AmpliTube 2 arrives today with new effects, recording, bounce to audio, export/import, practice tools, and in-app purchase of extra stomp modules. I’ve been playing with a pre-release version for the last few days. Combined with an audio interface like IK Multimedia’s own iRig, AmpliTube 2 turns your iPhone or iPod touch into a handheld, pocket-able workstation.

But let’s step back for a moment and consider what that means. What would you want a device to do for your music if that device fit in the palm of your hand?

Last week, I raised the question of physical size, inspired by a great quote by Sasha Frere-Jones – there regarding listening, not creation, but just as apt. The message was, in short, size matters. An iPhone is not an amp. But an amp – a big box designed for the purpose of making lots of sound – is not an ideal practice tool. So, one of the clear advantages of something like AmpliTube is the ability to plug in a personal listening device and just practice, complete with effects and amp sounds, without disturbing others. AmpliTube 2 accordingly adds news practice tools, by importing sounds and allowing you to adjust speed of playback, ideal for learning tracks.

But AmpliTube isn’t just for guitarists wanting a pocket-sized practice amp. With AmpliTube’s beefed-up recording capabilities and effects, it becomes a handheld recording sketchpad, not only for guitarists but anyone wanting to record, well, anything. That has two advantages. It’s mobile, so you can record in a practice studio without opening up a whole laptop. But more subtly, it can be a tool better-suited to sketching ideas and building the raw materials of a track than a full-blown DAW is.

Think of it this way: you’re fiddling with a synth, or playing a quick guitar line, or making sounds with a toy you got off of eBay. Sure, you could immediately open your DAW, but then you’re in the mindset of a tool designed to build finished tracks. For play and exploration, staying away from the computer, and using something scaled to your hand that you can carry anywhere, can be a big boon to performance. As we saw with Moog’s Filtatron earlier this month, having a tool that not only records audio but adds some creative effects enroute can be a whole lot of fun. Now, you can add AmpliTube to the same category.

Producers long ago discovered the advantage of the bounce: it commits you to making a sound that you can’t touch. With all that audio apps can do, that can be critical.

Many readers have complained that iPhone apps and the like win big on novelty, but don’t fit into their workflow. That means subtle additions – easy bouncing of tracks, easy syncing of files to and from a computer – are absolutely essential.

I also think feel like MusicRadar is asking the wrong questions:
Can you record a full song with AmpliTube 2 for iPhone? [MusicRadar]

My answer, personally: who cares? If we constantly compare iOS apps to their desktop counterparts, we can easily miss the point of both. To me, it’s more fair to ask, how is recording a song on an iPhone different than doing it on a computer? I hope to have some quick videos of AmpliTube and Filtatron in the next couple of weeks, but I find them terrific tools for capturing ingredients for later productions, and as companions to other mobile devices. Kudos to the blog Palm Sounds. Before the iPhone was even announced, that author appreciated the advantage of making things smaller, for creativity and practicality, appreciated that they’re not a different animal, not simply a replacement for existing tools.

AmpliTube is just one of many tools competing in this space, but with some of the potential of handhelds in mind, here’s a tour of what’s new in AmpliTube 2.

Record: A free, included one-track recorder tracks input, with or without effects, to audio. You can also add effects afterward. A paid-add-on (US$9.99/EUR7.99) will boost the recorder to multi-track functionality, as pictured here, and adds a master effects section with reverb, EQ, and compression. But there’s something nice about the simplicity of the one-track version, too.

“Re-amping” also means you could bring some raw field recordings or audio snippets and experiment with adding effects while on the go. (Better get some closed earphones if you’re doing this on your morning commute, huh?)

Bounce audio: Export recordings and mixes as WAV files or (for emailing) MP3s. That should resolve complaints about the fidelity of the output on Apple’s mobiles.

File sharing, import/export: You can import songs directly from your iTunes library, or use file sharing or wifi, making it easy to grab a song for practice later – or, for producers, perhaps as a way to sketch new ideas atop existing tracks.

…and practice features: Once you’ve imported, as you can see in the controls behind the dialog above, you can practice with the track. “SpeedTrainer” slows or speeds playback without impacting pitch.

New effects, stomps: Compressor, Reverb, Parametric EQ, Graphic EQ and Limiter are all available as in-app purchases. With all the versions, including the free ones, IK say they’ve improved the sound quality of the gear and ported DSP code from their Mac and Windows software, AmpliTube 3 and T-RackS 3. You certainly get top-grade effects, I’ll say that.

