iOS App for Amp/Effects: Amplitube, Bias, ToneStack or?

Started by lifereinspired, December 18, 2017, 02:13:18 AM

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lifereinspired

Hi,

My spouse & I are new to iOS music making and we're trying to figure out the best apps to start with. While we may end up with loads of apps, eventually, we'd rather have a handful that we can learn to use to their fullest, that will work well with one another, etc.

Quick background info:
He has an iPad Pro, I have an iPhone. I hope to get an iPad Pro later this year but until then, this is the situation. So while not mandatory, Universal apps are a plus (if all else is equal). He will be using an acoustic/electric guitar through an iRig type interface (DA converter type, not via the headphone jack), I will be using a Korg MicroKey Air MIDI keyboard or Artiphon. He definitely wants something with multiple amps, effects, stomp boxes, etc. I've been working hard to learn about the different interconnectivity capability that exists in iPad music (such as IAA, Audiobus 2 & 3, AUv3, AUM, AudioShare, etc) just to try to decide on which apps to purchase, as I want to be sure they'll have the features we may want in the future. We'd definitely apps to have IAA & Audiobus 3 with AU a definite plus. (If there is something else we should be looking for, please let me know!)

Since many of these apps are actually much larger of an investment via in-app purchases, we want to get started carefully and not find we've wasted $$ & energy on an app that won't do what we'd like in the long run.

We've obviously heard of Amplitube, but also Bias FX/Bias Amp/JamUp Pro, Tonestack, Flying Haggis, GarageBand (obviously, which we alrrady have for free), AmpKit+ (which appears to have had no updates for more than a year), & GuitarTone. I'm also somewhat familiar (at least by name) with SampleTank, Geoshred, etc but I don't honestly know if they would work as a guitar amp for my spouse in all those sounds - though I'm sure they'd work with my MIDI devices. Just concentrating on an amp/effects capable app for a moment, which do you prefer/recommend? I've read that JamUp is only mono rather than stereo which greatly affects the sound while Bias FX/Amp is great but won't work on iPhone. Several people in one thread preferred ToneStack all the way around but it turned into a rather heated debate. LOL. My spouse saw a video of Bias on a laptop & fell in love with the drag & drop interface but I don't know if Amplitube, Bias, or Tonestack have a similar drag and drop interface on the iPad. How do you feel about Amplitube compared with the others? Some commenters felt it wasn't as good but the company does tout "name brand" amps & effects faithfully reproduced...but perhaps the other apps use the same name brand equipment to record the sounds and simply rename them for copyright issues? I sure don't know if it makes a difference. I'd love love any help and insight into what might be the best place to start and which so would be the best investment in our situation.

Thanks so much in advance! I'd really appreciate any advice you might share. If there is a link you could send me to (that perhaps I missed in my searches), that would be helpful too. Thanks again!

utensil

Tonestack is a solid option best combination of interface and sounds IMO, definitely holds it's own sound wise. Falls a bit short on community preset sharing though you can manually share presets.

I love amplitube on desktop having the "name" brands doesn't hurt and desktop sounds good. On What really kills amplitube for on IOS is the constant nagging of popups and upgrades and new add ons etc. The amps effects names simply imply that IK multimedia has licensed the brand names/models but doesn't guarantee that they sound better than the pseudo named versions with the other apps.

Garageband is meh for the guitar sounds but price and other overall features means it's probably something you can keep installed anyway and I wind up using it with Tonestack inter app audio.

Bias FX sounds really good (better than Jamup) but no iPhone as you mention. Plus there have been some complaints of latency with the stream of IOS updates that come through, but this shouldn't be an issue with the iPad Pro current generation.

If live looping is something of interest then loopyHD along with tonestack and a pedal is a full fledged performance setup.

I frequently use loopyHD or GarageBand as the main host, tonestack for guitar analog processing and combined with midiguitar2 and sample tank for additional non-guitar software instruments.

never tried flying Haggis and found ampkit to be fizzy on distortion guitar sounds. hope this is helpful.




Smash

Tonestack's effects are higher quality and more plentiful than Bias.

Separate Parallel stereo chains in Tonestack. I've created some amazing clean patches in Tonestack.

But Bias amps are better than Tonestack - if you're after basic tone, it's Bias especially dirt and high gain - it trounces Tonestack's less organic more clinical DI'd sounds.

