Visual metronome inaccuracy (android)

[pheldal]

The visual metronome is currently so inaccurate that it is useless. Background flashing can be turned off, but the metronome icon is still flashing. Can it also be turned off? If not, would it be an idea to change the app so that it only sets a different but static background for the icon to indicate that the metronome is running when background flashing is turned off?

[arlo]

Are you using the tempo clicks, or just the visual flash?

[pheldal]

Are you using the tempo clicks, or just the visual flash?

I currently set background flash off and tick on, but have to look away from the screen to not have the irratic icon flashing disturb my sense of tempo if I only have one or two bars of clicks to get things going.

Ideally I would only use background flashing to avoid unnecessary noise.

[arlo]

The flashing was disabled completely for a while, then it was restored with more accuracy in app version 2.3 last June. Sorry for the delayed notification. Does this work better for you now?

[pheldal]

Tempo has been more accurate recently. My problem at the moment is that the icon occasionally starts to blink erratically. In this case I have to swipe to the next/previous song and back to put it right. It is totally random (no particular song). I probably page between songs 20-30 times between each time it happens. 

[arlo]

This is with Android still?

[pheldal]

Yes I saw this once last weekend (Samsung Galaxy TAB A, SM-T580 w/android 7.0). It has happened randomly about once a week or so in the last few months.

[arlo]

And this is just with the flashing icon, or with the click and flash? Does the click remain constant when the flash becomes erratic?

[pheldal]

It typically happens when I'm in the middle of something and don't have time to experiment. My setup is using only visual metronome via the icon. Haven't checked against screen-flash or audible click. I use it mostly for songs where I play an intro and thus set the tempo. I don't want an audible metronome on stage, and a flashing screen is terribly distracting when it is out of sync with the band. I have tried to only have the count-in running for a number of bars, but find it more flexible to have the icon flashing all the time and just ignore it when it is out of sync.

Sometimes the icon-flash is simply wrong, but stable. Other times it is irratic, as if the beats from two songs are put on top of each other.

[arlo]

Are you using the tempo subdivision or downbeat functions (which add extra flashes and increase the chance of something getting mixed up), or just a simple flash on each beat?

[pheldal]

Just a simple flash based on the tempo-setting. No subdivisions.

[arlo]

Are you starting the tempo by clicking its button, or with a layout action?

Does the problem happen from the start of a tempo, or only after the tempo has been playing a while?

[pheldal]

My current layouts have the tempo started as an action when a song is opened. I.e. swipe to the next song and the icon should immediately start flashing in the correct tempo.  I switched from background-flash to icon-flash once the icon flashing became mostly reliable some time ago.

I should mention that stop+start by tapping the icon also fixes the erratic flashing (like swiping to next/previous song and back). I have so far never registered the erratic behaviour when the tempo indicator is started manually.  Could it be some race-condition when one document/song is closed and another opened that causes this?

I'm now testing with sound along with the flashing icon and have the metronome set to run for 4 bars when practising at home to see if that changes anything.

[arlo]

Okay, does the problem happen right away when you start the tempo by selecting a song, or only after the tempo has been playing a while?

[pheldal]

The tempo is messed up as soon as the next song pops up on the screen after being selected from a popup-setlist or after swipe from the previous or next song.

Experimenting with audio it looks like enabling click sounds in preferences, but with the volume off may solve the problem. I had previously opted to have no click-sounds selected instead. I don't know if this makes any sense, and I've only just made this change so it is too early to judge how stable the results are.