Hasta La Gadget!

If you’re into recording or playing music, you’ll definitely want to enter this giveaway that we’re doing in partnership with our pals at Gear Diary and IK Multimedia.

One lucky winner will receive the iLoud portable speaker (valued at $299.99), a high-fidelity speaker designed specifically for musicians and audiophiles. This compact studio monitor has 40-watts of power, yet it’s small enough to tote around with you wherever you go. Not only does it crank out amazing sound for its size, but you can connect audio sources via Bluetooth, a 3.5mm jack for mobile devices, or a 1/4″ jack to connect your electric guitar or a microphone. It’s even got an iRig circuit built in, so you can use your mobile device to add effects to your jams.

In addition to the iLoud, the winner will receive a download key for GrooveMaker 2 (valued at $9.99). This cool iOS app lets you easily create non-stop dance beats in real time, without the need for in-depth musical knowledge. It’s easy to use, and lets you make tracks using either pre-packaged sets of samples, or your own recorded sounds.

We’re also giving away four additional keys to GrooveMaker 2 at various points throughout the contest. Enter early to increase your chances of winning one of these.

To enter the contest, simply fill out the form below. There are lots of ways to earn entries, so try them all to increase your chances of winning:

a Rafflecopter giveaway

Contest Ends 11:59PM CDT on March 19, 2014. See Terms and Conditions with entry form above.

I spent a lot of time at CES 2013 searching for new audio goodness and one of the cool things I found was IK Multimedia’s latest product called the iRig HD. Not “officially” announced yet and missing a release date, there were still a few demo units at their booth in the South Hall.

The iRig HD is an upgrade to the company’s previous and very popular iRig guitar interface for iOS mobile devices. Essentially, it allows you to plug your guitar or bass directly into your iPhone, iPad, or iPod Touch and use software to make recordings or affect the sound of your instrument. This HD version sports some new characteristics though:

• High quality input
• Low-noise, transparent high-definition preamp
• 24 bit Analog/Digital conversion
• Preamp gain control

The iRig HD seems like the next logical step for working musicians who want to have a compact setup to record their ideas, but want to capture those ideas with the highest fidelity.

It works with all existing IK Multimedia apps (like AmpliTube) but will also work with other real-time processing apps like Garageband.

IK Multimedia’s iRig STOMP pedal interface for iOS is now officially available.

I should also mention that approaching this official launch, I’ve been playing with the iRig STOMP for a week or so, (coupled with the iPad version of AmpliTube Slash), and the pedal is a real gas. It’s a really great little piece of hardware.

It’s been nearly a year since the pedal was announced at CES 2012. I saw it at the mega trade-show and was smitten, I can’t lie. Why? It promised to deliver something that was sorely missing from the native app/amp simulator ecosystem — a way to make native app mobile amp software really behave like and work with real guitar amplifiers. What was missing? Bypass. Gain. The tactile interaction of a real stompbox. Does the iRig STOMP deliver on these missing behaviors? I think it does.

The Positives
I already mentioned 3 things: Bypass, gain and tactile interaction.

Bypass
Part of the problem with using native apps and mobile devices as live effects processors for real amplifiers is that it can be tricky to truly bypass the apps and just hear the raw sound of your amp. It can be done, but it’s not always easy nor hassle free. It sounds silly, but one of the great things this pedal does is simply let you NOT use any effects. It lets you accomplish this with a click of your foot instead of noodling with a bunch of virtual knobs on a touch screen. That’s important.

Gain
It has a built in gain boost. This really adds strength to the signal you are sending to your amp.

Tactile Interaction
If it feels like a regular guitar pedal and you can hit it as hard as you would a regular pedal…it must be a real pedal right? Yes, I think it is a real guitar pedal and not a toy. As real as any A/B box or distortion pedal I’ve ever used (well, it’s still no Sovtek Big Muff, but you get what I’m saying here).

The Negatives
Honestly, I can’t think of any. It’s a great interface between iOS apps and real amplifiers. It’s $59.99 and it works as advertised (pretty much like all the other IK Multimedia products I’ve tried). I have yet to be disappointed by any of their hardware or apps.

But Could You Really Use This At A Gig? I Mean, Really?
I think you could. I was able to make my Mesa Boogie Walkabout bass amp sound like a crushingly loud Marshall JCM (again coupled with IK’s AmpliTube Slash iPad app). I don’t have a decent guitar amp these days, and I’m tempted to give this a whirl.

I’m sure purists could scoff at the idea of using a pedal to control an iPad that controls an amplifier, and honestly, I’m usually a bit squeamish about “software solutions” for guitars and basses in live situations, but this setup seems like it might actually work for my rhythm guitar aspirations.

Although I should note that in the setup I put together, I am not really able to easily simulate going from a distorted rhythm channel to a distorted lead without adding some other kind of boost pedal in the signal chain. But for switching back and forth between clean and affected tones, it was pretty great.