Thought Bubbles of the Lowly Husband

I have finally succumbed to the temptations of internet advertising. As I was in the market for a cool metronome and tuner that is a little more multifunctional, I came across Soundbrenner’s range of watches which offered a metronome that isn’t annoying, along with a tuner, which does come in handy when I have to check on my daughter’s string instruments are in tune from time to time. It’s better than crossing the room to get a Boss Tuner out of wherever I have left it last (which could be anywhere).

The tuner (microphone built into the watch) isn’t exactly the most sensitive when it comes to higher pitches, which is why they have a contact tuner which relies on a magnetic latch which is stuck onto the instrument (or a clamp), all of which, you have to buy as extras (it is starting to feel like an Apple device already). Most string players should be able to tune all other strings based on one correct string anyhow, or at least, at a respectable tuning range…

My first impression of the device is overly positive. It is capable of tracking practice, something that I already have an application for, but it was nice to see that it was incorporated in the device which is also available on their SoundBrenner app (for a fee!).

Having had paid half a grand to get the watch and only to find that you probably want to invest a monthly fee for their platform is kind of a kill joy. But hear me out a little…

Buying the watch does give me 3 months for free to begin with, before I have to pay an annual fee to continue use of the tracking and saving of metronome profiles across the pieces that I play.

Because, who wants to read the little scratchy writing in the beginning of every piece (which is mostly impossible to play when it comes to the Chopin Etudes), or completely amiss as in the case of Beethoven’s Piano Sonatas… best to keep my own list!

Without the subscription though, you can manually configure everything before you play, which is alright, but the interface on the phone is clunky at best. I’d rather spend that one minute practicing a difficult passage when pressed for time.

As for the build quality, it’s fairly solid. The Core Steel 2 comes with a leather watch band if you don’t like the plastic band (though, in my experience if you play at gigs chances are you’ll have sweat coursing through and it’ll go manky pretty quickly…), the magnetic latch is fairly solid, you would be surprised at just how difficult it is to dislodge from the dock. I have to admit, it doesn’t look very fashionable, and the wife was quick to point that out (her opinion matters!),

Oh, you can’t take it into the shower like regular smart watches though, but the battery does last quite a while (3-4 days), but only hours when using the built in metronome.

The pulses are fairly long so there’s a lot of variances when it comes to how precise you need to be. But it is giving players a sense of pace rather than precision.

I quite like it, I might even consider buying one for my daughters if the tracking turns out to be addictive. Albeit, like I said, there are apps out there that does this a little better and has a social platform attached, like Ray Chen’s Tonic app. Consider you checking it out. Sorry, slight tangent.

I’ll come back to update this post with a few images and screenshots of the app later. 🙂