Gear Review: iRIG, Amplitube and Ampkit

[pushover]

Here are some of my initial impressions of the iRIG. You can find a

number of reviews and comparisons of iRIG and the Peavey AmpKit

interface elsewhere online, but here is my own. I'll try and cover

stuff not mentioned in other reviews. Hopefully this may be

useful if you're interested in investing in one of these.

 

 

INTERFACE

 

The iRIG itself is the interface that allows you to connect up a

guitar to your iPhone, iPodTouch, or iPad. It's not just a socket and

cable, supposedly it's also got a self contained preamp to help boost

the signal.

 

Ampkit also sells an i-link interface cable that allows you to connect

your guitar to your i-device. The main difference between it and the

iRIG is that it requires batteries. Supposedly this improves

performance, feedback resistance, and boosts the signal if you plug

into external speakers, but since I don't have one of these I don't

know this is really the case. From reading other reviews, however, any

difference between the two is supposedly not particularly substantial,

and what is most important is that you can use both interfaces with

either app.

 

Street prices for these interfaces for x-mas 2011 were $30 for the

iRIG, and $40 for the i-link, so being the cheap bastard that I am, I

went with the iRIG.

 

APPS

 

You get the iRIG cable itself, and then you can download an app that

uses it from the app-store. The iRIG specific app is called Amplitube

(version 2.0), which (if you didn't know) turns your i-device into a

modeling amp. Amplitube comes in a free version, and in pay

versions. The free version comes with just one amp, one cab simulation

and 3 pedals (you get a free one for registering) and two mic

options. There is an LE version ($3) that comes with 3 pedals and a

few more cabs and mics, and then there is a $20 version that comes

with a much larger selection of amps, cabs, pedals and

mics. Alternatively you can buy amps, cabs, pedals, etc. peice meal

and add them to the free version to get only exactly what effects you

want for somewhere between $2-7 each add-on.

 

Amplitube also comes in a "Fender" version, which allows you to

download a version that models Fender Amps. My conjecture, is that

this is Amplitube's attempt to compete more with Ampkit by branding

with Fender, since Ampkit is clearly branded with Peavey. This Fender

app also has a free version (which is separate from the main Amplitube

app) and a $7 version that contains more Fender (only) amp, cab

options. You can also add items to this app peice meal.

 

Although I don't know this is for certain yet, one thing worth knowing

about, is that Amplitube licenses its products per device. What this

means, is that if you have a iPhone and an iPAD and buy the "add-ons"

you'll need to buy them separately for each device. This also holds

for the Fender app, versus the main Amplitube app. Supposedly you can

buy an add-on for the fender app, which may also be available for the

main app but you'd have to buy it all over again if you want to use it

in the other app. I think that's kinda mean spirited of IK, and is not

the way i-apps are usually licensed. Just in itself, this is a major

reason that makes me more interested in the Ampkit app than in the

Alplitube app.

 

So as you have heard me refer to several times, there is a competing

app-store product called AmpKit (version 1.2). It also comes in a free

(1 amp, cab, and 2 mic, 2 pedal) version, and in a bundle ($10)

version that comes with 5 amps and cabs, and 10 pedals. Although

Ampkit sells it's own interface to connect your guitar up to the

i-device, my experience so far is that the iRIG works just fine for

AmpKit. So for absolutely "free" (as in beer..) you can download

Amplitube Free, Amplitube Fender Free, and Ampkit Free and have 3 sets

of different sounds to choose from on your i-device. There are also

other modelling apps (some free) out there for i-devices but I don't

have experience with them.

