Beats and accents
A bar in Metronomo is a count of beats. There is no time signature to choose; you set how many beats the bar holds, then set the accent level for each.
The bar
The row of vertical elements at the top of the Grooves screen is the bar itself. It holds 1 to 16 beats. A new Groove defaults to four, with the first beat strong and the rest medium.
The and buttons add and remove beats. Beats are always added and removed at the end of the bar. An added beat defaults to a medium accent. Removing a beat removes the last in the bar; the accent setting goes with it.
During playback the bar animates through each beat in turn.
The five accent levels
Tap any beat to advance it to the next level; at medium, a tap advances to strong:
Strong → Mute → Tick → Soft → Medium → Strong
| Level | Height | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Strong | 3 | The loudest and highest. Typically the downbeat. |
| Medium | 2 | The default for every beat but the first. |
| Soft | 1 | Present but backgrounded. |
| Tick | ½ | Half the height of soft, and lower in pitch. |
| Mute | ½ | Silent. Drawn hollow as a placeholder. |
The levels differ in both loudness and pitch. What each level actually sounds like is described in Sound and volume.
Meters without notation
Beats per bar and an accent on each carry the same information as a time signature, minus the notation. A 7/8 bar accented 3+2+2 is seven beats with strong on the first, fourth, and sixth. Compound meters are built by adding subdivisions and customizing the tick pattern.