Bounce Metronome Blog

12/02/19

Is it possible to get Bounce Metronome working on the Mac again?

First, Bounce is programmed for Windows and the only way to get it to run on anything else is to use Windows or WINE which is a legal way to run Windows programs on other operating sytems because it is programmed from scratch to be compatible without using any actual Windows code. I used WINE for the Bounce Beta for Mac OSX, which used to be in regular use by many musicians. Sadly, it can't run on High Sierra or later because Apple dropped support for 32 bit apps and WINE at that time had to be 32 bit when run on OSX.

However I have discovered recently that there may be a chance of making it work again since I discovered that Wine 2.0 now supports 64 bit Mac OSX (previously 64 bit Wine didn't work on OSX).

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31/08/17

Update September 1st 2017 - Bounce Metronome Pro

September 1st: Adds new option to the Session clock: "Run clock while rhythm is playing only". Also used larger text for the time on the clock and made a "least" version of the window without the check boxes and options in case you want to use the window itself as a clock.

Minor extra update, 31st August, This adds a "session clock" which you can find in the Options drop menu. It's just a text clock, shows the time so far in minutes and seconds (and hours if necessary) since the start of your Bounce session. It's the active time so if you use another program it doesn't count that, and only counts it if you move the mouse or keyboard or have Bounce playing. You can set how long an idle pause counts as you taking a break from practice.

You can also add it to the main window title so that it shows how long you have been practicing so far right in the title. It's a new feature and I can add extra options to it later if needed. E.g. anyone want a visual or sound alarm feature?

Also, fixes a couple of minor bugs. 

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03/07/17

Update July 3rd 2017 - Bounce Metronome Pro

Very minor extra update, 3rd July, The new window 3D Bounce - Overview (Ctrl + 298) wasn't included in the + menu for the 3D Bounce window and related windows - fixed.

This is a minor update with some small changes and bug fixes. New window 3D Bounce - Overview (Ctrl + 298) - this is especially useful if the check boxes, droplists and buttons are hidden in the 3D Bounce Window - an option on Windows and always hidden on the Mac. It's an overview of some of the most important controls that change how the 3D Bounce is displayed.

New button in that window, "Make Scene Preset" with four prset scenes so far:

  • "Fast with 2D balls for old slow machines"
  • "Textured Sea"
  • "Darker Textured Sea"
  • "Simple scene - just skin background"

The first three were available as separate buttons before. The last one is a new preset.

New option "Show FPS" in Bouncing Balls - Visuals - Controls, Text and layout (Ctrl + 233) and 3D Bounce - Visuals (Ctrl + 257)

New options in the Win drop menu "Simplify all except main window menu" and "Restore all simplified menus" shown if appropriate.

Some other minor changes and several bug fixes. For details see Change Log for 2nd July 2017To download go to the download page

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16/06/17

Version 4.7, June 16th 2017 - Bounce Metronome Pro

I've decided to call this version 4.7, as a result of many updates with new features since version 4.6. It's a bit hard to know what to focus on in this summary as there were no really major new features. It's more to do with details and making it more polished in how it works.

So first of all, for those who use it as a practice metronome, made it easier to use the arrow keys to adjust tempo globally (actually was meant to work like that originally but had some bugs now fixed). Also added a new window to make it easy to double or halve the tempo or select from preset tempi you set up in advance. Added a new window to show the bounce rhythms as music notation (even if not made originally using music notation). For those of you who work with DAWs, added a feature that helps the exported midi file to align the notes in your DAW so that they all have the same number of midi ticks. I've also added in several windows for transforming fractal tunes from Tune Smithy which work fine in Bounce Metronome.

Also added a new option to simplify the menu, and a + drop menu with extra options specific to that window. It now highlights the buttons that open new windows and the More and Less buttons. Many other minor tweaks and bug fixes.

For details see Change Log for 16th June 2017. To download go to the download page.

I haven't yet updated the Mac beta. For now, you can do that manually and I'll do the upload soon, today or tomorrow.

