Many musicians prefer classic, unpitched ticks to the pitched beeps offered by some models, as pitched sounds can interfere with the pitch of the piece you’re playing, especially if you’re particularly pitch-sensitive. How loud and/or annoying is the metronome sound - does it beep or tick? Can you change it to suit the environment? Can it be heard over the sound of your instrument? Literally the heart of every metronome is the sound it makes while ticking. An even better one will allow you to select and even edit your own beat variations and subdivision patterns to suit your playing. The best metronomes are able to handle a variety of different time signatures, placing the downbeat sound correctly after the required number of sub-beats. That’s great if you’re practicing or playing in regular 4/4 time, but what about other time signatures such as 3/4, 12/8 or even 7/4?
Mechanical metronomes often use a physical bell, while digital variants will employ an alternative pitched sound or louder tick for the downbeat. Metronomes can indicate the downbeat of each bar by a variation in the tick sound. It then interprets the speed of your taps to the nearest whole bpm value and continues to tick at that set speed. You’ll see this function on many of the best metronomes and it gives you the ability to set the metronome’s tempo by literally tapping a button or pad on the front of the device. This is in keeping with the traditional Italian musical terms for tempo (such as andante, allegro, etc) that you’d find marked on a musical score. Digital metronomes offer the ability to set specific tempo values precisely, while mechanical versions often just provide a set of preset values at selected intervals across the range. Measured in beats per minute (BPM), the range of click speeds you can dial in normally spans a ponderous 30bpm to a frantic 250bpm. Surprisingly, for a device designed to do just one job - to go ‘tick’ at a particular set speed - there are a number of things to look out for when choosing the best metronome for you. MusicRadar's got your back Our team of expert musicians and producers spends hours testing products to help you choose the best music-making gear for you.
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