Ableton Forum

I just got a wonderful little Ampkit Link device. I have been having great fun playing with the free versions of both amplitube and ampkit for the iPad. I would like to buy the full version of one of them, but I cannot decide. People seem to think Amplitube is a ripoff because of its additional costs and have had bad experiences with IKM. Others say that Ampkit is just for shredheads (not my style). The free versions are pretty basic, so it's hard to get a sense of how the full versions would be. I am especially interested in clean and slightly crunchy tones, as well as the effects pedals. I was hoping someone could offer some advice.

I have generally been not that happy with Amplitube. It just plain does not work on one device, and pops and crackles on another. There have also been inconsistencies in the way it responds or works day to day. I have not touched it for a couple of weeks now, and plan on checking out Ampkit based on my current experience.

gjm - you probably know this but it's worthwhile to check the gain stages of virtual amps for overdrive that can cause digital clipping. it might not always be the VST that's causing CPU crackles but rather a hot guitar input or just a patch that was written to be a little too hot.

meh.

I own them both and each one has got a serious list of cons.

AmpKit doesn't even come with a proper delay pedal. Total fail. And I swear that half of the pedals are either fuzz or distortion or overdrive. Had to pay an extra 10spot for the additional FX package. AmpKit is great if you want to sit around and play Metallica riffs all day. The plus side? You can have pretty much as many pedals going as you want. The interface, and how you add or subtract pedals, is utterly hamfisted.

Amplitube isn't much better, but at least you get some FX that broaden your range of sounds beyond the hairband extravaganza. It also gives you a bass amp modeller- which AmpKit does not. You can only have a max of 4 pedals going; which completely sucks. Adding/changing pedals is a tad better with this one, but the method of saving presets is stupid. Adjustments are done by twirling the knobs on the pedals; which is way cooler than the slider method with AmpKit.

On second thought, I do prefer AmpliTube. The modeling is better for my tastes, and it's much quicker to change shit around. The interface is way nicer and rather slick. There's actually a pretty decent envelope filter included. God forbid AmpKit should include anything so avante garde.

I will say that the popup ads in AmpliTube are almost a deal breaker. Theres ads at each startup for some iPad mic stand holder thingy; as well as 5 new stomp boxes. omfg.

I've not noticed any bad clipping or feedback with either one. The key is to keep the iPad volume at half or lower to start out, and watch the gain as Tone pointed out.

The iLink is a better interface; though not quite the build quality of the iRig. It does have batter power; which helps clean the signal a bit to avoid feedback.

you sound so

agreed, in the end they're both pretty half assed solutions. you'll end up like a monkey fucking a football. a whole lot of effort without a lot of payoff.

One thing to keep in mind is that Amplitube won't play audio through the dock. At least it won't work with Sonoma Wireworks Guitar Jack, so I assume it probably wouldn't work with other dock audio devices. And output through the dock is the only way to avoid the dreaded crosstalk from the mic/headphone circuits by through the headphone jack. Haven't tried them myself but I've read the feedback gets amplified pretty quickly with a lot of the high gain settings. The Ampkit Link is supposed to help that a little bit in that it takes batteries.

I decided not to get either one, or bother to buy the cable in order to try the app demos. Seems like a nice idea but pretty much everyone has told me that the sound quality would never be useable on a gig, it's basically usable for practicing with headphones only. Might as well plug into a laptop, where you can run Live & have a good quality recording of any happy accidents. I was also turned off by not enough effects other than distortion.

icedsushi wrote:I decided not to get either one, or bother to buy the cable in order to try the app demos. Seems like a nice idea but pretty much everyone has told me that the sound quality would never be useable on a gig, it's basically usable for practicing with headphones only. Might as well plug into a laptop, where you can run Live & have a good quality recording of any happy accidents. I was also turned off by not enough effects other than distortion.

Yeah, you've pretty much nailed it here. The idea is very exciting. There's some real debate about whether or not your going to get better performance by using a dock connector audio cable. One guy on a YouTube vid says it helps quite a bit. Other folks on forums say nay, it doesn't

As much as it pains me to say this - because, well, I want my ENTIRE life to run through my iPad at this point, lol - these amp sim apps just don't cut it. A while back I ended up buying one of these, and it's what I'll stick with:



And it's just about the greatest thing since sliced bread. Excellent modelling, lots of FX, and it sounds absolutely killer.

LoopStationZebra wrote:

icedsushi wrote:I decided not to get either one, or bother to buy the cable in order to try the app demos. Seems like a nice idea but pretty much everyone has told me that the sound quality would never be useable on a gig, it's basically usable for practicing with headphones only. Might as well plug into a laptop, where you can run Live & have a good quality recording of any happy accidents. I was also turned off by not enough effects other than distortion.