Presets/snapshots: You can now name presets. That means calling up favorite combinations is easy, particularly with AmpliTube’s grid-style preset layout, pictured here.

In-app add-ons, purchases: Taking advantage of a feature afforded them by Apple, IK now sell additional add-ons. Before that turns you off, the stock versions do include plenty of effects. What’s nice here is, you can pick out what you need. We could be looking at the future of audio software in general, though this does illustrate an ongoing complaint I hear from some users about iOS: they want to be able to mix and match effects from different vendors, just as they can on PCs with technologies like VST and ReWire. So far, that isn’t possible on iOS, though developers are investigating the issue. I have to wonder, at the same time, though, whether some of those restrictions aren’t creatively useful.

And the rest… This version also features 50 song slots for import and a setup panel with input and output controls. That adds to the existing features of AmpliTube for iOS:

• Tuner, metronome.
• 3 simultaneous stomp slots, plus an amp with effects, cabinet, and mic settings.
• Low-latency playback.

There are three versions; even the free version is fairly capable. (The free version also includes add-on support, so if you just want the four-track recorder, you can even add it to the free release.)

AmpliTube: 11 stompboxes, 5 amps + cabinets, 2 microphones $19.99/€15.99.
AmpliTube LE: 5 stompboxes, 1 amp + cabinet, 2 microphones $2.99/€2.39.
AmpliTube FREE: 3 stompboxes, 1 amp + cabinet, 2 microphones, free

Additional stomps are US$2.99/EUR2.39 each.

Stay tuned for some video; let us know your impressions if this is something you use.

AmpliTube 2 for iPhone

AmpliTube iRig (which, incidentally, attaches to the audio jack, not the Dock Connector – meaning you could use this and a MIDI adapter at the same time)

With previews and teasers, it’s sometimes easy to miss when useful new tools actually become available to you. Two tools this week became available, each potentially high on the utility end of the spectrum.

There’s no shortage of variety in iOS music creation apps, but when people really want to get down to music making, many of them want to focus on one tool, not twenty. (That’s not universal – ask Richard Devine‘s screaming VST plug-in folder – but you ought to at least be able to make such a choice.) It’s therefore little surprise that there’s been a lot of buzz around NanoStudio.

NanoStudio incorporates a range of tools in one app. There’s a virtual analog synth, a 4×4 pad for sampling and sample playback, a sequencer for notes and control, a mixer and rack of mastering effects. The emphasis is clearly on completing entire productions. In more lightweight form, it reflects some of the appeal of tools like Reason and FL Studio (particularly recalling, say, the simpler early releases of Fruity Loops). That’s not a totally new idea on iOS – Intua’s Beatmaker was an early entry for those wanting an integrated studio – but it’s an especially nice take here.

In control and sampling, NanoStudio looks really flexible. The virtual analog synth has extensive envelope and LFO controls, and input from X/Y controllers, pitch bend, and your iPhone accelerometer. You can even insert up for four independent synths. The sampler will work with the built in mic, it’ll bring in samples from your PC or Mac, and – best of all – you can resample from NanoStudio.

All in all, it looks like NanoStudio could be the more comprehensive production studio on iOS yet, without sacrificing simplicity and large, readable interfaces. You can buy it now on the App store for GBP8.99, and there’s a free trial of a development version for Windows and Mac (minus the touch features) so you can see if you like it first.

Full details at the developer site: http://www.blipinteractive.co.uk/index.php, or follow on Twitter

In other news, IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube package of virtual guitar amp/effects/tools is now available for iPad. In a basic version, it’s actually free, with three stompboxes, one amp/cabinet, and two mics. The idea is to get you hooked, and either collect additional tools via a la carte downloads, or get the full collection for US$19.99. Without external hardware, AmpliTube isn’t much use, but you can buy interfaces from IK and other vendors. (You can also use an existing class-compliant USB audio interface with the iPad.) Consensus from readers is that these mobile guitar tools would be best as on-the-go practice tools. As opposed to the iPhone, the iPad gets a big, gorgeous, readable interface. It’s still not a stage tool – not until Apple finds a way to perfect iPad input with your feet. (Hey, that may not stop someone from stripping their socks off, putting their iPod on the floor, and using this with their toes.) But as a practice tool, it’s another option.

iRig for iPad Information [IK Multimedia]

It’s still not shipping, but one of IK’s rivals has fleshed out their website since I covered them last; see AmpKit. And you will, incidentally, be able to mix and match apps and interfaces, meaning even IK fans may want to keep an eye out.

