November 2012

25/11/12

Bounce Metronome for Mac and Multi Platform - update

Update of my post earlier this year.

The most frequent question I get asked about Bounce is: is there is a version for a Mac, or will there be one in the future? The answer is No, and Maybe. Find out more and add your name to the wish list here:  /Mac, Mobile and other Multi Platform FAQs

Mac musicians - this is for intel Mac, not iPad or iPhone - check out the  Kick starter to get Bounce Metronome running on an Intel Mac (now fully funded). You can now download a Bounce for Mac Beta

Also there is a lot of enthusiasm for an app for mobile devices (including Android). That's easily understandable since a metronome is an ideal thing to turn into an app you can carry about with you in a pocket.

Sadly though, I can't do this easily. There is no way to convert the existing Bounce for technical reasons as it is coded for Windows only. I wish there was! I have researched into it but there really seems to be no solution to this..

So, instead, I plan to explore the idea of a multi-platform app that can also run on iPad, iPhone, Android, Windows, a simpler version more designed for use on small portable devices. If this works then I might then develop it later into a more complex multi-platform program. 

I plan to explore the possibilities a few months from now.  Would need to program it again from scratch, and if it works out, first version would probably be a few months later.

If that then is a success, expect it to be some years of full time coding before it reaches the capabilities of Bounce on Windows, as it is the result of many years of coding. It is possible it might go faster because I know where I am headed, on the other hand, I would have a new language to learn most likely and need to learn about new expectations of Mac users.
22/11/12

Bounce Metronome 4.3 Update (part 2)

To find out what's new in version 4.3 of Bounce, see Bounce Metronome 4.3 Release.

Latest update 21st  November 2012. For those of you intersted in CSound - done some work on that part of the program, should make it easier to find out what to do and how to use it. This is likely to be especially useful for the harmonic metronomes - will have a go at some youtube videos using some of the CSound instruments to show what it can do.

Also improvements in the way it handles example projects - getting ready for idea to add example projects to download, or possibly in the installer, for videos on the bounce metronome resources page and on youtube. It doesn't have those yet, but hope to start to add them soon.

Also added a new option to the Go SILENT briefly and Tempo Cycles (Ctrl + 245) you can now set it to go silent briefly in one part only - or to go silent at different places in each of the parts of the rhythm. Similarly for the option to hide the bouncing balls.

To get it visit the download page

Read More »

21/11/12

Update to Video Resources - Bounce Videos for Wikipedia (HD versions)

Youtube Video

Tresillo over two -  for the wikipedia article: Tresillo (rhythm)

 You might be interested in the new video section with HD youtube versions of the videos that I've contributed to wikipedia to illustrate some of the articles about rhythms and time signatures. See Videos for Wikipedia - Video Resources

21/11/12

Update to Video Resources - Syncopated (or Beat Shifted) Harmonic Polyrhythms

Youtube Video

Syncopated harmonic polyrhythm 8 : 5 as 3+2+3 : 3+2, shifted by fractional beats
Pitches: 2/1 3/1 12/5 13/1 24/5 3/1 4/1 1/1

These new video resource pages explore a technique from African Drumming. When you play a polyrhythm such as say 4:3, you can shift the rhythms so that the two rhythms meet each other at different places in the measure, not just at the measure beat.
 

You get a syncopated effect - a feeling that you are playing "off the beat". Wtih these examples I've also used the 3+2+3 type rhythms of Eastern European music. Then I added pitch as well.

Read More »

08/11/12

Time Signatures like 4/3 ((Brian Ferneyhough's notation)

I've updated the help for the page on the bouncemetronome.com website about time signatures like 4/3 (Brian Ferneyhough's notation).

Youtube Video

Polymeter 3/4 : 2/6  (Brian Ferneyhough's notation) - This is a great polyrhythm exercise for a beginner - play two instruments or surfaces with left hand and three with right hand following this pattern

The new version of the page explains more clearly how the notation works, and also explains the other notation, which I call Polyrhythm Notation in Bounce Metronome, and why it was necessary to have this variation on Brian Ferneyhough's notation to describe some of the rhythms you can make in Bounce Metronome.

http://www.bouncemetronome.com/video-resources/polyrhythms/44-43-type-polyrhythms

01/11/12

Wikipedia article on the metronome

Just done an update of the Metronome article in wikipedia. You might like it, if interested by the video on Metronome Technique.

My contribution was to edit the introduction to make it more balanced, and to add the new section on Metronome Technique. There were many requests on the talk page for a more balanced article, so this is an attempt to help with those requests.