Practise Metronome

Practise Metronome allows you to practise that elusive riff at increasing tempos without losing momentum.

It can help you build speed on those tricky runs and arpeggios as well as improving technique and stamina.

Set a start Bpm, Number of increments, Number of bars per increment and an End Bpm and Practise Metronome will steadily increase the speed.

The variable meter (2 - 16 beats) allows practise in different time signatures. Each beat of the meter can be accented to aid counting and playing complex times and rhythms, for example the Flamenco Compás.

Accents can be assigned a different sound to make them more obvious.

An 'easy beat' sound patch enables a simple Drum rhythm to be created. Assign the snare sound to the Accents and choose where you want the snare to be. Plus a Conga beat.

A continuous play option allows the Practise Metronome to function as a conventional metronome with it's speed set by the Start Bpm. A 440 Hz tuning note is also provided.

Data entry is via an on screen Jog Wheel, which prevents the need for constant pop-ups from the keyboard.

The Jog Wheel is also the Start/Stop control.

There are a choice of 10 sounds Agogo, WoodBlock, Hand Claps, Hi Conga, Hi Hat, Lo Conga, Side Stick, Triangle, Bass Drum and Snare which are provided through the Android Media Player via Midi.

The Practise Metronome generates Midi as needed. in testing (on HTC Hero) the metronome was very accurate, as this is ultimately under the control of the media player, this may vary with hardware.

A lead-in is also provided which can give you 1 to 8 bars of count-in and can be assigned to a different sound so you can be sure when the main sequence has started.

When the Practise Metronome is playing, a running indicator is displayed along with the current and previous BPM, allowing you to monitor your progress as your playing improves.

A transport option displays positional information within a sequence which can be changed in real time so you can skip back to a previous tempo without restarting the whole sequence as well as control over beat volumes and the overall media volume for your device.

Contextual help is also available by a long click on any field.

Access to the media player equalizer is provided (only available on Android 2.3 and above). This will allow additional volume if it's currently too low. Please be aware that the settings affect all media played while the metronome is in memory. If you are using headphones check that other media players are set to a comfortable level.

It is possible that the equalizer may not work correctly if you have installed a custom Android ROM on your device, it has been tested with Cyanogen V7-05 on HTC Hero and works fine, along with the Android emulator. If you do find any problems, let us know and we will endeavour to sort them out quickly.

IMPORTANT NOTICE !

There appears to be a large discrepancy in the output volume
of midi files across devices. The volume obtainable is dependant on the midi player in each device. The internal volumes are user controllable if the option is turned on, but the default volumes are set at maximum for the accented beats. If your device is too quiet to be usable, I'm afraid there is nothing more I can do about it. (see above)

If you feel compelled to leave a comment to this effect, please state which device you are using although it is possible that different versions of the same device can have different results, or better still send me an email. If I get enough responses I will post a list of the results.

Midi was chosen to ensure consistent accuracy of timing across devices and performed well on test devices.

Please don't be put off trying the Practise Metronome by this issue, you can always obtain a refund within the rules of the market.

Requires Android 1.6 or later and a device with 240x320 screen or better. Android 2.3 to access the equalizer.