Whatever happened to that dreamy
Line 6 / Apple tie-up? Who knows, right? While those two sort out their future behind the scenes, Paul Reed Smith Guitars is stepping up to take advantage of an obvious market opportunity. The newly announced Guitarbud is a simplistic accessory that allows axe slingers to jack their guitar into an iPhone or second-generation iPod touch, all while providing a headphone output in order to keep the noise making to yourself. We're told that the device works with pretty much any recording-supported app (even Apple's own Voice Memos), though PRS obviously recommends that you check out its JamApp guitar amp simulator / tuner / training tool. Best of all, it's available today for £29.95 (or $29.95 here in the States), putting you just a few yard mowings away from securing your own personal aural sanctuary. Too bad the reviews from early adopters aren't so promising...
posted March 11th 2010 4:19AM
I couldn't find a headphone output at the location as shown on the picture... ;-p
@Denus oh yeah cause headphones that point at the top are cool! WTG THERE.
@emopoops
When you put them on they don't.
@Denus
iPod Touch anyone/?
@benny90
Benny is right...it appears to be an iPod Touch.
can't a $7 splitter and a $4 male 1/4" to male 1/8" cable from "the Shack" accomplish the same thing?
@stjung this thing is rediculous! right down the the bile! im about to hurl my freaking guts out. mot to mention... why? this is nothing but the next crapgadget on the market. no offense, really. but i got to stop reading these posts about crapgadgets!
@emopoops Actually, I'm rather certain that it's "ridiculous".
@stjung : I don't think so. The jack connected to the guitar is the sound input, but connected to the headphones is the output. So a splitter won't work
@stjung
Sorry, no - you need an pre-amplifier and and amplifier. The output of the guitar is just like a microphone - it requires amplification.
@stjung
Actually you could if you got the 4 connector mini jack for the iPhone. Because the output of the guitar would have to go to the microphone connectors on the iPhone. And the headphone connector would have to go to the two stereo output connectors on the iPhone.
Remember the iPhone has a microphone connector included with the headphone jack.
What they are counting on is that guitar pickups are similar to microphones on iPhone ear buds.
I'm thinking the complaints at MusiciansFriend are about the really bad sound quality from the recording. Not much a cable can do about that problem.
Can't understand why Paul Reed Smith, one of the top guitar manufacturers in the world (after Gibson and Fender) would sell something this junky.
@dan The sound quality is dependent on the guitar pickup and which model iPhone you are sing.
To get great performance you nee do play around with the setting a bit including the controls on your guitar and the input and overdrive controls on the Jam Amp App.
We are working on some presets for the next version.
@stjung You can make your own cable - there's a good guide on how to do it here: http://www.riotmode.com/cable.html
@stjung @stjung
Hi All. Yep you can do this with other adapters, or make it yourself. See the link below. The PRS iPhone app is one of the **poorest** of it's class, and has poor reviews. Instead please checkout my review of some better guitar effects apps such as RiotFX (http://www.easylearn2playguitar.com/recording/guitar-effects-and-practice-amps-for-iphone-ipod-or-ipad/), and a write up on different ways to connect your guitar to your iPhone or iPad including where to buy interfaces that are better quality(http://www.easylearn2playguitar.com/recording/connecting-your-guitar-to-your-iphone-ipod-or-ipad/). You'll also learn about a new interface by Ground Up Audio which will solve the missmatched impedance issue.
i like this and imagine when i attach my guitar to my iPod or iPhone amazing
@rajawaqar here are the links for this stuff:
PRS Jam Amp on Apple iTunes:
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/prs-jam-amp/id345777345?mt=8&uo=6
http://www.prscables.com/guitarbud
http://www.prscables.com/prsjamamp/
Line 6 was probably so pissed about their TERRIBLE demo (I really felt bad for them) that they tossed the idea in the trash.
Kidding, they might toss something out maybe at WWDC this year, with an actual working demo>? who knows...
@ benny90: You're right, I didn't thought of the differences between the iPhone and the iTouch. My mistake :)
I suspect that there are problems with the latency. Anything more than 30ms can be noticed by a guitarist, depending on the effects. It's not a ridiculous idea at all -- there are plenty of dedicated recorder and multieffect units that work on similar principles. But the iPhone probably isn't amenable to that level of audio I/O optimization.
@cobaltage
At Bond / PRS we have been working hard to keep the latency down. Right now the Jam Amp App tests for the type of iPone and decreases the buffer size based on processor speed. The next version will do much better at this.
We can not even effectively run on the original iPhone but it is good on the 3Gs and with the next optimizations we should be able to half the latency in most modes to well bellow the 30 ms range.
We are pushing the capabilities of the iPhone pretty hard.
And when the next gen iPhone / iPod Touch and iPad are out we will be able to do some much more amazing modeling and tricks.
That exchange rate's ridiculous.
This is very exciting news - I started developing a guitar multi-fx processor for the iPhone almost 2 years ago in the hope that an adapter would be available by the time I finished it... how wrong I was.
As far as latency goes... since I started developing for the iPhone I have never ceased to be amazed at what it is capable of... in the early days interfacing with the audio hardware was a pretty flaky experience and lacking any documentation to speak of - you had to do some interesting hacks to coerce it into doing what you wanted... but its now very stable and at RiotMode we have managed to get latencies around 10-15ms on the iPhone3G even with chains of pretty demanding effects.
The Guitarbud should open up a whole new world of possibilities for iPhone/iPod touch music apps... And I can finally submit RiotFX (http://www.riotmode.com) to the AppStore knowing it will actually be useful :-)
@riotmode Hey Riotmode, RiotFX is one of the best apps out there! Thanks for the work you do. I've reviewed your app and a few other guitar effects apps here (http://www.easylearn2playguitar.com/recording/guitar-effects-and-practice-amps-for-iphone-ipod-or-ipad/). I'm looking forward to the additional features you add.
I need this, maybe I'll get an ipod touch now. something portable to plug a gameboy into for nanoloop recording/ mixing.
I ordered Guitarbud from Sam Ash on-line. When it arrived, it was defective. I contacted the manufacturer through their support page and got back an email saying they would send me a replacement. I've waited three weeks and they ignore me (I've sent several emails asking for shipping status). So, my conclusion is: great concept, poor execution. Don't buy it.