Metronomes - strange limitations?

[Grangur]

Hi All,
I've got a Korg TM-40. This is an electronic tuner and metronome.
You can see it here: [url="http://www.gak.co.uk/en/korg-tm-40-chromatic-tuner-and-metronome-(pearl-white/40257?gclid=CPzv-aLeibcCFQjKtAodNSwAjg"]http://www.gak.co.uk/en/korg-tm-40-chromatic-tuner-and-metronome-(pearl-white/40257?gclid=CPzv-aLeibcCFQjKtAodNSwAjg[/url]

As a tuner it's good. I've not yet had a problem.

As a metronome it has an interesting limitation. The speeds you can choose from are limited to certain steps:
40, 42, 44, 46, 48, 50, 52, 54, 56, 58, 60, 63, 66, 69, 72, 76, 80, 84, 88, 92, 96, 100, 104, 108, 112, 116, 120, 126, 132 etc. up to 208.

I don't find the limit at 208 a problem (I should be so quick as to play that fast)
I didn't really have a problem at all much, until I pick up a book and it tells me to play at 125bpm. I check the recording of the track; Beatles in this case and 125 is about right. But the TM-40 won't do that.

Can anyone tell me why this is?
Is there a reason in music theory why we shouldn't need 125bpm?

Is there a metronome that does have an infinite setting? I know some online ones do.

Thanks
Rich

[ubassman]

... most likely that Korg figure that by having a increments of 4 bmp that there will be 1/4 the number of user settings than if there were precise increments going up 1 bpm at a time .

There is no musical theory as to why we wouldn't use 125 bmp its just the designers of the Korg metronome have made the decision that the difference in their chosen increments is hardly discernible i.e. doubt if anyone would notice is you played along to a Beatles tempo at 126, or indeed 120 bmp rather than 125 bmp
I used to use a wind up 'tick-tock' wooden metronome which at best was only ever an approximation to the written tempo - that sentiment seems to live on in modern design !

Edited May 9, 2013 by ubassman

[Grangur]

So what you're saying is I'm too much of a perfectionist?

Hmm.. I guess so. Many thanks

[Bilbo]

Sometimes it makes sense to use the metronome on 2 & 4 making the time you use half of that stated i.e. 120 for 240 bpm. Doesn't work for odd numbers but may get you closer to the stated time.

[ubassman]

...not a bad thing being a perfectionist , Rich !

Its well worth playing along to a metronome as it develops a different sense of accuracy - the hardest things I ever have to play are slow adagios at around 56 bmp a real challenge in precision and much harder than anything that rips along ( plus the audience has more critical thinking time to hear if you are early or late ) !

I use a metronome App on my iPhone which was free from the App store which has a dial that you can turn to any increment - not that that's hugely important - just to illustrate that a metronome is just a beat box to give you a click track and I would be just as happy with your Korg !.

[ambient]

I like to practice things at a faster tempo anyway, so I'd choose 130 if the song's at 125bpm. I also practice stuff at half tempo, so I'd set it at maybe 63bpm and use the metronome so it's just playing beats 2 and 4.

[Grangur]

Thanks guys for some good ideas. What I ws doing was probably not what a metronome is for: checking a recording against a beat and trying to replicate it in a simple format and play.
The thing to do is set it to play slightly faster or slower and practice that anyway. Besides, a small change in speed is no big deal.
Thanks again

[cybertect]

Apols for the slight bumpage

TBH, I suspect attempting to use a metronome against a Beatles track is probably going to be inaccurate - Ringo didn't use a click track and he's a human being.

I love the Beatles, but strict accuracy of BPM timing was never their strong point.

There's a fascinating article (plus follow up) on using computers to analyse the deviations from metronomic time in popular music

[url="http://musicmachinery.com/2009/03/02/in-search-of-the-click-track/"]http://musicmachiner...he-click-track/[/url]

[url="http://musicmachinery.com/2010/02/08/revisiting-the-click-track/"]http://musicmachiner...he-click-track/[/url]

and you can try it out for yourself

[url="http://labs.echonest.com/click/?songId=SOAAFWL13927072F2F&artist=The+Beatles&title=Lucy+In+The+Sky+With+Diamonds"]http://labs.echonest...y+With+Diamonds[/url]
[url="http://labs.echonest.com/click/?songId=SOYPINJ12B0B808B33&artist=Nirvana&title=Heart-shaped+box"]http://labs.echonest...eart-shaped+box[/url]

[ras52]

Those settings map to the notches on the arm of a traditional mechanical metronome, so Korg are following that. My electronic metronome (also a Korg, I think) can flip between adjusting by these traditional steps or in increments of 1.

As mentioned, unlike modern click tracks, those metronomes were never designed to be used in performance, and it was always implicit that a real-world performance of a piece marked as say MM=120 would be performed "somewhere in the region of" 120 bpm.

[lowdown]

[quote name='ras52' timestamp='1374846260' post='2154011']
Those settings map to the notches on the arm of a traditional mechanical metronome, so Korg are following that. My electronic metronome (also a Korg, I think) can flip between adjusting by these traditional steps or in increments of 1.

As mentioned, unlike modern click tracks, those metronomes were never designed to be used in performance, and it was always implicit that a real-world performance of a piece marked as say MM=120 would be performed "somewhere in the region of" 120 bpm.
[/quote]

Spot on.
[url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronome"]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Metronome[/url]


Garry