Mattronome - Better Time For All Musicians

[Can also be used simply as a metronome.]

Mattronome is a program that will train musicians not to slow down or speed up once the bandleader counts in a tune. This program is not just for drummers. Every musician can work with Mattronome with great results.

WARNING:

But if you are able to keep a positive attitude and spread the word about this program with the type of people you want to keep making music with, in the long run you will be happier, as you are able to play with better and more successful players and perform in front of more receptive audiences.

The Ghost Measure

The driving concept behind the Mattronome program is the idea of having a number of measures with an audible metronome click, followed by a number of measures of silence. When the click comes back on, the musician can hear how far she wandered from the click (or hopefully she's still in sync!)

My drum teacher, jazz great Jason Harnell, in trying to help me with my time, explained how, back in the day, he programmed his drum machine to click for a measure, followed by some measures of silence. He may have coined the phrase 'ghost measures' to describe the silent measures following the click.

I also read a recent interview with Bill Stewart in Modern Drummer, where he explained how he turns his metronome off once the beat is established, plays for some minutes, then turns the metronome back on while still playing to see if he's sped up or slowed down.

I found that programming my drum machine was tedious, and once I got good at, say, one measure of time followed by three ghost measures, I would have go through the same tedious drum-machine programming process to allow me to try one and seven. And then again for each time signature once I was comfortable in 4/4 time.

And there was too much error involved with me trying to turn my metronome on, in time, while still keeping time, then trying to discern if I had slowed down or sped up. (I'm not as dexterous as Bill Stewart. Who is?)

With Mattronome, you can increase or decrease the number of ghost measures or the number of beats per measure with just the click of a button. [Set the ghost measures to ZERO and you have a simple metronome.]

The Random Tempo Generator

The other major feature of Mattronome is the tempo range, designated on in the program by the Slowest Tempo and Fastest Tempo settings. If you are comfortable playing anywhere from 60 beats per minute to 350 bpm, you can set the Slowest Tempo and Fastest Tempo accordingly, and then when you press the "Random" button (or hit the Enter key), Mattronome picks a random tempo between your slowest and fastest tempos and starts the count. This simulates a bandleader counting off the tempo at the beginning of a tune.

Who Is This Sal A. Mander Fellah?

I've unknowingly prepared for writing this program for many many years. I studied Electrical Engineering at UCLA and graduated in 1995. I programmed video games from 1993 until 2001, finishing Blasto, Spiderman, and Tony Hawk Pro Skater III, specializing in special effects and artificial intelligence. I was rich and miserable. I decided to pursue music full time in 2001. Now I'm poor, a little too skinny, and happy.

Dive in!

The easiest way to learn how to use Mattronome is to download the program and just dive in. Don't worry: you won't break it!

Mattronome can work as a simple metronome...

If you set the number of ghost measures to zero, Mattronome functions just like a metronome. That alone worth the price of admission. Metronomes can cost over $50, and most of them aren't as flexible or easy to use.

How to practice without your instrument...

Want to improve your command of tempo without disturbing the person sleeping next to you? You can press the 'Random' button (or hit the Enter key) and listen to the click with headphones, and try to name the correct tempo before looking at the screen of your laptop computer. Then repeat.

When learning melodic intervals, ear training teachers recommend associating familiar songs with each interval. For example, the theme song to 'Charriots of Fire' opens with a perfect fifth.

Similarly, you can also associate different tempos with songs that you are familiar with. For example, I spent a lot of time shedding on Billy Cobham's 'Red Barron/Snoopy's Search' from his album 'Spectrum'. So if I hear somebody count off a tune at a similar tempo (or slightly above/slightly below) then I know we're playing slightly above or slightly below 82 bpm. You don't need to be able to name the tempo by number necessarily, but it is a handy skill to have once in a blue moon.

