Testimonials and Reviews
Have you left the idea of using a metronome in the dusty past? You surely don’t need a standalone timekeeper, do you? Click tracks are easy to generate inside your DAW, so other than getting a reference on tempo when you’re writing away from your workstation, why even consider buying an online metronome?
Bounce Metronome, the brain child of Robert Walker, is a fascinating app that I’d strongly suggest you check out, particularly if you’re interested in polyrhythms. I recently bought the scores of Fred Lerdahl’s three string quartets. They’re brilliant, and the inventiveness of his cross rhythms is inspiring. Bounce Metronome has allowed me to program some of Fred’s rhythms, and I’ve begun creating variations on them.
Go up to the site and read the descriptive info, but the short of it is that Bounce Metronome lets you program multiple rhythms and play them against each other. You can, for example, set up a 4/4 time signature as your “main” metronome, add a second metronome that counts off, say, 5 eighth notes against two quarter notes, and a third that marks seven equal beats against the entire bar. You can also mute notes at will, and the results are intriguing. If you like what you hear you can export your project as a standard midi file and bring it into your DAW for closer study.
Unfortunately, Bounce Metronome is only available for the Windows platform at this time. The app is fairly deep, and by its construction makes clear that Robert Walker is not one of us lowly musician types-he’s an inventor and amateur musician- and I’ve found myself scratching my head on several occasions trying to figure out how to get the most out of some of its features.
Notwithstanding, Bounce Metronome is a highly usable product. If you’re looking for a quick way to test out avant garde cross rhythms, or simply hear and play to some of the many rhythms that come pre-packaged with the application, I’d strongly encourage you to consider picking up this product.
Gary Eskow
MixBlog, in Mix Online
