Review: IK Multimedia StompIO

Dec 1, 2008 12:00 PM, By Jon Chappell

           
 

A TANKLIKE CONTROLLER WITH A POWERFUL FEATURE SET

BONUS MATERIAL
Download the Spec Sheet as a PDF

FIG. 1: The StompIO is a solidly built floor controller featuring ten footswitches, seven knobs, five buttons, and two displays.

If you're a discerning guitarist who records and performs with technological savvy, you've probably found the tasks of outfitting your effects for stage and studio to be separate endeavors. For live use, you may use a sophisticated hardware multi-effects processor to get your sounds underfoot, whereas in the studio, you may opt for plug-ins for their superior flexibility and sonic variety. But now some guitar-software manufacturers are seeking to bridge the software/hardware gap by introducing software-driven controllers that look and feel like conventional outboard multi-effects processors. These units are as at home on the floor as they are on the tabletop; it's just that they're tethered to a computer somewhere.

Bonus Material

Read Mix January 2009 review on the IK Multimedia StompIO

Massive Metal

No one has thrown as much heavy metal at this product category as IK Multimedia has with the StompIO (see Fig. 1), a foot-operated outboard controller for its Powered by AmpliTube software. This unit could be described as the Cadillac of software controllers — big, powerful, and luxurious. Yes, it's expensive, but it comes with everything you need: the entire line of AmpliTube software modules, an outboard expression pedal (I would have preferred that it was attached to the unit, but this arrangement does let you choose which side to put the pedal on), and a USB cable. All you have to do is supply the computer and the amplifier.

This review will focus on the StompIO itself rather than on the bundled programs that drive it, which are the Powered by AmpliTube modules AmpliTube2, AmpliTube Jimi Hendrix, Ampeg SVX, AmpliTube Metal, and X-GEAR. A hardware-only version of the StompIO package is available as an upgrade from IK Multimedia to registered owners of the above-mentioned modules and other selected IK titles for $799.

View from Above

The StompIO's front panel sports ten footswitches, seven knobs (a dedicated master volume and six assignable rotary encoders), two displays, and five buttons — one for activating the tuner and four for navigating the interface (paging and cursoring around the screens and parameters). All the front-panel controls are solid, large, and well constructed and will have no trouble standing up to the rigors of long-term stage use. A sturdy metal rod that spans the width of the unit acts as a convenient carrying handle, making me wonder why more multi-effects units don't include one.

FIG. 2: The StompIO offers impressive I/O options, including balanced and unbalanced stereo output pairs and a Class A preamp.

The I/O on the StompIO is impressive (see Fig. 2). In addition to the power supply and guitar-input jack, there are six ¼-inch inputs for external controllers, a ¼-inch TRS input for the expression pedal, two ¼-inch stereo output pairs (balanced and unbalanced), MIDI In and Out, USB, S/PDIF out (RCA), a ¼-inch headphone out, and a ¼-inch direct out.

The CPU Connection

In addition to a controller, you can use the StompIO as the audio interface for your DAW; it handles up to 24-bit, 48 kHz audio. I used it successfully with Steinberg Cubase and Wave-Lab with no issues; I didn't even have to adjust the buffer for latency when multitracking in Cubase. Guitarists will be pleased to know that it has a 1 MΩ high-impedance input and a low-noise Class A preamp.

FIG. 3: X-GEAR, which ships with the StompIO, acts as a shell program to organize and control the other Powered by AmpliTube modules in your system.

You can use the StompIO to control a plug-in within your DAW or in standalone mode (which you'd likely use in a performance situation), where you launch the shell program, X-GEAR (see Fig. 3), to organize your setups and the other Powered by AmpliTube modules. X-GEAR provides capabilities for creating your own setups, though it's limited in the stompboxes and amps it provides. Its greatest strength is as a shell to organize all the models from the other modules, providing an excellent palette for painting your sonic guitar-effects canvases (see Web Clips 1 and 2).

For studio use, you'd still invoke X-GEAR to organize your AmpliTube sounds, but you'd access it as a plug-in from within your DAW. Despite the big floor controller, you need a computer to run the StompIO; there is no internal sound-generating circuitry in this spacious box. So performing guitarists should understand that “standalone” doesn't mean you can load the StompIO with sounds and carry just the controller to the gig. You need a computer in tow.