Metronome Beats

What the metronome is used for

Metronome Beats is a metronome, drum machine and tempo trainer for Android. It keeps a steady click at a chosen tempo, offers drum grooves to play along with, and can change the tempo across a session. The listing names solo and group practice, teaching, live performance, dance classes, running cadence and golf putting drills as the situations it is built for.

The tempo, visual beats and trainer sit on one screen, so a single app covers a musician drilling scales, a teacher working with students, or a runner or golfer who wants a rhythm to follow.

Setting and changing the tempo

The tempo can be nudged up or down by 1 or 5 BPM, moved by sweeping a slider, or set by tapping out the rhythm with a finger. Tap tempo is for when the BPM is unknown: tap along to a piece and the app works out the speed. The listing describes these controls as built for one-handed use.

Settings are saved automatically, so the last tempo and setup are there when the app is opened again.

Speed training and complex rhythms

The Speed Trainer raises or lowers the tempo gradually, either after a set number of bars or after a set number of seconds. It is meant for building speed over a session without resetting the metronome by hand.

The same screen handles more complex material: polyrhythms, swing feels, subdivisions of up to 16 clicks per beat, custom accent patterns and unusual time signatures.

Playing along with drum grooves

The built-in drum machine plays grooves in several drum kits, and users can program their own patterns. A mixer control sets the balance between the parts. It gives a groove to practice against where a bare click would be the only sound.

Visual beats for quiet practice and teaching

Visual beat indicators show the bar as it moves, so the sound can be muted while the timing stays in view. The listing gives reading music and talking to students as examples of when this is useful.