Welcome to one of the most active flamenco sites on the Internet. Guests can read most posts but if you want to participate click here to register.
This site is dedicated to the memory of Paco de Lucía, Ron Mitchell, Guy Williams, Linda Elvira, Philip John Lee, Craig Eros, Ben Woods, David Serva and Tom Blackshear who went ahead of us.
We receive 12,200 visitors a month from 200 countries and 1.7 million page impressions a year. To advertise on this site please contact us.
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to gounaro)
i hate istuff too. but its so hard to find good compas tracks and I really like the metronome, so I caved in. and I have to admit that I really like it. I catch busses everywhere and its been fun to watch flamenco videos on the ipod
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Maissam)
i hear ya florian, I got the same issue, I have the cheapest phone plan in the city, and an old ****ty phone. however, I carry with me 2 phones at all times, this crappy phone and my international leisure phone at all times which functions only as a music/video player , camera and wifi access and not really as a phone (other than few texts here and there) . I cant afford iphone or ipod or ipad or all that **** that comes with it in the package. im waiting for the PC version too! hurry up!
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Maissam)
So I downloaded the trial version and was underwhelmed by the volume, even at max volume on the app and on my iphone its really not possible to hear the compas clearly when playing, I don't think at this kind of volume that its very practical at all.
The only way to use it would be to either use headphones or to plug it into speakers.
Of-course you can use it simply as a visual metronome but I think that is not correct way of practicing.
I then went and purchased the Beatvibe metronome app and found it had the same volume issue.
I prefer the Dr. Compas GUI over the Beatvibe, its really perfect GUI. I prefer Beatvibe jaleos feature and user community uploads over the Dr. Compas
I am also confused by this "improvisation" feature. Unless you are already very accomplished it actually is a bad feature, metronome should be steady ALL the time. I know you can turn it off but its inclusion into the metronome doesn't really make sense to me.
So bottomline, I don't think anyone without an iphone is missing anything, probably the one to get will be the PC/Mac version. I used the free beta PC version before and it was great. That will be the one to buy, then put it on your laptop and you have a portable metronome with very good volume.
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to bule_b)
@bule_b:
Thanks for your comments. We should make this more clear, but we highly recommend earphones/speakers because the iPhone speaker is very small. We are trying to develop ways of boosting the volume to the maximum possible without distorting the high quality audio samples, but every metronome on the iPhone is going to have this problem. It is really an intrinsic limitation of the technology. To be heard over the guitar, a speaker needs to be VERY loud; my macbook pro isn't even loud enough to accompany me without external speakers or headphones. But I would have thought it's still easier to carry an iPhone and some headphones than to lug your laptop around...
About the improvisation: palmas are something that change and its VERY, VERY important for students of flamenco to learn to hold their ground as the rhythm develops. The reason for the improvise feature is to simulate real artists playing compás, so that the transition from practice at home to performing with real people is easier.
When I used to practice guitar, I would start practicing a falseta with a basic metronome, then when I was comfortable enough I would try some backing track loops, and even then I found it very difficult to follow live palmas. Doctor Compás has all in one. It has a basic metronome click feature, then you can turn off the improvisation and have the equivalent of a solo compás cd for every single palo except at any tempo you like, and finally you can have it improvise and mimic real artists, for which there is nothing similar available.
Jaleos are a very particular thing and not just words, they have a rhythmic purpose and to have them included in a metronome they would have to be COMPLETELY time stretchable and each syllable needs to be in perfect time in order to be done in an authentic way.
Finally, the main point of Doctor Compás is to have amazing soniquete. All the professional flamenco artists that Jason works with are totally impressed at how much soniquete Doctor Compás has. We feel that these tracks are very realistic, unlike any of the other flamenco metronomes available.
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to gounaro)
I believe its said: "Great app Maissam, unfortunately its not available for non-i products. Looking forward to see it available on other devices! Thanks for your effort!"
Is it possible to have the last settings remembered when restarting the app? Thanks!
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to gounaro)
After playing around with both apps for a while the clear winner is the Dr. Compas app.
Whilst Beatvibe has some cool features (like the online compas library) I quickly realised I had my own tastes in loops and what worked for me so all these nice extra features just ended up not being used.
What has made me select Dr. Compas is the fantastic compas tracks, I think this is where the association with Jason shows its merits. With Beatvibe I had to customise the compas tracks to accent the way it made sense to me, however with Dr. Compas every track I could follow immediately.
I am especially waiting for the release of the PC version!! Any release dates?
