How Do I Connect My Guitar To Garageband Ipad

What is Audiobus? — Audiobus isan award-winning music app for iPhone and iPad which lets you useyour other music apps together. Chain effects on your favouritesynth, run the output of apps or Audio Units into an app likeGarageBand or Loopy, or select a different audio interface outputfor each app. Route MIDI between apps — drive asynth from a MIDI sequencer, or add an arpeggiator to your MIDIkeyboard — or sync with your external MIDI gear.And control your entire setup from a MIDI controller.

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To do this, you just open a new “Audio” track in your workspace. And then click on the “Record” button. Start playing the guitar with your amplifier close to it, and that should be enough for a very rough demo. 2) You can also purchase a Guitar to USB cable and hook your guitar directly up to GarageBand. This is an inferior way of recording guitar tracks as well, but it works if you’re running on a string budget. Nov 29, 2011 Alesis iO Dock (£139) The iO Dock sits on your desk like a portastudiostyle device and houses your iPad or iPad 2 at a practical working angle. It has socketry on its back and sides, offering all the connectivity you’d need to utilise recording apps and software synths, as well as guitar-related apps.

edited February 2017 in General App Discussion

I have $200 burning a hole in my pocket on Amazon, so not too much money but enough I could combine with other sources to buy something passable. I have a rather small practice amp and a full size stereo to play my guitar through at home. I can plug my iPad into both and get OK sound. I am going to be traveling to practice sessions and will need to play with others, the practice amp can get loud enough but the sound isn't great for a 6' speaker. I am thinking I have a few choices:

Buy a straight modeling amp like a Line6, and play the guitar through it. No iPad.
Buy a PA system and play the guitar through ToneStack on my iPad.
Buy a guitar amp and play the guitar through the iPad to the amp via the headphone jack into the phono or RCA inputs.

Thoughts on which would give a decent sound and decent flexibility? I usually just play for myself so thinking about playing with others is all new to me.

