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First published in Examiner.com August 11, 2015 1:03 PM MST

By David Cox

• IK Multimedia’s IRig UA

The first universal guitar effects processor and interface for all Android devices

These days everything hinges on the interface with whether it’s the dashboard of your car on the glass surface of your smart device. It’s no different with your guitar to get your guitar to “talk” to your Android smart phone or ‘phablet’. You need something to translate all those guitar licks into digital signals such that they can be made use of by your effects apps and/or recording software. And that’s where IK Multimedia’s iRig UA comes in.

But the problem with such devices is always been latency. The delay between the signal of the guitar and the sound that you hear when you listen to it. Decrease the latency and you improve the experience.

As more and more people use the electric guitar the challenge of how to get a clean signal onto a smart phone for recording or performance remains. The software and the hardware of the phone itself have to do much of the heavy lifting. Any help they can get is greatly appreciated. Minimize latency and you improve performance. Everything is better. It pairs with AmpliTube UA to deliver solid sonic performance when used with any smartphone or tablet with Android 4.2 or higher. These include host mode/USB OTG. Android devices it works with include Samsung, Sony, Motorola, LG, HTC, Xiaomi or any other popular manufacturer.

iRig UA uses a built-in digital signal processor (DSP) that solves the issue of inconsistent OS latency on the Android platform. It’s able to do this by moving all processing to an external accessory. iRig UA’s DSP has been designed to work with a companion app, AmpliTube UA. The app, which comes with iRig UA, is powered by the DSP. AmpliTube provides a collection of virtual sound processing equipment to customize your guitar sound. A versatile system, iRig UA can also be used as a digital recording interface when connected to a Samsung Professional Audio compatible device or smartphone or tablet with Android 5.0.

This pairing of iRig UA and AmpliTube UA is perfect for when you need to practice in transit. iRig UA features a 1/4” input for a guitar, bass or other line-level instrument, a micro-USB to OTG cable and an 1/8” headphone output with volume control. I for one am grateful for this suite of inputs and outputs. I like to play along with .mp3s from other devices.

When playing my MIM Fender Strat through a Samsung Galaxy S using Amplitube, the signal was surprisingly clean and robust. I had some delay and reverb and a combo of chorus and distortion and I found that it felt just like playing through battery-powered metal BOSS stomp boxes from years ago. In fact it feels and sounds almost analog. Why? It uses hardware-based processing.

iRig UA’s on-board digital signal processor works in conjunction with AmpliTube UA, a special version of IK’s powerful guitar and bass multi-effects processor designed specifically for use with iRig UA. The processing is handled on iRig UA itself and not on the Android device, it’s able to provide consistent near-zero latency performance (down to 2 ms round-trip total latency) that’s independent of the make and model of your connected smartphone or tablet.

IK multimedia is getting very good at the small, portable pocket guitar interface device market, and this new push into the Android marketplace speaks to the rising tide of players using Galaxies and other such UA driven smart devices. Listening to guitarist and what they want has also helped in the decisions that led to iRig UA.

Features:

Works on any smartphone or tablet that supports Android 4.2 or higher and host mode/USB OTG

Near-zero latency digital FX processing

Digital audio recording on Android 5.0 and Samsung Professional Audio Devices

32-bit digital signal processor

24-bit converter with 44.1/48KHz sample rate

High-definition, low-noise preamp

Includes AmpliTube UA

Analog aux input for play-along and practice

Headphone output and volume control

Multicolor LED

Ultra-compact and lightweight design

Micro-USB port

RRP $99.99

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