Inside Home Recording.com

Suggestions for the IK StealthPlug

January 6th, 2007 by Derek

I gave the IK Multimedia StealthPlug bundle 4.5 out of 5 stars on IHR #31. It’s priced right ($130 USD), is tremendous fun to use, and includes a great batch of software, from AmpliTube 2 Live to Mackie Tracktion, loops, and plugins.

For the most part, it Just Works, and I find I’m recording more guitar now that I can get a high-quality signal easily with my MacBook—all I need is to haul my guitar into whatever room I’m in and wail away.

But of course it’s not perfect either. IK Multimedia asked me what could be better about it, and here are some of my suggestions. They’re not serious complaints for my purposes—they didn’t impede my use of the product significantly—but they are ways to make this good device even better…

• As I noted in the show, my G4 eMac couldn’t keep up with the processing demands of AmpliTube 2 Live all that well. I know that time marches on, and there are options to reduce the processor load in the program, but even a low-performance or mono mode would help for those with PowerBooks or other older machines.
• There’s no way to adjust the input gain, so if the signal from your guitar or other instrument is low, you get a low input level in your DAW. The included hardware volume controls only adjust the output volume of the headphone jack.
• The included SampleTank 2 SE and T-RackS EQ seem to be in VST format only, so they don’t work natively in GarageBand or Logic, which is too bad. (AmpliTube 2 Live itself works great as an AU plugin.) Similarly, the included loops are WAV format only—something like Apple Loops would be nice as well.
• Unlike IK’s Classik Studio Reverb and the main AmpliTube 2 emulator, AmpliTube 2 Live doesn’t require a USB hardware dongle. That’s nice. Unfortunately, there’s still a bit of a rigamarole getting the software registered and authorized through the IK site, and a limited number of authorizations is available for reinstalling or moving the software. That could cause trouble in the future.
• For live use or in many studio situations, the cable is a bit short, so a player would likely have to use an extension or (more likely) run a regular cable into a tuner or effects pedalboard and then run the StealthPlug into the computer.
• If you were the use the StealthPlug directly, the interface “wedge” is a bit awkward, since there’s no place for it to go, and could probably use some sort of clip to attach it to a guitar strap or another part of your guitar, belt, or clothing.
• The volume control buttons seem too small—some sort of jog wheel or larger buttons would work better, although of course you want to avoid hitting them accidentally.
• The D/A converter is 16-bit only, not 24-bit, and digitizes at sample rates only up to 48 kHz. That’s fine for me, and likely for many people, but those who like to record at 24-bit resolution will need to use another interface.

Depending on your needs, those points might have made the StealthPlug a 3.5 star or 4 star product for you. They are what kept it from being 5 stars for me. On the other hand, for $130 it’s pretty impressive indeed.

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