Comments

There's a couple of threads about the amplifii amp recently; might be an option?
I think it's really a question of whether you want that square box monitor near you while you play. I go iPad straight into a PA because I'm done hauling amps around. But it took me a while to get used to the lack of that amp sitting next to me. And then there's tubes (which make a huge difference even if just in the power amp section). I love the sound of 'em but I've made the choice of convenience and am quite happy. YMMV.
I play my ipad through PA. I hook it up to my Pioneer reciever, two KLH speaker's and one of my guitar innerfaces (iriffport, focusrite 2i4, Griffin studio connect, or irig HD)..and I'm set. I think it sounds great. Plenty loud.
Dude I have this baby
I use It at our Mens worship services and this baby is soooo loud seriously I literally have to bring it down cause the Soundman gets on my case. I have it where in clean settings so no onboard effects are on and with the single tube it warms up my tone sooooo sweetly!
Small enough to carry to the gig and looks so good I get so many compliments!
edited February 2017
I wouldnt bother with modeling amps. Better if you can get some tube amp and hook it on your ipad. Either use just the preamp from the amp(by running out from amps fx loop to ipa and not back to amp), then run it into bias or tonestack and turn off the preamp emulation from them. This will get you that sweet tube overdrive sound and the flexibility of modeling amp sims.
Other way would be to put the ipad on fx loop and use some effects and modeling stuff on ipad and route the sound back to guitar amp(fx loop out to ipad and ipad to fx loop return).
You can also just use the ipad with some speaker and power amp, BUT you wont get that sweet tube distortion, that you can only get from real tubes(software isnt able to emulate it properly, unless you get axe-fx 2). It does sound pretty good if you play it through decent speaker and power amp. But i would rather go with real tubes than real speaker for best tones.
Forget the guitar amp IMO. At home I play through my monitors and when I play out it's through the PA. If you want some kind of amplifier get something that won't color your tone, maybe a keyboard amp. Guitar speakers do a lot to shape the tone, and you don't want that in this scenario.
@Matthew said:
Forget the guitar amp IMO. At home I play through my monitors and when I play out it's through the PA. If you want some kind of amplifier get something that won't color your tone, maybe a keyboard amp. Guitar speakers do a lot to shape the tone, and you don't want that in this scenario.
If I play through an amp, I run my iPad into the effects in so that it bypasses the pre-amp and just hits the power amp (with glowing 6L6's!). Use neutral sounding speakers..
Different strokes for different folks. I've tried it a million times and it never sounds right to my ear. I can get great sounds using ToneStack or Amplitube on my iPad through monitors, but the second I pipe it through an effects return it sounds fake, even with the cabinet simulation turned off. I'm not sure why exactly. Now, taking the effects send out of a preamp or even just a nice pedal and processing it through the iPad is another story.
@lukesleepwalker said:
@Matthew said:
Forget the guitar amp IMO. At home I play through my monitors and when I play out it's through the PA. If you want some kind of amplifier get something that won't color your tone, maybe a keyboard amp. Guitar speakers do a lot to shape the tone, and you don't want that in this scenario.
If I play through an amp, I run my iPad into the effects in so that it bypasses the pre-amp and just hits the power amp (with glowing 6L6's!). Use neutral sounding speakers..
@Matthew said:
Different strokes for different folks. I've tried it a million times and it never sounds right to my ear. I can get great sounds using ToneStack or Amplitube on my iPad through monitors, but the second I pipe it through an effects return it sounds fake, even with the cabinet simulation turned off. I'm not sure why exactly. Now, taking the effects send out of a preamp or even just a nice pedal and processing it through the iPad is another story.
Different strokes indeed! I don't bother running my iPad through an amp anymore (as noted above). I just don't think it matters all that much and it's so easy to show up with an iPad, a guitar, an iRig, and a cord.
edited February 2017
Guitar amp. If you are buying something for guitar. The added latency on the ipad (even at 128) as a guitar processor makes it less than ideal, regardless if you like the sounds of the simulators. The disconnect in timing makes it hard to play tight.
I run tonestack into a PA. Tonestack has 64 latency option and you can turn the simulation from ultra high to just high or medium and it runs like a dream on my iPhone 6plus. Yes the warmth of tubes is hard to emulate exactly but I think it comes close enough for my taste most of the time.
Being able to run thru loopy is great too. Can make backing tracks in seconds using a whammy -12half steps and bass amp in tonestack, then switch to a guitar sound to play over it.
Just my 2 cents
@Panthemusicalgoat said:
I run tonestack into a PA. Tonestack has 64 latency option and you can turn the simulation from ultra high to just high or medium and it runs like a dream on my iPhone 6plus. Yes the warmth of tubes is hard to emulate exactly but I think it comes close enough for my taste most of the time.
Connecting yamaha keyboard to mac garageband. You can connect a real MIDI keyboard through a USB cable (on most newer gear) or a MIDI adapter (on older equipment).
Virtual dj serato skin download link 1. And if you want to change any of the default behavior, VirtualDJ for Windows has a powerful 'VDJScript' language that will let you easily tweak any functions exactly to your liking.
Being able to run thru loopy is great too. Can make backing tracks in seconds using a whammy -12half steps and bass amp in tonestack, then switch to a guitar sound to play over it.
Just my 2 cents
I do the same as this. How is your battery life on the 6+ running Tonestack and Loopy? And which interface do you use?
Yeah, the technical way to do this is to use either the FX Return (or 'Power Amp IN') jack, if your amp has one. I have about 5 to 7 things you could call 'guitar amps' in my house, and NONE of them have an FX loop, so no luck there. Or, you could plug into a mixer and use some PA speakers, reference monitors, or headphones.
But, as alluded to above, I never actually do this because even the slightest hint of latency really bothers me, and that seems almost unavoidable on the iPad. I also just don't like to have to worry about additional things like USB or headphone jack output level when I'm using the iPad as an FX suite. Too many affordable analog pedal options on the market now, and I just prefer that experience.
