The iPhone (and its soon-to-arrive big brother the iPad) is a device that's just begging to be transformed into a mobile guitar practise studio, and now industry big boys IK Multimedia have made it happen with AmpliTube iRig.
The iRig system is actually two parts - an app that contains a selection of studio-quality amps, cabinets, effects and mics, and a hardware interface that enables you to plug your guitar straight in to your iPhone, iPod Touch or iPad.
Once you've plugged-in, you'll be in control of a real-time guitar and bass rig that enables you to combine any three effects with an amp, cabinet and mic simultaneously.
And you'll have plenty to choose from, as iRig sports five amp models (clean, crunch, lead, metal, bass) with full tone and drive controls, 10 stompbox effects (delay, flanger, phaser, overdrive, distortion, filter, wah, fuzz, octaver, chorus), five cabinets and 2 mics (dynamic and condenser).
That's not all however, you'll be able to store up to 36 presets so that you can save your favourite tones, and there's also a handy tuner and metronome included to boot.
As befits a handy practise tool such as this, you'll also be able to import and play along with songs and backing tracks with real-time effects.
The key to the whole process though, is the iRig Plug Interface Adapter. This piece of hardware costs €29 (around £25) and enables you to plug your guitar into the iPhone's headphone socket.
While we've seen other guitar-to-iPhone adapters, such as PRS's Guitarbud, AmpliTube are specialists in this field and, with it being compatible with all other iPhone recording apps, and even synths and mixers, this could be an essential purchase.
Sensibly, IK have opted to provide us with three different versions of the software at different price points.
Amplitube Free is exactly that, a free app that contains just a single amp and cab, two effects and two mics, while the LE version (€2.39, probably £1.99 from the UK App Store) contains four stompboxes instead of two.
To get the full version, you'll have to fork out €15.99, but if you feel like you just want a few extra bits, you can buy extra stompboxes, amps and cabs from the iRig shop and add them to the LE or Free versions.
We're big fans of the full-fat AmpliTube software here at Guitarist, and the iPhone users among us are already drooling at the potential of iRig.
Keep an eye on Guitarist.co.uk for our first look at the iRig soon, and a full review in the magazine will surely not be far behind. In the mean time, visit the IK Multimedia website for more information.
Still not convinced? Check out the video below and be amazed…
