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Hi All
I'm in Canada and I'm wondering the average price of a metronome. I've googled it a bit, but havent' seen any real answer. May pick one up soon as I know that is one of my biggest mistakes playing is my timing. Also wondering if they come in different brands - if there's a better one etc.

Amanda

look for the korg metronome...

Just yesterday, I was looking for a new metronome. I searched around the web and discovered a wide range of prices, from about $10 to $150 (US).

Most of the digital ones were combined guitar tuners/metronomes, and I did not like those. The old style swing arm are $50 or more, and I already own a wooden one made by Willner. I think it was about $120.

Of the digital ones, I discovered that some of the best are made by Matrix. I liked the Matrix MR800, about 30-40 dollars.

Anyway, I ended up paying $1.99 for Mobile Metronome Pro for my Android phone. It's great. I prefer it over the Matrix, since the tone generated is adjustable and sounds nice instead of the annoying tone that most hardware metronomes make. That's also the reason I don't use my expensive one from Willner. The sound is harsh and brittle.

a metronome ap lol. I never thought of that. That was my search results on the web some from 10 - 150 and I wont be spending 150, but don't want a really cheap one either.

I will search Korg metronome though

Twenty-some bucks for a good digital one (with no guitar tuner) like the blue Korg.

Less than a hundred bucks for a wind-up one in a plastic case.

More than a hundred bucks for a wind-up one in a wooden case.

Get a blue Korg they're perfectly fine, quite cheap and available widely.

I use an Android app: SmartMetronome. There are many others. This one is free, highly configurable, and it keeps the tempo very steadily.

Any digital metronome should have at least microseconds precission, well beyond the minimum period of time we can detect, unless software is bad written or it has any other fundamental flaw in its design, but they are not as charming and mesmerizing as analogic metronomes.

Regards,
Kurt.-

I just use the built-in metronome of my digital. I have two software metronomes, one that comes with Synthesia, which I use quite often (Synthesia, that is) and another I got for free as a bonus with online lessons.

Sometimes I set the metronome and then turn it off, because I feel it distracts my concentration. I still haven't figured out how to use it for sixteenth and eight notes (dotted or not), unless a 16th note is regarded as one beat.

http://www.amazon.com/Wittner-Traditional-Metronome-Black-Finished/dp/B000E3CXC6/ref=pd_cp_MI_2

This is the metronome we use. I like it a lot.

Not having to do with costs, but . . . . .

You always set the pulse to equal one full beat. This typically equates to the quarter note in most common meters. Then, for eighth notes, one simply plays 2 equal notes per each pulse on the metronome. For sixteenth notes, one plays 4 equal notes per each pulse on the metronome.

Probably getting way too far ahead here, but a dot beside a note increases that note's duration by one-half. Thus, a dotted quarter note receives 1½ pulses of the metronome, and is usually followed by a single eighth note, completing the second-half of the second beat. A dotted eighth note lasts ¾ of a beat, and so on.

Ed

Wind-up metronomes have a nice old-world flavor to them, but tend to go inaccurate at slower speeds after a few years. (Below about 63 clicks to the minute.)

I resisted the digital ones for many years, and then received a Seiko as a gift from a student. It's very nice, and convenient to operate even with one hand.

It seems Ed and I view the world differently. I say that you can set the metronome to whatever note value you feel like. Sometimes it's fun to play with a metronome set on 8ths or 16ths, and sometimes it's helpful to set it slower than quarter notes, like on half notes or even full measures.

It's a flexible rhythm tool.

I use the "Tempo" app on my iPhone. Not sure if they have it for other phones. It was $1.99. Has lots of features, including tap tempo, which is useful when you are trying to figure out what the tempo of a recorded piece is.

If you want a stand-alone metronome, ditto on the Korg. Probably $15-20, maybe cheaper online.

I agree with you. I know a lot of drummers who like to set their click to eighth or sixteenth notes. Especially for slower songs, learning to subdivide the beat is extremely valuable. Plus, learning things like the difference between a straight eighth and a swing eighth.

I have a Wittner MT-70 quartz (digital) which costs about $50 (I just checked on eBay) and I like it very, very much. What I like about it is:

1) it has two different beat sounds, the regular tock AND a ping, which for some reason, I can hear better than the tock.

2) it has a dial volume adjust which can be very loud or very soft and there's a plug for headphones if you want the beat in your ear but not everyone in the household to be driven nutty.

3) it has a very cool dial with the tempo numbers (and lots of them, from 40 as the slowest and 216 as the fastest, which is crazy fast) and the tempo names: largo, adagio, andante, moderato, allegro, etc. along with other markings that I don't know what they mean (maybe someone knows, it appears to be different key signatures or specific notes, starting with B2 under largo, going to C3, D3, E3, F3...all the way around to C8 at prestissimo -- I'm not sure what different keys have to do with the tempo).

4) it has the eight arcing lighted dots with green dots at each end and red dots in the middle that synchronize the beats.

5) it (my favorite feature!) can actually divide up the the beats (eighth notes, triplets, sixteenth notes). For example, I seem to be playing a lot of minuets (3/4 time) these days and the suggested tempos are always in dotted half notes. I can't seem to put three beats to one tock without losing the rhythm entirely, especially if I have to mix eighth notes with quarter notes. This metronome actually has a setting for three beats to one tempo setting AND if you put it on the ping, it will ping at the first quarter note and then tock the other two quarter notes, so when I'm playing, I can see if the ping comes at the beginning of each measure. If I hear the ping in the middle or the end of the measure, I know that I've missed a beat somewhere.

6) it runs forever on one 9 volt battery.

I'm VERY rhythmically challenged (I'm one of those people who can be with a whole group of people and be clapping out of sync with them), so I had to a) learn how to use the metronome and b) experiment with several metronomes before I found one that actually works with my ear.

I believe that to find out the average price of a metronome or anything else there is a simple sum.

You add up the cost of every metronome for sale in the world, and then divide that number by the amount of metronomes that there are.

this gives you the "avaerage" price per metronome.

I am sure someone will tell me if I am rememberig incorrectly the maths..

Sounds right to me, typo's aside :-p

Hi Peter,

Consider your audience. Is this advice timely for someone who is asking about the articulation of eights and sixteenths?
Granted, mine is an old Seth Thomas, but I am having real trouble getting it up to 480 BPM to accomplish sixteenths in MM=120. And, come to think of it, I never could get it to do dotted notes, even when it was brand new!

Ed

Any decent digital metronome will do basic dotted-note figures, triplets with the second note omitted and that type of frequently encountered patterns.

Not so great with 7-over-4 patterns and such, mind, but if you're working on that kind of "World Music" you've got your work cut out with or without electronic help.

ajarvis445,

Lots of prior threads on this topic if you do a search.

I like this one. Matrix 600 at amazon

Cheap and has a satisfying "thock" that sounds like wood.

A recent thread on the topic here

Wind-up wittner taktell are around $45

http://www.nextag.com/wittner-taktell/compare-html

When they get a bit inaccurate, first check if they are standing level. You can also clean and re-grease them if you really think they need it. But it's all nylon inside, I think it hardly wears out.