This is my experience with the start-up tutorial in RC2.
I suspect things were out of whack because of remembered settings from previous versions. I got no sound in the tutorial and at the point I think it should have been in melody mode, the notes just rolled by. I have disconnected the iPad from my MIDI connection. When I got to the main screen following the introductory tutorial it reported In: (None) and Out: (None) which probably explains the behavior in the tutorial. I am pretty sure no real first time user will have these issues. I restored the default settings and used the Tutorial button to go through the start-up tutorial again.
In general, good job. I think in the last balloon where you you say "You'll learn the rest as you go." I think you should add "Use the Help button on the play screen."
My concern is that about half the tutorial is devoted to dragging and resizing the display. I have a nagging feeling that those aren't going to be the things a new user is most interested in. You obviously spent a lot of time on the drag and pinch demo. However, while it would be a shame to leave the drag-pinch demo on the cutting room floor, maybe it would be better to cut the tutorial in half and just start at the melody practice. You don't have anything before that point that is essential to playing your first song in Synthesia.
I think you should add "The song will wait until you hit each note
in Melody Mode. After you learn the notes you can use Rhythm Mode to play the song without stopping."
On the main screen I think there should be a button for [ On-Line Documentation ] that takes the user to the full manual at the Synthesia website for those few users who want that sort of thing.
On the main screen I think it should say, "Tap Settings to play Synthesia using a real piano keyboard"
On Settings I think it should say, "Help me connect my real piano keyboard"
It would be nice if the Connecting a MIDI Keyboard page included some pictures. Here's a site that uses pictures to good advantage:
http://tutorialpiano.blogspot.com/2009/ ... me-to.html
It might be worth mentioning that you can use Synthesia's Rhythm mode to help learn to play a song even if your piano doesn't have MIDI capability.
On the Unlock All Songs page I would replace "import additional songs..." with "use any MIDI file available on the internet or imported using iTunes file sharing."
Is Apple going to disapprove of "Head over to the Shortcuts section in Settings to control everything with your keyboard"? Since the iPad can only control shortcuts from a MIDI keyboard, maybe this should be a tip in the Music Input Settings area on the iPad.