Behringer iAxe 393 review

There's something quite tantalising about Behringer's iAxe 393.

On the one hand, its USB interface and bland design are pretty much the opposite of what a guitar should be. Yet we must confess to getting some geeky satisfaction from both guitars and computers, so the prospect of combining both in a USB guitar has a certain so-wrong-it's-right charm.

The iAxe is a decent quality instrument. We found it comfortable to play, and its tone via the standard jack output was as good as we'd expect from a £100 guitar. A strap and three plectra are included, but instead of a standard guitar lead there's a USB cable. This brings us to our first complaint: at 1.5m, the cable is too short. More worrying is that the USB socket is positioned at the end of the guitar, so putting the guitar down on its end while it's plugged in could damage the cable and socket.

The accompanying CD-ROM includes driver software plus a trio of Guitar Combo programs, each of which emulates a different type of guitar amplifier. Copyright issues prevent the specific models being named, but they appear to be based on Fender, Marshall and Vox designs. We initially found it frustrating that they're not integrated into a single application - you have to quit one to launch another. However, we eventually found out why: only one can be used after a 30-day trial period. Still, each one has a versatile range of tones and sounds excellent.

The Guitar Combos run as stand-alone software, but we were disappointed to discover that it's not possible to use them as VST plug-ins inside music-production software.If you want to do anything more than record a single line of music, you'll need to use other music production and guitar amp simulation software. Another frustration is the Guitar Combo software's use of ASIO drivers to communicate with the guitar's USB interface. On the plus side, ASIO has very low latency, which means there's no appreciable delay between striking a string and hearing the result. However, the software can only address a single ASIO audio interface at once. This means its output appears at the guitar's headphone socket rather than through your normal sound card and speakers. It's possible to route it back to your speakers with some clever cabling, but it's not particularly neat.