In more detail:

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12/12/16

Update December 14th 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

Minor update 14th December

Added shortcut Ctrl + Q to quit the program and Ctrl + Shift + Q to set all the currently visible windows to be shown at the start of every session then close the program (without a message asking if that's what you want to do). Also now when it reshows windows at the start of each session it remembers which one was in front last time you closed the program for a smoother work flow - at least on Windows it does (not yet on the Mac). For details see Change Log for 14th December. To download go to the download page. I have also updated the Mac Beta to this latest version.

Update 11th December

Added droplists to Tempo Dial (Ctrl + 222) to you choose how to show the tempo in the tempo dial. Added droplists to Tempo Dial to make it easier to choose how to show the tempo on the tempo dial. This is available in Tempo Dial - Preferences (Ctrl + 223). but I get emails from time to time from users who haven't found it yet and find the tempo dial puzzling, so I hope this will help with that. Also for everyone, it put this option right in the tempo dial, where it is most needed. It doesn't obscure any of the other options in the dial as you see from the screen shot

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Also, when you use F4 to record the window positions on the screen then it not only preserves their positions, it now preserves which ones are on top and which are behind others - the way they are stacked from back to front ("z order"), when you close the program and re-open it. Also added options to expand or contract to include all keyswitches in Play Keyswitches from PC keyboard, on-screen keyboard or via midi in (Ctrl + 268)

See Change Log for Sunday 11th December 2016.

29/10/16

Update October 29th, 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

This upload has some improvements in the Speed Drills window including an option to stay at the current tempo, pausing the tempo changes - mid drill and then resume it whenever you want to. Also you can now make clusters of windows attached together which you can move around on the screen as a single unit. Then there are several other minor new features and a fair number of bug fixes as usual. I have also updated the Mac Beta to this latest version.

Added: Randomly Quieter to Humanise Chord Timings - for Fractal Tunes etc (Ctrl + 184) now renamed to "Humanize Timings and Volumes" for a more natural feel.

Added a new option to let you type e.g. 35,1 to select instrument 35 in bank 1.

Added: Polyrhythmic paradiddle with double paradiddle ! to Music Notation - Drum & Dance etc drop list

Several additions to Speed drills (simpler version) (Ctrl + 280), including a new option to stay at the current tempo, pausing the tempo changes, an option to do the Tempo step as a percentage or ratio instead of BPM, and an option "Spread evenly over" to choose how many steps there are between the first and last tempo

New feature - you can make clusters of windows attached together which you can move around on the screen as a single unit, also open them all in one go and close them all. To find this option go to any window and then to its Win drop menu and click on "ATTACH other WINDOWS to this one" and then follow the instructions in that mesage. You can then move those windows around as a single unit, also minimize them and restore them all as one unit, and if you show a window, all its attached windows get shown with it.

In the Choose Percussion and Melodic Menus  (ctrl + 157), More version of this window (available if you are in Advanced mode from the Options drop menu) there's a new option to set a bank number offset, and to set the value of the other byte in the bank message. The defaults there of 64 for the offset and 63 for the other byte hopefully will work for choosing grooves for the Yamaha MOX (will see if this works).

This upload also has a number of bug fixes. For details of the changes, see Change log and Bug fixes.

To get it, visit the download page and you can install on top of your existing version.

The Mac Beta version is now listed on the main download page and for details, the Bounce for Mac Beta download page

13/09/16

Update September 13th, 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

This is mainly a bug fixes upload in the latest version 4.6 of Bounce which I released a couple of weeks back - for details of it see Update August 31st 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

I think perhaps the main bug of note which I fixed is one for people using screens with fine detail (high dpi) like the surface pro. You will only get this if you show the window to adjust individual beats in a rhythm on a high dpi screen. When you do that it auto reszies all the Bounce windows with smaller font which can make them hard to read. 

Apart from that, it also fixes a bug in a new option to set the volumes for individual beats in a multi instrument - this is an obscure feature which few will have discovered yet. It can cause strange behaviour in the program if you switch this option on, exit the program and start up again. Anyway it's fixed now. Also fixed some bugs in playback of the polychords and various other minor bugs,

Also minor updates to Add Melodic Sequence or Chord Progression (Ctrl + 275) and Chord Progression For Part (Ctrl + 250)copied over from Options for Seed, Arpeggio and Scale Play buttons (Ctrl + 28) and added a new option "Remove duplicated notes in polychords". This is for polychords like C:F which go F A C C E G with a repeated C where the chords join. When this option is switched on it removes the duplicated note and just plays C:F as F A C E G.

