few bars down and it got better
OK, thanks @necrome will try that
Apologies Reid, I did not word my statement well, as I meant it to sum what had been said and I really didn't mean to ignore your statements.
As others have mentioned I got some sound crackles too, but only when playing two or more notes on a mini2. And turning down the volume helps, but wasn't a complete cure for this device.
@Carnbot -- I have an audio interface for my iOS devices but it's for audio in, midi and monitoring out; my recordings are made on my iDevices (Cubasis mostly). But this got me to thinking about a work around; I've got access to a digital recorder, so I could just output my mains to it. That adds another audio-digital conversion step, but for a temporary way to get some stuff recorded, it may be worth the effort.
I like the app overall. I found it works best with larger devices. iPad pro works much better than the mini because you can lean it on your belly for support and use vibrato. Holding it in a hand doesn't seem to work for that. One annoying thing I noticed was that there's a lot of latency when plucking the strings. That should be improved for it to be actually playable. Another weird thing is that you have to hold down notes for open strings. That's not ideal.
I share your frustrations about the video demos thing.
This is perhaps a little OT, but I found that one of the few benefits of Android music making apps (I know, I said the A-word), compared to iOS, was that at least you could download any app from the store (so long as you had a device to run it on - so this wouldn't aid a need for a tablet, at times) and you could get a full refund within a certain timeframe at the touch of a button. The closest common thing on iOS, of course, is free plus IAPs but you still don't get to readily trial the IAPs
ah ah ah, +1
Hi everybody,
I hope I am not intruding too much by giving some feedback in this discussion, but I thought I was in a good position to reply to some questions (being the developer of the app)
…
First, thank you Reid for the nice review, and thank you all for the comments. It is very useful for me to read you all.
Concerning IAA/AB: Yes, it was a mistake not to implement it directly. I must confess that I mostly developed the app as a pedagogical tool, to allow people to experience violin playing and musical expression. I thought that possible applications for music production would come after some improvements of the violin model… The good news is that IAA/AB is implemented now. I still want to do some testings, but I should be able to submit the update before the end of next week. So it might be released quite soon, depending on the time Apple will take to review the update.
Concerning the demo videos: well, I considered the first release of FingerFiddle as a pre-release, to get some feedback from early users, fix possible problems (and there are some, as you noticed) and improve the app before a more ‘’official release ‘’. I will put online a very short ’’teaser’’ with the next update, then there will be some other videos / demos. But since you were asking for sound examples, I have uploaded some on soundcloud (it is a bit quick and dirty, just some tests that I did yesterday with some effects and IAA)
Concerning the cracking with iPad Air 2: Please report a bug when you experience this kind of problem. I am trying to figure out where the problem comes from… It looks like a CPU overload issue, but it is quite weird, since it works fine on the iPad Air 1 (does it for everyone?). During my tests, I noticed that, even with all applications closed, there was sometimes a lot of other, OS related, processes going on behind (taking sometimes up to 50 % of the CPU…). Anyway, in the next release, I have optimized a bit more the code, and I have changed some things in the Audio Session. I hope this will solve the problem. Sorry for that…
@Munibeast: there is actually no latency with pizzicato. It is like a real instrument: the sound starts when you release the string (in this case: when your finger leaves the screen). Concerning the need to finger open strings: I needed a way to know which open string should be played, there is no other simple solution…
I hope you will be more pleased with the next release. If you experience bugs or cracking, please send me a report… And if you are happy with the app, send me also something: it is always nice to know
Matthias
@MatthiasD :
Thank you very much!
@MatthiasD Beautiful. But I know I could never do it achieve those results, because the hardest part is hitting the notes.
Question: Would it be possible to send MIDI note messages in from:
1) a controller
2) a piano keyboard in-app
3) another app
4) a loaded MIDI file
5) Or even (someday) a basic grid MIDI composer in app
And then play the music using all the tools in the app.
One and two should be in the app, but I think adding additional MIDI capabilities could be something people would go for as in-app purchase. In particular loading MIDI files because people could bring in classical scores.
And there's a synergy if you make the app easier to use. The more people are able to make music they like on FingerFiddle, the more will buy your two orchestral packages.
If you spend time on this board, you'll see that there are some people who have conventional training with physical instruments, but there are also digital musicians who achieve impressive results through ready-made scales and technology that auto-generates music in various ways.
Welcome @MatthiasD and thank you for such a wonderful app!
@MatthiasD You currently have the best/most realistic sounding string app on iOS (IMHO of course, not speaking for everyone!) Glad you're letting us in on your development process! Hope you do well! I sure will be using this app more in the coming days for playing live
)
@MatthiasD, I agree with the idea of controlling FingerFiddle with MIDI input. Not being a string player, I could then play the frets with my MIDI keyboard, and stroke the bow section with my other hand on screen; although I then would not be able to do portamento slides from one note to another.
If you implemented Virtual MIDI, I wonder if controlling it with iFretless Bass, Geosynth or Animoog MIDI out could do the portamento slides?