All Views/Polyrhythms like pi/4 and golden ratio/4
From Bounce Metronome
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Controls Common to Many Windows
Polyrhythms like pi/4 golden ratio/4 Main Window
Fractional Rhythms Metronome main window - see F1 Help window for QUICK START...
This tip is shown when you hover the mouse over the title bar or the background of the main window. Hover mouse over individual controls for their help.
Fractional Rhythms Metronome
Fractional rhythms here are ones with either a fractional (e.g. 2.2) or irrational (e.g. golden ratio or PI) number of beats to the measure. The beats drift in and out of phase with the measure line.
may need to use the RESET METRONOME button first if if you have come here from one of the other metronomes
Quick Start
1. Select one of the preset polyrhythms such as PI / 4, g / 4 etc.
2. Then set the tempo using the dial or tap at tempo with the BACKSPACE key. Then use the PLAY button to hear the rhythm. Shortcut RETURN key to start / stop play.
For more details see More quick start help below.
Making your own fractional rhythms
To make your own fractional rhythm, switch on as many rhythms as you need using the With check boxes. Then set the desired number of beats per measure for each one.
You can use PI, or g (for golden ratio) or formulae such as sqrt(2). For details of the symbols you can use in formulae, see the tool tip for the Values field in Calculator (Ctrl + 81)
Alternative approach
Some users may find it easier to enter your rhythm using Rhythms and Polyrhythms (Ctrl + 89). In Rhythms and Polyrhythms (Ctrl + 89) you can also find an editable drop list of rhythms which includes many more polyrhythm examples - which you can edit to add your own rhythms for quick access.
More quick start help
1. Select one of the preset additive rhythms such as 2 + 3 or 3 + 4.
2. Set the tempo using the tempo dial or tap at the desired tempo with the BACKSPACE key.
3. Use the STOP sound or PLAY sound button to stop and start the sound. The bounce will start automatically when you click the PLAY sound button. Click STOP Bounce or START Bounce button to stop and start just the visual display of the bouncing balls.
4. Sometimes you may want to hear each beat split up into smaller beats, e.g. maybe 4/4 with two or four subdivisions of each beat.
Click the appropriate button for the number subdivisions you want to play for each beat. Or to just hear the main beat, set the number of subdivisions to 1.
If you choose four subdivisions you will see an extra check box "Also 2" appear - this lets you simultaneously beat 2 and 4 subdivisions. The same thing happens if you choose e.g. 8 subdivisions - with an option to play also 2 and 4 subdivisions - and so on.
5. If you want to practise a rhythm with swing then select Lilt or Swing and adjust the amount of swing using the slider that appears.
You may want to see the bouncing ball display in a larger window. To do that use the zoom icon at top right of the bouncing balls, or go to Bounce >> 2D Bounce - larger window... which brings up Metronome Bouncing Ball (Ctrl + 219).
For a 3D bouncing ball with drum stick or conductor's baton style visuals use 3D Bouncing Balls, Drum stick or Conductor's baton (Ctrl + 224)
Adjusting your rhythm
After you have made your basic rhythm you can adjust it in many ways to meet your requirements. You can change the size of any beat, skip beats, and change the instrument to play or show / hide the bouncing balls for any of the parts.
To change the size of any beat, first make sure you have Show BLOCKS for parts selected. Then LEFT CLICK and drag on the boundary between the beat and the next beat in the blocks at the bottom of the bouncing ball display.
To skip an individual beat, LEFT CLICK on its diamond in the bouncing ball display, which will change to a grayed out ellipse to indicate that the beat is skipped.
If you select Show Parts adjustments then you will see some diamonds, circles and rectangles controls which you can use to adjust the rhythm.
You can use the diamonds, circles and rectangles to the left of the bouncing ball display to hide any of the bouncing balls, change the instrument for a part, or silence any of the parts.
With the triangles to the right, you can increase the number of parts, or the number of beats in each part.
You can use the controls in 3D Bouncing Balls, Drum stick or Conductor's baton (Ctrl + 224) similarly.
To find out what any of these controls does, just hover the mouse over it to bring up its tool tip.
Metronome Type - DROP LIST
Select YOUR METRONOME from the drop list...
The main window will change depending on which metronome you choose from the drop list, and then you can check the help for the main window for that metronome (hover mouse over main window title bar and see the F1 help for the main window for the metronome).
