Metronome - 1.5

Metronome is a free metronome for Mac OS X.

Most functions (start/stop, change tempo &etc) use only one key to facilitate one-handed operation.

A unique Accelerator - begin a difficult piece slowly and gradually speed up by any rate to any maximum tempo

A Tempo Finder - use any key to tap a tempo and put it into the metronome

Save favourite settings for easy re-loading


What's new in this version:

* Added an ability for the good-looking, intelligent user to donate a few dollars to yours truly via the Kagi website. If you can't part with $8, that's OK, everything will still work and nothing bad will happen (I hope).
* Cleaned up the various windows such as the Load Settings, Save Settings and Preferences windows. They now have an easier-on-the-eye design and are therefore easier to use.
* You can now save either Tempo and Bell settings, Sound settings, or Accelerator settings, or any combination of the three.
* In the Tempo Finder panel, you can use the Enter/Return keys to add the tapped tempo to the metronome.
* In the Tempo Finder, improved the accuracy of the timing of the first few taps (before ten taps are recorded).
* Added ability to halve or double the tempo. Press the 'D' key to double, the 'H' key to halve the tempo.
* Added buttons to alter the tempo by 0.1 of a bpm, up or down. This ability was present in earlier versions of Metronome, but could only be accessed by using the up and down arrow keys. Adding the buttons just makes it more obvious to the new user. (The arrow keys still do the same job.)
* Added version checking.
* Updated the Help.
* Re-designed the menus.
* Re-designed a few internal blocks of code which will make Metronome easier for me to maintain and improve.
* added a 'hidden' preference. If you want, you can log each time the Metronome clicks to check the accuracy of the timer under different CPU load conditions. In Terminal type:

defaults write org.savetheworld.Metronome "log click" -bool YES

and then in the console log you'll get a (perhaps very long) list of times up to 1000th of a second accuracy with the word 'click' at the end. To set it back, just type the same command in Terminal but give it a NO. I was surprised at the accuracy of the (standard Apple supplied) timer. Even if it stutters (almost a certainty under heavy load conditions), it corrects itself so that there is no 'drift' of time. At least that's the case on our 2003 G4 MDD 1GHz running 10.4.8 and our iBook G4 800MHz (10.4.3).


Website
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