Don’t want to say too much about the new AmpliTube 2 as I’ll be meeting with IK this Friday at AES, but here’s the quick story:
AmpliTube 2 is hot.
AmpliTube’s new ad campaign (“Super Modeling”) is hott– no, actually, kind of insulting and sexist. (Cue Spinal Tap quote: “Sexy? What’s wrong with being sexy?”)
Back to AmpliTube 2, this thing really is amazing. The star is a full-blown USB foot controller / interface (in contrast to the somewhat fiddly and finnicky audio-based controller used in rival Native Instruments Guitar Rig). It’s an all-metal wonder. Not only is it a real foot controller, but it’s also a direct box, digital and analog audio interface, and has both onboard USB and MIDI. After lots of cheap hardware computer accessories, it’s nice to see someone doing it right. I want one and I don’t even play guitar. (How about a vocal version, IK?)
The software looks great, too. AmpliTube was already a beautiful-sounding guitar FX rack; this version both looks better and sounds better, with new DSP, new effects, and new customization features.
What’s new in AmpliTube 2 [IK Multimedia]
Oh, and here’s the AmpliTube babe, in all her stock photography glory. Maybe I shouldn’t be so hard on her. Maybe she’s not really some lame concept dreamed up by IK’s marketing people. Maybe this is really the lead product manager for AmpliTube 2. Hey, IK is based in Italy; maybe this is what programmers there look like. They probably even program DSP wearing bikinis and chains. (It’s warmer there than in New York.) Guess I better hit the gym. Music geeks of America, this is our competition.