Here is a quick summary of what each one does:
Bounce Metronome Basic
Basic metronome with time signature, and subdivisions.
Bounce Metronome Pro
All the features of the PRO metronome acessible within one window. If you want to focus on one particular feature then try one of the more specialised metronomes.
Swing Metronome
Use this to practise swing or to use lilt for a more lively rhythm.
Drum & Dance Metronome
For drum rhythms such as paradiddle, and dance rhythms mixing quarter notes, eighth notes and so on. You can select from a drop list of rhythms or enter a new rhythm.
Polyrhythm Metronome
Use this to practise polyrhythms (cross rhythms) such as 2 beats to a measure with 3 simultaneously, or 3 with 4, 3 with 5 etc.
Additive Metronome
to practise additive rhythms such as 2 + 3 (i.e. 5/4 divided into two beats followed by 3 beats) or 3 + 2 + 3 etc.
Rhythm cycle Metronome
Here you can make a cycle of rhythms and polyrhythms one after another. Useful for long additive rhythms with many rhythms one after another - or a cycle that combines ordinary rhythms with polyrhythms.
Fractional Rhythms Metronome
Fractional rhythms here are ones with either a fractional (e.g. 2.2) or irrational (e.g. golden ratio or PI) number of beats to the measure. The beats drift in and out of phase with the measure line.
Tap out a rhythm
Use this to tap out a rhythm and then play the bouncing balls metronome to follow the rhythm of your taps.
Harmonic Metronome
Here the idea is that each number of beats per measure is assigned a pitch, so e.g. 7 beats to the measure corresponds to the seventh harmonic, 5 beats to the measure corresponds to the fifth and so on.
The results sound harmoniously together as they use pitches from the harmonic series.
This idea is related to the Lambdoma arrangement of pitches, and to Theremin's Rhythmicon. Originally suggested by Barbara Hero and may be of interest for music therapy.
Harmonic Rhythm Cycle Metronome
Play a cycle of rhythms or polyrhythms one after another with the pitches following the harmonic series.
Fractional Harmonic Metronome
Here the idea is that you can use fractional or irrational rhythms e.g. involving the golden ratio or PI and combine that with the idea of using pitches corresponding to the number of beats to the measure.
So PI / 4 will be played using two pitches at a ratio of PI to 4 to each other.
The golden ratio rhythms are particularly interesting here because the golden ratio rhythm is in a sense the most polyrhythmic possible rhythm (ratio of beats most hard to approximate using a rational number). Similarly the golden ratio pitch interval is the most inharmonic possible pitch interval. It's a pleasant interval actually on most instruments - some inharmonic pitch intervals are very pleasant sounding (the ones that are often hard on the ear are e.g. detuned fifths, close to a very pure interval such as a fifth, octave or fourth,but obviously not hitting it).
So this combination gives the most polyrhythmic possible rhythm combined with the most inharmonic possible interval.
A Version of Theremin's Rhythmicon
Lets you play a version of Theremin's Rhythmicon using the number keys on your PC keyboard and the first six keys of the first row of letter keys e.g. q w e r t y as the keys of your instrument.
Theremin's Rhythmicon is an instrument with sixteen keys. Each key silences or plays a rhythm with a different number of notes to the measure, starting from 1 for the first key, 2 for second key all the way down to 16 for the last key. Each key also plays a different note of the harmonic series.
see
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rhythmicon
Fractal Tune Metronome
Play the rhythms using fractal tunes. This is just a taste of what can be done in this way. It may give some idea of what your rhythm will sound like melodically. It also introduces you to the fractal tunes you can make with Fractal Tune Smithy.
Note - at present Bounce Metronome Pro is at version 3.2. but FTS is still at 3.0. Bounce Metronome Pro has many capabilities not in FTS such as the skipped beats for instance. So most of the tunes you make here can't be played in Tune Smithy itself until the release of version 3.0 hopefully some time in summer or autumn 2009.
Car - Tunes Metronome
Show a ball bouncing on the lyrics as for the Song Car Tunes in early movies.
This metronome is left out of the drop list of metronomes for blind users at present. Perhaps there is something one could do here without the bouncing ball graphics - i.e. to display the words of the lyric in time to the rhythm, perhaps arranged so that the screen reader reads out each word just before it is sung - but I'm not sure at present how useful it would be or how exactly one would do it.
