While my guitar gently bleeps

What a great time for mobile guitarists! Barely a week goes by without another iOS app for axe ministers and right now the fight for FX king is well and truly on. Although only just now overtaking the benchmark set a few years ago by Pocket PC based Pocket Stompbox, iOS apps have rapidly gone from simple delay and distortion to fully fledged stomp box, amp and cab simulators. I've tried just about all of them and at the moment my top two are Riot FX and the recently released Amplitube iRig. IRig is considerably pricier, but worth the money IMHO. IK Multimedia have just released the iPad version, which is a separate app also priced at $20, which is a little disappointing for those who have already forked out the same for the iPhone version. A universal app would be much more welcomed I'm sure, but you can run the iPhone version on the iPad in Zoom-o-vision of course. As iRig comes with what I think is a great fun Wah Wah simulator I'll be trying to think of a way to latch my iPhone onto me whilst playing - maybe one of those sports armband case things on my foot :)

Recently a "dream come true" arrived in the shape of iShred Live, a live input version of THE BEST guitar sim on any device. I've wanted this from the moment the original iShred came out. Unfortunately the competition is so fierce that iShred Live is not yet a front-runner in the live FX stakes. I hope it will become one.

Still to come is Ampkit, with accompanying hardware to rival IK's hardware/software combo. Interestingly the Ampkit hardware is battery powered which the makers claim will provide less crosstalk and feedback. As I'm not flush enough to buy both I'll be looking for reviews keenly to see which is best for my meagre buck (or should I say pound?!)

Mentions should also go out to the various other apps that have graced my iDevices in the search for FX heaven - stompvox, effectorlite, amps&cabs and GuitarFx deluxe.

Links and pics to come.

iPaid

Shiny new iPad is busy syncing as I write. So much for willpower...

iWay robbery!

The UK price of a $499 iPad? $633 at current exchange rate. Thanks Steve, love you too.

Born again: the FULL Rebirth on you iPhone

Not a typo. You read that correctly. Go now! http://appshopper.com/music/rebirth

I wanna be slated

The iPad is out (in the US anyway), and will be here in the UK next month. No word on pricing yet, which is a tad worrying. My guesstimate is over £400 for the base model.

I still have gear lust for it. It looks lovely and, taken as a "giant iPod Touch", it seems to run very slick indeed. I have to say few of the apps have really astounded me yet. Perhaps the most impressive native app in my mind is Korg's iElectribe. Most of my fave synths have yet to be updated, but I'm sure they would be much more usable with larger on-screen "keys".

But apart from the unknown price, and the delays, some cracks are starting to appear. Weak wifi is a concern for me (my access is borderline at best) and I recently heard over at PalmSounds that the dock connector doesn't support audio-in, which buggers up my beloved stereo recording Macally iVoice Pro 3.

This has made me sit up and consider my usage requirements. In all honesty, my music making is better served by my PC, with its multiple soundcards (one internal, one USB) and professional level audio software (Cubase VST and VirtualDJ). The reason I do more with my iPhone is simple: it is there, on my desk or in my pocket, and is "instant on". My PC is a hulking beast that takes about a week to finish booting up.

Going full circle this points me back towards portable Windows based devices. I lusted after the Viliv S5 before getting my iPhone, and then kept a watchful eye over the myriad tablet/slate devices that were rushed to announcement a short while before everyone knew Apple was likely to announce a slate/tablet. Most of these run either Android or a Linux variant, but the HP slate has really caught my eye. It's a PC. It runs PC software. It's compatible with PC peripherals. It's portable and multi-touch. It's expandable. It runs Flash on websites (Hobnox?). It's allegedly going to be competitively priced with the iPad. I work with Windows all day and like it. I could run the Windows-only work apps I need on the HP slate. The only kick in the plums is the screen resolution - 1024x600 is also what puts me of most netbooks. It does have HDMI output though.

Hmm, am I breaking up with the iPad before we even go on our first date?

iPhone OS 4.0

Lots announced. My personal take:

* Folders. Finally!

* Multitasking. A little bit of a fudge by the looks of it, but highly welcome. Probably as good as it was going to get.

* Background audio. Cool!

* Bluetooth keyboard. Ooooh. Potentially thus Bluetooth gamepad?

Definitely did not see explicit reference to shared files between apps though. Why? What is so bad about having sound files that can be used by a bunch of different apps?

iPad, will uPad?

Had to laugh at the Apple press launch yesterday - quite literally the iPad is a giant iPod Touch. They could have even named it the iPod XL or something. Many were hoping for a touch-screen laptop minus the keyboard, like the Windows based tablets on show, which would be nice for business users and those wanting to integrate with their work. I can't say I'm overly surprised at what it turned out to be, and I doubt it will be that sucessful in its first version.

However, I really really really want one! Sure there's no GPS on the base model, no front mounted camera that would allow for awesome Skype video calls and no standard USB ports for adding storage, cameras, game controllers, midi devices etc. If there's one thing we have learned from Apple in recent years, it's "expect to be underwhelmed and the device to be underspecced compared to what others have been doing for years."

So why do I want one? Web browsing at a higher resolution would be great. My iPhone is already my main browser these days, so a bigger version has to be cool. No flash though (d'oh!). Being able to use my many apps without re-buying them would be great too, although I'm not that convinced about pixel-doubling meaning games will simply "just work" (not least of which due to the placement of on-screen controls that were designed for a 3" device not a 10" one). Video will also be amazing - BBC iPlayer, YouTube HD etc. Bring it on!

Mainly I look forward to music apps. Full width virtual keys, more stuff on screen, more multiple touches (is that one true, about the 10 finger multi-touch?). That's going to be awesome.

It's far from perfect, far from business-like, far from a Windows tablet killer, looks like it'll slip off your lap and smash into a thousand tiny pieces and far from pocketable. I love it :o)