All that being said, if I were recording a track using an iPad DAW, I may just use the software on the iPad for modeling, just because of convenience. I've experimented, however, with using something like a UCA202 and the proper cables to connect that to a Tech21 or other preamp pedal for a low-latency audio capture (similar to how you might capture an external synth).
I have an iLoud. 40 watts, very convenient, very loud. I have not tried it live, as I don't play live, but it's a great little unit. Flat freq response, so no additional coloration, and I use it as a studio monitor as well.
Thank you all for your thoughts, I appreciate it. It turns out the answer isn't so easy at all, quite predictably influenced by my needs and desires! I have some things to think about here still and some great options to research.
lots of valid points, but the 'use a real tube amp' hint is close to nonsense.
In particular because current amps (up to nearly $1k) are rather weak compared to vintage specimen.
You can safely emulate those with BIAS or Tonestack and even outperform them.
The difference (if any) is in the cabinet, NOT the tube(s).
Tubes themselves have a rather low share on what's considered 'tube sound' - mostly it's about circuit design and transformers - and the speaker.
My comment is about classic crunch/distortion, not about metal - that's a different story and imho not even related to tubes at all.
For two weeks I've been messing around with garageband and using its amps. Using an Apogee One straight out to monitors I'm not noticing any latency, and I'm a fairly quick jazz player, but I prefer clean tones so maybe that has something to do with it.
I believe I remember that there is some stereo mixer latency out of the ipad/iphone headphone jack, so any interface using that for audio is likely going to cause perceptible latency.
@lukesleepwalker said:
@Panthemusicalgoat said:
I run tonestack into a PA. Tonestack has 64 latency option and you can turn the simulation from ultra high to just high or medium and it runs like a dream on my iPhone 6plus. Yes the warmth of tubes is hard to emulate exactly but I think it comes close enough for my taste most of the time.
Being able to run thru loopy is great too. Can make backing tracks in seconds using a whammy -12half steps and bass amp in tonestack, then switch to a guitar sound to play over it.
Just my 2 cents
I do the same as this. How is your battery life on the 6+ running Tonestack and Loopy? And which interface do you use?
Honestly in airplane mode (so calls don't interrupt and wifi off saves battery) pretty darn good actually. I play hour sets and I haven't had any issues yet. Start at 100% and end up with 40-50% usually. I also put brightness at about half
I go via a mixer, so I can fiddle with the EQ a bit. Haven't had any noticeable latency issues.
edited February 2017
I'm thinking about getting an iRig HD 2 since it has a Hi-Z quarter inch out with a FX/Thru switch. I'm also going to use my small pedalboard (tuner, distortion, cabinet simulator) for my base guitar tone and use iOS purely for reverb, delay and other non-essential things. That way if iOS gives me issue I can just flip a switch and I'm not dead in the water.
Going straight into a PA, my experience was that input/routing can have a huge effect on latency. I use a Sonic Port VX for my line in to the iPad via lightning connection. I tried sending the processed audio back out via the Sonic Port's stereo outs into a mixer, and the latency was beyond usable. Easily 250ms or more.
Same set-up, but running the processed audio out of the headphone jack as a mono signal = zero latency. My guess is the A/D converters in the Sonic Port were holding up the signal, sadly.
I can also say running into an amp head and speaker is bad news, no matter how well you try to 'neutralize' the amp's coloration. Volume was virtually halved compared to playing straight in, and running a cabinet emulation into a cabinet kind of kills any benefit of either. Strangely, in that scenario, fraught with issues as it might have been, I was running out of the Sonic Port's A/D line out and .. no latency. Only thing I can think is the mixer I plugged into had mic preamps already, so perhaps the 'double' conversion of the signal led to the massive latency.
Anyway, short answer: iPad straight into PA (using headphone out) was zero latency and preserved my guitar tone from JamUp Pro as desired. 1/8 to XLR adaptors are cheap and easy to come by. Beats the hell out of the old days of hauling a 4x12 cab + head + rack mount .. never again, LOL!
@Telefunky said:
lots of valid points, but the 'use a real tube amp' hint is close to nonsense.
In particular because current amps (up to nearly $1k) are rather weak compared to vintage specimen.
You can safely emulate those with BIAS or Tonestack and even outperform them.
The difference (if any) is in the cabinet, NOT the tube(s).
Tubes themselves have a rather low share on what's considered 'tube sound' - mostly it's about circuit design and transformers - and the speaker.
My comment is about classic crunch/distortion, not about metal - that's a different story and imho not even related to tubes at all.
Well i have tested with my old engl tube head and the current marshall valvestate i have(tubes in preamp, transistor power amp) and using the preamp tubes makes a huge difference. Sounds A LOT better than any of the software sims distortion sounds i have tried(and i have tried several on ios and on desktop), even adding a tubescreamer instead of using software distortion(which sucks in the amp sims) sounds a lot better.
It would be most helpful if people commenting on what is right / wrong / the best regarding guitar sounds, posted some examples here of what they are talking about, then we could make our own minds up !
I'm curious for those of you running straight into a PA what you are using to monitor yourselves. Back when I was gigging so many places had such limited options on foldback..
In terms of the OPs question, it seems a lot depends on what's really needed; I.e. Size of the band, size of the venues you're playing, what the rehearsal space is like..
@fprintf, what I'm taking away from all this discussion is the iPad outputs full range sound - and most guitar combos are not really designed for that. Hence the good results mentioned from going straight to a PA. If you are looking for an amp to use with your iPad, I might recommend looking at a keyboard amp combo. These are are geared toward full range input and output more so than most guitar amps. Or perhaps a small powered PA cabinet..
edited February 2017
@ToMess I don't question your personal preferences, but my comment explicitely excluded 'metal' and that's what Engl is about (afaik)
Regarding references: I once checked the current Fender/Vox tube models in a YT comparison (proper Studio recordings) and compared them to some recordings of vintage Watkins tube amps.
The latter may not be very well known, but produced exactly what I'd consider a perfect tube amp sound, in a quality which is indeed hard to emulate. As an example:

