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About Ten Kettles
We love music, we love learning, and we love building brand new things. We are Ten Kettles.
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January 29, 2016
BeatMirror: Track your tempo with our new app
Think of the last song you really liked. There’s a good chance you tapped your foot, bobbed along, or even started to dance. Good music has good rhythm, and good rhythm makes you want to move. For musicians, a big part of that rhythm is following the groove of the song, which requires some serious playing skill and an attentive ear to make sure the whole band is grooving together. Many amateur musicians speed up and slow down when they get excited or distracted, and nothing kills a song like sloppy tempo.
“We feel like your app is VERY good. It’s got nothing but thumbs up!”
–Phil Smith of “Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast” (podcast)
But learning to play on beat and stay on beat isn’t always easy. A metronome can help—but what happens when you turn it off? That’s why we built our newest app, BeatMirror. BeatMirror uses your device’s built-in microphone to detect the tempo of almost any tune it hears—whether it’s a single guitar part, a drummer going wild, or even a whole band practicing. Let BeatMirror show you when you speed up or slow down—and by how much—and you’ll be well on your way to building some excellent rhythm skills.
BeatMirror shows your beats-per-minute (bpm) in real-time on an interactive graph, and you can place markers at key points throughout your songs. Use the app when you’re practicing, use it with your band, you can even use it at concerts. We designed the interface especially to accommodate low-light conditions, so you can take BeatMirror anywhere!
Here’s what the experts are saying about Beat Mirror:
- “After trying it out for weeks now and playing with it everyday, I’m mindblown.” –Richard Ducat of “Drummers I Like” (podcast)
- “We feel like your app is VERY good. It’s got nothing but thumbs up!” –Phil Smith of “Drummer’s Weekly Groovecast” (podcast)
- “This app is so quick and simple to use, there’s not really an excuse as to why you wouldn’t use it during practice sessions.” –Laura Barnes of MI-PRO (mi-pro.co.uk)
And here are some comments from our users:
- “This is great and accurate as well. I have actually tested it using professional music software… and it has not been wrong once yet..” –vinyljunkieuk
- “Not only can I see what bpm I usually play my songs in, I can see where I flex the timing in the song. Next to a tuner on my phone this is the most useful music app I have found. Top marks.” –Didsbury Cove
- “Really useful tool for band rehearsal. The room we rent has a projector hook up so we display the app for all to see.” –Andrewpasc
- “This is a fantastic app. Focusing on getting the tempo correct from the start and holding it is crucial and this is a great tool for that.” –tempobob
Questions, comments, or feedback? Get in touch anytime using the contact form at the bottom of the page. Want to learn more?
Any chance you make a version of beatmirror for android?
Hi Susan, thanks for getting in touch! Right now we are focusing on the iOS version, but an Android version is something we’re considering for the future. Not sure on specifics, but we’re definitely not ruling it out! -Alex
I am searching for a metronome type product that I can use with voiceover.
It can’t make sound while I record. It need to give a visual steady beat and it would be great if it could detect my pace and give it back to me. Would this work for that?
Hi Joanne, thanks for the comment! Beat Mirror is all about tempo detection, so it definitely fits the bill for the second part of your message (detecting your tempo). It doesn’t currently have the visual metronome feature you specified, but that’s an interesting idea. I’ll give it some more thought for a future version! If you have any more questions, feel free to drop me an email anytime at alex[at]tenkettles[dot]com—happy to help. -Alex
Will the app also be able to output the currently detected bpm as a midi clock signal, so I can use this as a midi clock for arpeggiators?
Thanks for the comment! This functionality isn’t currently supported, but I’ve made a note to maybe look into this in future. I definitely see how it could be a useful feature! -Alex
Make for Android. Please!?
Can there be a way the graph can become a pdf, and share? That way I can print it.
Hi Chris, thanks for the comment! I’ve made a note of your feedback and will definitely give graph exporting a closer look. Thanks! -Alex
Hey Chris! Graph exporting is now possible in BeatMirror. Just tap the “camera” icon on the top of the graph to share or save it. Thanks again for the feedback, -Alex
I would very much like this for my android. I’m learning the banjo and would like to be able to check my bpm.
Hey Randy! Thanks for your interest in Beat Mirror. For now we’re just focusing on iOS, but not ruling anything out for the future. -Alex
Hello, just one missing feature, are you planing to implement MIDI output? That would be really perfect for drum machines to follow live guitarist performance
Thanks for the comment. Adding MIDI output could be a really interesting feature. I’ve made a note of your feedback and will give this some more thought. -Alex
Does it detect bpm for songs that you are trying to learn?
Yup! Just start playing the song through your music player app (or another device) and then hop over to Beat Mirror. Set an approximate target tempo (e.g., tap a couple beats on the tap pad) and you should be good to go. -Alex
Hi,
Very nice, congrats on this app! I had actually the idea of creating an app like that and the software developer I was in touch with sent me to your app. It’d be really cool if an actual metronome could be part of the equation. Like you set a tempo and a division like a click every two or four bars and the app helps you see when you dragged or when you sped up. So you don’t have to constantly stare at the screen and can identify the types of rhythms that are making you go off the rail. What do you think?
Hey Jean! Yes, I think you’re onto something. That “spaced” click may best be delivered via headphones so that it’s not confused with the user’s playing during detection, but I think that could definitely work. Feel free to drop me an email at alex@tenkettles.com and I’d be happy to add you to the Beat Mirror Beta list. -Alex
does this work with guitar? you don’t have demo and I’m a bit concerned about will it work properly or not – maybe you have demo with electric guitar?
I mean maybe you have demo video of how practice with electric guitar looks with your app – as far as I understand I will use laptop with metronome coming to headphones and the app will track guitar playing, but I would like to see how it works
Hey Serhii! Here’s a video of BeatMirror in action with an electric guitar: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ploxwvF4f5I. Please don’t hesitate to get in touch using the contact form below if you have any more questions, happy to help.
Yup! Definitely works with guitar. 👍 Here’s a demo: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ploxwvF4f5I.
What I would like to do is create a set list of songs for when we play live and each song I can see the BPM of pre-set up. And then when the song is about to start I press the app to see the lights flashing show me the right B p.m. to start the song on. Is this possible? Busy I want to create a Setlist in the app.
Hey Sean, thanks for the comment. Setlists are definitely a feature we’ve strongly considered adding to BeatMirror. Stay tuned. The app does have a count-in mode right now, but flashing the screen along with the count-in could be a great addition too. Thanks for the feedback! -Alex
Having seen this in use by a bandmate – it looks very useful. But I am not part of the Apple ecosystem, and could not find it on the Google Play store. Another plea to port this app to Android!
Hey George, thanks for the comment. As a (very) small company, we generally keep things focused on just the one operating system, but definitely aren’t closed to making an Android version in future. Thanks for the feedback! -Alex
Will bet mirror be able to send BPM cc number at the tempo for tap tempo control this could then sync backing midi drums to the live performance it’s something I have bean looking for, for a long time
Hey Daniel, thanks for your interest in BeatMirror. BeatMirror doesn’t send a MIDI output right now, but I’ve made a note of this feedback. Thanks! -Alex
Amazing how you’re making an app that is only downloadable for iphones. You do know there are millions upon millions of guitarist that use Android phones.
Hey Steven, thanks for your interest in BeatMirror! Ten Kettles is a small, independent operation (one man, one dog). To keep our work focused and the quality up, it feels like sticking to just the one platform is the right choice for the apps for now. That said, this may change in future! We’ll post any updates on the blog. -Alex