Yeah, you've pretty much nailed it here. The idea is very exciting. There's some real debate about whether or not your going to get better performance by using a dock connector audio cable. One guy on a YouTube vid says it helps quite a bit. Other folks on forums say nay, it doesn't

As much as it pains me to say this - because, well, I want my ENTIRE life to run through my iPad at this point, lol - these amp sim apps just don't cut it. A while back I ended up buying one of these, and it's what I'll stick with:



And it's just about the greatest thing since sliced bread. Excellent modelling, lots of FX, and it sounds absolutely killer.

How do you switch tones with that live? Or are you saying it's excellent for playing/recording 1 killer tone at a time?

Tone Deft wrote:gjm - you probably know this but it's worthwhile to check the gain stages of virtual amps for overdrive that can cause digital clipping. it might not always be the VST that's causing CPU crackles but rather a hot guitar input or just a patch that was written to be a little too hot.

Thanks, I'll hit it again in the next week and a half and have another good look at things. I am wondering though how Multitasking friendly Amplitube is. One of the things I will look at is if you need to log out of email and Social Networking apps while using it. Sometimes the 'popping' reminds me of what I used to hear if I left my email program on when I was using my computer to play or record.


Overall there is enough variety for me and what I am using it for. I just don't like how flakey the app is. Sometimes nothing but the metronome works, everything else is dead. Next day come back and it all goes again. Sometimes arming track 1 has no affect on proceedings except for turning the little red light on or off. The speed trainer is absolutely useless, at least on every single song I have loaded. Even a 1-2% adjustment to speed creates an unusable track.

I really want it to work but its just marginal when it comes to reliability. It just plain refuses to work on my 2G Touch (the metronome works but nothing else) and its sketchy on my 4G Touch. I picked up 2 more 4G touches the other day but have not had a chance yet to load and try. Maybe its my iDevices, but some how i don't think so. IK's relentless bashing of their 'Best in the world' and 'No1 App' crap kind of annoys me. Like I say, I reeeally want it to work as advertised but it keeps coming up short.

Have you had a look at Stompbox (ipad). Layered in racks. It's got tons of effects and even a virtual foot contoller. Sound is ok.

But none of these toys come close to my Boss ME 70.

beats me wrote:

LoopStationZebra wrote:

icedsushi wrote:I decided not to get either one, or bother to buy the cable in order to try the app demos. Seems like a nice idea but pretty much everyone has told me that the sound quality would never be useable on a gig, it's basically usable for practicing with headphones only. Might as well plug into a laptop, where you can run Live & have a good quality recording of any happy accidents. I was also turned off by not enough effects other than distortion.

Yeah, you've pretty much nailed it here. The idea is very exciting. There's some real debate about whether or not your going to get better performance by using a dock connector audio cable. One guy on a YouTube vid says it helps quite a bit. Other folks on forums say nay, it doesn't

As much as it pains me to say this - because, well, I want my ENTIRE life to run through my iPad at this point, lol - these amp sim apps just don't cut it. A while back I ended up buying one of these, and it's what I'll stick with:



And it's just about the greatest thing since sliced bread. Excellent modelling, lots of FX, and it sounds absolutely killer.

How do you switch tones with that live? Or are you saying it's excellent for playing/recording 1 killer tone at a time?

I'm saying it's great for practice time. I've only used it live once or twice. You just use the up/down areas to scroll through tones.

brianbacio wrote:Have you had a look at Stompbox (ipad). Layered in racks. It's got tons of effects and even a virtual foot contoller. Sound is ok.

I've seen that, but haven't tried it out. Gotta check if there's a lite version.

Dunno. If it were me, I'd have created an app by which you've got an empty pedal board in front of you, and you simply drag pedals over to it from a menu at the right. You could zoom into a specific pedal, or leave the view as is. Pretty basic stuff in my mind, but....

Amp/cab selection would have been done on another screen. Drag an amp over from a menu. Drag a mic over from a menu. Move the mic where you want it in relation to the amp (like with Line6 software). Drag another cab over for a more full sound. Whatever. ...

LoopStationZebra wrote: Dunno. If it were me, I'd have created an app by which you've got an empty pedal board in front of you, and you simply drag pedals over to it from a menu at the right. You could zoom into a specific pedal, or leave the view as is. Pretty basic stuff in my mind, but....

Amp/cab selection would have been done on another screen. Drag an amp over from a menu. Drag a mic over from a menu. Move the mic where you want it in relation to the amp (like with Line6 software). Drag another cab over for a more full sound. Whatever. ...

I feel like both could use some tuning up. I have the same wish you do for a giant blank pedalboard. Mainly I have been looking for a way to set up my whole guitar rig (Amp, pedals, pedalboard) as it takes up a lot of space that is already dominated by midi/osc controllers. Thanks for all the input from everyone. To tell the truth, I'm still really on the fence. I don't like the idea of a 4 pedal limit (although I suppose I could use some ableton effects post-tracking) or the idea of a shred machine with lots of different distortion pedals. Ah, if only Line 6 would step in the game. I have had nothing but great luck with them. I still love my Pod XT Live!

this has been out for a few years
http://line6.com/m13/




that Tone Works thing looks like a toy.