Re: [Harp-L] Metronome wsm-330

[Tin Lizzie <TrackHarpL@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

I looked (briefly) at the wsm-330 on Amazon.  It appears to be a fine starter metronome.  The customer reviews indicated that the construction is not as robust as some reviewers would desire, but if you use it gently, there shouldn't wouldn’t be any problem.

This one has a “click” sound (which I prefer over a “chirp” sound every beat) with an optional bell every 0, 2, 3, 4, or 6 beats, which is a great feature to have that isn’t usually an option on mechanical metronomes.  Its slowest tempo is 40 beats-per-minute, which is adequate for all but the weirdest of us.  A disadvantage of mechanical metronomes that use a slide on a graduated pendulum (which is true of the wsm-330) is that the tempo settings are not linear, i.e. you get 40, then 42, then 44, then up in the 80-range you get 80, 84, 88, etc.  If you happened to want 82 or 83, you’d be out of luck.  This is not a show-stopper, but it is worth knowing.

If you wanted to go high-end, I have been extremely happy with the Boss DB-90.  You can select the sound of each beat (including a click, which I prefer), goes down to 30 bpm (and you can hack a much slower tempo by silencing all the individual beats (there are sliders) and playing  *only*  the chime on beat one of a measure that’s 16 beats long).  It can play eighth, sixteenth, and triplet subdivisions, with or without the downbeat, and even has a library of rhythm  *patterns* which are a cool challenge:  Try playing  *anything*  against a son clave pattern rather than an even beat!

The DB-90 is more metronome than a beginner needs, but I wanted to give a sense of the range available.

It is my firm opinion that any metronome is better than no metronome.  Good for you, getting one and practicing with it!

Tin Lizzie





That said, any metronome is better than no metronome.


On May 14, 2014, at 7:38 AM, Tony Stephens wrote:

> From: Tony Stephens <tnysteph@xxxxxxxxx>
> Date: May 13, 2014 5:51:46 PM EDT
> To: "harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx" <harp-l@xxxxxxxxxx>
> Subject: [Harp-L] Metronome wsm-330
> 
> 
> I am thinking about getting a this metronome. Does anyone have any input on it. I am hoping it will help me with timing.
> Thanks, Tony Stephens
> 
> Sent from my iPhone