All Windows/Play, Rhythms and Bounce/Tempo/Gradually Changing Tempo etc (Ctrl 42)
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Next: Set Tempo Dial Range, Tempo Names and Design
Controls Common to Many Windows
Screen Shot (More)
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This is what you get in the More version of this window (you use the More button to show it).
Gradually Changing Tempo etc
Changing or Accelerating Tempo - 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 bars. To use bars, switch on "Show Measures"
Overview - and the Simpler version of this window
You set the start tempo by clicking on the tempo dial.
Then you can set the tempo you want it to change to, and the time when you want to reach that tempo.
Then select what you want it to do next.
Note - you can vary the current tempo even while the tempo on the dial is changing. When you click on the tempo dial, this sets the current tempo. The start tempo shown in this window will get adjusted upwards and downwards accordingly to match the change in the current tempo - try it - you'll see that it all works out fine.
How does the gradually changing tempo feature help?
This will help you to practise a piece at faster and faster (or slower and slower) tempi as you become more proficient.
It also helps you get used to playing at any tempo - useful if you have a tendency to get "locked in" to a few fixed tempi for all your pieces
It will also help you when you want to practise professionally smooth slow and gradual tempo changes (shown in scores as Ritardando and Accelerando). One of the things that marks out a professional player is that when you want to change tempo gradually, you can do it in a regular way with the utmost smoothness.
Smooth here means that you go through all the in-between tempi on your way to the new faster or slower tempo. Of course there are many ways to get from one to the other. To give a bit of variety there's an option to use a wave type transition or a steady increase or decrease in tempo.
Stepping progression (in the Pro metronomes)
This is useful if you want to play faster and are close to your limit. Starting at a comfortable tempo for your piece, it goes gradually faster by 2 bpm (say) - then goes back by 1 bpm. Theen forward by 2, back by 1, and so on.
In this way you gradually gets faster, then you relax from that faster tempo then speed up again and almost imperceptibly find you are playing faster than you thought possible.
Any number of tempo "Zones" (Pro feature again)
You find this version of the window if you keep clicking "More" several times from the simpler versions of the window.
It's the sae idea but you can vary the tempo through any number of Tempo "zones".
Tempo Scripts
For more advanced features - such as to vary the rhythm for each section, and so on, then you need to investigate Tune Script (Ctrl + 171).
Stepping through a list of tempi and time signatures manually with the up and down arrow keys
If this is what you want to do, then you need the option:Up / Down arrow key cycles through list of tempi in Tempo Dial - Preferences (Ctrl + 223)
Changing tempo (check box) (Alt + E)
This lets you vary the tempo slowly over a number of minutes or seconds....
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
Tempo (editable)
Set the tempo to play at this time in the zone
Tempo
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Mins (editable) (Alt + I)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Mins (spin) (Alt + I)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Mins (Alt + I)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Secs (editable) (Alt + E)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Secs (spin) (Alt + E)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Secs (Alt + E)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Show time from start (check box) (Alt + O)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Show time from start (editable) (Alt + O)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Copy Highlighted row to end (button) (Alt + C)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
BARS (radio button) (Alt + B)
List of tempi to play at different times in the rhythm. First tempo is the start tempo - same as tempo shown on tempo dial when you stop the rhythm - so can't be edited.
Tempo
Enter Tempo in Beats per Minute (like heart rates)- including decimal values or fractional BPM - or optionally as time for note in seconds...
Vary this to play the rhythm faster or slower.
You can use decimals, or ratios like 53/2 or any formula e.g. 3*21 or whatever.
If you want to enter the time for the note instead there's an option to do this in Tempo Dial - Preferences (Ctrl + 223)
Click and drag to adjust the number
You can also adjust the number here with click and drag. Click on the number and then with the mouse button held down, drag the mouse cursor up out of the text box to increase the number. Drag downwards to decrease the number. If there's a decimal point then you can adjust the numbers either side of the point in the same way, and you can also use Ctrl, Shift or Alt + click / drag to adjust by larger amounts. If it's a formula e.g. 3*21 you can use Ctrl +click to adjust the two numbers independently.
The keyboard shortcut to adjust the number in the same way is Page up or Page down.
Tempo in BPM
This normally shows the tempo as beats per minute (BPM) - like heart rates. 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.
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. All the tempi are listed at the top of the bouncing ball display.
Example: with the preset 6/8 rhythm, you will see three tempi, for the bar beats, the two beats to a bar (for the centre beat) - and the six beats to a bar.
You can select the part to show on the tempo dial in Tempo Dial - Preferences (Ctrl + 223). Or 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, also the tempo part is synchronised with the selected part in Beats volumes and times (Ctrl + 76) or Beats As Text (Ctrl + 77).
When you set the tempo for any of the parts, the tempi for all the other parts will be updated to match. E.g. if you set the quaver tempo to 120 BPM for a 6/7 rhythm, the tempo for the dotted crotchets automatically updates to 40 BPM (a third of the tempo because the individual notes are three times longer).
Current Tempo (spin) (Alt + T)
Increase or decrease tempo (or note length) - by a SMALL amount...
Adjusts the tempo one beat per minute at a time
Current Tempo (spin)
Adjust tempo (or note length) by LARGER amounts...
Clicking this twice doubles (or halves) the tempo or the note length.
(Each click multiplies it by root two).
Each time around, INCREASE TEMPO by (check box)
Used to play a Stepping Progression, useful for speed drill practise...
When UNSELECTED, returns to start tempo and just repeats the cycle, when SELECTED, then each time around goes faster (or slower)
This feature is used for speed drill practises when you are close to what you think is your limit in speed, and then want to go faster.
It helps overcome any "ceiling" to the speed you think you can play.