All the other metronomes are accessible to blind users.
Hide graphics
Hide Graphics - use this button if you are blind or prefer keyboard to mouse
/ Show volume as a number (Alt + /)
Change between the volume as text box, or as a graphic...
Click to change from volume as a text box to volume as graphic, and back again.
Combine Rhythms (Ctrl + 217)
Combine numbers of beats per measure as polyrhythms or one after another..
This lets you combine rhythms to make a polyrhythm, or one after another as an additive rhythm (long measure or hypermeasure).
To find out about time signatures, see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Time_signature
3½ --- 4 (Alt + 3)
3½ beats to a measure
3¾ --- 4
3¾ beats to a measure
2¼ --- 4
2¼ beats to a measure
2¼ with 3¾ --- 4 (Alt + 2)
2¼ with 3¾ beats to a measure played simultaneously
2.2 with 3.3 --- 4
2.2 with 3.3 beats to a measure played simultaneously
Pi --- 4
pi beats to a measure - this will never repeat exactly - pi here is the circumference of a disk with diameter 1...
Also the area of a disk with radius 1.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pi
e --- 4 (Alt + 4)
e beats to a measure - this will never repeat exactly - here e is Euler's number...
This is the base of natural logarithms and a number that occurs frequently in maths.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/E_(mathematical_constant)
Not to be confused with Euler's constant.
sqrt(2) --- 4 (Alt + Q)
sqrt(2) beats to a measure - this will never repeat exactly...
This is famous as the first number to be proved impossible to express as a pure fraction to the bemusement of the Pythagorean school in Ancient Greece. The impossibility proof is due to Hypatus, who, legend says, was thrown overboard at sea by his fellow Pythagoreans as a result of his discovery. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Incommensurable_magnitudes
The musical interval is the twelve equal tritone, at 600 cents, which is dissonant. If you play using the white keys of the piano it's the interval from B to F. In twelve equal tuning it is the same as the tuning of the diminised fifth, so is one of the constituent intervals of the diminished seventh.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tritone
Generally in Western music it is considered to have an uneasy, scary feel to it. It's nickname since at least the early 18th century is the diabolus in musica ("the Devil in music")
PI with e --- 4
Pi with e beats to a measure played simultaneously - this will never repeat exactly
g (golden ratio) --- 4 (Alt + G)
In a way, the most polyrhythmic possible rhythm - the golden ratio is as far as you can get from any simple fraction...
Since the two beats never exactly coincide you may prefer to call this a "polytempo" - amounts to pretty much the same thing.
The closest approximations to a golden ratio are successive Fibonacci numbers so 1/1, 2/1, 3/2, 5/3, 8/5, 13/8, 21/13, 34/21, ... get you closer and closer to the golden ratio - but it gets there very slowly, takes a long time to get reasonably close to it.
http://www.mathsisfun.com/numbers/nature-golden-ratio-fibonacci.html
nice demo of how the golden ratio is as far as you can get from any simple fraction, and how this explains the way sunflowers form using the golden ratio and fibonacci number related spirals
This makes this the "most polyrhythmic" rhythm you can play, in a sense. It's the polyrhythm that continues for longest without any of the beats getting particularly close to the measure beat (as with that sunflower animation).
It can be interesting to combine this rhythm with the Harmonics Metronome (Ctrl + 229) window with the option to match the harmonic to the number of beats per measure in the part. The golden ratio musical interval you get when you use the golden ratio as a frequency ratio between the two notes is as far as you can get from any of the ordinary "harmonious" intervals you get between low numbered notes of the harmonic series.
So in a sense its as far as you can get from harmony as usually understood - but that doesn't mean it is dissonant particularly :-). You may well find that it is quite a pleasant musical interval to listen to.
It's the inversion of a major third slightly flat (i.e. towards the minor third) at 367 cents instead of 386 cents for a pure 5/4 (or 8/5). Which makes sense since the inversion of the major third is 8/5 which is the ratio of two successive Fibonacci numbers.
The various types of major, neutral and minor thirds and their inversions are generally regarded as pleasant to modern ears - well for most - some musicians so train their ears so that the only intervals that sound acceptable to them are the modern tempered twelve equal ones, and if they later take an interest in microtonal music it can take a while to undo the effect of that training.
