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WEIRD METRONOME
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Version 1.4
Released August 5th, 2004
Home Page: http://www.pinkandaint.com/weirdmet.shtml
I wrote this program because I haven't found any good metronome
programs out there for Windows that can have an arbitrary number of
beats per measure and can have custom note groupings and don't cost any
money. Okay, so I'm a cheapskate. But it's understandable that these
features might not be present in the currently available programs --
they aren't needed for most western music. I often play music other
than western music, though. I play gajda (Bulgarian bagpipe), and it's
common for me to play pieces in weird meters such as 11/16 (2+2+3+2+2
beat groups). It's kinda hard to play that unusual meter when learning
a new song!
So I wrote Weird Metronome to be able to do just about anything. Well,
sort of. There's actually lots it can't do, but it's certainly more
flexible than most metronome programs out there.
If you find any bugs or if you have any suggestions or requests, please
send email to david@pinkandaint.com. I always love hearing from users,
even if it's just to complain about something :)
Keep in mind when requesting features that one of the biggest issues
for me is how to implement the user interface. Programming the sound
and all that is easy in comparison. So if you have a suggestion for a
new feature, please also make a suggestion on how it should look in the
interface (for instance, how do you turn that feature on? How do you
configure it?).
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USAGE
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The basic features of the program should be self-explanatory. If you
hold the mouse cursor over most buttons or other controls then a little
message will pop up to give a hint of what that control's for.
The "custom measure" feature is where Weird Metronome really shines.
To define a custom measure, enter a numeral from 0 to 9 for every beat
in your measure into the custom measure edit box. A zero (0)
represents a silent beat (i.e. no sound will be played on that beat).
Any other number indicates that the corresponding voice from the list
of voices in the middle part of the window should be played on that
beat.
For instance, to have a measure that has four beats and has strong
emphasis on the first beat and weak emphasis on the third beat, enter
"3121" into the custom measure edit box (assuming that you've selected
instruments in boxes 2 and 3 that sound more emphasized than the one in
box 1 -- see below). To have a measure that has four beats and a
pickup, you could do something like "20202021" and play it at double
the speed you normally would for a 4/4 measure.
It's also possible to have Weird Metronome play more than one
instrument at once. If you'd like more than one voice to play at a
time, put each instrument you want for that beat inside parentheses.
Thus, if you want a measure where voice 1 plays on every beat and voice
2 also plays on the first beat, you would define the measure like this:
(21)111.
If the metronome is playing when you start to edit the custom measure
box then it'll stop playing until you indicate you're done by pressing
<enter> or clicking the Play button.
The program will ignore any spaces in the custom measure definition.
You can change the instrument used to play each beat. I've tried to
make the defaults useable right out of the box with 1 through 3 having
progressively stronger emphasis, but you may find that you like
different settings. You can also change the volume of each voice by
moving the slider on the right of the selection box.
By default Weird Metronome is set to blink on every beat. This is for
when you want to use the program without any sound or your instrument
is too loud to hear it. Just like changing the volume of the voices,
you can also change the size of the blinker for each voice. This is
useful to differentiate the beats or give more visual emphasis to one
or more of them. In order to change the size of a voice's blinker just
drag the slider on the far right of the voice's drop-down box. You'll
see a little display to the right of the slider indicating the relative
size of the blinker.
One thing to note is that when you define complex measures you may have
to put the beats per minute slider up farther than you'd expect. For
instance, when I program a Kopanitsa (a Bulgarian dance rhythm in
11/16) I turn the Beats per Minute up to about 300. Keep in mind,
though that 300 16th notes per minute is still only 75 quarter notes per
minute.
If you'd like to save your settings so you can recall them later, just
type a name into the preset box at the bottom of the program and press
"Save". Your settings will be saved into a named preset that can be
accessed any time you want by choosing it from the dropdown box that
you typed the name into in the first place. If you decide that you
don't like your preset, select it and press the "Delete" button.
You can make the Weird Metronome dialog box smaller than how it starts.
If you click and drag the edges, the program will gradually eliminate
instrument entries as it gets smaller. This way if you don't want to
use all nine entries you can just make them disappear. What I like to
do is set all the tick boxes to instruments I like then drag the window
as small as it'll go. I only rarely change the instruments, so it's
worthwhile for me to save the space on my display.
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MIDI
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Weird Metronome uses the General MIDI standard to produce sound. That
means that you can't use your own WAV files as the metronome ticks.
