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Griffin's StompBox available to order, virtual guitar shredding now a go
Remember that Griffin-made StompBox we showed you back in January? Well, it's finally hit the market, so you can free up those virtuoso hands and get to pedal-pounding wicked sound effects. The four button foot controller works with Frontier Design's iShred LIVE app for iOS, connecting your instrument via an included GuitarConnect cable to a 1/4-inch jack. The device is "designed to work with... a guitar, bass guitar, electric violin and keyboard," so your virtual jam band session is all but guaranteed. This musical f/x dongle is available to order now for $99.99 online, or you can just head to one of Apple's boutiques to snag it. Sadly, the effects switcher doesn't come bundled with a copycat of Slash's hat, but that shouldn't stop your credit card from indulging in this latest bout of Gear Acquisition Syndrome.
Griffin StompBox brings guitar effects app to your feet, lets your hands play
With the arrival of virtual guitar effects on portable devices like the iPhone and iPad, many guitarists are re-thinking the way they set up and play their electric guitars. For the average player, an almost endless array of varied tones and effects are now available in high-quality virtual form at a fraction of the cost and weight of their real-world counterparts. It's not surprising that many guitarists are turning to virtual pedal boards for practicing, band rehearsals and the occasional gig, too. One of the biggest problems with virtual effects pedal boards is that they are, well, ... virtual. They're on a screen near your eyes and hands instead of being within reach of your feet as they should be, keeping your hands free to play while your feet manage effects. Thankfully, with four assignable foot switches, a 1/4" effects pedal input jack and a meter long dock connector cable, Griffin (in conjunction with Frontier Design Group) has taken the bold step (no pun intended) of bringing the pedal board back to where it should be with the StompBox pedal controller for iPad / iPhone and iPod touch. The Griffin StompBox will work seamlessly with Frontier Design Group's iShred Live virtual guitar effects app (sold separately), but (from what we understand) the StompBox "... can act as an assignable controller for other foot-switch-compatible applications," according to Griffin's website. However, we doubt the StompBox will have seamless compatibility with other virtual guitar effects apps at this stage. There's no doubt in our minds, though, that some of the other big players will follow suit shortly with their own version of a foot-switch controller. The StompBox is priced at US$99.99 on the Griffin StompBox website and will be available February / March. [Via Engadget, Pocket-lint]
Griffin StompBox pedal board brings authenticity to iPad rocking
Users of the iShred Live iOS app (no relation to this thing) now have a pedal board to do the job of, well, a pedal board. Up until recently, the app allowed players to connect their electric guitars to an iPhone or iPad, and use said device as an amplifier, with a near endless array of pedal effects at their fingertips. Looking for a way to make the experience more authentic, Griffin teamed with the folks at Frontier Design Group to create the StompBox, which, according to Griffin's website, "effectively recreates the experience of an actual pedal board." It features four separate foot switches, which can be assigned particular effects by the user, and connects to the iPad or iPhone with a 1-meter-long dock connector cable -- guitar connection cables are sold separately. Now the future Peter Framptons of the world can scale back on setup time and concentrate on making their guitars talk.
iShred jumps up the charts thanks to viral video
Last Saturday, we posted this video of the band Atomic Tom singing with their iPhones on the B train over the East River. Since then, the video has gone viral, nabbing more than a million views on YouTube. But the band isn't the only group benefiting from the attention -- we heard from the developers of iShred, the guitar app seen in the video, and apparently just being seen in the video has had a huge effect for them as well. The app has jumped from #84 to #4 on the App Store music app charts, and has reached the #65 app overall. That's quite amazing, and it shows that people are getting recommendations for their apps from all over the place, from sites like ours to just spotting apps used in other contexts. What's most surprising isn't just the US App Store growth, but the fact that iShred has seen a big jump up overseas as well -- iShred is in the top ten in over 20 countries in the world. In Japan, we're told, it's the #3 app out of all of them. That's surprising -- when the video went viral, it must have become popular internationally. Of course, it probably doesn't hurt that the iShred folks have put the app on sale for just US$0.99 (and honestly, this post will probably give them another nice jump in the listings). But it is interesting to see the effects of such a subtle app mention when it goes out and reaches the right people.
Six fun and useful iPhone apps
Some iPhone apps are fun, some are useful (and some are neither). In this set of iPhone app reviews, we've got a mixture of each. In this batch of mini-reviews: iShred, Quik, Pro Basketball, Silly Songz, Wordology, and Silver Revolver. iShred ($4.99US)If you like playing the guitar or other musical instruments, then you might want to consider this app -- it could be one of the most full-featured guitar apps on the iPhone. From the ability to create and record your own songs, to the ability to listen to others play songs around the world -- iShred [iTunes link] has it all. There are over 2,000 built-in chords, scales, and fret positions that get assigned to the two fret rows at the top of the screen. When you tap a fret and strum the strings, a sound will be played. When you set up the frets for a certain song, you have the ability to save this setup for later. You can also save your songs or transfer them to another iPhone anytime you have a wireless connection. The application includes other effects including several virtual stomp boxes, like: Adrenaline: A treble booster HK-2000 Delay: Echo Hot Fuzz: Distortion Kömpressör: Power chords Sybil: Dual chorus pedal Trembler: Tremolo Wahsabi: Tilt control for wah pedal You can use up to four of these effects on a song. Getting to play your own songs is a cool feature of this app, but something just as cool is the ability to listen to others playing their iPhone guitars. AirPlay, a built-in feature, allows you to do this. Just open the AirPlay feature and watch as other users from around the world rock out. Overall, this application is great for guitar aficionados or people who just want to be able to play guitar anywhere. You can pick up iShred in the iTunes App Store for just $4.99US. %Gallery-47746%Quik Search (free, pro version available)Searching different sites on the iPhone can be a kludge, especially if you don't like having only two search engines available natively with Mobile Safari. Quik Search [iTunes link] hopes to solve this by adding different sites and engines. Quik allows you to customize your search experience by adding a list of sites that you wish to search to the main screen of the application. You can choose from over 50 pre-designed search engines/sites (including Google, Amazon, Twitter, and of course, TUAW). Just enter your search term in the application and press the blue arrow ... your search query will be sent away to the site of your choice and you can view your results in the Safari-like browser built into Quik Search. You might ask "What if they don't have my favorite site/search engine?" Well in that case, you can create your own "search plugin" by entering the name, adding an icon, and entering the template search string. The application helps you to understand what a template search string is, and how to format it for Quik. You can also enable/disable "Launch Safari" when searching (if you don't like the built-in browser). If you are looking for a better search solution on the iPhone, then this application could definitely save you some time and energy. You can get Quik search for free on the App Store, although it is ad supported. If you wish to get rid of the ads, you can purchase a pro version [iTunes link] for $1.99US.%Gallery-47748%