Bias patch cloud brilliant way of getting access to genre patches fast - some belters on there. Tonestack presets are frankly rubbish and sharing none existent - if you're not a patchorak and prefer having a ballpark sound as a starting point Bias is a better bet.


lifereinspired

Quote from: utensil on December 18, 2017, 05:10:09 AM
Tonestack is a solid option best combination of interface and sounds IMO, definitely holds it's own sound wise. Falls a bit short on community preset sharing though you can manually share presets.

I love amplitube on desktop having the "name" brands doesn't hurt and desktop sounds good. On What really kills amplitube for on IOS is the constant nagging of popups and upgrades and new add ons etc. The amps effects names simply imply that IK multimedia has licensed the brand names/models but doesn't guarantee that they sound better than the pseudo named versions with the other apps.

Garageband is meh for the guitar sounds but price and other overall features means it's probably something you can keep installed anyway and I wind up using it with Tonestack inter app audio.

Bias FX sounds really good (better than Jamup) but no iPhone as you mention. Plus there have been some complaints of latency with the stream of IOS updates that come through, but this shouldn't be an issue with the iPad Pro current generation.

If live looping is something of interest then loopyHD along with tonestack and a pedal is a full fledged performance setup.

I frequently use loopyHD or GarageBand as the main host, tonestack for guitar analog processing and combined with midiguitar2 and sample tank for additional non-guitar software instruments.

never tried flying Haggis and found ampkit to be fizzy on distortion guitar sounds. hope this is helpful.

@utensil - Super helpful information! I really, really appreciate you taking the time to post and share. Thank you. It's SO HARD to find really, like stupid basic info on getting started on this. And the problem is, maybe I'm alone on this but I kind of want to get it right the first time and find an app that will work for awhile. That's why I'm trying to learn enough for right now just to know the features and compatibility I need to be asking and checking that apps might have. It's crazy.

So, one question here. Most everyone agrees that at least some of the things in Bias (whether Amp or FX) are superior to Tonestack. Is there a reason or way that they can be used together so that you have the best of both? Obviously I cannot on my iPhone but the iPad Pro should, right? Or am I wrong there. It's the better amp & other sounds that I'm not sure about but if both support IAA & Audiobus, it should be possible, maybe??? Please correct me if I'm wrong because I truly want to learn!!

lifereinspired

Quote from: Smash on December 18, 2017, 06:01:07 AM
Tonestack's effects are higher quality and more plentiful than Bias.

Separate Parallel stereo chains in Tonestack. I've created some amazing clean patches in Tonestack.

But Bias amps are better than Tonestack - if you're after basic tone, it's Bias especially dirt and high gain - it trounces Tonestack's less organic more clinical DI'd sounds.

Bias patch cloud brilliant way of getting access to genre patches fast - some belters on there. Tonestack presets are frankly rubbish and sharing none existent - if you're not a patchorak and prefer having a ballpark sound as a starting point Bias is a better bet.

@Smash - thank you so much for the info. It's really does help. Sounds like there are good and bad things to both. As I mentioned above, is there any reason that I couldn't use both together (or at least my spouse do that, on the iPad Pro since the Bias isn't iPhone compatible)? If so, would I want to be looking at investing in Bias Amp or Bias FX (I assume the amp sounds are in Amp that FX has the effects and stomp boxes, etc, is this right?). Do I need anything else with it? I'm sorry, I just don't yet understand the division of what each app actually does since Bias has split them out and what each one also lacks.

If anyone could help me understand whether I could use these apps together and what each app handles, perhaps, that would be amazing. Thank you SO much for bearing with a overwhelmed fledgling trying their best to understand new technology from scratch. I truly am appreciative!

Elantric

#5
The hurdles with using iPad with PG BIAS is in past 4 years, Ive had maybe a total of 18 months where its actually worked acceptably

with Positive Grid & Apple, its cat & mouse, because each new version of Apple IOS updates that occurs multiple times a year now "breaks" my prior working BIAS FX/AMP rig ( introduced pops/click or higher latency
https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=6482.msg96992#msg96992

https://www.vguitarforums.com/smf/index.php?topic=10364.0

- taught me to avoid "Auto IOS Updates" - but Apple makes that a damn nuisance  - leaving the iPad Guitar Amp simulation experience a novelty and not a tool Id want to use live.   
and I'm using a relatively recent 12.9" iPad Pro with 128GB and not using multiple IOS apps at same time.

