Amplitude 2 - A Review
Robin Vincent dives deep into the new Amplitude 2
A guitarist using software is not something you could have comfortably predicted, even a couple of years ago. As a rule, the predominant guitar-based creature likes to lump about big bits of gear, enjoys twiddling knobs and gets a kick from stamping on switches - and this they still do with abandon.
While computers enabled the modelling of real amplifiers and created a new generation of guitar tone technology most manufacturers pumped the software back into hardware, completely underestimating the guitarist's ability to evolve into a more virtual environment. IK Multimedia stood out from the crowd at a time when no one really considered the idea of a plug-in being something a guitarist would be interested in.
Amplitude 2
Amplitube, IK's original amp modelling and effects plug-in, was a resounding success. It had the look and feel of a Line6 Pod - the device it was hoping to surpass and surprised everyone with its authentic tone and ease of use.
A few years later, drawing on the increasing reserves of computer power and learning from the response of thousands of Amplitube users, Amplitube 2 has arrived. Billed as "Superior modelling, Infinite tone" IK Multimedia believe they have "raised the standard to an unprecedented level of high-quality emulation and extreme flexibility, for crafting the ultimate guitar tone". Let's check it out.
Installation
Amplitube 2 is compatible with three plug-in formats, VST, RTAS (Windows/Mac) and Audio Units (Mac only) and so comfortably covers all the current host recording programs such as Cubase, Sonar, Pro Tools and Logic. IK flirted with the idea of a dongle - like what Steinberg use for Cubase - as a form of copy protection but they have recently returned to their "challenge/response" method where you register it online and receive an unlock code from them to run the software. You do get a couple of registrations so if, for instance, you wanted to run it on your studio desktop and also run it on your laptop for gigging you could do this with the one license.
First Impressions
Nice! Loads up quickly to reveal a sort of squat amplifier head, complete with chrome corners, realistically rendered knobs, an analogue VU meter and even a carry handle (?!). Looks dark and moody although the default tone is simple and clean, with a touch of spring reverb.
As you play the needle of the VU flicks and there's LED metering of input and output levels. Before getting stuck into the different components that make up Amplitube 2 it seemed appropriate to try out a few presets to get an idea about what this plug-in is capable of...
Whoa, two hours just slipped by! I think the highest praise you can give a piece of guitar gear is that it makes you want to play, and this does just that - and I spent most of it in the first bank of presets thoroughly enjoying the mix of "signature" tones.
My first stop is a crunchy Aerosmith, then Brian May, Carlos, Cream, Hendrix and many more through to Stevie Ray and Steve Vai all sounding so good that I can't help but play all the cheesy riffs my fingers can remember.
I think the highest praise you can give a piece of guitar gear is that it makes you want to play.
You can click through presets using the up/down arrows at the top of the interface, or you can click in the preset display window and select directly from a list of 400 presets.
If I could get a criticism in nice and early it would be that although the preset management is far improved over the original Amplitube (and other IK products) it still has the ability to annoy. With so many presets I'd really like to know what bank I'm in but all that's displayed is the preset name. When you click to bring up the list you have to rest the mouse of each bank to display the contents in turn to find the bank of the preset you are currently using.
Saving presets, creating bank folders and grouping presets together is all very easy although presets are always listed in the order they were saved or alphabetically if grouped in the preset explorer window. I would like to be able to put a preset in a certain slot, next to what I need it to be next to in the order of my choosing.
Right, let's get down to the details.
Amplitube 2 is split into five modules: Tuner; Stomp effects; Amps; Cabinets; Rack effects; with all but the tuner being available on two separate channels enabling the use of multiple amplifiers and effects for the hugest tones. The interface only shows one module at a time and is switchable with a click.
Because of the graphical nature of the interface it would become very unwieldy to try to show everything on screen at once - anyone who has used Native Instruments Guitar Rig will know what I mean - and so switching between screens is a positive way to tackle the problem.
Tuner
Following the look of a rack mount tuner, such as the Korg DTR, the Amplitube 2 tuner is clear, precise and easy to read both close up and at a fair distance. It automatically detects the tuning displaying the nearest note, plus and minus 50 cents, and maintains the display even with a low input, so you're not having to constantly re-pluck. The reference pitch can be adjusted from between 425Hz to 455Hz. There are on/off and mute switches, handy for muting the guitar while you tune in a live performance situation. One really nice touch is that the tuner display is mirrored on the main Amp module page, much smaller, at the bottom, which means you don't have to switch back to the full tuner module if you need to adjust or correct while playing with the amps.
Click to enlarge
Amplitube 2 tuner is clear,
precise and easy to read both close up and at a fair distance.
Stomp Effects
As you would normally find in a guitarists signal chain, next it's the stomp boxes. There's no real practical reason why the effects are dressed up as stomp boxes but they do look nice and the familiarity of the controls is always a good thing.
Author
Robin Vincent
Robin Vincent runs Rain Recording (UK) out of London and is the CTO of Rain world-wide. In his tenure in the business of PC based audio production he as authored numerous articles, reviews and books on the subject.