Also added "fade if silenced" and "darken if silenced" check boxes to Tune Display Options (Ctrl + 19) to let you configure this, defaulted it so that the silenced parts are a bit darker than before, so easier to see - more of a darker grayish shade of the colour than a pale washed out colour as it was previously, which was especially hard to read on a high contrast screen.

For details of the changes, see Change log and Bug fixes.

To get it, visit the download page and you can install on top of your existing version.

The Mac version still isn't quite ready yet - the Bounce for Mac Beta download page it gives instructions on how to update your version of Bounce for Mac with the lastest Windows release. I want to test it a bit more on the Mac first as it's a major update though I've tested a little and everything looks fine so far, after those bug fixes, expect the Mac update soon. If anyone wants a beta of it right away just ask, I've got it here but want to do a bit more testing before uploading it as the next "official beta" as it were.

31/08/16

Update August 31st 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

This is a new version now, version 4.6, and it has quite a few new features, including a graphical way to set the silent and hidden measures for the Play then silent feature,a new count in option, work on the automatic rhythm changing, and several music notation related features along with many bug fixes and smaller changes . I've been working on it since January. To get it, visit the download page and you can install on top of your existing version. The Mac version isn't quite ready yet, just want to do some testing first before doing a new Mac build. Meanwhile, if you are very keen, visit the Bounce for Mac Beta download page it gives instructions on how to update your version of Bounce for Mac from the lastest Windows release. Or you can ask me for an early Mac beta. I hope to release the Mac build in the near future.

Including: New Visual Count In window Visual Count In (Ctrl + 289). This lets you show the bouncing balls bounce several times before the rhythm starts.

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New graphical interface for the option to play and be silent at selected measures and to show / hide the bounce - you can set it to display the measures polymetrically when some of the measures are of different sizes - parts 1 and 2 have shorter measures than parts 3 and 4 in this screen shot. The yellow lines show where each pattern of play and silent measures repeats. White here is silence. You left click to set a measure to played or silent and right click to set the position of the yellow line for the pattern repeats. As before you can set it so the bounces are automatically hidden / shown whenever it plays or is silent. It's just a graphical user interface into the existing feature, but it does make it easier to use in some ways and you can also expand it to show the patterns of measures in all the parts for as many measures as you like - which may go on for a long time without repeating the whole thing exactly if each part repeats after a different number of measures, or some parts are polymetric..

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24/01/16

Update January 23rd 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

Youtube Video

Steve Reich's melody for Piano Phase played slowly on five phasing pianos in Bounce Metronome

New features: can now set the tempo dial to show notches at fractional BPM - usesful if you want to customize it to show a small range of tempi and then click to set the tempo to the nearest 0.1 BPM etc. Can now show bouncing musical note names. Added Steve Reich's melody from piano phase to give examples to show how the vary tempo feature works with abc notation.

Hugely speeded up auto remake for the music notation rhythm, making for smoother editing of the text. Can set a different number of syncopating parts for each of the rhythms in the syncopated African polyrhythms window. And various other minor otptions and bug fixes.

To update, visit the download page and you can install on top of your existing version. For Mac OSX, visit the Bounce for Mac Beta download page.

In detail:

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24/01/16

Update January 23rd 2016 - Bounce Metronome Pro

Youtube Video

Steve Reich's melody for Piano Phase played slowly on five phasing pianos in Bounce Metronome

|New features: can now set the tempo dial to show notches at fractional BPM - usesful if you want to customize it to show a small range of tempi and then click to set the tempo to the nearest 0.1 BPM etc. Can now show bouncing musical note names. Added Steve Reich's melody from piano phase to give examples to show how the vary tempo feature works with abc notation. Hugely speeded up auto remake for the music notation rhythm, making for smoother editing of the text. Can set a different number of syncopating parts for each of the rhythms in the syncopated African polyrhythms window. And various other minor otptions and bug fixes.

In detail:

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