Previously: Virtual Reality: Guitar Notation, Amps, and Effects Appear on Apple Mobiles

Diego Stocco – Bassoforte from Diego Stocco on Vimeo.

Odds are you don’t have a dismantled piano you keep in the garden, awaiting conversion to a fantastic, imaginative electro-acoustic instrument. But that’s unlikely to make you covet the instrument above any less.

Diego Stocco is a composer, instrumentalist, sound designer, and mad inventor. Among many recent accomplishments, he’s responsible, in collaboration with Hans Zimmer, for some of the imaginative sounds that populated Guy Ritchie’s “Sherlock Holmes.” In many ways, he’s a reminder that the expressive potential of digital music isn’t limited to the virtual. He couples raw acoustic materials from sand to modified instruments with recording and digital processes. In the case of the Bassoforte, that means the use of IK Multimedia’s tone-rich amp models and effects in their flagship AmpliTube software. Hold a mic to something, or add a pickup, and the sound takes on a new form.

The Bassoforte’s construction was an exploration, building resonance out atop the mechanical construction at its heart with unexpected additions like a chimney cap. Then, its musical realization, too, calls upon Diego’s unique talents as a player and composer. He explains some of the process to CDM:

I built this thing by combining a bunch of different parts, including cabinet handles as bridges : )

It came out fun to play because I can interact with it in different ways, but it’s also tricky to control, because the tuning is a thing on its own.

He explains the tuning idiosyncrasies on the gallery of the instrument:

The neck is slightly tilted, so when I press a key I can push all four strings at the same time. But because the piano keys are not perpendicular to the frets, the tuning is imprecise (which I like), and can also generate in-between semitones. How strong I push the keys also affects the tuning.

It can be a little tricky to play, but overall, I’m very happy about how it came out.

He also tells CDM about how he’s relating to the instrument now that it’s built:

I’m still discovering it because I just built it, but it sounds [as if] for each [note], there’s also a secondary note that gets produced by the other half of the strings (on the side of the bell), so the higher the pitch, the louder this secondary note is. It creates these bi-chords that can sound very interesting.

The idea for the track I created came to me exactly because of that; I was just pressing the keys randomly trying to figure out what to do and then I found one very nice bi-chord, then a second one, and from there I got the idea for the rest. It wasn’t really a conscius decision to create a “Western” tune, it just happened that way

If you’re loving the track as much as I am, you can grab it on Bandcamp for $.99 in various high-quality formats, along with other albums with self-explanatory names like “Music from a Tree” and “Music from Sand.”

And for more information, check out the gallery Diego has posted, which includes additional notes from behind the scenes:
http://www.behance.net/gallery/Bassoforte/535175

Previously:
Real for Reel: The Amazing Sherlock Holmes Experibass, and More Winter Cinema Sounds

Ah, amplifiers and stompboxes. We hardly knew ye. Once exclusively the stuff of tubes, wires, cabinets, aluminum, and electronics, guitar amps and pedals have for years been available in growingly-sophisticated software models. Once the electronics of sound become software, there’s nothing stopping them from running on any computer – which now includes computers disguised as mobile phones, like the iPhone. (In fact, I expect that trend will accelerate; mobile processors are providing expanded access to native DSP functions.)

Before anyone gets to ask whether a phone is the ideal device for such a task, in the spirit of technological advancement, you’ll see simulated guitar processing from various parties.

In the past 24 hours, not one but two developers made official announcements. Agile Partners, makers of iOS’ Star6 music making software, TabToolkit tab notation tool (also on iPad), and GuitarToolkit tuner + metronome + chords and scales, partners with Peavey. IK Multimedia, makers of the industry-standby AmpliTube guitar emulation software, offer their own iPhone-specific release of AmpliTube.

AmpKit LiNK hardware [Peavey, with pre-order info]

http://ampkitapp.com [Official site]

AmpliTube iRig [IK Multimedia]

Dueling Banjos: Two Upcoming Simulations, Close Feature Sets

Here’s a quick comparison of IK’s AmpliTube and Agile/Peavey’s AmpKIT.

Hardware: Onboard audio hardware clearly won’t cut it, so both AmpliTube and AmpKIT offer specialized hardware connections. AmpKit LiNK promises to “raise the audio fidelity bar” and includes built-in cross-talk elimination for reducing feedback. iRig has its own electrical impedance adaption for line- and guitar-level input. Both cost $39.99, both have audio inputs and outputs, and most importantly, since they appear simply as audio devices, both work with any iPhone audio app. So, if IK’s software turns out to be better and Peavey’s hardware, or visa versa, you’ll be able to mix and match. Only Peavey has a skinny dude with no shirt on.

