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Anyone Here Brave Enough to Use an iPad Live as Your Effects Rack?


Anderton

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Just wondering...yes there are plenty of cool iPad products to get those sounds, but I wonder if anyone is actually using them live, not just at home or in the studio.

 

 

Not ipad. But I HAVE used Amplitube as the entire rig a few times. I've found that live engineers like it, but it feels terrible to play through. Not so much the latency. I did see a student do an audition for Berklee once using an ipod touch as his rig. it can work in certain situations. Don't bring it to the local blues jam.

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Digitech just recently introduced a floor unit to do something like this.


 

 

Yeah, but that's really a waste. iPad only used as a touch screen interface...and the unit appears to require it to edit! That plus the idea of putting the iPad in the stomp arena seems disastrous. So your tethered to an iPad if you want to edit, but its unclear (actually they distinctly say all their processing happens outside the iPad) whether or not you can add effects from the iPad within the ipb-10 signal chain. I'd love an ipb-10 without the iPad dongle...

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I use an iPad with the iRig interface and the AmpKit+ app as my live guitar rig all the time.

 

I have the iPad mounted on a mic stand with the iKlip, and both vocals and iPad output run into a two-channel acoustic amp for smaller venues, and a bigger PA with monitors for the larger venues.

 

So for those smaller venues, I bring in:

 

a small carrying case containing my iPad, mic, cables, etc

a mic stand

my guitar

a small or medium sized 2-channel acoustic amp

 

It's nice carrying everything I need for the entire gig in two easy trips.

 

I also do a semi-regular webcast of live music and the iPad is my rig for those shows as well.

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Yeah, but that's really a waste. iPad only used as a touch screen interface...and the unit appears to require it to edit! That plus the idea of putting the iPad in the stomp arena seems disastrous. So your tethered to an iPad if you want to edit, but its unclear (actually they distinctly say all their processing happens outside the iPad) whether or not you can add effects from the iPad within the ipb-10 signal chain. I'd love an ipb-10 without the iPad dongle...

 

 

Got some more info for you I gleaned at Summer NAMM, and actually, the thing is really clever. Yes, the iPad is required to edit, and is the touch screen interface. However, all the DSP is within the IPB-10 so once you've programmed your sounds and done all your footswitch assignments and such, you can download them to the IPB-10 and leave the iPad at home. It's not any different conceptually from using a computer-based editor to program synth patches, then put them in your synth to use onstage...although if you want to have the editor with you, it's probably easier to bring an iPad than a desktop or laptop.

 

If you decide you MUST have the iPad available for editing while you're on stage, it lives behind a protective clear plastic plate so you'd have to stomp through the plate to get to the iPad.

 

I also liked that there's an effects loop you can put anywhere in the signal chain. Here's a video I shot at NAMM:

 

[video=youtube;_6mDcUJfASk]

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I wonder how long it's going to take them to put this in a package the size of a flash drive and have it loaded into a guitar with a 50 or so position midi rotery knob for patches...
:p
.......
:idea:

 

I think that's called "Firebird X," except it's 55 patches. :)

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Are you aware that it's available as a VST plug-in? It's excellent.

 

 

Yep - that's why I'm guessing an iPad app is next. If he could sell it as a $50 app (or less), I'm betting his installed base would go through the roof . . .

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That's what I'm waiting on - supposed to be out in Nov. Glad to hear that smeone is gigging live with similar product. I plan to try it with the iKlip. Think I'll still take the TubeScreamer and Wah as I'm not crazy about digital OD & wah sounds, but this thing could be really cool. Wonder where in the chain of all this would you put the real pedals? And I'd love to have a guitar with built-in dist, but I'm not paying $5,500 for the Firebird. With the small chips these days it seems the guitar input cable could have a built-in module of some sort - looking kinda like a Samson Airline thing.

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Would any of you be interested in a full-range cabinet to amplify these devices on stage? It would look like a guitar cab, but would be electronically a powered PA cabinet. This way you can make the most of what your modeling software has to offer, including the cabinet simulations.

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Would any of you be interested in a full-range cabinet to amplify these devices on stage? It would look like a guitar cab, but would be electronically a powered PA cabinet. This way you can make the most of what your modeling software has to offer, including the cabinet simulations.

 

 

I would, yeah. Having the iPad setup with AmpKit, a MIDI guitar setup, and soon a POD HD500 coming, I've got a lot of stuff that would sound better through FRFR. The problem is that right now there aren't a lot of good solutions that don't look like a PA refugee.

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For amplification, I often use a Fender Acoustasonic Junior (the original non-DSP model) for small-to-medium rooms. Being a full-range mini-PA in amp form, it's PERFECT for this application. I run my iPad into one channel for guitar, and use the other channel (with built in XLR in) for vocals.

 

Side note, I just upgraded from the iRig to the Alesis IO Dock. I got a Black Friday deal on it for about $150, and it sounds FANTASTIC, night and day difference between the iRig and the Alesis. It's plastic, not metal, so I'm going to be careful with it going out and about, but I AM going to use it live, and I can't wait for my next gig to use it.

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Would any of you be interested in a full-range cabinet to amplify these devices on stage? It would look like a guitar cab, but would be electronically a powered PA cabinet. This way you can make the most of what your modeling software has to offer, including the cabinet simulations.

 

 

This is a really interesting idea, combining the looks of a guitar cab with the guts of a powered monitor, no bells and whistles needed because you'd control your sound from the iPad anyway.

 

I personally don't think I would need this because I'm less of a dedicated guitar player and more of a singer/guitar player, so my signal chain needs are a little different. However, I can certainly see how this could be REALLY cool for a dedicated live guitarist.

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Would any of you be interested in a full-range cabinet to amplify these devices on stage? It would look like a guitar cab, but would be electronically a powered PA cabinet. This way you can make the most of what your modeling software has to offer, including the cabinet simulations.

 

 

I'd be interested if it would indeed be full range - I also play synth and would want the cabinet to be able to handle bass lines from my Moog Voyager and other synths without blowing a speaker - most guitar cabs can't do that. Another factor would be the weight - 35lbs or less I'm in!

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I'm probably going to be the first one on the planet doing this, but I'll be using a macbook pro, logic and other programs with an apogee GIO through a Tech 21 power engine or direct > board > pa. Something tells me this might be more of a nightmare to setup in a live situation though. Everything seems to sound good at the jam space but you get into a live situation and have to mess with computer programs vs. knobs and buttons. This scares me a bit. But this is where everything is going I suppose.

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I'm probably going to be the first one on the planet doing this, but I'll be using a macbook pro, logic and other programs with an apogee GIO through a Tech 21 power engine or direct > board > pa. Something tells me this might be more of a nightmare to setup in a live situation though. Everything seems to sound good at the jam space but you get into a live situation and have to mess with computer programs vs. knobs and buttons. This scares me a bit. But this is where everything is going I suppose.

 

 

No, you're not the first. I think these sorts of live computer rigs are fairly common.

 

Before I switched to the iPad, I was running a Mac live, driving virtual instruments from Reaper MIDI tracks. I also had Waves GTR running as my virtual guitar rig.

 

But setting up all that crap got real old, real fast, so I'm VERY happy to just take my iPad instead of that full computer rig.

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