How to connect the guitar (bass) to the iPhone to practice with the iRealBook player?

[tdq]

You also may want to check out the ampkit link - It's designed to go with ampkit iphone app but I'm pretty sure it can be used as a standalone. I don't have it so can't say for certain. It's a competitor to the irig setup.

[yverof]

Here is an other one from Peavey

http://www.peavey.com/ampkitlink/

Yverof

[ghodaddyyo]

Hello, new to the forums. I love this app.

Regarding the iRig, that's the first thing I bought when I picked up a new iPhone. I love portable solutions for guitar practice. iRig is just an interface to hook a guitar into the iPhone. You will need some kind of amp simulator app to get a processed sound. For that, I picked up Ampltube for iPhone which is a pretty good amp sim. Only problem is, you cannot multi-task to run both the iRealbook and Amplitube at the same time. This completely bummed me out. I'll have iRealbook playing a chart, which continues to play as I use the multi-tasking function to launch Amplitube. However, once Amplitube launches, iRealbook goes into a "suspend" mode and stops playing. All the phones resources are used to run the foreground app, Amplitube. The same scenarion happens when you open Amplitube first, then launch iRealbook. Like I said, that was a real dissappointment to me as I was really hoping to jam over iRealbook without hooking up further gadgets, defeating the mobile aspect I intended. I can already play along with BIAB on my computer and Line 6 interface. I was hoping I'd have something portable to sit on the porch, by the fireplace, or for travel.

I'm hoping that some solutions are found, either from Apple or the 3rd party app developers to accomodate this. I already understand the concerns about battery drain, but I know how to watch my battery meter.

Other than that, I love the app! I've plugged it into my practice amp (not exactly mobile) and it sounds great! Even better than BIAB which has latency/stuttering problems on my old dog computer.

[dflat]

....All the phones resources are used to run the foreground app, Amplitube. ...

does this mean you cannot listen to your MP3s at the same time as using Amplitude?

[ghodaddyyo]

Yes. I just tried it as a test. I launched iPod, pick a song, let it play, launch Amplitube using the multi-tasker function, and the iPod stops playing the song once Amplitube is fully started.

Amplitube does have a function where you can wifi transfer a song from your computer into the app to jam along with it. I think its a pretty roundabout way to get an mp3 into the app that already resides in my iPhones music library.

Update to this... IK MultiMedia released an update that now allows you to transfer up to 50 songs from your iPod library. Also in the update is the ability to record a track (expandable to 4 tracks as a purchased add on) and the addition of a speed trainer that allows you to loop a portion of a song and manipulate the speed.

[rodbass63]

What I do is connect my iphone to my home entertainment center, fire up iRealBook and play the iphone through my home speakers like I do with Pandora or Sirrius XM.

I print out the charts and keep the iphone near me so I can change tunes, change tempos, and keys. If I need to practice at night, I plug in my headphones into the home entertainment center. Works like a charm :-) iRealBook Rocks!!

[Michiel]

Ghodaddyyo: thanks for sharing your experience.

Actually, that's bad news. I was hoping that the iPad might be able to run amplitube and iRealbook at the same time after the impending iOS4 update. But it sounds like that is no going to work just yet.

The option with an external mixer will work fine when I'm at home, but I am looking for a solution for when I'm travelling. I'm not really jumping to take a mixer along with me.

I too have an iRig. I noticed it works very well with amplitube and studiominixl, but with several other programs I'm getting some strange feedback when I hook up headphones to the iRig. I suspect that the iPad apps have to run an echo-canceller of some kind to eliminate that feedback with the iRig.

I'd be exilliarated if iRealbook would even just include a very rudimentary audio input, just before the reverb, with inputlevel control.
For me that would be sufficient for jazz-practice.

[Shanecgriffo]

i sometimes just use my archtop acoustically , playing along with irealbook and iphone hooked up to a cheap small portable battery speaker. works ok!

[ghodaddyyo]

The thing is, I've been working hard to create a totally standalone headphone practice solution. I already have Band In A Box along wiith Line 6 Ampfarm as well as all the PA, mixers, and amps I've collected over the years. iReal Book was a godsend for me as it practically gave me what I enjoyed in BIAB on a small portable device. I've used it successfully as backing tracks for a guitar jam I host at my house, by plugging it into my computer's audio interface. In that situation, I play out of my normal amp. However, I envisioned this as a standalone practice solution. If I wanted to plug into this and that and chain myself to more gear, I would stick to what I have been doing. I've been really enjoying IK Multimedia's Amplitude for iPhone and it has the ability to import 50 songs in mp3 format, so I've loaded those up with backing tracks to jam over. It would be nice to be able to load up a song from iReal Book or better yet be able to play both at the same time. If I could do that I would have the best portable practice solution around! I have tried all the portable Tascam mp3 trainers but the tones are just bad, and it's a hassle importing jam tracks, especially ones made from BIAB. Here I have an app with pretty good tone, and iReal Book with it's limitless library and great playback feature, perfect for a portable solution but no way for the two to communicate with each other. Ah well, a few years ago, I never thought you could do this type of thing with a cell phone, so I have faith that the brilliant developers will be able to figure this out in time.

[dflat]

I hope we get there too. Remember iOS multitasking has just come (and currently we are all still waiting for it on iPad.) So developments on the iOS in the future should help us all.