Starting at a comfortable tempo for your piece, the metronome automatically goes gradually faster until you are faster by 2 bpm (say) - then goes back gradually again by 1 bpm. Then gradually forward by 2 again, gradually back by 1, and so on. Sort of 2 steps up 1 step down type approach.
In this way as you practise the same section over and over, first you gradually get faster, then you relax from that faster tempo then speed up again and almost imperceptibly you may well find you are playing it faster than you ever thought possible.
You may get a surprise when you look at the dial after a few minutes of this sort of thing.
Vary in BPM (check box)
BEST SELECTED FOR MOST USERS - so that a steady rate of change of tempo - is interpreted as a steady rate of change in BPM...
That's what most users will expect.
When this option is unselected you get a steady change in the length of the notes instead
MOST USERS WILL WANT TO LEAVE THIS SWITCHED ON.
How it works
Example if you set it to change from 60 to 120 over 60 bars - and set it to a steady rate of change - normally you expect it to be 60 for first bar, 61 for second bar, 62 for third bar and so on - so you just increase by 1 bpm for each bar.
When this option is unselected, then you vary the length of the beat continuously instead, so you vary from a 1 second beat to a 0.5 second beat.
So when unselected, the beat goes from 1 second to 1-(0.5/120) then 1-(1/120) etc.
As a tempo that's 60/(1-0.5*(2/120)), 60/(1-0.5*(4/120)) etc. i.e 60.5042 BPM, 61.0169 BPM etc.
This starts at the same initial tempo of 60 bpm, and reaches the same final tempo of 120 bpm.
However, this steady change in note length changes more slowly to start with and faster towards the end compared with the steady rate of change in BPM.
Vary by Bars (drop list)
How to vary the tempo...
"Steady rate of change" = A steady ramp up to the new tempo
"Imperceptibly at first" = tempo follows a wave pattern (sine wave) = For especially smooth transitions
Between linear and sine = something between the two
With the sine wave option, the tempo changes imperceptibly slowly at first, then the rate of change speeds up, then slows down again as you approach the new tempo.
This gives a smoother transition from steady tempo to changing tempo - and may sound more natural.
Tempo or Rhythm Progressions (check box)
Tempo or rhythm progressions - e.g. for the different sections of a song, or to set the tempo individually for each bar - Configured in Automatic Tempo and Rhythm Changes (Ctrl + 245)....
For the tempo progresssions, just switch on the tempo progressions and set the tempo you want for each section or bar.
For the rhythm progressions, enter all the rhythms for your progression using "rhythm codes" such as 4 for 4/4, 2 for 2/4, 3:5 for a 3:5 polyrhythm etc
See the help for the Auto Rhythm Progression text area for details of how the rhythm codes work.
Use for subtle tempo changes
The Lilt Bars preset and the check boxes to play some of the bars a little faster or slower may help with subtle tempo changes from one bar to the next. Or you can set the tempo for each bar individually.
Helps to give a more natural feel to the rhythm by varying the timing subtly from one bar to the next.
Motivation for lilt bars
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 bar to the next. Playing all the bars 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 bars to vary in a subtle way from bar to bar.
Often the bar timing varies with the melody line and the feel of the tune, so this can't be preset in advance, unless you set it individually for all the bars in the tune you want to play.
However, one interesting pattern is to start at normal tempo, second bar is a tiny bit faster, third is back nearly to normal tempo and fourth bar 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 bar individually for as many bars as you like.
Some musicians may find that this option helps the metronome to feel a bit more lively and make it easier to play along with. It might also be good practice for playing with other musicians and help make your own rhythms more organic and lively.
Human rhythms are far more fluid and flowing than this.. This option is just a first approximation. It may be useful as an alternative to a totally mechanical repeating metronomc click, and as a way to set a metronome which varies subtly in tempo.
Go SILENT briefly (check box)
Switches the sound off for a few bars at a time - this can help you learn to develop your inner sense of rhythm - you can set the number of bars to play or go silent in Go SILENT Briefly (Ctrl + 260).
The idea is it helps you to play at a steady tempo without a metronome.
You enter the numbers of bars to play and to be silent for in Go SILENT Briefly (Ctrl + 260). You can also hide the bouncing balls independently of the sound.
You can set it to go silent at different places in each of the parts as well - for details see the help for the text area "Enter number of bars to play, then number to be silent for, alternating".
Motivation
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 through the silence.
Play in the Pocket
When you practise with the metronome it helps to play exactly in time with the beat, so you "bury the click". That makes sure you are exactly in tempo with the metronome.
Then when the metronome comes on again, are you still in time with it?
Are you so exactly in time that you "bury the beat" right away on the first click after the silence?
You can then try longer and longer silences and see if you are still in the pocket at the end.
Go SILENT Briefly (Ctrl + 260)
Switches the sound off for a few bars at a time - this can help you learn to develop your inner sense of rhythm
The idea is it helps you to play at a steady tempo without a metronome.
You enter the numbers of bars to play and to be silent for in Go SILENT Briefly (Ctrl + 260). You can also hide the bouncing balls independently of the sound.
You can set it to go silent at different places in each of the parts as well - for details see the help for the text area "Enter number of bars to play, then number to be silent for, alternating".
Automatic Tempo and Rhythm Changes (Ctrl + 245)
Tempo or rhythm progressions - e.g. for the different sections of a song, or to set the tempo individually for each bar...
For the tempo progresssions, just switch on the tempo progressions and set the tempo you want for each section or bar.
For the rhythm progressions, enter all the rhythms for your progression using "rhythm codes" such as 4 for 4/4, 2 for 2/4, 3:5 for a 3:5 polyrhythm etc
See the help for the Auto Rhythm Progression text area for details of how the rhythm codes work.
Next: Set Tempo Dial Range, Tempo Names and Design
Controls Common to Many Windows
