Tick-tock, tick-tock: millions of musicians are following this sound every day. You guess it; the metronome is the musician’s best friend to stay in the rhythm while playing their instruments. For those who use a traditional metronome (also called mechanical metronome) you will notice after a while, that the beat won’t be accurate enough due to the pendulum and the internal mechanism.
The solution is pretty straight forward: let’s take a digital metronome or download a metronome app. This sounds simple, but not every metronome app is accurate enough to ensure no delays and accurate rhythms. I’ve found a pretty nice app called “Metronome Plus” that is in my opinion one of the best metronome apps available for iPhone and for iPad. [Link iTunes http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/metronome-plus/id434136233]. Here is my full review (I’ve tested it on the iPad 2 – thanks to Jochen and Christian for the additional comments).
Presentation
Metronome was designed by iPhone Developer Joseph LeBlanc and the first thought when starting to develop his application was to ask himself how to reach the highest accuracy concerning the tempo and the beat output. This was realized by using low level Core Audio libs of iOS.
Metronome Plus on the iPad 2 - Setting up the tempo and the parameters
Metronome Plus on the iPad 2 - Main screen
Design and usage
The very clean design of this application is the first noticeable aspect of this app. No complex buttons or settings: Metronome Plus is really intuitive to use: a small scroll wheel enables you to adjust the tempo. You can also use the (+) and (-) buttons to adjust the beat with more precision.
The settings panel placed on the top of the application can be accessed very quickly and enables the musician to choose between different accents, subdivisions and meters. Metronome Plus also includes all the 8 time signatures you will need ( 2/4, ¾, 4/4, 5/4,3/8,6/8,9/8,12/8). You can even choose a sound for your beat (Digital, Clave, Woodblock or Shaker).
Once you have chosen the rhythm you’d like to generate, Metronome Plus will automatically display the tempo family – Italian tempo markings (e.g. Allegro, Moderato) and a really nice visual gauge that will show you the tempo’s position. In some way it’s the modern representation of the old-school metronome’s pendulum 😉
Conclusion
Metronome Plus is THE metronome app to download if you are a musician. It will be a really useful companion during your training sessions. The settings are very easy to setup and I’m pretty sure, once you have downloaded Metronome Plus, you will leave your good old mechanical metronome on the shelf!
Video
The user iOSMusician5 on YouTube has posted a pretty good video showing how the application works.
Links
Official Webpage: http://www.metronomeplus.com
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/metronome-plus/id434136233