Soundbrenner Pulse Reviews

A different ballgame

Feeling the pulse gives you a deeper, sorta visceral vibe unlike usual metronomes. This gives you more precision and feedback. Takes some getting used to. I actually attach it to my guitar head. Less disturbing for your surroundings, if you use it at home.

There's Plenty of Room for improvements

As an innovation is a great idea. I hate the sounds of the digital metronomes. They are annoying and unpleasant. But what if someone needs subdivisions? The Soundbrenner can't compete digital metronomes to that area. It can't do polyrhythms also. So its a simple metronome and a very expensive one.

Ok, it is a silent vibrating metronome (you can have sound, lights and vibrations all together if you like) and that is the main feature. But what about the software. The software is nothing special but anyway. The main problem is the firmware that is buggy. If you try to use the device manually after few adjustments it freezes and needs restart.

In conclusion it is very good as idea but not very useful for everyday use.

Vibrations too strong

Product worked absolutely fine and was easy to set up, but for me the actual intensity/mechanics of the vibrations are unpleasant, too aggressive. It felt like it was slowly digging a hole in my wrist, even on the lowest vibration settings. Probably needed when performing with high volume/ activity to be able to focus on the metronome but too much for bedroom practise or low volume band. But you need to try it for yourself and hopefully you'll have no issues with this otherwise great concept!

Succeeds where all others have failed

I've always struggled with my timing. With everything I play, keys, guitar, flute, my timing has always been my biggest flaw. I've tried all types of metronome but my brain quickly just tunes out the click and my timing drifts away from the beat. I find the Soundbrenner Pulse much easier to keep focused on and wearing it on my wrist I find my hands get more of a feel for the regular beat. As an experiment to try and improve my timing I wear it around the house while I'm doing chores or reading in order to try and tune my brain in to a steady beat.

The Pulse is easy to use and very customisable with a choice of different vibration levels, colour flashes and click sounds. It handles everything from a straight 4/4 to really bizarre time signatures. The tap tempo function is really accurate and quick to set.

As an IT geek I like that when I first switched it on there was a firmware update ready to go on so I know Soundbrenner are keeping on top of updates with improvements and fixes which I find very reassuring.