Count The Beats: IK Multimedia announces Amplitube iRig for the iPhone
To all you guitarists out there, we know you're incredibly particular about tone when it comes to your axe and the boutique pedals you play it through. But lets be honest, every now and again it can be a little tiresome lugging that oversized pedal board, and your vintage amp, through the underground for that one-off "favour for a friend" gig. Especially when the venue won't be able to handle your tone anyway (as apposed to that sell out rockin' show you did with the guys the night before).Well, it seems like IK Multimedia has beat Line 6 to it. Now you can leave the industrial strength cases behind in exchange for your iPhone and the iRig (of course you still need your guitar).
IK Multimedia has brought their renowned guitar and effects virtualization software to the iPhone with the iRig. For £29.99 you can purchase the iRig peripheral hardware that enables you to plug your guitar / bass into your iPhone and then your iPhone into your amp, sound desk -- whatever tickles your fancy.
The baseline iRig app is downloaded off the app store (which comprises of two stomp boxes, one amp+cabinet and two microphones). If you wish you can upgrade the app with more stomp boxes, amps+cabinets and microphones via the a-la-carte in-app purchase and download process.
We're very much looking forward to trying this out for ourselves. If the iRig plays like Amplitube does on the Mac, there are some exciting possibilities ahead, one of which being less back ache!
Check out the video after the break, or IK Multimedia's iRig website for more info.
Share
To all you guitarists out there, we know you're incredibly particular about tone when it comes to your axe and the boutique pedals you play...
Add a Comment
If my dang headphone jack wasn't broken, I'd be all over this.
May 13 2010 at 12:51 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis was posted days ago on engadget.
maybe if you werent reporting on flash crashing on the android tablet you'd be able to report on APPLE NEWS
Well I've seen this kind of thing promised before but never delivered. And I still don't see that this iRig is in anyway a *shipping* product. Nothing named iRig shows up in iTunes, and all of the IK Multimedia apps in the App Store are GrooveMaker variants. Ground Up Audio has an app in the App Store but no shipping interface. And those who are even remotely familiar with Line6 aren't surprised that we are still waiting for *anything* from them...
No matter. All of these are missing "the feature" that could make them "the killer app"; the ability to slow down songs you are playing along to (without affecting pitch) as well as the ability to make subtle pitch adjustments to the music. Any DAW worth its salt can do this, and a million kids that want to work out the riffs on their favorite songs are going to want to have this. Any interface + app that can handle this at the price of a Pocket POD, etc. will fly off the shelves; anything else isn't going to be good enough.
There are already units that have been used, the final versions are in production. This will definitely ship. The app is just awaiting the approval - I've used that too and it sounds great. No vapor here!
Thanks for the feature request too - we're looking at ways to make this better already, especially for practicing and performing musicians. I'll make sure that request gets notice.
Wonder how iRig stands up to Ground Up Audio's offerings: http://groundupaudio.com/apps/
May 11 2010 at 7:59 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyCan't wait until this is out so you all can compare. We're quite good at it on the PC/Mac side if I do say so myself, and we're confident we'll be bringing some bar-raising tones to the iPhone/iPad/iPod Touch platform with this too.
May 12 2010 at 12:04 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyI hope we're close to the day (i.e. the next iPhone) that an iPhone can serve as a front-end for more comprehensive multitrack recording/editing apps and hardware interfaces. It'd be amazing if existing Core Audio compatible interfaces could work with the iPhone and iPad natively.
May 11 2010 at 5:35 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyTime to sell the Pocket POD!
May 11 2010 at 5:09 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWill definitely be picking one up. Thanks for the article!
May 11 2010 at 4:30 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyWay better than a Pocket Pod and cheaper!!! Nice.
May 11 2010 at 4:27 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyThis also beats the heck out of PRS "GuitarBud". Ground Up Audio is also coming out with an impedance matched guitar interface. You can checkout my review of available interfaces for guitar to iphone here.
May 14 2010 at 12:40 PM Report abuse Permalink rate up rate down ReplyHere's the link. Hopefully it will show up for you:
http://www.easylearn2playguitar.com/recording/connecting-your-guitar-to-your-iphone-ipod-or-ipad/
Hot Apps on TUAW
Deals of the Day
more deals- Altec Lansing Octiv Duo iDock for $48 + free shipping
- Used Apple iMac 17" Core Duo 1.83GHz for $430 + $28 s&h
- Lounge Deluxe Stand for iPhone / iPod touch for $28 + $8 s&h
- Brookstone Surround-Sound Earbuds for $14 + $7 s&h
- Refurbished Skullcandy Tokidoki Smokin' Buds Mic'd Headset for $5 + $2 s&h
- Stitchway Backup Battery for iPod / iPhone for $5 + free shipping
Software Updates
more updates- EFI Firmware Update brings Lion Internet Recovery to 2010-model Macs
- OS X Lion 10.7.3 released with Safari 5.1.3, Wi-Fi bug fix
- Aperture updated to 3.2.2, addresses Photo Stream issue
- Apple updates Keynote to address Lion issues
- Google Search app gets new look on iPad
- Apple releases Apple TV Software Update 4.4.3
Featured Stories
more stories
Popular Stories
TUAW (or The Unofficial Apple Weblog) is a website devoted to tips, reviews, news, analysis and opinion on everything Apple.
13 Comments