Can I haz a gud metronum?
May 20, 2010 7:04 PM Subscribe
Hey AskMefi, could you help me find a metronome?
What I'm looking has to have these features aside of the good tweakable metronome:
* Stopwatch
* Plug for an AC adapter
* Tuner (optional)
* Sensible price?
Is there a product that has these features, or am I overly optimistic?
What I'm looking has to have these features aside of the good tweakable metronome:
* Stopwatch
* Plug for an AC adapter
* Tuner (optional)
* Sensible price?
Is there a product that has these features, or am I overly optimistic?
There are free Android metronome and tuner apps that I've used quite successfully.
posted by QuantumMeruit at 7:22 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by QuantumMeruit at 7:22 PM on May 20, 2010
What do you mean by "stopwatch", exactly? It implies an elapsed time counter to me, but you may also mean something like a countdown timer.
I can't say that I've been happy with the tuner/metronome combos, as they're usually much not great tuners or metronomes. Here's a pretty standard one: Korg TM-40
When I practice, I prefer a separate tuner and metronome. I'm messing with one or the other repeatedly over a session, so the separation minimizes screw-ups on my part. I like boring click/beep metronomes like the SQ-50V. A regular 9v (which I'll have a handful of sitting around for this and other devices) lasts me months. There's devices like the Korg BeatLab that are big enough to warrant AC adapters, but I've not used one. I'm lucky enough to have drum loops I can play over my recording and monitoring setup, so I don't need a standalone device.
It may help if you share what instruments you're playing, as what you need tuner-wise will probably vary.
posted by graftole at 8:18 PM on May 20, 2010
I can't say that I've been happy with the tuner/metronome combos, as they're usually much not great tuners or metronomes. Here's a pretty standard one: Korg TM-40
When I practice, I prefer a separate tuner and metronome. I'm messing with one or the other repeatedly over a session, so the separation minimizes screw-ups on my part. I like boring click/beep metronomes like the SQ-50V. A regular 9v (which I'll have a handful of sitting around for this and other devices) lasts me months. There's devices like the Korg BeatLab that are big enough to warrant AC adapters, but I've not used one. I'm lucky enough to have drum loops I can play over my recording and monitoring setup, so I don't need a standalone device.
It may help if you share what instruments you're playing, as what you need tuner-wise will probably vary.
posted by graftole at 8:18 PM on May 20, 2010
Not the answer, but the old-school mechanical metronomes have a certain ineffable quality to them, and are usually not too pricey..
posted by ovvl at 8:19 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by ovvl at 8:19 PM on May 20, 2010
It's easy to find criteria 2-4 in several metronomes in any band-instrument type music store. I've never seen one with a stopwatch, but perhaps I just ahven't been looking.
posted by rhizome at 9:06 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by rhizome at 9:06 PM on May 20, 2010
There are free iPhone / iPod Touch metronome and tuner apps available.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:38 PM on May 20, 2010
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 11:38 PM on May 20, 2010
Free metronomes are pretty common for smartphones but I think the tuner part of your question is really important. If you have an iPhone, please please please skip all the other shitty tuner apps for iPhone and go straight to the $10 iStroboSoft, which uses the algorithms from the same company's $500+ studio stroboscopic tuners and will let you nail things to a cent or less. It only does tuning, but does it perfectly. I cannot describe how wonderful a stringed instrument sounds when its tuning has been nailed down with this app.
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:24 AM on May 21, 2010
posted by seanmpuckett at 5:24 AM on May 21, 2010
I loathe and detest things that go click and beep. Give me a swinging pendulum arm and a properly decaying acoustic ding any time. Leave digital electronics to stuff they're good at, like tuning.
posted by flabdablet at 8:41 AM on May 21, 2010
posted by flabdablet at 8:41 AM on May 21, 2010
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posted by box at 7:12 PM on May 20, 2010