Advanced Metronome

Matthias Konrad

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The Advanced Metronome will open in a separate window. If not click here.

Inspired by music theory from India, where rhythm plays a decisive role, the Advanced Metronome can be used to train or show transitions between subdivisions of a beat, or transitions between different groupings. The Metronome splits a steady beat of a given tempo into subdivisions, groups them in patterns and plays the patterns against the metronome. The user can manually define tempo, subdivision, grouping, and pattern, or use the default pattern and tempo, and make the Advanced Metronome create a random set of subdivisions and groupings. A visual counter provides extra information about the audible outcome.

I started with this project with my lessons in non-western music techniques at the Conservatory of Amsterdam in mind. In those lessons I learned the very basic ideas of the rhythm concept of India. I always had a hard time finding ways to practice my gatis and jatis, the basic rhythmic subdivisions and groupings in India. Standard western-music metronomes are not a big help, because they can only provide the steady beat. You always have to meet fellow students to practice, and once the course is done, you are on your own. To be able to take this to another level, and to finally really incorporate it in my own music, I thought a practice device would be very useful. The idea was to program an Advanced Metronome, which would provide audible and visual help for practicing these rhythmic permutations.

Manual

To be flexible and user friendly, the main window of the Advanced Metronome opens from the browser in a new frame. In addition, a small ‘Panic’-window opens in the upper left corner of the screen, which stays open until the application is shut down. This window only has two buttons: one to enable the user to always bring up the main window, and one to stop all sound by stopping all Samples.

The main window basically consists of three sections: an input section containing text fields and buttons to set data to be performed; a counter section with visual counters that start and stop with the performance; finally an editor section, which provides access to pattern editors. Underneath these sections is an additional “Panic”-button, which stops all Samples in case of confusion.

The text fields of the input section give the user control over the most basic data that are performed. “Tempo” sets the tempo of the steady beat, which is played by the metronome. “Subdivisions” and “Groupings” form a unit, where each number in “Subdivisions” correlates to the adjacent number in “Groupings”. The Metronome will take the first number pair, play a pattern correlating to the grouping number on the timing of the subdivision number until beat one of the pattern hits the metronome again, and proceed in the same way with the next number pair until all numbers are played. So every number pair builds a cycle of groupings that eventually ends on a metronome beat. The Metronome can subdivide the beat into two to seven beats and play groupings from two to seven. All other inputs are invalid.

The text field “Total beats” always shows the amount of metronome beats that the whole form will take to be played. Additionally, if the random form generator is switched on, the user can enter a total amount of beats into the text field, and the Metronome will construct random number pairs that together form the entered amount of beats. By default the generator is switched off to prevent accidental input.

If “Loop” is switched on, the Metronome loops all number pairs instead of stopping after the last one. “Metronome” switches the sound of the steady beat on and off. By default, “Loop” is off and “Metronome” is on. The “Instrument” drop-down menu gives the user the choice over different instruments. To this point the choice is “Drums” or “Click”.

The “Pattern Editor” section provides access to the actual editor windows. Each possible grouping from two to seven has a corresponding default pattern. By clicking on the number buttons, the user can open an editor window, which contains a graphic representation of the pattern in the form of a grid. The user can playback the graphic representation without affecting the main performance. The tempo will be the tempo of the main window. By selecting and deselecting tiles in the grid, the user can change the pattern while playing. The “Subdivision” drop-down menu sets the subdivision, which the temporary pattern is played on. The button “Set Pattern” will activate the last played pattern for the main performance.

The idea of the Advanced Metronome was designing a device that would provide audible and visual help for practicing rhythmic permutations that are derived from the basic ideas of the rhythm concept of India. The device should enable musicians to develop and improve abilities in these non-western music techniques, and to finally be able and inspired to incorporate them in their own music. With the Advanced Metronome I created such a device, which is already very powerful, and still has a lot of potential for further development.

Contact: mail@matthiaskonrad.com

Thanks for support!

Daniel Ross, “Grid Entry“ for JMSL Score inspired the grid entry in the pattern editors.

Nick Didkovsky