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"Englitina" - English Concertina for the iPhone/iPod Touch


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Thank you to everyone who encouraged me to take this on, in particular thank you to Randall Cayford for providing me with note layout and spacing measurements for his real instrument, which I matched as closely as I could.

 

I don't play English, only Anglo, so I very much appreciated the assistance. I had no intention of doing an English Concertina, its only because of the enthusiastic members of this forum that I took this on as a project and I think you will be very pleased with the result.

 

The app has all the multi-touch features and sounds from of my Anglo Concertina app, but played using a 27-button subset of a standard treble tunes English concertina. It provides a full chromatic range from D4 to C#6 and supports chords of up to 5 buttons. You may also now select between treble and baritone (one octave lower) tuning.

 

I've submitted "Englitina" to Apple for approval tonight, here are some screenshots:

 

Main Screen showing the 27 button layout:

 

4253684826_72da5835d8_o.jpg

 

The buttons on the left side of the dividing line are from the left side of the real instrument,

the buttons on the right side are those on the right side of the real instrument.

 

The iPod is held between the thumb and little finger of each hand, exactly like the real instrument.

 

Learning mode (touch the "?") icon:

 

4255016773_fc52b17404_o.jpg

 

Learning mode is live, you can play tunes with the note names being displayed.

 

Playing a 3-button chord:

 

4253684856_f1db692a77_o.jpg

Settings page where you may select between treble and baritone

configuration, as well as set the overall instrument volume:

 

4254973549_63819653ba_o.jpg

 

Requires an iPhone or 2nd Generation iPod Touch (the newer version with the speaker).

 

Should be available for $2.99 on the iTunes App Store in a week or so.

 

 

Cheers and thanks,

 

 

Michael

Edited by eskin
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I'm really looking forward to this one - for long enough we EC players have been 2nd-class citizens in the iPhone/iPod Touch concertina world, but now thanks to your fine efforts we have attained our rightful greatness.

 

I, sir, salute you, although people within hearing range of me when I get to play with this may not!

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One thing I'm definitely interested in for the future is additional versions of the app with different sound sets. If I have the files, I can release new versions in just a matter of hours.

 

If someone is willing to do a very high quality (44.1 KHz 16-bit mono) recording of 5-10 seconds of every note on a vintage instrument and provide me with the files, I can come out with new versions that have different sounds. Don't worry about tuning, I can fix that myself.

 

Contact me via PM if interested...

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

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One thing I'm definitely interested in for the future is additional versions of the app with different sound sets. If I have the files, I can release new versions in just a matter of hours.

 

If someone is willing to do a very high quality (44.1 KHz 16-bit mono) recording of 5-10 seconds of every note on a vintage instrument and provide me with the files, I can come out with new versions that have different sounds. Don't worry about tuning, I can fix that myself.

 

Contact me via PM if interested...

 

Cheers,

 

Michael

INVENTOR PLAYER & DESIGNER

Please put that genius (!) Eskin label up for download with facility to change the name and address, so we the great acoustic unwashed can print it out! Will pay extra if it comes with a .pong smell attachment; or does it just have the paper foxing....I presume you poured black coffee over the keyboard to get that super Pepys' afterdinner effect :D

Edited by Kautilya
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Learning mode (touch the "?") icon:

 

4252915503_ee1cef75db_o.jpg

 

Learning mode is live, you can play tunes with the note names being displayed.

 

Michael,

 

What's the reason you called the B and E accidentals "A#" and "D#" instead of the more commonly used "Bb" and "Eb"?

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Learning mode (touch the "?") icon:

 

4252915503_ee1cef75db_o.jpg

 

Learning mode is live, you can play tunes with the note names being displayed.

 

Michael,

 

What's the reason you called the B and E accidentals "A#" and "D#" instead of the more commonly used "Bb" and "Eb"?

 

No reason, just figured it would be better to have it all consistent for the visual guide, but I can certainly change them if that's the generally accepted naming practice. Is it just the Bb and Eb? I'll change it tonight and resubmit with the changed graphic.

Edited by eskin
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Is it just the Bb and Eb? I'll change it tonight and resubmit with the changed graphic.

 

I'm sorry, the G# next to the A should be Ab as well.

Consistency is in the fact, that the accidental next to any natural is the natural's flat or sharp.

So the G# next to the G is OK, the G# next to the A should be Ab.

 

Any English tina players to confirm this? :unsure:

 

(Hope this is in time for your "tonight")

 

Leonard

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[quote name='eskin' date='07 January 2010 - 04:01 PM' timestamp='1262898079'

..............

No reason, just figured it would be better to have it all consistent for the visual guide, but I can certainly change them if that's the generally accepted naming practice. Is it just the Bb and Eb? I'll change it tonight and resubmit with the changed graphic.

Hi Michael

 

Will this help? It's a standard English layout. Since there are no notes there, E and B don't have a sharp, the same as C and F don't have a flat. It's from Chris Timsons's FAQ

 

http://www.concertina.info/tina.faq/images/finger6.htm

 

Thanks

Leo

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A few changes before final submission based on feedback from the folks on this board. These changes are reflected in the new screen shots in the first message of this thread.

 

1) I've updated the help mode display to use the common note names as suggested by a few people on the board

 

4255016773_fc52b17404_o.jpg

 

 

2) You may now choose between treble and baritone (one octave lower) configuration on the settings page. Took a lot of work actually, so no, I'm not going to change it to allow octave shifts on the fly. :-)

 

4254973549_63819653ba_o.jpg

 

3) Nothing has changed on the main screen other than minor spacing adjustments recommended by Randall:

 

4253684826_72da5835d8_o.jpg

 

Doing some final testing of this release tonight, will submit in the morning if there are no issues.

 

Look for it on the iTunes App Store in a week or so.

 

 

Cheers!

 

Michael

Edited by eskin
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Another little change:

 

On the older English instruments the bone buttons not only had the notes engraved, but they were color-coded: both outside rows ( accidentals ) black, inbside rows white, all "C"s red. That would be useful on the beginners-layout!

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