Our Verdict
AmpliTube for iPadis beautifully designed guitar and bass ampere modeling program with a all-embracing orbit of essence , amplifier , speakers and microphones that allows you to customize your tone in infinite ways .
IK Multimediahas been mock up amplifiers and effects for studio apartment role for more than 14 years , and sells packages running on Mac OS and Windows that cost upwards of $ 350 . The company ’s experience shows not only in the deep selection of impression pedals , loudspeaker and amplifier usable , but also in the heart - catch design of this iPad app .
After launching the app and connecting your guitar through a cable television — such asIK ’s own iRig adapterorGriffin ’s GuitarConnect — you’re deliver with a attractively yield workspace in landscape mode . ( Be sure to retard out our reassessment of both the iRig and GuitarConnect cables . ) At the top of the screen there are slot for up to four effect pedal , or stomp boxes ( I would n’t urge stomping on your iPad , however ) .
Amped Up: Tap on the name of an effect in AmpliTube for iPad, and a drop-down menu appears giving you access to 11 available effects.
The pedal each have on and off release as well as controls for grade , tone , drive , and so on . knock on the name of the effect , just above the pedal , summons a drop - down menu with the 11 available effects , range from Fuzz , Delay , Overdrive , and Wah . If you ’d like four flangers running at once , there ’s nothing but sanity and taste to bar you .
Amped Up : Tap on the name of an effect in AmpliTube for iPad , and a drop - down bill of fare appears giving you access to 11 uncommitted effects .
Below the effects , an amplifier offers a full aspect of the controls of familiar AMP simulate after some of the most famous amplifier ever made — the Marshall JCM800 , Fender blackface Deluxe Rever , Vox AC3 , Mesa / Boogie Triple Rectifier , and Ampeg SVT Bass head . The amps look realistic from the knob design , to the colour and grain of the locker and the grill cloth . Each amplifier come with a talker , but you ’re welcome to mix and match to your affection ’s content . in conclusion , you may take either a Shure SM57 active mic or Neumann U-87 condenser mike .
A free interpretation — Amplitube Free for iPad — is also available , but with just three effects , one adenylic acid , one cabinet and the two microphone . The four additional amps and eight additional effects that come standard with the full variant are available via in - app leverage for $ 5 and $ 3 , respectively . To buy all of the extras à la menu would cost around $ 44 . IK Multimedia says that extra A and issue will be uncommitted in the future and available for both the full and free versions through in - app purchases .
At the very bottom of the workspace , a menu bar evidence the presently selected amp and cabinet ; there ’s also a crosscut to a preset menu which has nine nonremittal combination of amp , locker , microphone and essence , but it can remember up to 36 customs preset jazz band .
One thing I wish the AmpliTube app would do is remember my amp context automatically . Say I ’m using the Fender A with volume down to 7 , reverb up to 10 and treble crank down to one with the Fuzz and Octave foot lever alive , but want to see what it sounds like with the JCM800 instead . If I switch amps and come back , the amp setting return to their defaults , so if you find a setting you wish , do n’t forget to make it a preset . It would also be nice to give the presets a nickname , or else of commend that predetermined 12 sounds just like Eddie Van Halen ’s “ blistering for Teacher ” solo .
In the middle of the menu measure is a digital chromatic radio that can be active even when diddle . A Tools release brings up a large variation of the radio set as well as a metronome , which can be set to fiddle a standard number of beats per minute . You also can bug out a tempo that the metronome will pick up and play .
AmpliTube for iPad allow you to roleplay along with song in your iTunes library . you may either play along with the entire song , or select a section of the song to coil over and over again — helpful for see leads and complicated part . A great addition would be the power to slow down the option without change , which would make learning hard passages even well-to-do .
The crowing ill I have about the app need the overly complicated steps necessary to get birdsong to play along with . Regardless of the fact that you most probably have songs already on your iPad , if you want to bring one to meet along with , you must go to a computer connected to the same Wi - Fi internet as your iPad , open up a Web internet browser , and typecast a given IP address into the universal resource locator bar . A simple WWW varlet comes up with a Choose File button that lets you navigate your way through your Mac ’s data file to find the audio files ( the app prefers MP3s ) that you ’d care to upload , one at a time , up to a 20 Song dynasty limit . The Song dynasty go through a one - prison term processing when loaded into the app . A contend app , iShred Live from Frontier , uses the songs present in your iPad or iPhone ’s iTunes library with no Wi - Fi connection or processing necessary . When need why AmpliTube could n’t do the same , an IK Multimedia voice told me that using iTunes , which uses a tumid buff size that AmpliTube would have to match , would cause latency issues — a lowly , but a small but annoying gap in time from when you take on a greenback and hear it .
Oh , and the app sounds really good . you’re able to clear hear the departure between mic extract , speaker cabinets , and amps , and the effects like Fuzz , Wah , and Overdrive sound like the real bargain . I play it through headphones and through some less - than - contract edge computer speakers and was impressed by the sound in both scenarios . There is a little second of crispy sounding aberration present in the sporting timbre , but not much .
AmpliTube offers two preferences for rotational latency , Low and Ultra - low . Ultra - modest is selected by default , but if you initiate to hear clicks and pops while play , the app advises you to switch to Low . I did n’t have any problem , but switched anyway and rule no detectable variety in latency . I also examine plug my guitar into a public address system . It sounded tremendous until I figured out that I needed to turn off the No Feedback context . Once I solved that problem , AmpliTube sounded much well , though a little flimsy . I was capable to ameliorate the tone by tweaking the equalizer a turn , but AmpliTube for iPad is really meant for earphone and small verbaliser . As nice as it would be , I wo n’t be supersede my stage amplifier with my iPad and AmpliTube anytime soon .
Overall , AmpliTube for iPad is a mass of merriment , gorgeous to count at , and a clear winner when it comes to cheer the sound of a boatload of AMP and effect . Add in a way to read yourself playing and make playing along with the songs in your iTunes subroutine library and AmpliTube will genuinely rock .
[ When not run Speedmark as the director of the Macworld Lab , James Galbraith performs in several bands ; you cansample his medicine on iTunes . ]
