IK makes some quality modeling software and from the looks of it, can build a pretty good iPhone app as well. They recently announced their Amplitube iRig for the iPhone/iPad which is a full amp and effects rack for bass and guitar. I don’t see any screenshots of it on an iPad so I’m wondering if they are just upscaling the iPhone app, which would be a bummer.

They will release 3 different versions of the app, free (2 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 microphones), LE @ $2.99 (4 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 microphones), and full @ $19.99 (entire collection of available gear with 10 stompboxes, 5 amps+cabinets and 2 microphones). Then you have to pay for the adapter to plug in your guitar which runs $39.99, which seems ridiculous to me. Here’s what IK has to say about it:

AmpliTube iRig is a combination of an easy-to-use instrument interface adapter and guitar and bass tone mobile software.

Add amps and effects as you need them — you can expand your rig with up to 10 stomps, 5 amps, 5 cabinets and 2 microphones in the AmpliTube iRig app custom shop.

Read more here.

Curious what practical applications there would be for something like this outside of jam software. Thoughts?

There aren’t too many more touchy issues than volume when it comes to worship in the church. Usually the chain of events goes something like, lady in church complains to pastor it’s too loud, pastor tells the sound man to turn it down, sound man gets defensive and says he can’t control the mix with how loud the amps are on stage, sound man yells at the guitar player and guitar player says he can’t get the tone he wants with the amp turned to 1. Then more and more barriers are placed around the drummer for good measure.

Sound familiar? This is where a good SPL dB meter comes into play. It gives you a reading of how loud you are and gives you something consistent to set the mix to. They can range in price from $40 to $250, and for many churches it’s just not worth the money. Well in comes the iPhone and a nice, accurate SPL dB meter for $0.99. You can’t really beat that.

I used it at my church and we got a reading that the pastor was happy with and now we know from week to week what to set to. I’d highly encourage you to get some kind of dB meter, but this iPhone SPL dB meter certainly gets the job done. It even has some configuration options for using external mics, but comes pre-configured for the iPhone internal mic.

Many of you are aware that I don’t get paid for ministry work, I am what I like to call, full time volunteer. Yesterday I made a promo video for the iPhone app I work on that pays the bills. I did the soundtrack in GarageBand, great for quick little beats.

If you are interested in downloading the app we have a full version and free version on iTunes. Free version has static instead of animated radar, doesn’t let you set any radar options (transparency, speed), doesn’t let you drop pins on the map to get weather in precise locations and only lets you save 2 favorites. Go for the paid!

Here’s what caught my eye this past week:

• Ed Young recently made a video that chastises pastors, believers, leaders who use what he considers to be profane language. Words like: “sucks”, “pissed”, “screwed”, “hell”, “damn” etc… I’ll be honest, I use every one of the words regularly in casual language and don’t see them as “profane”. They are frequently inappropriate in some contexts but I don’t see them as profane. Profanity is contextualized in a given culture at a specific point in time. What was profane in the 60s I’m sure Ed Young says regularly. Contextualize, but don’t compromise.
• Re:Sound recently launched their official website and their first album released is Rain City Hymnal, which has some great new arrangements of old classic hymns. Something the Mars Hill guys excel at. Can’t wait for their new albums.
• Good feedback over at Ragamuffin from non-worship leaders on what their favorite worship songs are.
• Christian Audio is offering Eugene Peterson’s “Christ Plays in Ten-Thousand Places” audiobook free this entire month. Coupon code: JUN2009
• Church Soundguy has a great post on how to deal with microphone feedback.
• Sweet video on a new iPhone app Automap that will control Ableton Live. This could come in handy. Have I mentioned I really want Ableton Live 8? I gotta get on that.

I recently downloaded the Tempo iPhone App for $0.99. It has quite a few features for a little 99 cent app. When you first launch the app you see this screen:

First impression is not that pretty of a UI. Color scheme isn’t my favorite, not soft on the eyes. But they do present you with all the basic functionality you’d expect out of a click generator. You can set your time signature, beat type, volume controls and setting the tempo either through tapping or explicitly setting the BPM. The tapping feature seems a little sensitive, but after a while you can get the tempo average to mellow out and give you a decently accurate setting.

The only other screen available is the settings screen:

The Animate Meter Change is kind of a worthless setting. Just turns off a very brief animation when switching time signatures. Play mode is pretty cool. Overlay mode allows you to play a song from your iTunes library and run the App on top of it. So you can tap out a time to a song in your library. That’s pretty darn handy. Sound set just changes the audio that’s played for the click. Digital is the best sound they have I think. The bummer with the drum kit sound set is they don’t offset high-hat and snare based on the time sig. Both high hat and snare just play together on every beat. That’s not really what you want when using a drum kit click track. Tuner feature is kind of nice, just plays the note tone. Maybe in a pinch it could be handy. Would be much better if it read tones from the mic of course.

The biggest annoyance with the app is stability. You can make it crash every time if you start the click track, then navigate into settings and change some setting. So they have some work to do on bugs. Practically I think the best uses I see for it now is tapping out tempos in your library and having a portable click track for rehearsals and laying down scratch ideas. Here’s the final score based on a 5 point score, 5 being the best and 1 being the worst.

Appearance: 3

Features: 4

Usability: 4

Price: 4

Stability: 2

Overall: 3.4 / 5

The UI on this is pretty slick, quite apple’ish in fact. $5 seems quite reasonable as well, they have 2 versions, the Hip-Hop Edition and Club Edition.

 
iDrum for iPhone from Art Gillespie on Vimeo.

[via Synthtopia]