IK Multimedia AmpliTube 3 launches at NAMM
By Rob Sandall
| Posted in Music Technology
AmpliTube 3, IK Multimedia’s latest incarnation of its much-loved modelling software, is set to raise more than a few eyebrows following its NAMM launch today.
Pulling out all the stops for “a massive upgrade” that “raises the industry standard for sound variety, realism and creative power,” the new package sees over 160 different simulations of guitar and bass equipment – a collection of amps, effects and mics spanning decades, all tastes and both famous and unsung creations – shoehorned into one piece of software. It’s worth noting that 100 new models, then, have been added since the previous effort.
Breaking this down further, you’re looking at the use of 51 different stompboxes and effects (along with 17 rack-mounted post-amp FX), 31 amplifier, preamp and power-stage models, 46 speaker cabs and 15 studio mics.
Using what it’s calling VRM, or Volumetric Response Modelling, IK is confident that it’ll be keeping perfectionists happy, as the software is reportedly capable of incredibly precise production techniques – so much so that dual-mic recording inside cabs is now possible, and even the acoustic qualities of the virtual room itself can be tweaked. Each of the models has also been designed not just to sound, but to play like the real thing, responding to the nuances of your attack and style accordingly.
Those with a more experimental frame of mind will be glad to know that a drag-and-drop feature has been included in AmpliTube 3, allowing signal chains to be built, torn down, tweaked and rebuilt quickly. Achieving a custom tone, then, will be as simple as a couple of clicks.
While expansion packs will allow users to further amass a producer’s dream horde – libraries from the likes of Fender and Ampeg are already available – many of the added models in this core software are reworked versions of the highly popular AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix and Metal packages, and the company has also focussed heavily on giving users a much bigger choice in the bass guitar department.
Aware that management of such a huge amount of tones might tax even the most organised studio dweller, there’s a thoughtfully-included management system too, using keywords to allow you to call on your favourite sounds and setups without confusion.
Other innovative upgrades include MIDI-learn capabilities, allowing you to assign software functions to an external controller, an integrated four-track recorder that will help you compare tonal options, and get ideas down the second you’ve settled on one, and what IK is claiming is the first convincing set of modelled rotary speaker effects.
This package makes a great deal of sense on many levels. If you have the money and more importantly the space for this much gear, than you’re one in a million. The rest of us can save a huge amount of cash, ourselves from tripping over and oodles of setup time via the purchase of AmpliTube 3.
Tags: amplitube, guitar recording software, IK Multimedia