Soundbrenner Core

Perfect for my niche situation

This product is only suitable for musicians in very specific situations...

As I am a worship drummer in bands that are pretty intermediate we, therefore, do not have any click tracks. This watch allows me to set the tempo for the rest of the band and remain in it. Also helps with switching time signatures on the fly! Great product overall however very niche!

Not good

Nagyot csalódtam benne. Először is mikor zenélek nem érzem a metronóm rezgését olyan jól, hogy el tudjam különíteni az ütéseket, be kell kapcsoljam a telefonon a hangot, így tehát mint rezgő metronóm számomra semmit nem ér ez az eszköz. Okos órának nem igazán nevezhető, mindössze jelzi a bejövő hívásokat, üzeneteket. A kijelzője két egyszerű folyadékkristályos panelből áll akárcsak a negyven, ötven évvel ezelőtti “kvarcóráknak” érintésérzékenységről tehát szó sem lehet. A rajta lévő állítógyűrű másfél év használat után elromlott, a beállításokat ez után csak telefonról tudtam megoldani és persze csak a metronómnál, így pl az a pár kis funkció mint pl az időzítő, stopper nem volt használható egyáltalán mert az telefonról nem állítható. Mivel a telefonnal kapcsolatba tudott lépni bt-on ezért az órát pontosan mutatta, ez volt az egyetlen jó oldala. Szerintem nem éri meg az árát.

Not bad, but too expensive for a teaser

The unboxing was very nice, and the quality of the product is easy to see. But...

As much as I understand Soundbrenner's need for monetisation, depriving the users from using metronome functionality (like the increasing tempo) unless they pay more money feels wrong. After all, I have just paid more than €200 for a metronome, so I expected it to be full of features out of the box. The video lessons? The collections of songs? Those are add-ons that I'll evaluate later if I want to pay for them or not. But the metronome that I bought cannot do basic things that even software metronomes can, unless I pay even more money.

The android application looks promising, but it's still far from perfect:

- It asks for permissions that I just don't understand. Location? Does the app really need to know my location to pair with the Core? I find that very, very hard to believe.

- It led me to believe that registration was indispensable. And it asked me for things like my main instrument (I play two), my main genre (I don't have one), and my skill level (what for?). All those things I'm not comfortable discussing with my metronome's maker, to be honest.

- The synchronisation is not perfect (e.g. when I start the metronome from the phone and stop it from the device, sometimes the application doesn't get updated).

- The worst part, though, is that the application sits there, draining battery happily, and I can't remove the notification (unless I remove the notifications permission). I really would have preferred a less intrusive application, and a device that doesn't depend that much on my mobile phone. Luckily I have a smartphone, what if I didn't?

I asked the same questions to their technical support, and they gave out-of-the-box answers, that didn't answer any of my concerns. I'm, to be honest, a bit disappointed.

Kind of

It does its job, but why the minimum vibration is SO STRONG?

it should be way softer

Feel the beat

In general, I'm happy with this product.

Pros:

Unique device really helpful

Cons:

Looks cheap

The battery doesn't last much.

Vibration just too weak

In itself, the concept and idea of the product is outstanding. But for me the vibration is clearly too weak. Unfortunately I didn't really notice it when playing (drums, piano and guitar). The Smartwatch function is also not yet available, but according to the manufacturer it should be implemented this year. Maybe it is also due to my person that I perceive the vibration as too weak.

The tuner function is a very nice feauture for guitarists, because you always have a tuner with you that works reliably.