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arhyth wrote:thanks for the reply! what i meant was sequencing odd time signatures in a song. let's say songs i want to learn a song by Tool(Danny Carey). can i do that?

Yes, and No.

If you want to have the click accent the 1 on each bar, then you'll have to use some major metronome or a sequencer, as many TooL songs are compound meter's, Schism for instances bounces between bars of 5, 7 and 6 with random pick up bars to complete the cycle at whim. You'd have to program the entire song bar by bar.

However the quarter, eighth note, etc or pulse is always the same, you don't "need" the accent on the 1. That's merely a courtesy to help you count. The tempo remains constant throughout the song.

In all honesty, if you've never worked with a metronome before, I wouldn't worry about nailing TooL songs to a click. You're most likely (and no offense, we've all been there) going to be very shocked at the reality of playing in true time.

arhyth wrote:thanks for the reply! what i meant was sequencing odd time signatures in a song. let's say songs i want to learn a song by Tool(Danny Carey). can i do that?

Play along with headphones to the song. I'm pretty sure they were recorded to a click track.

i've used the Tama Rythm Watch for the last 4 years or so. it also depends on WHAT you're planning to do with the click. I use the Tama for when i play live. i notice the digital apps like tempo just aren't loud enough when getting a feed in my IEM's. i also looked into a db90 a while back and they just seemed too cumbersome to utilize in a live setting.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dJ5akko2Nko

between my rhythm watch and my fsu5 (boss pedal - to scroll to next tempo), they are perfect for live settings. when I practice, i use my tempo app.

My metronome is the TAMA RhythmWatch 105.

Enough for my needs

I have been using the Tama Rhythm Watch and the Korg MA-30 for quite a few years.

I like the portability and small size of the Korg - so I'll take that with me to practice sites or if I'm out somewhere with just sticks/pad. it also fits in the stick bag MUCH more easily than the Tama heheheheheh.

I use the Tama Rhythm Watch most of the time, these days just with my practice pads but I have it mounted on a cymbal stand so it's ideally positioned - same as for when I had real drums. I find it's loud enough that I can hear it while playing without using headphones on it - but I also use headphones sometimes with it. I know a lot of people have complained about the Tama unit before but I've not experienced any of those pains. For me it does everything I need.

I should mention it wasn't easy mounting it on a cymbal stand. Although it does come with a threaded insert for such a thing; it's too small for most stands. Being a fix-it guy, I just built an adapter to mount between it and the cymbal stand, then everything was fine.

In that past I always played to drum machines, but these days I use a cheap metronome that has a built-in LED. I stick a dummy plug into the phones socket to mute the beep and go by the flashing light alone. It allows me to focus on what I'm playing rather than listening out for a click all the time. It's also a good way for others to lock on to the tempo in practice situations.

I have a Tama Rhythm Watch for live use. I'm never without a click of some sort, as I made a series of click tracks as MP3s in Audacity (40 to 220bpm in 5bpm steps) and I have them on both my phone and my iPod.

http://www.rhythmtrainerapp.com/

This program for the Iphone can do some crazy time signature/subdivision stuff.

Check out the video..

I still have the original Yamaha DTX module that I used for triggering long ago. Since, I have used it as a practice tool (click, sequences etc) and as a writing/composing tool utilizing the midi and sequencing capabilities.

One cool thing to do with a machine like this is you can put together sequenced patterns to practice with...a real sobriety test would be to put together some 8 bar patterns that you can string together as "songs"...string them together like this...full 8 bar pattern repeated 4 times, 7 bars of pattern with 1 bar of silence repeated 4 times, 6 bars of pattern with 2 bars of silence etc...progressively lengthening the number of silent bars; you get the idea. It will get your attention in a hurry. The patterns could be merely 1/4 note click to a full blown backing track. You can play patterns, time or solos over it and you will see how close you are when the front of the pattern comes around. And, of course, you can adjust the tempo from ridiculously slow (40 bpm) to 200 bpm.

Metronome, schmetronome. I'll consider it when they invent one that doesnt keep speeding up and slowing down!