I went ahead and bought myself an iRig HD 2 the other day. The plan for this was for me to be able to sit upstairs a little easier and noodle on the guitar without needing to drag my pedal and amp upstairs, which is just not practical.
Have a listen to me noodling on my Yamaha RGX as I you read through my thoughts on this piece of gear. It's not the cleanest soloing, but I put this together with GarageBand in only about an hour and it turned out alright for 3 unedited sections of making it up as I go.
P.S. I tried to upload this to DSound but it doesn't work on an iPad, so SoundCloud will have to do. Hopefully this will be fixed someday.
My first impression wasn't the greatest
From what I was reading on the internet, and on the IK Multimedia website, all you need is to plug a guitar into the iRig, and plug the iRig into the iPad and that's it.
It's not quite the way it works, which sort of pissed me off, but it still works pretty good. The thing that I was missing in all the descriptions and reviews I read before buying this was that you NEED to either use an amp or external speakers, or you have to wear headphones.
So basically, the iRig WILL NOT play any sound through the iPad unless there are other speakers plugged into it as well. I thought this was really a stupid design and it's not IKM's, it's Apple's stupid design. Whenever an audio device is plugged into the iPad, it disables the iPad's speakers. I get that you want to have good sound quality when dealing with audio recording and such, but sometimes you just want to jam on the couch and don't want to be all tangled up in cords running all over the place.
It took me a day of troubleshooting, searching forums, and finally an email to IKM's help desk before they told me that it was the way the iPad was designed. Not the end of the world, but still a big piss-off because the whole reason I bought it was to do what I now can't really do without at least one extra cord attached to me.
Okay, I'll stop bitching about the one thing that is wrong with the device and get on to what is cool about the whole thing.
Cost
First off, this thing is really affordable and there are a few different versions to fit your budget. I think the cheapest is the regular iRig, which is only about $35 USD. The iRig HD 2, which is what I got, ran me about $120 USD ($150 CAD).
This is really a steal if you think about what comes with it. It comes with AmpliTube 4 for PC and Mac, which is $150 USD. So right there, it's cheaper to buy an iRig than to buy AmpliTube by itself. It also comes with AmpliTube Custom Shop, SampleTank Custom Shop, TRackS 5 Custom Shop, and TRackS Custom Shop for PC and Mac. And on top of that it comes with Amplitube for iPhone/iPad which is another $30 value. I haven't tried any of the plugins yet on my PC, but I've tried TRackS and SampleTank in the past and they are pretty cool plugins for recording. I'm sure I'll get some use out of them.
There are many other iRig interfaces available, from preamps for microphones, to stomp boxes for controlling your amp live, to broadcasting mounts for your phone to use the camera. There's something for every level and budget.
Small and adjustable with high quality sound.
It's small enough to fit in the tiny little compartment in the hard case for my Gibson, so that is fantastic. You don't need to plug it into a power source either, just the iPad.
The gain is adjustable right on the side of the iRig so you can get a perfect level for recording. There is also headphone volume on the side as well. And, there is an FX Bypass switch on the side. This allows you to either get a clean sound sent to the amplifier, or use the FX chain from AmpliTube.
And it sounds really good. I haven't tried it hooked up to my amp yet, but the reviews are excellent in that respect. It also had a great headphone amp that actually outperforms the one on the iPad. So far, it's pretty impressive.
Features at a glance
Here's the list of features of the iRig HD 2 from the IKM site.
