Review: VITO Metronome

Posted by: tjchan on Nov 28 2007 - 977 views

VITO Metronome

[Note: This is a joint review between tjchan and pedah. Timothy’s comments appear in black; Peter’s comments appear in blue italics.]

Pocket PCs today are some of the most versatile tools that any person can have. With VITO Metronome, musicians can now keep the time and carry one less device with them to practice. What’s more, with most Pocket PCs having headphone jacks, you can also just hook up your Pocket PC to a soundboard for a click track!

As most of us realise, a good sense of time is essential to a musician, and integral to written music. The first thing you look for is speed and time signature when handed a new piece, to learn. What tools does the musician utilise other than their instrument, well primarily a metronome of course.

Metronomes come in all shapes and sizes these days, from the traditional clockwork, to electronic and much more recently software versions to aid in computer generated music creation. Recently I was offered one such solution for PocketPC, Vito Metronome.

Does VITO Metronome fit the bill for a decent metronome? Can it truly replace a metronome that one already owns? Join us as we find out how VITO Metronome ticks and whether or not it’s on beat!

Installation and Registration

Installation is simple and can done via the downloaded ActiveSync installer or the over-the-air CAB file.

In order to activate VITO Metronome, an internet connection is needed to perform:

1. A direct activation - Just enter the purchased license code and hit “Activate”. This tells the software to phone home and automatically finish the registration procedure.

2. An Email activation - This is the offline activation method where you send a copy of ’Program Files/VITO/Metronome/License/send_to_support.txt’ to VITO support who will in turn send back an activation key (license_1.0.txt) to drop in the same folder (License). Keep a backup of this file in a safe place should one need to reinstall this program. You can reset your activation an additional 2 times after the initial activation but only once per 3 month period within the year that you purchased the product.

Registration was really straightforward, enter your code and it’s done.

Using the Metronome

So lets have a look shall we?

Probably the first thing I noticed was how it looked, slick and stylish, and very self-explanatory.

Indeed, I agree, the interface is clean, fluid, and self-explanatory. It comes with 3 “skins” that can switch the design of the interface. It comes with three different skins for your visual enjoyment, Winter blue, Dark Switch and Apple Day, and supports Russian as well as English.

Using it is quite simple. Just select your needed numerical speed or even by the Italian tempo names and tap the start button to turn on the metronome. As a piano player, this is really all I need as my current metronome does this same thing - tick, tick, tick. It’s all there right, play/pause, tempo plus/minus, measure plus/minus (time signature, more on this later), and a little less obvious you can change between the standard times using the dot pointers on either side of the classic Italian tempo name. Tempos range from Largo to Prestissimo, in the traditional range, and measures included are 1 your traditional tic toc of a metronome. Then there are added time signatures, that Vito have deemed standard, 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/8, 3+2, 6/8, 7/8. You don’t need a degree in astrophysics to install and get a groove going with this application.

One Handed Controls

The program with the exception of turning the metronome on and off supports one-handed controls. You can use your PDA’s directional pad’s (d-pad) up and down to select speed by Italian name, numerical speed, and breakdown by measure. To set each of these settings, just use the left and right from the d-pad to adjust the settings.

So how well does it work under real conditions?

As a pianist, this little gem works well with not only my Axim x51v but also with my JAQ 3 and Cingular 8525 (TynTyn). The speakers of each device are loud enough that I can play a wide range of songs and still be able to hear the ticks of the metronome. Of course, I could also use headphones but that just makes me play louder. I can’t wait for VITO to release an update to the PocketPC/Smartphone versions as currently the Nokia version of Metronome can tune instruments.

First up I’ll give you some background, I’ve installed this on my Axim x51v, and it works flawlessly, instant start-up, and absolutely no lag when changing tempo. The only concern I had has to do with the volume of the Axim’s speaker, did I mention I’m a drummer, I really had to use it with headphones, to make it effective.

Here’s the beauty of this I was up for some live recording recently and I had in ear foldback (a speaker for monitoring the current audio) and the VITO Metronome came along just in time. So I’ve got a little 4 channel mixing desk, headphones running out of it and the Axim running in to it., and this allowed me to balance the metronome with the other inputs I had coming in Bass, Guitar and Vocals. We recorded something passable in a day that would usually take a couple of weeks in the studio, and it will be available where we want it to be this weekend. It was all original music and because the moods can vary, it was great to set a tempo and not change it!

Conclusion:

First of all this program fits my foremost criteria for a good application, it does one thing and it does it well. VITO Metronome works really well, has a minimal memory footprint, and is beautiful to the eye. It performed really well in a real world sense, and did everything that a real metronome does. Really a great and useful tool, and well developed as there were no conflicts at all on the handheld.

This program is certainly a specialized little application that does what it does and it does it well. The program is not only aesthetically pleasing, but more importantly, it is functional. For it’s price it is comparable to getting a standalone electronic metronome with the exception that now with a software solution, you not only will carry one less device, but software is upgradable which makes the possibility of getting a better application in the future a possibility.

One small irk I had, the standard times, didn’t include 12/8 which is the basis for your standard Blues shuffle, and I would like to see more time signatures included to make this a tool for the advanced musician. For the less advanced casual musicians though, VITO Metronome does indeed it the bill.

All in all, I’d we’d recommend this!

Vital Statistics:

Name: VITO Metronome
Version: 1.00
Platform: WM 2003 SE / WM5 / WM6
Also Available For: SmartPhone, Nokia Series 60 (v1.1)
Developer: VITO Technologies
Available From: JAMM Store and VITO Technologies (PayPal)
Price: $15.95
Trial: Yes - 14 Days
Devices Used for Review: Dell Axim X51v, i-Mate JAQ3, AT&T 8525 (WM6)

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