Also more generally, this is culturally dependent - for instance in Western Europe in medieval times these intervals including the major and minor thirds were all regarded as dissonances needing to be resolved - and only the perfect fifth, perfect fourth and octave were considered to be consonances - all music had to resolve to perfect fifths or fourths.
This is also timbre dependent, which intervals sound consonant or dissonant can depend on the instrument you play it on - some intervals sound better on some instruments and others on others. Just to take a few examples, the frequency sepctrum of bell timbres have inharmonic partials, clarinets have only odd harmonis in their frequency spectrum, and pianos have detuned higher partials because of the high tension in the strings. You can also custom build new textures with the frequency spectrum designed to make almost any interval sound consonant (this approach was pioneered particularly by Bill Sethares).
g with g^2 and g^3) --- 4
Golden ratio g, its square and its cube all played at once...
Beats per bar - first time signature
Enter the number of beats in the measure such as 3, 4, 5, 6 etc...
You can alternatively adjust the number of beats in each part in the main window or using Beats volumes and times (Ctrl + 76) or Beats - Set beat times and volumes individually (Ctrl + 31)
It is especially useful to do it with time signatures as its done here if your rhythm has subdivisions. Your rhythm will be remade automatically with the correct number of subdivisions of each beat.
You may prefer to adjust the number of beats in each part individually in Beats volumes and times (Ctrl + 76) or the main window if your rhythm has no subdivisions, or you want to make polyrhythms.
You can find this control in the main window for some of the metronomes and in Combine Rhythms (Ctrl + 217). Note, Combine Rhythms (Ctrl + 217) isn't available in the Basic metronome.
Extra check boxes
For some time signatures check boxes appear in Combine Rhythms (Ctrl + 217) to let you emphasize some of the beats in the measure.
NOTE these check boxes don't appear for the Polyrhythm Metronome or the Basic Metronome.
Compound time
This is for time signatures such as 6/8, 9/8, 12/8 etc
You'll see a check box to beat compound time. In this rhythm the eighth notes are played in groups of three, so every third beat is emphasized.
You see this option If the number on top is a multiple of 3 and the number on the bottom is 8 or any other number higher than 4.
Beat quarter notes
For time signatures such as as 8/8, 12/8, 16/8 etc you can switch on an option to beat quarter notes.
You see this option when the number on the top (denumerator) is a multiple of 4 and the number on the bottom is 8 or a higher multiple of 4.
Fractional numbers of beats to a measure
You can also have fractional values here e.g. 3.1 or even an irrational number like PI. You can enter a number like PI as 3.14159 (as many places as you like - up to 14 decimal places will be used to make the rhythm). Or in the case of PI you can use formulae - just enter it as PI.
With fractional numbers of beats to a measure, the beat will drift with respect to the measure lines - if unsure what that means, just try it out to see what happens.
You can use any formula here. Some simple examples include PI, G (golden ratio), E (natural logarithm of 1), R(2) (for square root of 2), ...
For details of formulae you can use for these fractional beats, see the help for {{w81}
Beats per "measure" - SPIN
Increase or decrease number of beats in the measure for first time signature
Tempo for Part 1... (Alt + T)
Tempo in Beats per Minute - Vary this to play the rhythm faster or slower. You can type any tempo here including fractional BPM. Or TAP AT TEMPO with BACKSPACE - or use the ARROW KEYS to change by one NOTCH or one BPM. The tempo is in BPM like heart rate...
This normally shows the tempo as beats per minute (BPM). So for instance 60 is 60 beats a minute, i.e. one beat per second. For more about BPM see the tool tip help for the tempo dial Tempo Dial (Ctrl + 222).
You can show the tempo for any part in the rhythm, using the "Show tempo for PART". So for instance if the rhythm beats quarter notes and eighth notes you can choose which of those you want to show the tempo for.
You can see the tempi for all the parts in the rhythm in the bouncing all display in the main Bounce Metronome window and in Metronome Bouncing Ball (Ctrl + 219), also as a text field in the More version of Tempo Dial - Preferences (Ctrl + 223).
You can see the tempo as a tempo dial in the main window or in Metronome Bouncing Ball (Ctrl + 219).