 

Just like with Amplitube, with Ampkit you can buy the bundled release

or add items (amps, cabs, mics, pedals) peicemeal. Prices again are

between $3-7 for different components, and depending on what you add,

you can easily spend $100's on adding gear to either of these

apps. Which is really what the vendors want you to do

 

 

FEATURES

 

The basic core function of these apps is to turn your i-device into a

modelling amplifier. You select the amp, cab and mic you want from your

set of available options (i.e. whatever you bought), and then can add

pedals to the set up in whatever order you want. Each amp has

on-screen knobs that allow you to change the sounds, just like you

would if you were playing with and tweaking an actual amp. Each pedal

has a set of knobs and settings that are as you would expect for each

pedal type. The biggest problem here is that these are virtual pedals,

and hence they don't have any real buttons to press, so to adjust

anything you need to take your hands off the guitar and fiddle with

the i-device screen. So.. it's not practical to change settings while

you play. I guess you could try and STOMP on your i-device, but I

haven't tried that personally and I don't really expect it to work

other than turning the sound off -- permanently!

 

Both Amplitube and Ampkit support presets, and come with built-in

presets which can get you started with a variety of sounds from clean,

to crunchy, to insanely driven. In addition to the built-in presets you

can tweak the presets to your liking or define your own for instant

recall when you want them.

 

The user interfaces for each application are slightly different, and I just

won't go there to describe them. I'm sure it's a matter of personal

taste which interface you'll prefer, but both require some twiddling

with them to figure out how to do things. The important thing,

however, is that you can pretty much do what you need to do with

either piece of software.

 

In addition to the sound modelling, you also get a

metronome, a tuner, and a 1-channel recorder all for free. You can pay

to upgrade to a multi-channel recorder in Amplitube, but not (as far as I

know) in AmpKit.

 

Both apps also allow you to import music from various sources (your

iTunes library, sound clips from email, over wifi) that you can then jam

over them. Importing a song from my itunes library in Ampkit seemed

seamless. Importing in Amplitube seemed a bit more of an actual

"import" process, but maybe it's because my inputs are from a wave

files and these have to be converted to mp3 or something? In the

jamming along over imported clips dept., I'd give the definate edge to

Amplitube since you can also slowdown the track tempo to make learning

it easier, as well as to select subsections of the track and loop over

it repeatedly. I have already found this really helpful to figure out and then

burn-in a lead that I don't know.

 

Although it's not as versatile, Ampkit does come built-in with some

simple backing tracks that you can jam over. I haven't (yet?) found

these particularly useful, but it's certainly a nice thought. Though

then again, it's also it's easy enough in both apps to add-in your own

backing tracks if you have them.

 

Ampkit runs only in the foreground. Amplitube allows you to run it in

background mode, which supposedly reduces the battery drain. But I'm

not sure I've seen a great benefit to this as of yet. Maybe I'm

missing something?

 

SOUNDS

 

I will have to admit that I am a little disappointed with the

sounds. Some effects work better than others, but my experience so far

is that the gain effects are at best adequate, with some of them

sounding more like noise. But.. if you're willing to play with the

settings enough you can just about get some usable sounds you might

like. I tend to have the same problem any time I get a new pedal to

play with, so I think it's reasonable to expect to have to fiddle with

knobs to find tone.

 

An important issue to be aware of is feedback. Depending on the pedals

you have, their order, and the amount of gain I found it far too easy

to get feedback on the higher gain settings. It's controllable via the

volume setting, but since hearing feedback is something you don't want

to do to your ears on a regular basis I quickly found myself in a mode

where I would always turn the i-device volume down before I changed

any amp settings, and would then have to turn it up again once in the

new setting to get to a decent playing volume. Specifically on clean

settings, unless the device volume is maxed out, I couldn't hardly

hear the amplified guitar over the un-amplified acoustic twang coming

to my ears though the ear-buds. Overall the feedback management steps

just add another level of annoyance in changing settings. The trick

seems to be to leverage the presets and get to know which volumes work

with each.

 

I have access to a iPhone 3G, a 2nd generation iPod touch, and my

wife's iPAD. When connected to the iPhone and the iTouch I hear

noticable noise floor, and intermittent glitches and noise from the

connected instrument. I get this from both apps. I suspected that this

might be because these are older devices and are underpowered compared

to newer devices so I tried it out also with the iPAD and found the

noise floor was still there but the other glitchy noises went away. I

suspect that using a newer generation iPhone or iTouch would produce

better results than my older devices.

