Time from the dropdown Setup menu. My
foot pedal now controlled the Time on the
Echo—and I got some wild sounds.
Next I plugged in a set of headphones, went
to the Audio MIDI setup, chose StealthPedal
as the output, and was jamming through some
iBuds. Doesn’t get much easier than that. (If I
wanted to plug into a PA, I could have just run
the left and right outputs into a console.) To
adjust the master levels of the pedal, go to the
Audio MIDI setup of the computer itself, and
tweak the StealthPedal settings under Audio
Devices. Very cool indeed.
I then installed the whole shebang on my
laptop and called up GarageBand. With a
few more clicks and within a few minutes, I
was playing to a cool loop through a built-in
GB amp, using my crappy laptop speakers.
Not sonically pristine, but damn, this can be
fun—and I see the big-picture potential here
for live playing.
Digging Deeper
Stealth also has a few cool “behind the
scenes” features up its sleeve. When plugging
guitar, bass, or keyboard into the pedal, the
jacks will automatically detect whether you’ve
inserted an unbalanced 1/4” or balanced TRS
cable. It can handle passive or active pickups,
bass, keys or whatever you want to plug in.
You can assign the Pedal to switch automatically to the Tuner screen when you step on the
contact switch. Then you can tune using the
pedal’s LEDs, where red is sharp, orange is flat
and green is in tune.
For preset switching, you’ll need an optional
footswitch, but by default it will do so with no
additional setup. You can bank up or down
between amp presets, or even assign it to turn
effects on or off, such as Echo or Distortion.
Options abound with this little bugger.
The Final Mojo
With all the included software, the
StealthPedal clearly represents not only
the best value for a USB guitar/instrument
controller, but the best sounding package.
The Deluxe package includes full versions
of Ampli Tube 2 and SVX, as well as all the
standard fare.
My only gripes are that it does not work
directly with Pro Tools (only with MIDI) and
that it must be plugged directly into a USB
slot, not a hub. But the limitations are far outweighed by the benefits and this is the place
to start for anyone looking to jump into virtual
guitar recording or live playing.
you want an affordable, high-quality,
compact, USB instrument connection for playing MIDI controllable
software, live or in the studio.
Buy If...
Skip If...
you don’t have any USB slots open
on your computer, and you need to
record guitars into Pro Tools.
Rating...
4. 5
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IK Multimedia
MSRP $269
ikmultimedia.com
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HARMONIC BRIDGE SYSTEM
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