I recently purchased a SoundBrenner Core watch and after using it for a while, I’m really liking it. The watch has a tuner and metronome built into it. It can work stand-alone or it will work in sync with the SoundBrenner metronome app on your phone via bluetooth. It pulses on the beats and you can control what beats the watch pulses on, how hard it pulses, the beat sub-divisions, whether if flashes lights with the beats or not and set colors for each beat.
You can also set it up to work with your DAW to pulse the beat while recording.
It’s not perfect but they are actively working on things and providing updates. The watch updates it’s firmware through your phone using bluetooth, There have been a couple times where the watch and the app weren’t in sync and I had to re-start the app. This could also have been caused by me having too much open on my phone at the time but overall I find that it’s quite good.
I probably use it stand-alone more than I do with the app.
A little gimmicky? and little gadgety? Perhaps, but it works and I like having a metronome and tuner with me at all times… I guess I’m a gimmicky, gadgety type of person
Here’s the link to their website if anyone wants to check into them more. You may find it useful as well. SoundBrenner Core Watch
Interesting, and these watches look pretty slick. I didn’t know about Soundbrenner, thanks for sharing!
Here’s a picture for people who have never seen it too:
@Giorgio, the pulse can be adjusted between very light to a heavier pulse. The pulse itself is just a very short vibration that you feel. It’s not overly strong to the point that it’s distracting but strong enough for you to feel and play along with.
When you use the watch stand-alone there is no sound and you rely solely on the pulse. The watch has easy controls to control everything related to the metronome… BPM, time signature, beat sub-division, and the strength of each pulse. I probably should mention that some things like controlling the color and blinking of lights around the ring of the watch can only be configured by connecting it to the phone app but once configured the settings are saved to the watch and apply when you use it stand-alone.
When you sync it with your phone you have sound from their app on your phone… the watch pulses and optionally blinks in time with the metronome app as it clicks/vibrates/flashes/etc as the app itself is a really good metronome app with several features. Even if anyone doesn’t have the watch, they should grab the metronome app and check it out… it’s free!
I only use their phone app for my practice sessions.
I’d like to know if the watch can get synchronized with a DAW.
I play in an electronic band, one of the DJs launches the click with the backing tracks. If this watch can be automatically synchronized with his track then I think this device is gonna fit me just right.
I haven’t tried to hook it to my DAW yet, and I don’t know what ones it will work with. I use Reaper and I know it’s supposed to work with it. How it works is to attach your phone to your PC with a USB cable and then configure your daw to send a midi signal to the phone, which the soundbrenner metronome app intercepts… it then syncs the app to the DAW and the watch to the app.