Keyboard Shortcuts

There are keyboard shortcuts for some of the buttons on the screen. For example, instead of using the mouse to click on the "Go! (Random)" button, you can just press the Enter key on the keyboard. To restart the click at any time, you can click on the "Restart" button with the mouse or just press the spacebar on the keyboard. To learn more keyboard shortcuts, hold down the 'shift' key on the keyboard and each keyboard shortcut will appear on its respective button in the Mattronome window.

How to practice with Mattronome...

The bad news is that having great time (at least for me) isn't like riding a bike. If I go a few weeks without working with Mattronome, I lose my ability to stay with the click. The good news is that each time you come back to Mattronome, it gets easier because you learn how it feels to get your groove on.

There are many ways to practice with Mattronome, but the most important thing I can do is explain how NOT to practice with Mattronome. Feel free to try playing with as many ghost measures as you wish, and have fun with it. Just be aware that while you may spend hours for the thrill of that rare moment when you are finally lucky enough to land with the click again when it returns, you aren't doing yourself any good! This isn't a game of luck. And having good time isn't black magic: it is something you can achieve.

If you work from the beginning you will KNOW when you are with the click, even after 31 measures of silence. And very few civilians will ever feel how great it is to be able to strike that note confidently, KNOWING the click will be right there with you! So start from square one and build slowly.

Don't be afraid to practice without ANY ghost measures at first. If you haven't spent very much time with a metronome, this is the first step. Don't put anything into your toolkit until you've played it with a metronome to the point where you are relaxed while playing that phrase at all appropriate tempos.

Add increasing numbers of ghost measures as you are able, but if you ever get into that game of luck, cut some of the ghost measures. You'll save (lots of) time in the long run.

You can use specific tempos to work on specific songs. Mattronome is the perfect tool for getting a band tight once you figure out the right tempo for a song.

My goal in creating and working with Mattronome was to find out which tempos give me trouble, and to discover which grooves or drum fills cause me to speed up or slow down. Real life experience is great, but sometimes even more experienced musicians can be wrong. With this program, I know without a doubt if I'm speeding up or slowing down. In just a few weeks this program has helped me immensely and given me much needed confidence in my playing.

Your ultimate goal with Mattronome may be to be able to improvise (if you're a jazz musician) or to play all of your grooves and licks within the appropriate range of tempos with as many as 15 or even 31 ghost measures after hearing just one measure of time, with tempos randomly picked using the "Go! (Random)" button, dynamically (from ppp to ffff). [I'd like to be able to do that... check back with me every five years].

But our ultimate goal as musicians is to play well with other musicians. Music is a team sport. This program is only a tool to allow you and your bandmates to sound better by allowing you to hear subtle differences in tempo. Don't worry, working with Mattronome will not force you to keep a song from breathing (speeding up or slowing down) in the right spots if you keep your ears open. It will just give you control over this!

"I'm worried that perfect timing will take the 'soul' out of my music."

Don't worry. You won't obtain 'perfect timing' no matter how much you use this program. In real world situations, when you are listening and responding to what the musicians around you are playing, and pushing yourself to play on the boundaries of your comfort zone, your 'soul' will come out. And isn't it a lot easier to bare your soul when you are playing with people who aren't dragging the music one way or the other?

A problem I've noticed with a lot of pretty serious players that keeps them from getting to the next level is that they have about five or six tempos that define their 'comfort zone'. Songs tend to be dragged to the nearest tempo in their comfort zone. Working with Mattronome will help a musician feel the subtle differences of slight tempo changes, which adds another invaluable level of subtlety to his performance.

The ideal situation would be to immerse yourself with musicians who are sensitive enough and experienced enough to be this aware of tempo, and then jam for hours and hours as many days a week as you can. But for those of us that aren't at the level where we can do that yet, or those of us that don't live in a big city, Mattronome is an effective shortcut to learn subtleties of tempo required to play at that level. The 'soul' part is up to each one of us, and is determined by what we play within each tempo.

If you don't hear the click...

If you click one of the "Go!" buttons and don't hear the click, try selecting another midi device. Microsoft GS Wavetable is the internal midi software that comes with most Windows programs and is a good place to start. You will need to have speakers or preferably earphones connected to the computer to hear the click.

