SOUNDBRENNER PULSE METRONOME REVIEW - LIKES & DISLIKES 

I'd definitely wear it on my forhead. No question.

Thank you Rob for your honest commands , we need more down to earth drummers like you without any business tricks to it !

Love the honesty, thanks I’ve been wanting to see experienced and someone I trust review one.

Great, down to earth review. Thanks for taking the time to make it.

Thanks for your thoughts on the Soundbrenner Pulse! Thinking about the purchase. Appreciate your honest review!

Thanks for the review! I had my suspicions, this review confirmed them. It's a cool idea for sure, but ultimately, we need a 100% reliable product, especially at this price point. Had this review been 100% positive, I might have picked one up. Thanks again Rob!

Thank you for the thorough review. Great job! It was VERY helpful.

Thanks for the honest review, Rob.

Good, honest, and informative review. Thank you.

Thank you for the review! Did the company comment about it speeding up?

Thanks Rob, you are my first choice to research the soundbrenner and I love your honest and factual review. I work as a volunteer with our local SES road crash unit and carry a pocket power supply not much bigger than the battery with a USB that you mentioned if you have a freeze up if you are away from a power source. Hope this helps as you have helped me. Cheers from the arse end of the world in Franklin Tasmania Australia.

Awesome video, I appreciate your honesty. Also I just gotta those red and white hoodies are fire! Definitely planning to cop one of those bad boys

Hey Rob, great video! I've been using the soundbrenner for about 6 months and I've had some of the same problems. It's great this kind of video that shows more than the positives, helping the company to fix the weaknesses. For me it was a pain to play with the kit too! But then the tip (that worked for me) was to re-interpret the device. Following; I turned off the lights and took out the accents. I left the device with the subdivision in sixteenths and just felt the vibration. So if I lose the accents I will still be in the "feeling" of the song, something else so I do not slow down or accelerate too much. [that's what I use only the bracelet] in the scenario I used it with samplers and or with the smartphone, being synchronized with Ableton and having the metronome sound on my return, things got more comfortable ... But even so, I still could not play using ONLY the vibrations ... Let's exchange experiences! ;-)

Thanks for the excellent review!

Great review Rob. Thanks!

Thanks, Rob! I was one of the early investors in the Pulse on Kickstarter a couple of years back. I purchased several for the family. I just noticed that they have a new model in development. I can tell you that I've experienced everything that you mentioned, both positive and negative, except the change in Tempo. I don't have the chest strap, but it does sound like a good idea to modify the design of the arm/ankle strap so that it would stretch and attach a bit easer. Solid Review, Mr. Brown!!

I just got one and this review is spot on...

Thorough review. Thank you!

I agree with absolutely every single thing you mentioned about the pulse. Great review.

I guess they have fixed a lot of those issues. Thank you for the honest review

Great an honest review!

I was courious about this product. Definitely something I wouldn't use since we use IEM's. Using backing tracks / click tracks and a Dr. Beat 90 for anything else. (I have used the tempo app for years as well. ) Nice review. Keep up the good work.

Thank you for your clear review. Just bought the Soundbrenner and still trying to learn how to use it. I have also feel some problems with the tempos....and sometimes I took myself looking for the metronome lights in the Iphone since I was not able to feel the pulses. Anyway, I will try a little bit more

Just got one today. I have my fingers crossed because I really want it to work. It’s such a cool concept!

i bought a Strobo plus tuner by Peterson and it has a little clip you put on your belt and a metronome download....i got it for recording,,...havent actually tried it yet, but i think it will work well....im a guitarist, and it is THE best tuner ive ever used...you can even tune the drums with this thing, so its pretty cool.

You're a good presenter...kept interest. Thanks

Great review! Thank you!

Nice video man! I'd prefer tryin' to use it on the chest (well, if I had one), 'cause maybe it would be easier to feel it and wouldn't be so easy to loose. But I'll know only when I buy one. Have a nice weekend.

Great review. Seriously considering tot get me one.

Thank you buddy. Our band is looking at something like this, but we have to be able to depend on it 100%. This still may be the option.

Thanks for the honest review. I feel we can count on you for that! Too bad they could not kick you down something for taking the time to give them all of this helpful R and D. I think that is why they are sending it to all these cats. Even if the review is not great they get pro level feed back. Much love...keep it fonky!

thanks, Rob! Was thinking about buying it, but now I'm changing my mind... are vibrations felt different than audible click, maybe not precise? Our senses seem to be load hard with information while playing on the kit, does vibrating device help it for real?

thanks Rob!

