Monday, March 29, 2010

Amplitube 3 from IK Multimedia.

Part one, a first look at IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 .



 Let's take a close look at the stomp effect pedals found in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3, the newest "plug in" offering from IK Multimedia. It is sold as Bass and Guitar amp/effect/rack fx/cabinet,microphone modeling software, but with IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3's release, it has become much, much more applicable to a wide range of recorded sounds.
As a guitar player I love where the digital modeling world has headed. With plug ins', I have found some interesting ways to dial in the exact tone I am looking for. I have searched long and hard for "that one" piece of software that would allow me to find and then save my perfectly created tones with ease. Well, with the release of IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 my search is now over.





IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 places all of their stomps, rack effects, cabs, mics, and amps in one simple and very easy use interface. IK Multimedia a has come up with a way to quickly "dial up" different types of complete tone rigs, tweak them as you like it, and then save it as a preset! The whole world seems to be right in my hands! IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 also allows you to combine your library of amps/fx/cabs/amps (from their previous plug inns) in one easy to find location. All of the IK Multimedia refill packages (Jimi Hendrix, Fender, Metal, ect.) can be found and accessed within IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.

Incorporating these plug inns into your rig is a snap too, making IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3perhaps the most user friendly, the most powerful, and definitely the best sounding guitar and bass modeling software available today!

Boiling down just some of IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3s new and exciting features, and then peeking into IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.....

To say that IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 comes packed with tons of new gear (right out of the box) would be the gross understatement of our age. However, I feel that the real improvements can be found in the user preset/preset browser area. This new user/preset browser allows for a lot easier way (and a faster way) for the user to obtain their "own tone". In fact, faster than any of the previous offerings from IK Multimedia. This all new IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 allows for stereo signal processing which is great for all sorts of unique sound processing! I think my vocal tracks will really come alive after polishing them up with IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3.
IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 ships with a ton of new and exciting stomp effect pedals.

As I ventured (first) into the stomp effect section of Amplitube 3, it was clear that I should prepare myself for a world of new and interesting selections. Included in the "stomp browser" area is a way of choosing from either prior IK Multimedia refills' stomps, or right into IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 listing of incredible sounding new stomps. Included in the new stomps are some very powerful choices. Overall these stomps sound better than great, in fact very close to their real life counterparts, and each one sounds unique from the rest. There are no lame copies here.

The list of new stomps found in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 is vast, but I will supply you all with a "quick looksie".....

First on the list of new stomps found in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 are three delay pedals! One of which is a completely tweak able a tap delay! This is a very nice addition that all of you custom tone buffs will appreciate! Whatever beat you are working with, you can now get a custom delay to match!

Delay stomps

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 ships with (get this) eleven distortions!


Distortion stomps

These monsters range in tone from amazing re-creations of the most used and most sought after distortions on this planet right down to even your favorite boutique distortion pedal. Let me start this list with "the all mighty holy grail" stomp effect pedal that is the Ibanez Tube Screamer. Yep, it is in here! Weather you use one to bump up your signal just a bit or if you max that pedal out for cream sounding distortion, this stomp is dead on perfect! But if you like to go against the grain, there is a large selection of others, starting with the "Big Pig" distortion, a feedback distortion, some diode driven distortion stomps, and everything else in between. I really love the "Overdrive" stomp myself, as it adds a nice boost to the signal and it breaks up your signal just exactly where you where it to. These stomp pedals sound amazing, are completely tweakable, and they are just plain fun to jam with!


There are two compressor stomps in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3, a digital compressor and an analog type of compressor. Both work strikingly well, and bring out the body of my Fender guitar just as I wanted them to. These compressors are very nice working, and very nice sounding pedals, even when used all by themselves! Tweaking these stomps is simple as well, and the compression sounds very analog to me, and not like some of those lame "digital/limiting/ hard wall/cut off" pedals that are available for way more than the price of IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 all together!

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 ships with two brand new EQ stomp pedals. They are both graphic EQ's, one being a seven band and the other sports ten bands of EQ adjustment. They do a great job, and I recommend dropping one into your signal chain just because you now can!

With the release of IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3, IK Multimedia shines brighter than all of the competition. Point in case: the filter stomp pedal selection. Here you will find no less than eight new filter stomps to choose from! Four (of the eight) are different types of Wah pedals. The remaining four "filtering stomp pedals" are as follows: a low pass filter, an envelope filter, a step filter and lastly, a resonator stomp pedal. The step filter pedal steals the show here, as it allows for only 2, or all the way up to 16 steps! Plus you can select the note value/speed, and adjust the amount of "off to on ratio" within each of the steps. This all alone is a major pedal folks!

Filter stomps

IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 has a selection of 7 different fuzz stomp pedals! With 7 to choose from you can't help but to nail that sound you are aiming for. Weather you are looking for a vintage fuzzy tone, or a newer spanky blues based fuzzy tone, it is in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3's fuzz stomp section!

Fuzz Stomps

I love using flangers, chorus pedals, and of course my unique "modulating" effect pedals, just like you do too, right? Well, IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 comes with some awesome sounding flangers, choruses, and even a "Uni V" stomp! I think we all know what the "Uni V" pedal emulates, right? Let me just say that the vibe of this pedal is dead on perfect! This array of effects brings breath and life to any clean electric, or acoustic guitar signals. I also love a little flange on a bass guitar, just to introduce some personification.

Modulation stomps
With the selection of "pitch altering stomps" comes yet another perspective on just how powerful IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 really is. Have you heard that IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 is capable of processing in stereo? Have you heard that IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 works like magic when you run vocals through it? Well, the search for harmonic correct pitches in you vocals has become a snap!

Two harmonator pedals (one with an actual moving expression pedal), an octave signal generating stomp, and a pitch shifter round out this area of stomp selections in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3. Very cool pedals indeed!

Harmonizor stomps
Some might argue that I have saved the best stomp pedals for the last.

Included in the "other" category of stomp effect pedals you will find a "Swell" stomp, a Step slicer stomp, and an "expression pedal activated" volume stomp as well. The Swell stomp has become on of my favorite effect pedals. This awesome stomp acts like a reverse reverb effect, mixed with a hard wall limiter of sorts. Very cool sounds come jumping out of this pedal, and with little effort too! This pedal deserves its place in the group of pedals that you play through often. The step slicer has from 2 to 16 steps, and the note value can also be dialed in for whatever need you might have.
"Other" stomps

Yet another improvement worth mentioning in IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3's stomp effect pedal section is the ability to move the order of stomp pedals around by employing a simple "drag and drop". Why it was missing until now is a curiosity, but I suppose that even in real life we need to un-hook and then re-hook up our own effect pedals in order to do the same thing, right? Well, now you can perform a change in the order of the stomps with ease, which I quickly became a large fan of. This is just another one of the countless "better than real life" premises that IK Multimedia has built their software on. I am just reviewing this powerful software, but before I even had it in my hands I was telling myself "You need this tool in your arsenal". That is my story and I am sticking to it.

Make sure that you come back here soon for more parts in this series of posts dealing with IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3. You don't want to miss one signal post!

Thanks for stopping by, and please feel free to leave a comment, and you are always welcome subscribe too! See you soon!

3 comments:

  1. Amplitube is a great and you have great a good review. Still my own preference is Guitar Rig.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks, I have never tried it. I have tried out the Waves guitar "GTR" thingy, and it is good too. Hope to hear from you often! Like the podcast?

      Delete