High definition digital guitar interface for iPhone, iPad, Mac and PC
High-quality instrument-level 1/4" Hi-Z input jack
Detachable cables for Lightning and USB included
Preamp input gain control
Headphone output with preamp and level control
1/4" Amp Out jack with switchable output “FX” and “Thru”
High-quality low-noise, high-definition guitar preamp
High-quality 24-bit A/D conversion
96kHz sampling rate – the highest in its class
Powered by the iOS device or USB
Can be used with line level signals from synthesizers, keyboards and mixers
Ultra-compact and lightweight – fits in your pocket, laptop bag or gig bag
Comes with microphone stand mounting clip and Velcro strip
Comes with AmpliTube 4 for Mac/PC
Unlocks full version features and gear of AmpliTube for iOS (Free download from App Store)
My thoughts on IK Multimedia
Well I think the hardware side of the company is spot on. So far, this is a quality product, which are reflected in all the reviews I've read, and I'm satisfied so far after using it for only a few hours. On the software side, this company is just like all the rest. I'm glad all these programs that the iRig came with were "free" because I'd never pay the price they want for them.
Let's just go with Amplitube for the iPad. It's $30 by itself. Already this is quite a big price tag for an app. For this $30, you'll get 17 different pedal options, 8 different amp heads, 10 different stacks, and 9 different post effects. I guess this is pretty good, but the app is filled with more. To buy everything else available in the app would cost you another $210. So for anyone that already shelled out the $30 would quickly find out that they only bought their way into the program and it's designed to get you buying more. You can't even record without paying another $30 and that is really disappointing. To say that you get the "full" version of Amplitube for the iPad and then you have to shell out at least another $30 just to unlock the record feature is an incredibly dirty trick. They've even called the recording part of the app a different name, just so they could claim that AmpliTube is the full version. That's incredibly slimy.
I haven't tried it yet so maybe I'm wrong, but I'm willing to bet AmpliTube, SampleTank, and all the rest are designed the same way. Someone could spend thousands and thousands of dollars to actually get the "full" version of these programs.
I've noticed there are a lot of audio effects companies like this. I understand that a lot of these companies are geared towards high end recording studios. For some reason, things have to be expensive to be good in the music industry I guess. I don't blame anybody that goes out and finds these plugins on torrent sites if you're just messing around. I've used ProTools for over 15 years now and all these plugin companies just want too much money for there little programs.
GarageBand
The main reason I got the iRig was to use with GarageBand. It works awesome and, aside from the iPad speaker issue, it's just what I need to record my guitar on the iPad. This program, which used to be like $10 but is now free, is the kind of product IKM should be striving to put out with AmpliTube. There are constantly free sounds and instruments being added and it's a cool little app to get your ideas down quickly. It certainly doesn't replace a PC or Mac DAW like ProTools, FruityLoops, or Reaper and I wouldn't expect it to. But, it's really quick to record your ideas or to brainstorm new riffs while playing along with the session drummers and maybe a bass riff or two.
I put this first song together in about an hour. This included learning how to use GarageBand a little more in depth than playing with the drum machine. I wish there were a little more features on the iPad version, and maybe there are, I just haven't figured out how to do it yet. I mainly wish there was a way to fade tracks in and out without automating the whole track volume. And another thing, I wish there was a way to record multiple takes. I know that would be space heavy on an iPad but if it was even temporary takes it would make a huge difference for a guitar player. Being able to run through a lead part multiple times and then take the best parts from each take is a key thing for digital recording. GarageBand, to my knowledge right now, will not let you do that without making a new track for each take.
I also noticed the feature to connect multiple users together via Bluetooth. This would be really cool to try with someone else that has an iPhone/iPad. It would work wether they had an actual instrument or not because there are so many virtual instruments on it, you could make a cool little recording with multiple people just from those instruments.
This is a super simple, super handy app that the iRig opens up for my guitar. It will be great while traveling or if I need to get an idea laid down quickly without having to fire up my PC, DAW, guitar pedal, preamps, etc. Just plug the iRig in and record what I need wherever I'm at.
Sum it up already
All in all, it's a cool little piece of kit, but IKM should do a little more to make their software affordable.
I'm going to get a bit of use out of it just by sitting on the couch. It should get me playing guitar more than I have been just for that simple bit of convenience. I'd recommend picking one up if you're a musician looking for something a little more portable than dragging an amp and pedal with you everywhere just to practice.
Just be weary of IKM, they'll suck your bank account dry if you're not careful.