I have bought one and like it. It is so different from a normal click you need to spend a lot of time with it to get used to another feel. And with the long strap and the pulse on your chest or shoulder it is a lot better to notice, also in a band situation I think. It would be nice Rob if you use it for a while and get back with a second review and tips after you have adjusted to the feel. Think you can do that? I had some issues and must say their customer service is great. They react on messenger within a day and take your problem serious, kudo’s for that!

Really helpful thankyou

When the tempo sped up, were you wearing it on your wrist? I haven’t used one, but I’m a little curious about if maybe the wheel got moved or something, and maybe the chest strap would resolve that issue

You are a legend sir!

Thanks for the great review!!!! Do you think it may work better on your chest using drums since that's the least moving part when playing?

Thanks!

Interesting. I immediately went to the app store and now have it on my phone . It could really be using for other instruments that are not as "loud"............OR if we use muffles on our drums during practice. Set List options is a big plus.

This review hypes me up like crazy, because it seems like all of the issues you found can be fixed, and also relatively easily! This shows that the core concept has a ton of potential, can't wait to see/try the Soundbrenner Core, i really hope it's gonna be an awesome product

Cool review, it seems that is perfect for practicing but for any other thing the company will have to work in a more reliable version. The freezing and the tempo fluctuations are something to worry about.

I have NOT watched your video yet, to remain unbiased, but I bought one of these a few months ago. I returned it after three weeks, for a full refund from their excellent customer service department. I thought this would be a great thing...a silent metronome that I wouldn't have to see or hear to utilize. It did not work out AT ALL for me. Instructions said it might take a while to get used to it, but I didn't in the weeks I had it. I tried very hard using it in (almost :) ALL available places. It was difficult, impossible really, for me to keep a solid beat for even a few bars of simple 4/4. Let me say that I have NO issues with standard visual or audible metronomes, I use them all the time, hardware, and app. But this thing actually seemed like it got Off The Beat, by quite noticeable bits. I certainly could have imagined it, but that's what I felt. I would switch back and forth between my other iPad and Android metros, and had no issues with them, but the Soundbrenner lost me EVERY time. I felt like I would have to spend a LIFETIME relearning this thing. At 64 yrs old, I just didn't have that kind of time. It quite possibly could be the nervous-system sensitivity in this old body, but I could not lock in with the Soundbrenner at all. I really tried, and tried. If you are young and not used to a standard metronome, this might work for you. I don't know how John Robinson did it. Blows my mind. Good luck to all of you, if it works, it could be a very freeing experience. I'll watch your take on it now. I hope you liked it, but also hope you noticed what I have said, on some level. PS, it was also problematic to operate, touch screen was difficult, not enough sensitivity? hard to turn on/off. Reboots required all the time to get it to go (per customer service).

Thanks so much for the review! This is good stuff, man. I've been researching these for a while now, and I keep finding a lot of good feedback. From what I've gleaned, this product has a lot of improvements to make. You're not the first reviewer I've seen that made a note of the fluctuating tempo, which is not a good feature to say the least, especially when you're a drummer playing alongside recorded tracks in a live setting through Ableton. I think this idea really is revolutionary and I relish the idea of not having to play to an audible click, but I don't think they've mastered this tech yet. Any updates on a new model coming out soon? I can't believe it doesn't have the BPM in the middle of the glowing display. That seems like a fairly obvious fix. If they want to keep their logo there, they should at least let the BPM appear for a moment while you adjust then it fades back to their original display. Love the idea, but it definitely does not yet seem like a mastered, dependable product by any means. Looking forward to an updated model; this has so much potential! Thanks so much again for the review.

Mine just arrived yesterday. I find that the vibration noise is too loud even at lowest vibration level. Do you have the problem where the noise can be picked up by recording microphones? I play piano so there are very quiet moments.

Great review - very helpful

The good old Tama Rhythm Watch next to me hearing the click sound in my inears - that's all I need.

Thanks for your thorough review, most helpful. I was considering this just for a subtle way of getting the tempo to count tunes off on gigs and turn off after a few bars . Do you think it’d be cool for that ? Is it easy to turn off whilst playing like just tapping it or something ? Many thanks

I just got one and wore it for a cross country drive listening to the radio and trying to get it set to the beat. I only a few times managed to get it to sync up. Mine has a little delay before it starts playing the beat and never seems to come in at quite the same place. And even with electronic music it would eventually drift off the beat a bit.

That seemed an on way to charge the thing to solve the freeze, surely it’s designed to cover the bottom of the watch?

