So today I’m reviewing iShread.  In my previous post, I looked at Amplitube and was pretty impressed.  iShread is like Amplitube and at the same time, different.

First, lets have a look at the hardware.  iShred offers an all in one chord from Griffin Technology that you simply plug in your guitar into and then your head phones.  Pretty nice except when you want to run a line to your computer speakers or a small amp.  Not a big deal though.  However when you are playing just you, your guitar and your iphone, this is a way better design. The free version is pretty well set… built-in Amp Sim and three default effects: Buzz Kill noise filter, HK-2000 delay, and Q-36 flanger. Additional effects can be added through the built-in store. iShred LIVE includes a built in chromatic tuner, metronome, 48 preset slots to store sounds, and a music/loop player to help learn and perfect your art.

The app is suppose to support 4 effects at the same time, however, when I start to load it up I can feel a bit of lag.  Its not as bad on my ipad so I have to guess that if you have the iphone 4 you should be good to go, even the 3gs for that matter. I was running on my 3G and it was having some issues. Its recommended to do a reboot to clear the memory before trying this, however I used the mem clear from jailbreak but I did not do a deep clear, so I will have to try that again.  I also found that when I go from playing music from my music library that the app would crash on me as I started messing around with other settings.  Again, I did not see this on the ipad. Although I LOVE the fact that I can grab anything sitting in my library and play along right off the bat, I was annoyed that the volume control was for BOTH the music and the guitar.  They should have separate controls.

Also, you will notice that the user interface does not stick strictly to what a guitarist would normally see as Amplitube does, but instead is a bit more playful on how the effects are named and rendered.  Whats missing is the basic controls that you would expect on your amp.  Vol, tones, presence, gain, etc..  Also, you cannot change the amp type or cabinet.  Ah well.

Still, this is a pretty cool little app and well worth the free download to get yourself into the game. Give it try or at least look at the video below.

There have already been a number of virtual guitar amp and effects products for the iphone and ipad, and I’ve tried a few, but amplitube and ishread (ishread I will over in another post) stood out.  Now, if there is really good product I missed, please let me know. AmpKit by Peavy is not out yet.)

So back to Amplitube iRig. I have this both on my iphone3G and my iPad, I also have the recommended cable. I did play with it on my iphone3G and although I started to feel some lag as I added effects, it was not too bad.  The experience was far better on the ipad especially as I was doing fast scales.

The cable adapter is good. You use your own 1/4 cable to connect  to the adapter and then a 1/8 to hook up your headphones or as I like to do, connect to my computer speakers.

AmpliTube for iPad will be available in 2 versions: FREE and FULL.

The free version includes 3 stompboxes, 1 amp+cabinet, 2 microphones. More gear can be added to FREE version through an in-app purchase of a-la-carte models with stompboxes costing $2.99 / €2.39 each and amplifiers+cabinets for $4.99 / €3.99 each. AmpliTube FULL includes the entire collection of available gear with 11 stompboxes, 5 amps+cabinets and 2 microphones for $19.99 / €15.99.

I downloaded both the free and the full version and although the free version is more then useful, having the various cabinets to choose from was a big plus for me.  What I really liked is amp interface, although using it on the iphone was a bit tricky because of the limited screen size, but once you have the sound you like, then it does not really matter that much.

Here is the only thing I do not like. I cannot simply call an mp3 on my iphone/ipad and start playing with it. I have to instead load a music file by opening a browser on my computer on the same wifi as the iphone / ipad.  Its not the end of the world, but it would be nice if I could play right from my music library.