Amplitude 2 - A Review
Cabinets, Cont'd
You've got 1x6, 1x8, 1x12, 2x12, 4x10, 4x12 and even a 1x15 bass cabinet. The six microphones give you a choice from the Shure SM57, Sennheiser MD421 and MD441, Neuman U87 and KM84 and the AKG C414. You can place them on or off axis, in a far or close mic'd position and even mix in the ambient background reflections - if you like.
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You've got 1x6, 1x8, 1x12, 2x12, 4x10, 4x12 and even a 1x15 bass cabinet.
Rack Effects
With wide range of stomp box effects available it sort of begs the question as to why bother another load of rack effects later on in the signal chain?
But then why not have it all - it is true to the signal chain of the technology minded guitarist and gives an opportunity to effect the signal post amp, as you would through a mixer, and offers stereo possibilities that you wouldn't be able to put before the preamp. This turns up an issue in Cubase and Sonar - to make use of the stereo effects you have to be recording onto a track with a stereo output, which means a stereo track.
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The parametric EQ on the previous version of Amplitube was regarded very highly and again the EQ does not disappoint.
Using a stereo track to record a guitar (which is mono) leaves you with a recorded track with the guitar on the one channel and nothing on the other which is a bit of a waste of hard disk space. Also if you bypass the effect at any time you guitar will only come out of one side - only with the effect inserted do you hear the guitar in stereo.
Pro Tools, however, deals with this much better in providing a mono track that converts to a stereo output when you add the plug-in. These are just logistical annoyances and have more to do with the host software than Amplitube 2.
Anyway, you get some nice stereo modulation, reverb and an excellent delay with different modes including left/right ping pong, left/centre/right and dual. The parametric EQ on the previous version of Amplitube was regarded very highly and again the EQ does not disappoint. All the effects have good, simple and well laid out controls and couldn't be easier to use, so all in all a good useable selection of rack effects to round the plug-in off nicely.
Control
IK Multimedia have designed the ultimate hardware floorboard controller for use with Amplitube 2 called the Stomp I/O. It includes a bunch of footswitches for changing presets and turning stomp boxes on and off and includes an audio interface to get your guitar into the computer in the first place.
Probably the most interesting feature is the control inputs that allow you to plug in other controllers and expression pedals to expand the foot based controlling possibilities. Unfortunately at the time of writing the Stomp I/O is still under development. This also explains why there is currently no stand alone version of Amplitube 2 available - this will come with the Stomp I/O and so at the moment we only have a plug-in version.
Having played with Amplitube 2 for a few days I can't help but be impressed.
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IK Multimedia have designed the ultimate hardware floorboard controller for use with Amplitube 2 called the Stomp I/O.
Without a dedicated controller this leaves us looking into the somewhat murky world of MIDI control. Cubase, for instance, has an excellent "Generic Remote" function that allows you to map any MIDI controller to any loaded plug-in parameter.
One flaw in this is that when you click on assignment field you are presented with a list of all available parameters but it only allows ten characters for each name, something that IK haven't quite grasped. So say you wanted to control the bypass on the Overscream stomp box you're faced with choosing randomly from a list of four parameters all called simply "Overscream" and it's listed twice, once for each stomp section.
This isn't IK's fault as such but they could have thought about it a bit more. In Pro Tools there's no ability to create a generic remote controller and so MIDI control, unless you have a Digi002, is pretty much non-existent.
In Sonar the handy "Remote Control" option allows you to assign any MIDI controller to any parameter very simply and by "MIDI learn" where you move your control, click a button and your hardware is instantly controlling the software. Once it's ready, the Stomp I/O should greatly enhance the control and so the playability and performance capability of Amplitube 2.
Conclusion
Having played with Amplitube 2 for a few days I can't help but be impressed by how it wants to draw me in, how it makes me want to play and how much pleasure I get from playing with it.
In terms of sound quality it simply excels, whether through headphones or studio monitors it sounds and feels authentic, crunchy, warm and dreamy in all the right places - it's a wondrous thing of beauty.
There's nothing particularly new here, no attempt has been made to push back the boundaries of guitar tone technology, but instead you get all the amp sounds, effects and tones that you've ever wanted coupled with the ease of use of the original hardware.
Comparisons, of course, will be drawn with Native Instruments Guitar Rig 2 but where Native have gone for innovation I feel that IK have gone for authenticity and when it comes to tones that make you smile; Amplitube 2 gives you the Cheshire cat of tooth filled grins. Although it currently lacks dedicated foot based control and a stand-alone version making it difficult to recommend for live use, for use in the studio, especially somewhere where you can't mic up a real guitar amp, it's an absolute winner.
Copyright 2008 by Robin Vincent and licensed to Rain Recording. All rights reserved.