If you still don't hear the click, try closing Mattronome and ALL OTHER PROGRAMS, and then open Mattronome again first. I have sound recording software that grabs all the midi output devices as soon as it opens, and doesn't share them with other programs. (This is the same software I recorded the samples with). So I have to open Mattronome first, then the recording software. Otherwise Mattronome can't use the midi device.

When you click one of the "Go" buttons, you should hear the click every time you see the words "BLAP" or "Blip" flashing on the top line of the message window. But if it says "shhh..." that means you are in a silent measure and you won't hear a click. Make sure the volume for the red, green, and yellow voices is loud enough for you to hear! (The maximum volume for each voice is 127).

If the click is erratic...

I am using an old Pentium II with Windows 2000, and the program works great all the way up to the maximum tempo setting.

On some computers with some versions of Windows, Microsoft GS Wavetable (the internal Midi software) is prone to erratic time. I recommend talking to somebody familiar with Midi and connecting your computer to your drum machine or some other Midi device if the tempo of the click is not steady on your computer. When the click is running, if the 'Actual Tempo' in the message window stays within a couple beats of the set tempo, then the program is working correctly and the click should sound steady. If it does not, this would indicate a problem with the midi setup on your computer.

There are cheap external Midi controllers that connect to your computer using a USB cable (I have a MidiSport by MidiMan that works great). Then you can use a midi cable from this external midi controller to your drum machine or sound module. I have my drum machine hooked up this way, and then I have the output of my drum machine conencted to a JBL self-powered P.A. speaker so that I can hear (and feel) the click over my drums.

At 5 bucks a pop, I don't have the most extensive technical support staff. In fact, I'm just one man. But if you're having trouble, please email me and tell me what's holding you up. Please let me know what version of Windows you have and what CPU you have (Pentium or Celeron etc...) I will add another page to this website if necessary with common problems and their solutions.

More Help

When the Mattronome program is running, you can click on any of the grey buttons below the "Hide Details" button, and you will get a quick description of what that control does and the range of values allowed. For example, click on the button that says "Ghost Measures". The help text appears in the message window.

Mattronome is only $5. Before paying, please download the program first and make sure you are happy with it, and once you realize how amazing it is please share the program with everybody you know. If you are Steve Smith and will use the program in clinics and spread the word, or if your name is in my list of idols your copy is free (endorsements encouraged). But for everybody else: your five dollar donation will support updates, the Macintosh version of Mattronome, and future super-cheap software for starving musicians by a starving musician.

Method #1 - Credit Card:

Method #2 - Snail Mail:

Please make checks payable to Salvatore Mander, and send to:

Sal Mander
100 S. 4th St. #6H
Brooklyn, NY 11211
U.S.A.

The safest way to get a copy of Mattronome is through this website. If you have a friend you trust who got the program from this website, you can get a copy from them. But if you're not sure, download the program from this site.

I also welcome comments, suggestions, and endorsements. Software updates can happen within 24 hours, so if you have a suggestion that will make your experience with Mattronome more productive, please email me! If I like your suggestion I will try to implement it immediately.

The links below are sound samples in MP3 format of me playing drums, working with the Mattronome program. You will hear Mattronome counting off the time: The hand clap is on 1, and the rest of the beats sound like a closed hi-hat. I've only been using the program for a few weeks and my time has improved greatly. I will have better samples after working with the program for a few months!

If you post a video of yourself using Mattronome on YouTube, please email me the link so that I can make a page of videos from happy customers.

Mattronome is a very small program (just over 200k, or a fifth of a megabyte).

Please try the program out, then when you are delighted return to this web page and follow the payment instructions. (It's only 5 bucks!) Please share the program with everybody you know.

To download Mattronome.exe for Windows computers, click here or on the image below.

Coming soon: the Mac version of Mattronome!

Also coming soon: SalamandEAR, a cheap but effective ear-training program.

Copyright 2007, Sal Alexander Mander