Conductor — the visual metronome that beats time
Conductor is a visual metronome specifically designed to run silently, mimicking the time-keeping actions of a real conductor — ideal for live performance.
Find out how to...
I came up with Conductor while accompanying soloists on the piano. My problem is that if there is no conductor to wave me in, I tend to go off at a speed dictated by nerves rather than rehearsal.
I tried a number of metronomes to help me out, but none gave me what I really needed... a replacement for a real conductor. I needed something that would not just indicate the beat, but really beat time. I needed to see it out of the corner of my eye, whilst reading the music and watching the singer. I needed something for playing live — and so Conductor was born! I hope you like it.
The main screen shows the bouncing ball that beats time. At the top, you can see beat and tempo information. On the right is the tempo slider, and in the bottom left is a help button that shows the active screen areas
The top of the main screen shows you tempo and beat information. Tap this area of the screen to enter settings.
Icons (A) show whether tap or shake tempo is turned on. (B) shows the current beat in the bar and (C) shows the tempo in beats-per-minute
How it works
Conductor uses a bouncing ball to beat time (yes you can change the style of the ball — and yes, more styles will be coming soon). Each ball-bounce signifies one beat which also means that the and count occurs when the ball is at its apex.
The first beat of the bar is signified by a harder beat. This is exactly the same way people beat time with their hands.
Here you can see the ball bouncing three beats in a bar. You can see the accent occur at the start of beat one. You can turn this off if you don't want to know where beat one is
If you are performing live, it is often useful to turn off all beat counting and accenting — just in case you drift a beat or two. You can still stay in time, but don't have to worry that you are not on a bar boundary.