Hey rob, can you tell us how it feels? Is it a defined thump or more of a mushy vibration? Thanks

Can I use this as a daily watch and notification from my iPhone?

can you tell me how is it right now? after 3 years usage.

I just got my Soundrenner CORE for Christmas. I followed the set-up instructions, but then I disconnected it for my Bluetooth so that it didn't interfere with my other SMART watch. I followed the video for starting the Metronome but all it does is go back between the watch and showing messages on my phone. HMM!

I have the app and I've running to the same issue with the tempo speeding up. I was using this during gigs but can't rely on it anymore.

I wish I'd watched a few more reviews before buying the Core Steel. I was super enthusiastic for this, being a guitarist. But, I've found so many flaws with it from both a conceptual and practical angle. Firstly, I went for the Steel so that I'd have a watch I could just wear. In reality, it doesn't feel like a watch I'd use all day. It's not particularly comfortable, and it's not especially well featured beyond basic notifications, time, and the metronome feature. The additional cost for the Steel is really not worth it. Now, the metronome - as a guitarist, I put it on my left arm. I then found that my wrist points down while fretting. This meant that the watch hangs down beneath your arm while playing. If it is then not on really tight you cannot feel the pulse as it is not in contact with you. Of course, having it tight on your wrist then starts to restrict your tendon movement - not great when you are trying to play quickly. So, I tried it on my right arm. Better, but still not great as it needs to be on tight. Maybe fine for pick players, but again not great for finger style if you need that dexterity. So, next I tried upper arm. After a length of time it either slipped down or if I tightened it up became uncomfortable quite quickly. Next I tried it on my upper leg. Same problem, it needs to be on tight to transmit a pulse strong enough to feel over your instrument. Lastly, I tried the body strap. The only place that felt 'useful' to me was to have it right on my collar bone. There it could be slightly looser, but I'm guessing it works because it was largely cooperating with gravity. Next - practically problems. The contact tuner is not great. I bought the extra magnets and made the mistake of sticking on to a beloved guitar. Don't do it - regardless of what they claim it is not easy to remove and can damage the finish of your instrument. On top of that the tuner response is below par. I have used other contact tuners, and all have performed better than the Core. I am quite technical, but still had massive trouble synching with Logic Pro on the Mac. Had to run through the setup a few times before I could see the Core in the Midi devices. After some teething problems I managed to get the pulse synching with my project tempo. BUT - I found a flaw. The temp sync ONLY works correctly if you run your track from the very start. Not great if you want to over record parts later in your project. I also found that if you have repeat cycle turned on, the pulse is suddenly one beat out of sync with your project. The delay might actually be an arbitrary amount, but I found between 80 and 120 bpm it seemed to be one beat out after each repeat. I've not tried it with tempo changes in the project yet. Another issue - the double tap to start is fine, but having triple tap do a tap-tempo is REALLY annoying. The number of times I have tapped once to wake the watch, then twice to start the tempo and it has read it as a tap-tempo and set my tempo to some random number. I really would like the option to turn off tap-tempo. I pretty much always want to pick a specific tempo. This is a really irritating and time wasting feature. Finally - Soundbrenner told me that they endeavour to ship from stock in your own country. I ordered in the UK. They have stock showing on their Amazon UK account. I emailed them before ordering and they said if they don't ship from UK they would repay and duties and taxes incurred as a result of shipping from outside the UK. I placed the order and saw that they had shipped from the USA. I emailed them again and was promised that I just need to email them the fees invoice and they would repay the costs. They acknowledged receipt of my email for costs, but to date have not refunded my additional fees as promised. This means that I paid a lot more than $300 - more like $460. This watch is worth nothing like that amount! So - if you are outside of the USA, I'd recommend not buying - they lured me in with a promise that they reneged on. In short, I'll probably be using the 30 day money back guarantee - but I'll be out of pocked for shipping costs. I think they should be paying that, since their product really doesn't live up to their claims, so this is a clear case of mis-selling. Luckily I bought on my Visa Credit, so I have some additional buyer protection - so Visa can chase them for the money back on my behalf.

When I first bought the watch i used it on a gig it was the best experience no questions About it I adapted to the watch on the first gig that I did with it

Synced to Logic is a game changer for me.

