You might not know this but we’re actually quite musical folk here at iCreate HQ. So when Griffin announced their rather impressive-looking Stombox for iPad there was most definitely a ripple of excitement here, and if you’ve ever used your guitar with your favourite iOS device, then it’ll probably stretch to you too.

The Stompbox pretty much does what it says on the tin. Hook it, and your guitar, up to your iPad, and use it to control stompboxes and expression pedals in iShred Live, a guitar effects app. The alternative is taking your hands away from your instrument and fiddling with your iPad’s touchscreen to tweak your sounds, and you don’t really want to stop playing, do you?

Griffin haven’t skimped off on the build quality by the looks of things either, from the pictures we’ve seen the pedals look pretty sturdy and the whole thing connects to your iPad via a metre-long heavy duty dock cable. The Stompbox also includes a 1/4″ jack input for your favourite expresson or volume pedal allowing for the ultimate in sound sculpting. It’s an impressive set of features that looks like it might stand up well in a live environment under some of the more heavy-footed guitarists out there.

We’ve got just one reservation though, you still need to connect your guitar with Griffin’s GuitarConnect cable. It comes free with the Stompbox but we can’t help but feel the designers have missed a trick by not including another jack input on the unit itself and routing it all through the dock connector.

That said, the Stompbox certainly looks like it could be a lot of fun, and combined with Griffin’s Mic Stand Mount could see a few guitarists ditching their stacks in favour of their iPads.

EA Mobile has announced that its popular music-based console game Rock Band is set for release on iPhone and iPod touch. While a release date is yet to be slated the game should be available this month and is clearly in the latter stages of development as these official screenshots show.

Key Features include:

JAM ALONE OR WITH FRIENDS
Go solo, or push it to the limit with LIVE BLUETOOTH MULTIPLAYER . Play with 2-4 bandmates, hear when they miss notes and bail them out with overdrive.Enjoy the first full band multiplayer experience on the iPhone or iPod touch.

TURN IT UP ONLINE
If you can’t get your band together over Bluetooth, sync up via Facebook on your own time.Use the in-game message center to check your band’s status and get Push Notifications when friends invite you to rock out.

ALL 4 WAYS TO PLAY, ANY DIFFICULTY
Rock out on guitar, bass, drums or vocals to MP3-quality songs on easy, medium or difficult. Play solo, or start a band with friends from around the world. Jump into Quickplay for casual sessions or take it on the road in Tour Mode.

IT’S ALL ABOUT THE MUSIC
Play along with 20 legendary songs from great bands like Smashing Pumpkins, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Foo Fighters, Blink-182, The Beastie Boys, and more!

TAKE IT TO THE TOP & EARN THE PERKS
Start out playing in grungy dives and work all the way up to stadium-rock stardom. Collect rewards and achievements that provide replay value and depth to even the most experienced Rock Band veterans

THE ROCK DOESN’T STOP!
Check out the in-game Music Store to purchase additional tracks from OK Go, Foo Fighters, Smashing Pumpkins, Lenny Kravitz, Social Distortion, Devo, and more!

Songs available in the core game will include:
Attack- 30 Seconds To Mars
Girls Not Grey – AFI
Move Along – All American Rejects
Sabotage – Beastie Boys
All The Small Things – Blink-182
Hanging on the Telephone – Blondie
Learn To Fly – Foo Fighters
Everlong – Foo Fighters
Bad to The Bone – George Thorogood & the Destroyers
Hymn 43 – Jethro Tull
Bad Reputation – Joan Jett
Simple Man – Lynard Skynard
Ace of Spades ’08 – Motorhead
Debaser – Pixies
Ladybug – Presidents of The United States of America
Give It All – Rise Against
Lazy Eye – Silversun Pick Ups
Cherub Rock – Smashing Pumpkins
Take The Money and Run – Steve Miller Band
We Got The Beat – The Go Go’s