he's discussing technical detail very deeply, sound in his videos is rather at the end
the tremolo thing is also cool, reminded me a lot on Holderness Johnny
his other videos are also worth checking

More then ever, it has become easier to lay down your song ideas while on the move. With GarageBand for iPad, we are also closer then ever to having a full professional recording studio in a very thin

More then ever, it has become easier to lay down your song ideas while on the move. With GarageBand for iPad, we are also closer then ever to having a full professional recording studio in a very thin package. And at a price of $4.99, who can complain? For those who are just starting out, here's a first tutorial on recording guitar to get you and your iPad rocking.

Setup and Equipment needed

First off before even starting the application, you should get the hardware you need to enable you to record your guitar to your iPad. There are two basic input types you need to consider:

Guitar Input for Electric Guitar and Bass (IK Multimedia iRig, Apogee Jam, AmpKit Link)
Mic Input for acoustic guitar (IK Multimedia iRig Mic, Blue Yeti Pro -- requires Apple's Camera Connection Kit)

L to R: IK Multimedia's iRig, Blue Yeti Mic, Apple's Camera Connection Kit

Guitar Amp

Launch GarageBand for iPad and plug your guitar into the iRig. On the left of the screen is a ' 1/4' jack' button which lets you add a noise gate. Handy for those distorted tones. Next to it is the guitarist's best friend: the Tuner.. no excuses for a flat g-string!

In the middle, you can select from different amp combinations and even save settings of your own. You can also swipe the amps to keep the same preset settings and try these settings on different amps.

On the far right is the 'pedals' section. Here you can add up to 4 pedals, change their effects level and remove pedals. To get back to the amp section, tap the 'Amp' icon on the right of the screen. One nice thing about GB for iPad is that you can change the amps settings after you've recorded your part and even create your own presets for future recordings.

Audio Recorder

If you want to record acoustic guitar, you can use the iPad's built in microphone but I would recommend looking at Blue Microphone's 'Yeti Pro' or Apogee's upcoming 'Mic' to add a professional sheen to your recordings. When you first open Audio Recorder it gives you a VU meter to check your audio input levels. A noise gate is also available by tapping on the '1/4' plug' icon.

Once you record a take, you can then add processing to the sound from a preset selection that include effects and voice transformers. The effects also give you sliders for compression, reverb, chorus, etc. depending on the effect you choose.

Recording Tips!

First and foremost.. PRACTICE! GB on the iPad does not allow editing like GB on a Mac and you don't get features like Flex Time, multiple takes, pitch correction, etc. Also, you will have to play the parts at the tempo of the song unlike those who slow a song down, record their part, and speed it up after. While some would look at this as a detriment, I look at it as positive growth for musical skills and it ultimately gives you a better understanding of your song. After all, becoming a better musician is a life long process and not a means to an end.

After recording an electric guitar you have plenty of options to affect the tone as the amps have EQ and FX pedals to compress, etc. If you want to record feedback on the electric guitar, you will need to connect the output to your speakers and boost the main volume. But.. be careful as each amp/guitar has it's own characteristics for feedback and some are just plain uncontrollable ear-piercing squeals. Layering guitars also has the usual big sound but also eats up tracks so planning is crucial.

Also, when planning your song parts, take into account that GB for iPad does things in 'sections' and only up to 10 sections. While this may not seem like a big deal, you will want to figure out the parts/sections of your song beforehand. For example, song intro, verse 1, pre-chorus, verse 2 with added guitar, pre-chorus with organ, Chorus, verse 3 with less instruments, bridge, intro, Chorus, Chorus 2, End, etc. You can put the 'Sections' into 'Automatic' mode which gives you whatever amount of bars you want i.e. Record intro and verse 1 together.

When recording an acoustic guitar or instrument, be sure to try different takes with your USB microphone or iPad mic on different spots and distances from the guitar. Mic placement is very critical to get a decent sound. For example, placing a mic close to the sound hole of the guitar can add unwanted bass frequencies. Although with the iPad mic I found this to be the best spot.

Also, there are No EQ Frequency bands to allow you to fix things after recording. For a brighter tone, consider newer strings or a harder pick. If using the iPad's mic, make sure your room is as quiet as possible, because it'll pick up every little sound as the signal to noise ratio is not great. Another trick is to use the Guitar Amp settings for EQ control. I found the most natural to be the Clean Combo setting with the gain off. As you increase the gain, it adds some crunch to the tone. This way you can EQ somewhat and even add some nice compression and chorus. Even playing with the Noise Gate setting gave some interesting results. Metal Acoustic! Experimentation is key.

How Do I Connect My Guitar To Garageband Ipad 4

Stay tuned for more GarageBand for iPad tips and tutorials on recording synths, pianos, etc. and vocals!