iOS/ iPad OS ($4.99 / £4.99)
macOS (Pay-what-you-like pricing)
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Popular YouTuber Michael Mon has been on a one-man mission to make music production more accessible and affordable, pointing viewers to his playpm channel in the direction of cheaper and often better solutions than some of the leading software that’s out there for computers and mobile devices.
In the past, he’s highlighted how to use GarageBand as a viable free alternative to Teenage Engineering’s much-coveted OP-1 Field portable synthesizer, and replicated Akai’s MPC One sequencer using freeware programs.
He’s now turned his attention to the world of guitar and bass amplifiers, by creating his own digital amp simulator app, which Michael claims gives you the ability to replicate any classic amp — from massive Marshall stacks to iconic Fender combos — almost immediately.
Turn your iPhone up to 11
The app is based around the use of impulse responses or IRs — essentially short test tone recordings that provide sonic snapshots of an amplifier setup including microphone placement, speaker sound, and room reverberation, which are widely available both commercially and for free online.
While we don’t necessarily agree with Michael’s lofty claim that AnyAmpIR is the ultimate free guitar amp app – it doesn’t offer distortion, only clean tone shaping, while there are no additional effects like reverb or delay – but the tones it provides do sound unquestionably authentic.
It also delivers on his aim of being fuss-free, with its no-nonsense design and lightweight CPU, RAM, and storage demands, and cheap, with the iOS/ iPadOS version of AnyAmpIR priced at just $4.99 / £4.99, and the AU/VST3 plug-in version for Macs available for free. As with any guitar software, you’ll need an audio interface to connect up your axe to use the app.