The models: AmpliTube includes 3 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 mics in a free app, two addition stompboxes in the US$2.99 LE, or a full 11 stompboxes, 5 amps + cabinets, and 2 mics for US$19.99. There are also a la carte models for $2.99-$4.99 each.

What’s included? IK says it will offer, in the full version: “5 amp models (clean, crunch, lead, metal, bass) with full tone and drive controls, 11 stompbox effects (delay, flanger, phaser, overdrive, distortion, filter, wah, fuzz, octaver, chorus, noise filter), 5 speaker cabinets (1×12”, 2×12”, 4×12” A & B”, 1×15) and 2 microphones (dynamic and condenser).”

AmpKit has 10 amps, 12 cabinets, 12 pedals, and 6 mics, and will also offer add-ons. Software pricing and details are currently unavailable; I’ve requested more details and will update the story when I get them.

So, both are pretty cheap; it’ll just be a matter of which software works better, and which models sound better.

Extras: AmpliTube also includes importable song playback for backing tracks (complete with real-time effects), 36 presets, and an onboard tuner and metronome, apparently in all editions – even the free one.

AmpKit also has backing tracks, custom setups with up to 12 pedals each, unlimited presets (instead of just 36), a tuner, and metronome.

Compatibility: Both work on the iPhone, iPod, and iPad.

Bottom line: These are nearly-identical products with nearly-identical feature sets. So, may the best one win.

Will people actually want it? To me, the key feature here is as a practice tool. With the iPod touch well under $200 (especially with refurbs), and no contract, guitarists get an interface that’s cheap, portable, and allows them to practice and jam anywhere. As a replacement for full-blown amp rigs, it’s probably still too limited, but that isn’t the point. If you’re recording a track or playing a live gig, it’s likely worth the extra effort to use a computer. The competition for these devices isn’t that, or even real amps; it’s the little handheld devices we’ve seen in the past for practicing, and this shouldn’t have a hard time blowing those things out of the water on price, performance, and ease of use.

Of course, the one thing you don’t get is an actual speaker. And neither of these tools has a solution for actually controlling the stomp boxes – since those would defeat the portability factor. As long as humans have ears, amps and portable amps will remain a big hit. But as practice tools, they’re likely to be big hits.

Guitar tab on iPad

Pocketable practice amps are fun, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t point to TabToolkit. It’s the only music software to be awarded an Apple Design Award this year at the World Wide Developer Conference. The feature set is pretty extraordinary, especially on the iPad: it’s the first really usable-looking, full-featured notation software on iOS. US$9.99 buys you the ability to import notation from a variety of formats — Guitar Pro, Power Tab, PDF and text tab. With the amount of text tab online, that’s a pretty big deal. It then provides tablature and standard notation views. Sure, you could just, you know, print this stuff out, and for that reason, it’s probably not going to be enough on its own to justify an iPad purchase. Likewise, you lose something in the translation from paper: it’s not quite as easy to just pick up a pencil and make a quick fingering note while you’re learning a score. But it’s nonetheless a pretty impressive way to manage access to a variety of scores, a sort of virtual fakebook of sorts, it assists people learning to play guitar with interactive fret display, and it looks like a powerful tool for play and practice.

Also, good choice of song:

Virtual backlash?

It was interesting as always to read comments last week as I reflected that phones aren’t everything in music and subsequently composed a set of haikus to try to restore perspective.

Here’s my short prediction: iPhones, iPods, and iPads are tools, and they do demonstrate how powerful mobile processors can be. At the same time, just as with computer software, musicians may find that they get a certain amount of virtual fatigue, and long for actual hardware. I think part of what will keep all of this in balance is that, for every polished and controlled device like the iPhone, there will be greater interest in DIY and music-dedicated software and devices, for everything shiny, consumer gadget with virtual software, a renewed interest in raunchy, physical hardware. And that’s a good thing.

Understood this way, a practice tool you can put in your pocket is pretty amazing. It’s not a replacement for a trusted, beloved amp. In fact, it might make you see the latter in new ways.

Analysis elsewhere:
iPhone amp modelling arms race escalates! [MusicRadar]

That seems going a bit far. I’d say this is more like when those two asteroid movies came out at the exact same time.

Standalone + plug-in, with Mac Intel and Windows Vista compatibility included. Promotion details over at IK Multimedia’s site.