the Craic vs Strum Machine
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
the Craic
This app transforms your device into a portable digital tunebook, offering thousands of traditional tunes in ABC notation. Easily search, play, and organize music for various instruments, with options to create custom sets and collections. Import tunes from multiple sources and share them as ABC or PDF.
- Searchable tune library
- Create and play tune sets
- Organize favorite tunes
- Import ABC notation
- Playback with tempo control
- Edit ABC notation
- Print and share tunes
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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/
Strum Machine
Generate realistic backing tracks for practice with real instrument audio. Customize chord progressions, keys, and tempo. Features a large song library, song editor, and band customization options. Works offline and syncs across devices.
- Realistic instrument audio backing tracks
- Customizable chord progressions, keys, and tempo
- Extensive song library
- Simple song editor
- Band and instrument customization
- Cross-platform syncing and offline mode
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Elevate your music practice with customizable backing tracks generated with audio from real instruments (guitar, mandolin, and standup bass). Strum Machine can play any chord progression, in any key, at any speed. It's the only backing-track app built specifically for players of bluegrass, old-time, fiddle tunes, and other such genres. (Although it works pretty good for some jazz/swing now, too!) Why musicians of all levels love Strum Machine: • Realistic Sound: Backing tracks are assembled in real time from studio-quality instrument recordings. • Quick Adjustments: Instantly adjust the speed/tempo, change the key, loop part of a song, etc. • Auto-Speedup: Gradually increase the BPM at the end of every repetition for training purposes. • Chord Reference: Clean, beautiful chord charts, which can be displayed in letters or numbers (i.e. "1-4-5"). • Extensive Library: Over 1,300 songs (mostly from bluegrass and old-time) ready to go, with thousands more posted on the community forum. • Simple Song Editor: Add your own songs (or edit existing ones) in minutes. Almost every chord you can play on a guitar is available for use. • Customize the Band: Choose from a variety of built-in band styles, then optionally customize each instrument individually – adjust the strumming pattern, add automatic bass runs, and more. • Organize & Share: Create song lists for practicing or even performing, and share them with your friends or on the community forum. • Cross-Platform: Sync your custom songs, lists, and preferences with any device you use Strum Machine on: phone, tablet, or computer. (It works offline, too!) • Responsive Support: If you run into any problems or have questions, write us an email or post a message on the forum and someone will get back to you within a few days! Strum Machine is under active development and we're always working on ways to make the app even more useful to our users... while keeping it uncluttered and intuitive first and foremost. Discover how Strum Machine can improve your music practice today! Download Strum Machine and play a handful of demo songs instantly, without signing up. For the full experience, including access to all built-in songs and the ability to create your own, start a free trial. Terms of Use: https://strummachine.com/terms Privacy Policy: https://strummachine.com/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is price: Strum Machine at Free against the Craic's $4.99. Strum Machine also leads on rating (4.7 vs 4.3) and update cadence (fortnightly vs every 2 months). On ads, in-app purchases, device support and iOS requirement there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Strum Machine is free to download; the Craic costs $4.99 up front. the Craic sells 5 in-app purchases, starting at $1.39 per month and Strum Machine sells 1 in-app purchase, starting at $4.99 per month. Whichever you choose, the download price is not the number that matters.
Strum Machine holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 4.3. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Strum Machine has 120 ratings behind it against 13, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 75% of the Craic's written reviews are positive against 89% of Strum Machine's.
the Craic ships an update every 2 months, Strum Machine fortnightly. The most recent releases landed on October 22, 2026 and October 29, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | the Craic | Strum Machine |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $4.99 | Free — better |
| Rating | 4.3 (13 ratings) | 4.7 (120 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 75.0% of reviews | 88.7% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 13 | 120 — better |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Fortnightly — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | Yes | Yes |
| Monetization | Subscription | Free with in-app purchases — better |
| Best chart rank | — | #168 — better |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 15.0 — better | 15.4 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 60 MB | 77 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Wil Macaulay | Luke Abbott LLC |
Customer experience
the Craic
Strum Machine
Bugs and requests
the Craic
Reported bugs
28 issues- Won't read past errors in older ABC spec
- Doesn't report ABC spec errors
- No support for multi-voice (e.g., SATB grandstaff)
- Small note heads
- Does not cover concertinas
Show 23 moreShow fewer
- App freezes up
- Not all ABC tunes get imported
- Setting markers for playback is unintuitive
- Selections with pick-up notes don't loop properly
- Multiply editing/saving can create multiple copies
- GUI could be more intuitive/standard
- Freezes up when editing first/second endings
- No iCloud sync for tunes
- No bagpipe option in instrument selection
- App freezes on download
- Gets stuck in a loop during download
- Does not support drum notation
- With iOS 12, staff lines don't display
- Latest version freezes after a couple of minutes
- App freezes on download
- Crashes when deleting tunes
- Default library reappears after deleting all tunes
- Does not allow playback of tunes
- Less than 100 tunes initially
- Does not play tunes
- Too difficult for usage
- Tunes not sortable into books/set lists
- Does not play tunes
Requested features
32 requests- Support for multi-voice ABC notation
- Larger note heads
- Support for concertinas (especially CG Anglo)
- Option to select tunes only from Favourites list
- Option to rearrange items within a set
Show 27 moreShow fewer
- More intuitive marker setting for playback
- Fix looping with pick-up notes
- Prevent multiple copies when editing/saving
- More intuitive/standard GUI elements
- iCloud sync for tunes
- Wider range for speed adjustment (slower)
- Slight pause before tune starts playing
- Drone note before tune starts
- Choice of two or three GM instruments for playback
- Light, bar, or dot that follows notes during playback
- Provision to stop or interrupt downloads
- Visually highlight notes as they play
- Simpler way to add tunes to a set list
- Groupings for different genres (Irish, Scottish, etc.)
- More stability in the app
- Ability to make entire library from zero
- Export/import entire folder tree on cloud storage (Dropbox)
- Read/write directly to ABC files on cloud storage
- Ability to separate music by collections
- Dark mode option
- Advanced analytics dashboard
- Support for drum notation
- Support for bagpipes
- Support for concertinas
- Support for older ABC spec files
- Better error reporting for ABC files
- Support for SATB grandstaff
Strum Machine
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
the Craic
- Monthly supporter7 Days trial$1.391 Month
- Yearly supporter$12.991 Year
- Small Tip$0.99
- Large Tip$4.99
- Huge Tip$19.99
Strum Machine
- Monthly Subscription14 Days trial$4.991 Month








