Simple NAM Chain

Turn your iPhone or iPad into a guitar rig.

Simple NAM Chain plays amp captures in the Neural Amp Modeler format, including A1 and A2. Load a capture, add a cabinet impulse response, and play. It runs on its own, or as an Audio Unit inside GarageBand, AUM and other hosts.

BUILD A CHAIN

Stack up to six blocks in series — a drive pedal into an amp head into a cab, or whatever order you want. Drag to reorder, bypass any block, remove the ones you don't need. Tag each one Full Rig, Amp Head, Pedal, Outboard or IR so the chain reads at a glance.

EVERY BLOCK IS A FULL RIG

Each block has its own input level, noise gate, amp capture, cabinet IR, three-band EQ and output level. The gate, the EQ and the IR each switch off independently.

LOAD WHOLE MODEL PACKS

Captures usually arrive as a folder holding the same amp at a range of settings. Point the app at the folder and step through every capture with the arrows, without going back to a file browser between takes.

Keep your packs anywhere on the device, or drop them into the Full Rig, Amp Head, Pedal, Outboard and IR folders the app creates for you in Files.

GAIN STAGING HANDLED

Captures that carry calibration data are gain-staged automatically as you reorder the chain, so stacking blocks doesn't wreck your levels. Set your interface's input level in dBu once, and pick Raw, Normalized or Calibrated output.

ALSO INCLUDED

• Built-in tuner
• Slim control, to trade a little accuracy for lower CPU on captures that support it
• Live CPU readout
• Recovers cleanly from phone calls, route changes and unplugged interfaces

WHAT YOU NEED

An audio interface to plug your guitar into gives the best results — the built-in microphone works, but isn't meant for playing. You'll need captures in .nam format (A1 and A2 are both supported), and impulse responses as .wav files if you want cabinets; thousands are free at tone3000.com. Headphones or monitors, so the mic doesn't feed back.

FREE FOR THREE DAYS

Everything is unlocked for three days. After that the app stops processing audio until you unlock it, which is a single payment of $4.99. Not a subscription, no accounts, no ads, and nothing is collected about you.