Soundbreener should team up with the Pavlov watch…you’ll never be off time. ⚡️🥁😵‍💫

Informative review and honest opinion. Just got mine. It's useful for my solo acoustic performance as I got no drummer. Especially songs in an odd time signature like Seven Days by Sting. Or not speeding up on a quickly paced tune like Mayor of Simpleton by XTC --- OR even a slower paced bluesy beat like James Taylor's Fo a Man to Fall. Have to see if it makes sense at live performance....I do like practice with it. Would have preferred the beats per minute display on the face of the wearable device (as opposed to on my cell phone app only -- limited amount of room on a stage for the phone). Good training tool....beats a drummer. No really.....but wish drummers could sing Harmony and......

I found if the beats are to close together I couldn't distinguish between them and can't feel the beats are not sharp enough if vibration to high just turns into one big vibration

All right, man.Okay.

Does it vibrate

Hey!

Does it show BPM?? And why not use it in a pro situation??

I use their app for android. Brilliant

My opinion is wear it on the chest.... when I play live, although I am keeping tempo I listen and feel the guitar or bass. You feel those low mids in your chest. So you kind want to replicate that feeling. I feel on the wrist or arm is a bad idea. You do a lot of movement and hitting to where the band will blend with your own physical vibrations when playing. Closest to the heart is the best in my opinion, because that's where the feeling comings from. You don't just listen and play the music, you feel it.

Well ill b 33 hello Rob. Thats a good idea a nomewatch.

I just bought one...I'm a golf instructor using it to keep my swing tempo...works great, but like anything new it takes practice to get comfortable using it, so don't count it out, give an honest chance...right now it working great for practice...will test it on actual course play.

I wish it was like a regular watch when not in use

Can It give a heavy vibration on 1?

if that thing can freeze its almost useless. i dont want a fancy toy, i want something that will help me as a drummer.

Just tried one today and I felt like the tempo was fluctuating. Glad I’m not going crazy…or that my time is that bad.

With this being a wearable metronome, do you think there is any concern for those that have high blood pressure or heart conditions.? I know your not a doctor, but wonder if any noticed anything that may be concerning.

They have fixed a bunch of these issues.

Can I use this thing as a watch? :)

where can I get one?

Can you connect the phone app to a phone/mobile DAW? That way you can put more intricate tempo maps in the phone-DAW and let the metronome follow it. I have one of those Peterson headphone jack vibrating metronome things. Plugs into a metronome or phone, and responds to beeps as well. There's an app that gives more control on the type of vibration, but it responds to beeps on the headphone jack, so you could run it with a phone DAW that plays MIDI maps/fancy tempo maps.

Does it show time ?

I think I might Just wear it down my pants …what ! Just sayin …Hope it’s got a very small strap to 🤣🤣 Thanks for the very honest review Rob I was looking at this on Amazon today not sure if it’s for me or not yet I’m having a think on it 👍

Soundbrenner Pulse works fine when you're playing something slow, soft. Once you start playing hard and fast, it doesn't really help even if you set it on high pulse. So disappointed .. Rob's review is on point. Selling it off .. 😆

Keeping track of time on drums, you would be better to have it on your body not your wrist or arm or leg imo. The idea that you would not even try the body strap seems odd for a review.. Pretty sure you would be able to keep time more accurately playing the kit when wearing the body strap...

Soundbrenner app is awesome, so many variations. I love staggering the metronome. Unfortunately , the watch vibration is just not nearly powerful enough for me to feel while playing my drums. The way I play, I’d need something closer to the shock of an electric chair. However, I do wear it at night just to internalize my own clock but it’s useless at the kit. I’ve logged enough hours with the app though to have made my $99 plunge worthwhile but I’d never recommend this product to anybody I cared about. Enemies, yes. Friends, NO.

I prefer a click in my ears.

Don’t know why Apple Watch doesn’t have a feature like this. Fucking paid $400 to tell me to stand? Think I’m gonna buy this.

Its just too expensive for what is does...it should be 40-50 Euros/Dollars...not a 100..

I'm the 666th like. My lucky day.

I'm guessing this wouldn't be useful to a metal drummer because of the amount of noise and vibrations it's gotta battle with??

Bluetooth does not connect. Reset does not work. Skips beats. Connect, re-connect, again again on and on. Don't buy it. Download a metronome for free from Google play

It’s great for guitar but sucks for drums

El metrónomo se adelanta? Es su función principal y el aspecto por el cual el 100% de los músicos lo compra, para mantener el tiempo. Es decepcionante que, pese a su alto precio, no cumpla con su funcion principal, mantener el tiempo.

The reviews for ALL pulse metronomes are POOR... definitely keep with my OLD😂 metronome

sounds to me like it's a $100 bucks piece o'crap

Informative review. Thank you!

Thanks!