About the Parts and the Tempi for Parts
Many of the rhythms use several tempi at once. You can see all the tempi listed in the bouncing ball display. The tempo dial is colour coordinated (so long as you leave it at the preset setting of colour coded) to match the colours of the bouncing ball for the same part.
For instance with the preset 6/8 rhythm, you will see three tempi. These are for the measure beats, for the two beats to a measure rhythm which beats the centre beat - and for the six beats to a measure.
If unsure which part is which, select Show Beats in Bouncing Balls - Other Visuals (Ctrl + 225). Then you can read the number of beats for each part in the rows for the Bouncing Balls display.
To choose which part to show the tempo for, adjust the number in the "Show tempo for PART" text field. Or you can left or right click on the part number at top left of the dial as a quick way to skip to the next or previous part.
When you set the tempo for any of the parts, the tempi for all the other parts will be updated to match.
E.g. in 6/8 if you set the eighth note tempo to 120 BPM say, then the dotted quarter notes will have a tempo of 40 BPM (a third of the tempo because the individual notes are three times longer).
Tempi
Tempo in Beats per Minute - OR : TAP with BACKSPACE key at desired tempo - OR USE LEFT, RIGHT, UP or DOWN ARROW keys to increase or decrease tempo by one BPM or one NOTCH - or step through a preset list of tempi and rhythms...
The tempo is measured in beats per minute, like heart rate. For more about this scroll down to read about What do the numbers mean?
Reset Metronome
Resets rhythm and anything that changes its sound...
This resets the options such as tempo, timing, instruments, controllers etc, that change the sound of the rhythm.
Leaves visual options as they are e.g. whether to show as conducting patterns, bounce inside ovals, colours, textures etc.
You can make a custom reset for any view using File >> Custom
Reset nearly all settings
If you want to do a reset to get nearly all the settings back to the way Bounce Metronome was when you first installed it, then File | Reset Nearly Everything will probably do the trick.
Reset settings for a particular window
You can also reset the settings for any window in Bounce Metronome.
To do that click on the O (Organise Windows) icon in the window and in Organise windows (Ctrl + 51) you will find options to reset the settings for the window
Gradually Changing Tempo etc (Ctrl + 42)
Configure the gradually changing tempo...
To use this feature first you have to switch on "Gradually Changing Tempo".
You can set it to vary gradually over a time period in minutes and seconds, or over a number of measures. To use measures, switch on "Show Measures"
Changing tempo (Alt + E)
This lets you vary the tempo slowly over a number of minutes or seconds. You can do it either at a steady rate or changing more slowly at the beginning and end of the tempo variation for ultra smooth tempo transitions...
Helpful for practicing gradual changes of tempo - accelerando or ritartando - or to practise a rhythm slowly at first then faster and faster over a number of seconds or minutes.
To set the amount of tempo variation and how long to take to change the tempo, use Gradually Changing Tempo etc (Ctrl + 42)
How to change tempo drop list
You can also choose how it gets varied in the How to change tempo drop list in Gradually Changing Tempo etc (Ctrl + 42).
Choose Following sine wave there for ultra smooth transitions so that you change tempo imperceptibly to start with.
Choose or linear if you just want to change tempo at a steady rate.
See the tip for the drop list in Gradually Changing Tempo etc (Ctrl + 42) for more information about this
Lilt measures (Alt + R)
Helps to give a more natural feel to the rhythm by varying the timing subtly from one measure to the next...
When you play or sing a tune, while keeping to a steady overall tempo, it's natural to vary the timing very slightly from one measure to the next. Playing all the measures exactly the same is a bit like walking with all your strides exactly the same like a robot. It isn't wrong to do that - it is done sometimes - especially with music based on repeating sound loops. However it is more common for the measures to vary in a subtle way from measure to measure.
Often the measure timing varies with the melody line and the feel of the tune, so this can't be preset in advance. But a fairly common pattern is to start at normal tempo, second measure is a tiny bit faster, third is back nearly to normal tempo and fourth measure is very slightly slower than normal, then continue in that way in waves of subtle tempo variation, slower and faster.
So this is the preset pattern.
You can vary the amount of the lilt. You can also set the instant tempo for each measure individually for as many measures as you like.
