Bars & Pipes Professional: The Metronome

Overview

Bars&Pipes Professional's Metronome provides a standard metronome click. Use this as a timing reference when recording your performances.

The Metronome creates a click by sounding the Amiga's internal circuitry, sending a MIDI event, or flashing the screen. It can click at rates varying from 1/64 note to a whole note. If you want, it can also provide a lead-in countdown before recording.

Access the Metronome window by double-clicking on the Metronome icon, or choosing the Metronome option in the Windows menu.

The Metronome Window

The following describes the functionality of the Metronome window:

Choosing The Metronome

There are three metronome sources:

Internal

Select the Internal button to send a tone to the Amiga's speakers for each metronome click.

Visual

Select the Visual button to flash the Amiga's screen on every click. The first beat of any measure flashes red, followed by a series of other colors.

MIDI

Select the MIDI button to send a MIDI note through the MIDI cable.

Setting Up The MIDI Metronome

The MIDI metronome option requires a few additional parameters:

MIDI Note

Select the pitch of the MIDI note by sliding the MIDI Note: slider to the appropriate note value. By default, this is set to the General MIDI note for a metronome sound (if a drum kit is being played.)

MIDI Channel

Select the MIDI channel by clicking on the button after the Channel: prompt and selecting from the pop-up menu. By default, this is set to the General MIDI drum channel, channel 10.

MIDI Tool

Drop an Output Tool onto the button after the Tool: prompt. This determines which Tool transmits MIDI metronome clicks. Usually, this is the MIDI Out Tool.

Note
Triple Play Plus users can use the Triple Play MIDI Out I, 2, or 3 Tools. One-Stop Music Shop users can use the One-Stop MIDI Out or SoundEngine Tools.

You can also use other Output Tools with varying results. For example, many of the Media Madness Tools can be used with interesting results!

Loudness

The Loudness (volume) of the metronome can be set by moving the slider after the Loudness: prompt. The default is 84.

Selecting The Beat Resolution

By default, the metronome sounds at each quarter note beat. you can change this rate by clicking on the button after the Resolution: prompt. Choose a rate from 1/64 to a whole (1/1) note.

If you select a 1/4 resolution in 4/4 time, the Metronome clicks on every beat. If you select 1/2 resolution, the Metronome clicks on every other beat, starting with the first beat in the measure. If you choose 1/8, the Metronome clicks twice per beat.

Depress the Triplet button if you want the Metronome to play in triplet time.

The Lead In Option

Often, it helps to have a countdown before you start recording. To set up a countdown, set the Lead In slider. The slider lets you set the number of measures to count down before recording actually starts.

To disable Lead In, set the number of measures for Lead In to zero.

You may find that you do not want to use the Metronome, except for the Lead In time. In this case, select the Metronome On Lead In Only button. You can also disable all three metronome options; this provides a silent Lead In.

Extra features

The metronome also responds to hotkeys to control its function. These can be used in any of the the main Bars&Pipes windows (Tracks, Transport etc.).

The keys are:

I	toggles the Internal Amiga sound metronome on and off.
V	toggles the Visual metronome on and off
O	toggles the Output (e.g. MIDI) metronome on and off
L	toggles the Lead In funtcion on and off.