IK Multimedia who are well known for their electronic gear for musicians and hobbyists just announced a first. Their new iRig Acoustic is the first mobile microphone interface designed especially for acoustic guitars. If you’re an acoustic musician, you probably use a stand alone mic positioned in front of your instrument when performing or recording. This setup works fine, but keeps you stuck in one spot unable to move around while you play. The iRig Acoustic is an acoustic microphone pickup that is made of a soft non-marring rubber material and installs without any instrument modification on the circular sound hole of any steel or nylon stringed acoustic guitar, bass, ukulele, etc. It is able to replicate the ideal mic placement to capture the full frequency range, tonal character and complex harmonics and overtones of acoustic instruments.
The iRig Acoustic plugs into your iOS or Android device’s headphone with a standard 1/8” TRRS cable that also allows you to monitor your playing by using the female stereo output jack also included on the in-line cable. Plug your headphones into this jack for private practice and monitoring, or you can line out to a mixer or powered speaker for full stereo acoustic performance. You can also use the iRig Acoustic with IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube Acoustic app. This app will let you calibrate and optimize the iRig Acoustic to allow the true sonic character of the guitar being played.
The iRig Acoustic is available now and is priced at $49.99 through IK Multimedia.
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Julie,
This looks like a very interesting product. But there are quite a few acoustic guitar pickups that work by attaching to the sound hole of the guitar. They have individual sensors under each string. I don’t know if that actually picks up each individual string. But it looks more sensitive than this product.
Also, the position of this product is right where my pick would hit the edge of the acoustic hole. I have a feeling that I’d be creating a lot of noise as my pick hit the microphone. Or the pick would cause this microphone to fly off the acoustic hole.
I’d love to see and hear how this compares to The pickups that sit inside the acoustic opening.
This isn’t a pickup, it’s a replacement for a stationary microphone. Do you usually hit the sound hole when you strum your guitar? If you do, you’re doing it wrong 😉
One other thing bothered me about the article.
The article says, “Plug your headphones into this jack for private practice and monitoring, or you can line out to a mixer or powered speaker for full stereo acoustic performance. ”
I do hope that you, Julie, did not write that sentence. Unlike an electronic keyboard where headphones allows the player to play without anyone else hearing the sound, an acoustic guitar will always create sound in the air.
The monitor option is so you can hear what IK Multimedia’s AmpliTube Acoustic app does to the sound.
But that can’t be “private practice”.
Would this be a practical option for playing live by using the line out into an acoustic amp? I’m thinking coffee shops, farmer’s markets type venues.
Yes, I think it would be. We’ll be having a full review soon.
Thanks Tim, this was also my question 🙂
Looking forward to the review – I guess because the product is so new, I can’t find a great deal of information online addressing this specific issue .
Soon? Its April 2016 now.
Too bad, there is no (i can’t find) Amplitube acoustic for android devices…