Smash

Quote from: lifereinspired on December 20, 2017, 01:50:28 PM
@Smash - thank you so much for the info. It's really does help. Sounds like there are good and bad things to both. As I mentioned above, is there any reason that I couldn't use both together (or at least my spouse do that, on the iPad Pro since the Bias isn't iPhone compatible)? If so, would I want to be looking at investing in Bias Amp or Bias FX (I assume the amp sounds are in Amp that FX has the effects and stomp boxes, etc, is this right?). Do I need anything else with it? I'm sorry, I just don't yet understand the division of what each app actually does since Bias has split them out and what each one also lacks.

If anyone could help me understand whether I could use these apps together and what each app handles, perhaps, that would be amazing. Thank you SO much for bearing with a overwhelmed fledgling trying their best to understand new technology from scratch. I truly am appreciative!

Yes you can use them together and I have - I would recommend AUM mixer as best environment for Tonestack and Bias to run together. Ensure you use AUM HQ mode which gives lowest latency you'll ever get. IK Blueboard is a great accompaniment too. Don't need Bias Amp unless you want to tweek the amp models.

If you were only going to invest in one as you need to stump up to unlock everything I would go with Tonestack - the motherload gives a bewildering array of FX and as said they are higher quality than Bias. Verbs are massively out front. And the fact you can do A and B chains pretty much as long as you want until you run out of CPU, plus the fact each chain is stereo. there's a lot of sound can be created there.

lifereinspired

Quote from: Smash on December 21, 2017, 05:43:51 AM
Yes you can use them together and I have - I would recommend AUM mixer as best environment for Tonestack and Bias to run together. Ensure you use AUM HQ mode which gives lowest latency you'll ever get. IK Blueboard is a great accompaniment too. Don't need Bias Amp unless you want to tweek the amp models.

If you were only going to invest in one as you need to stump up to unlock everything I would go with Tonestack - the motherload gives a bewildering array of FX and as said they are higher quality than Bias. Verbs are massively out front. And the fact you can do A and B chains pretty much as long as you want until you run out of CPU, plus the fact each chain is stereo. there's a lot of sound can be created there.

@Smash, Thank you this very informal reply. Bringing it down to a single recommendation is definitely helpful.

While I'm leaning against purchasing much in the Bias range at the moment, I just want to clarify something that you said in that part that isn't entirely clear to me (just because I'm still trying to wrap my head around what different apps do). You mentioned that we wouldn't need Bias Amp unless we wanted to tweak the amp sounds. Does this mean that there are "stock" (if you will) amps in Bias FX available to use but that you cannot edit them without Bias Amp? Or are the amp sounds somewhere else (like Bias FX)? I don't really feel like we'll need to edit amp sounds at this point, to be honest but I still wanted to clarify what apps do what, even if we don't need that functionality. In some ways, especially if we don't need that functionality because if the main thing Bias Amp does it tweak/customize sounds, I think we can safely skip that for now. If it included the amp presets that were much better than Tonestack, it would be another story but from what you're describing, it sounds like the amp presets are in a different Bias app.

Once again, thanks so much for your help and for taking the time to share such detailed and instructive responses. I'm super grateful!

Brak(E)man

I'd recommend  Flux:FX for effects , Jamup for guitar , loopy hd for looping / live recording.
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch

Smash

Yes Bias FX comes with amps.

Best advice download the free (pay to unlock) versions and see what grabs you - I haven't tried Flux FX of Jamup but I'd totally trust Brak(E)man. Check em all out if poss.

Brak(E)man

Flux:fx , Jamup and Loopy Hd are available for both iPhone and IPad , I use Audiobus ( also both Is) to connect the three apps

Make sure you get Flux:FX there's another app called Flux by Belew it's a fun app but not the FX you're looking for. Btw Flux:Fx showcases wild FX but is equally good at subtle ones.

I recommend Flux strongly however I haven't tried it on iPhone yet.
The other apps I use on both.
swimming with a hole in my body

I play Country music too, I'm just not sure which country it's from...

"The only thing worse than a guitar is a guitarist!"
- Lydia Lunch