Sorry, that's just the way the program works. There are other
metronome programs that will let you use your own sounds as ticks. I
suggest you check out www.freewarehome.com.
The way MIDI works is that your computer (or other MIDI device) defines
how each note sounds. All the programmer has to do is tell the device
to, for instance, play instrument #23 at 44% loudness. It makes my job
really easy. The General MIDI standard defines a standard set of
instruments for MIDI devices. Most computers that have sound cards
support General MIDI. Thus I can be pretty sure that any computer that
tries to run Weird Metronome has the standard set of about fifty
percussion instruments that I use to make the tick noises. It also
gives you a wide choice of sounds to choose from without having to
download several megabytes of sound data.
Since the sounds are defined by the MIDI device, I don't have any
control over what they sound like. If you choose "Mute Cuica" and it
doesn't sound like a mute cuica to you, I'm afraid I can't do anything
about it. Some sound cards just do a better job at producing MIDI
music than others. Usually you get what you pay for with sound cards.
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MONEY
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This software is free. You may use it however you like. If you'd like
the source code I'm happy to share it. Just send me an email and I'll
send you the source toot sweet.
If you like this software and want to encourage me (the author) to
continue development, why not send me a postcard? I like getting mail
:) My contact information is at the bottom of this file.
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LEGAL STUFF
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I make no guarantees about the usability or safety of this software.
I've made every effort to make sure it won't do nasty stuff like crash
your system, smoke your hard drive, or give you pimples, but no one's
perfect. All software has bugs, and I can't take any responsibility
for any damage Weird Metronome might do to your data, computer,
property, dependants, descendants, eardrums, pets, building foundation,
etc.
The Weird Metronome software, source code, and accompanying
documentation is copyright c2003 by David Johnston. I grant you the
right to use this software as you see fit. You may request the source
code from me and modify it as you like, but I ask that you not release
it to the public. I don't want to have to deal with email about bugs I
didn't write!
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KNOWN BUGS
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There is one bug that I'm currently aware of:
- Timing is sometimes an issue, particularly if you are using your
computer for other stuff at the same time and accessing the disk a lot.
My best suggestion is that if you have any problems then you could try
shutting down other programs that you have running. At any rate, if
Weird Metronome is late on a beat it will still remember where the next
beat is supposed to go, so it'll stay in time with what you're
playing/singing/whatever.
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FUTURE FEATURES
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There are also some features that I might implement if I get enough
positive feedback (feedback is the freeware programmer's meat and
potatoes):
- The ability to vary the tempo from one rate to another over a given
length of time.
- The ability to tap out a beat and have WM figure out the tempo for
you.
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QUESTIONS?
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If you still have questions it may be useful to look at the Weird
Metronome FAQ. You can get to it through the Weird Metronome home page
at http://www.pinkandaint.com/weirdmet.shtml.
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RELEASE HISTORY
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February 10th 2002: Version 1.0.
Initial public release. Thanks to all my beta testers on the EEFC
mailing list!
April 7th 2002: Version 1.1.
Added the ability to use up to nine different instrument sounds in a
single custom measure definition. Added the ability to resize the
window (allowing it to get smaller, making tick boxes disappear in the
process). I may have fixed a few minor bugs along the way, too :)
August 8th 2002: Version 1.2.
I finally got around to fixing a bug that caused the program to crash
(and sometimes halt the whole computer) if the default MIDI device was
busy when WM tried to open it. Also, there are now some more-
descriptive error messages in this situation to help you figure out why
WM wasn't able to open the MIDI device.
August 26th, 2003: Version 1.3 BETA
The major new feature in this release is a customizable blinker. I
made the tempo slider more precise in the lower range, making it easier
to get as close as possible to your desired tempo. I added the ability
to click on the URL in the about box to reach the Weird Metronome web
page. Finally I fixed the following bugs: occasionally the window
would disappear off-screen when starting the program; various other
minor display tweaks and improvements.
August 5th, 2004: Version 1.4
Added the ability to define custom measures with multiple voices on a
single beat. Zapped a bug that made the window disappear if you
pressed <enter>. Alphabetized the instruments in the dropdown boxes.
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CONTACT INFO
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David Johnston
Email: david@pinkandaint.com
Web: http://www.pinkandaint.com
Mailing address:
1302 S Saltair #5
Los Angeles, CA 90025
USA

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