This option may make the metronome feel a bit more lively and make it easier to play along with. It is also good practice for playing with other musicians and help make your own rhythms more organic and lively.
go SILENT briefly
Switches the sound off for a few measures at a time - this can help you learn to play at a steady tempo and to play tricky rhythms WITHOUT THE METRONOME...
You enter the numbers of measures to play and to be silent for in Gradually Changing Tempo etc (Ctrl + 42).
The idea here is that you continue to play when the sound stops. Then when the sound comes back again, aim to be exactly in time with the metronome, or as close as you can get to it.
You can try this either with or without the bouncing ball visuals as an extra cue to help you stay in time.
One reason to do this is to help you to learn to keep a steady tempo without a metronome. You can also use it when you learn tricky rhythms e.g. polyrhythms etc, to see if you can keep them going during the measures when the metronome is silent.
You can easily look away from the screen when the sound stops if you want to avoid the visual cues - but can't close your ears to sounds in the same way - so that's why I did a check box for the sound, and not the visuals.
What this does is to play the rhythm with sound for a few measures, then switch off the sound, then play it again alternately like that.
Bounce Preferences (Ctrl + 220)
Includes: SYNCHRONISE BOUNCES WITH SOUND - configure LEFT MIDDLE AND RIGHT MOUSE CLICKS on the bouncing balls display - KEYBOARD TAPS AND SHORTCUTS - and other options for the bouncing balls.
Measure beat ball
Display a bouncing ball for measure beat parts (parts with one beat to the measure)
3D Bouncing Balls, Drum stick or Conductor's baton (Ctrl + 224)
Show in 3D as drum sticks, conductor's batons, or bouncing balls...
For options for the 3D visuals, see 3D Bouncing Ball Visuals (Ctrl + 226)
BouncingBall
Shows balls bouncing in time with the rhythm, and various controls you can use to adjust the rhythm...
Quick start for the Bouncing Balls controls
LEFT CLICK ON THE GRAY SEMICIRCLES to Show / hide the blocks and the parts adjustments.
LEFT or RIGHT CLICK on BLOCKS to ADJUST INDIVIDUAL BEATS, e.g. to skip beats, accent beats, or change volumes. Hover the mouse over a beat for more information.
You can also LEFT CLICK on the main display to restart the measure. This only works if the balls are bouncing silently. When the sound is playing the bouncing balls always synchronise with the sound.
You see this tip when you hover the mouse over the bouncing balls themselves. hover the mouse over the title measure of Metronome Bouncing Ball (Ctrl + 219) for background information.
More Details
The gray semi-circles to left and right can be used to show the beats for each part as blocks below the bouncing balls - and to show controls you can use to adjust the individual parts in the rhythm.
Each row of shaded blocks shows one of the parts. For instance 6/8 has three parts. One of the parts plays the six beats to a measure (as eighth notes). Another part plays two beats to the measure, so that you can hear the middle beat clearly. Another part plays the measure beat.
Each row is the same colour hue as its bouncing ball, though lighter in shade. In each row, the blocks show the individual beats in the rhythm, and the size of each block shows the duration of the beat. The blocks are all done with the first beat of the measure to the left, and last beat to the right (and shown reversed when the balls bounce from right to left).
If you have the display set up so that all the balls bounce together then the balls for each part bounce on the divisions between the beats. However you may have the balls bouncing in opposite directions for polyrhythms like 3 with 4 / 4. If you have a setup like that and also beats varying in size, then the balls may not bounce on the divisions between beats for all the parts.
How to use the blocks to adjust the rhythm
You can LEFT CLICK on a beat to SKIP it, or to adjust the timing of individual beats. You can RIGHT CLICK to ACCENT it, and MIDDLE CLICK or SHIFT + CLICK to adjust the volumes. For more details hover the mouse over the blocks.
Tap out rhythm
You can RIGHT CLICK on any of the parts, to tap out an entire new rhythm. The last click ends the measure so for instance to tap out a measure with four beats, tap four times for your rhythm, then add a fifth tap for the start of the next measure.
Right click on the part you want to adjust the rhythm for - as the rhythm is used for the currently highlighted part.
Another way to tap out an entire rhythm is to use the SPACE BAR on your keyboard. Again, right click on the desired part first to choose the part to set the rhythm for.