 

Specifically, when jamming along with a backing track, especially

when using the "slow-down" feature. I found the amount of background

noise issues would vary intermittently and can be quite significant on

the iPhone and iTouch. But it was not a problem when I tried the iPAD,

so I recommend having a newer generation faster i-device if you want

to use this product. Using the Iphone I once got some pretty nasty

sounds emanating from the device which were immediately followed by

the chime of "you have mail", so I presume the noises were being

introduced because the device itself was being taxed from

multi-tasking the different apps. I'm thinking that going into

airplane mode might be a good way to stop that from happening.

 

To get a useful output signal I usually had to turn the i-device

volume all of the way up. In doing so I can really notice a noise

floor on the signal which can be annoying. The Amplitube software has

slightly better controls to adjust both input and output signal

levels. Ampkit just has a volume control. So in Amplitube I was able

to get a lower noise floor and what I considered to be a better sound

for the clean amp settings. When it comes to the gain and distortion

sounds, I found Ampkit to give me a sound that is more of what I

expect from a real amp, and more to my liking. In general, while I

don't think there is a clear winner between Amplitube and Ampkit, I

found Amplitube much better for cleaner sounds, and Ampkit a winner

for dirtier sounds. I actually have problems getting Ampkit to give me

a good clean sound.

 

I played these apps through headphones, some computer speakers, and

also I have the ability play through a mixer into PA speakers. Given

these experiences I think you can expect to do reasonably well playing

through headphones. I think you can potentially entertain yourself

playing through computer speakers. But given my set up I am not

comfortable playing through the PA speakers with the iPhone 3G. I'm

not sure I can trust the random noises not to appear, and stopping the

feedback when it occurs is something that basically involves pulling

the plug out to stop it instantly. Maybe I'd have a different view if

I had more access to my wife's iPAD.

 

WRAPUP

 

Overall I'd have to say I'm a little disappointed that the iRIG and

i-app combination isn't an "in a pinch" replacement for not having a

proper amp. But maybe my expectations were too high. This isn't "yet"

professional quality hardware/software that would replace real gig

gear. By comparison, I have POD and Digitech devices that might just

about get me through a performance if I needed them too.

 

As a practice device through your earphones, or perhaps through your

computer speakers I think this is a fine product, and I think that

this is primarily the usage that these apps are targeting. For the

$40-50 or so you'd sink into this product, I think you'd be hard

pressed to find a practice product that can do as much (assuming you

already have headphones, or computer speakers to plug into). The

built-in tuner is handy, and seems pretty accurate, and while I don't

really see the point in paying extra for the multi-track recording

option (I'm sure it is going to be pretty limited as a multi-tracker),

being able to save a record of a riff that is going through your head

so you don't lose it is a handy thing to always have in your pocket

with you when you're messing around.

 

All in all the product does what it says it's going to do for you, and

is a worthwhile investment so long as your expectations for it are not

unrealistic.

--

 

Hope this is of interest/help to some of you. Please let me know if you

have any particular questions. Also if you have experience or knowledge

that contradicts anything I've written, please share. I have only just

recently received my iRIG so there is probably still a lot I need to know.

[schundog]

WOW!! Thanks for that comprehensive review! I bought the AmpKit on a whim a couple months ago, downloaded the free apps you mentioned, both from Fender and Amplitube, and used it 2 or 3 times. Shame on me. Too many toys, including a POD HD500 I got after the AmpKit that kinda grabbed more of my attention. I fully intend to spend some more time playing around with the AmpKit, though. Thanks again for the good tips, like airplane mode.

[mars_hall]

While I can't say I have ever used the Amplitube version reviewed here, I did record a short clip using the PC based version back in 2007. I was using a hot-rodded Marshall voicing for the guitar and another clean voice for the bass. I thought the voicing was very useful and realistic for what I was doing.

 

http://www.soundclic...songID=11327887