Then use Ctrl + SPACE to switch on the SPACE BAR RHYTHM TAPS. Then tap out the rhythm. Use CTRL + SPACE to switch the taps off again when finished
How to play your rhythm back at speed
To play your rhythm at the speed you tapped it, set the beats tempo in the main window to 60 beats per minute. Set it faster than that, or slower. if you want it speeded up or slowed down.
Parts adjustments
You can ue the diamonds, circles and rectangles to the left of the bouncing ball display to hide any of the bouncing balls, change the instrument for a part, or silence any of the parts.
You can use the triangles to the right to vary the number of beats in each part or the number of parts.
To find out what one of those controls does - just hover the mouse over it.
How the blocks work for scripted additive rhythms
These rhythms show up as separate measures along the bottom of the window, one after another, with only one of them highlighted.
With these rhythms, you can click to select one of the measures of the rhythm - this lets you change between the sections of the script manually.
These rhythms are made automatically by Bounce Metronome by creating a script for Tune Script (Ctrl + 171). Because the rhythm is scripted, you can't adjust the beat timings by hand for these rhythms, at least not permanently. If you do adjust the individual beats (for instance using Beats volumes and times (Ctrl + 76)) then the next time that measure is played the script will just set the beats back to the way they were before.
However you can play these rhythms with swing.
You can also make your own scripted rhythms with skipped beats or using any of the other features of Bounce Metronome using Tune Script (Ctrl + 171) - explore auto script in that window.
For instance, one way to do it, if you switch on auto script and then play the rhythm slowly until the script highlight reaches the measure you want to adjust, you can then adjust the beats using Beats volumes and times (Ctrl + 76) as normal and your changes will be added into the script at that point.
Lyrics
The preset list has lullabies and nursery rhymes most for 4/4 time...
The lyrics are only shown for parts with the right number of beats per measure. Other parts are shown as beat numbers. When you change rhythm, automatically selects a lyric to fit the current measure if available.
Most of the preset lyrics are suitable for a metronome at 4/4 (4 and 1 beats to a measure)). Some are sutiable for 6/8 or 2/4.
To edit use the Edit Lyrcs drop list button. Or use Edit Lyric and Lyrics Options (Ctrl + 231)
In the future I'll update this so that you can edit the text directly in Bounce Metronome itself - and also easily add your lyric to the drop list - and also have separate files for different lists of lyrics, e.g. you could have separate lists for nursery rhymes, and lullabies or whatever.
Some day I plan to add an option to enter the melody lines as well, probably in abc notation, so that Bounce Metronome can play the tunes for the lyrics.
Stereo Pan (Ctrl + 50)
Set stereo pan positions for each part for a more immersive experience...
You can use this to place individual instruments in different locations to get a more immersive experience. For instance in a string quartet, the violin is to left, then second violin, then viola then cello in that order.
See also Standard orchestral layout below.
Auto
With Stereo Pan, you hear the notes played spread out in space. Switch this on if you want to set the stereo pan automatically. Configured in Stereo Pan (Ctrl + 50)...
You can auto pan by part, by position in seed, by position in scale, and various other options.
Auto pan is configured in Stereo Pan (Ctrl + 50).
You can also set the stereo pan positions for each part manually as well, again in Stereo Pan (Ctrl + 50).
Beats subdivisions - first time signature
How many subdivisions to play for each beat of the time signature...
Example, set this to 2 to play two subdivisions for each beat.
Example, 4/4 with the subdivisions set to 2 will play the quater notes, and then using another part (which you can set to a distinctive instrument sound) it will play beats for every sixteenth note.
You can set which instruments play each part and the volume for each part etc. in Show All Parts (Ctrl + 9)
Fractional subdivisions (rarely used feature)
You can make this number fractional. For instance, you can set it to 3.1 or even an irrational number like PI which you can enter as a decimal 3.14159 or as the word PI.
This lets the subdivisions drift with respect to the main beat - if you aren't quite sure what this means, just try it out to see what happens.
It's an unusual effect but may be of interest on occasion. For instance try playing a tune along with a rhythm with drifting subdivisions - it is quite hard and may help one deal with distractions while playing. Or composers may find it of interest for its own sake.
For details of formulae you can use see the help for {{w81}
Subdivisions - SPIN
Increase or decrease number of subdivisions for time signature
Next: Tap out a rhythm
Previous: Polyrhythm Cycles like 4:3 + 7:8 + ...
Controls Common to Many Windows