One request for future versions: Can we have more than one compas track per palo e.g. for Bulerias there is only one loop, why not have a few more variations (like a Bulerias de Jerez etc)
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to bule_b)
Dr. Compas is not using loops... the app is generating compas that is changing constantly similar to the way people actually playing compas would. there is Jaleos aside from bulerias... the bulerias setting in the app should work for most bulerias situations and the jaleos should cover those other situations.
You can restrict the app to creating a 1 compas loop by turning the improvise button to the off position
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Florian)
quote:
We feel that these tracks are very realistic, unlike any of the other flamenco metronomes available.
A student had this yesterday and played with it...that is exactly what i found too..
so much aire and so realistic, you guys should all be proud of yourself, i canot congratulate you enough, like the whole solo compas series but unlimited speeds and its an app..to me hands down best thing out there for compas.
one comment i have, is not a big thing and i only played very little to it but if you are taking feedback for future releases or think theres anything to it...
I am not a huge fan of the too "catored" to a copola of sevillanas compas track just for practice
or its good to have 2 options, its great if you are learning or composing a sevillana copola and need to know the accents and where it all falls...but it gets fustrating ...allways waiting for the right place to start, otherwise it sounds weird...when just practicing..
when you are in a lesson ...it might be some awkward silent waiting
"- OK LETS GO !! FROM THE TOP .................... .......................... ........................ ........ ...................BEeeeGIN! "
Posts: 2007
Joined: Jul. 12 2004
From: San Francisco
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Guest)
I have dr compas and also beat vibe, which I've had for some time. Beat vibe is very cool as is dr. compas. Beat vibe you can program specific patterns which can come in handy if you want to mark a certain accent to work on something specific. I'm pretty sure you can also program it to switch between a few patterns.
Dr. compas is a completely different animal because it's more like playing with people doing palmas. I find myself turning off beat vibe after ten minutes because I'm bored with hearing the exact same sound and pattern. Dr. compas I can play along for an hour por bulerias and really enjoy it.
As to volume issues with both products, neither one can deliver enough volume if your listening through the i phone speaker and playing at normal volume. This is an issue with the i phone no matter what is being played. Even phone conversations can be hard to hear.
Ther diservice part I'm not sure I get. Either you can play along to palmas or you can't. If your still learning and can't identify if you've lost the compas, then dr. compas may challenge you because there is not always a gong or whatever on ten or not always something slamming 6,8, and 10.
OTHO, that doesn't happen consistantly when playing in real life situations either, so I don't agree about the diservice part. It may not spoon feed you the accents every compas, but IMO the app could go a long way towards teaching people to play in a real situation as opposed to many of the loops created by users of beat vibe which, IMO, don't come close to representing what people do in real life. Most of the loops for beat vibe I've downloaded don't sound authentic in terms of the programing. That's no knock on the app itself- users can program what they want to hear.
A tap feature would be cool. Hopefully, the product will be updated as time goes by, but it is an amazing tool.
quote:
ORIGINAL: nealf
A few points: 1. Why is there no "tap feature" whereby you can tap the screen in time with a song etc to set the tempo. Should be a standard feature.
2. Any beginners or intermediates using this "improvisation" feature when practicing are doing themselves a real disservice.
3. So how is everyone using this device if the volume is too low?? Carrying some portable speakers to practice?
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Guest)
Agree. Beginners like me must use compas. Even some intermediate players dont know what compas is. The dont even know how to use palmas. Improvisation is too confusing for most of us...
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Guest)
quote:
If you can't play with a steady boring click IN COMPAS then "improvisation feature" is total BS and will not help anyone progress or improve their skills. All it will do is produce yet another guitarist who plays sin compas.
Anyone who suggests that a BEGINNER should use the improvisation feature doesn't know the first thing about learning compas. And there are very few intermediates (on this foro) who have the chops to handle improvisation in compas ...
I know that Ricardo would agree with me as he has stated the very same thing numerous times.
But for those of you that disagree with me please prove me wrong with a video sample of your skills .... I will gladly eat humble pie.
you can turn the improvise feature off with one click.
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Guest)
quote:
BEGINNER
to me there are two sides to this 1 someone who is both Beginning guitar and flamenco simultaneously [utmost respect for this group...sheesh!] 2 those who may have a decade or two or three or four under their fingers with the guitar [whether related or unrelated musically, but are adept at other musical 'styles'] but are beginning their journey into flamenco guitar
for group 1...sure there's so much fundamental music application to get under their fingers that the 'impro' features could or would be a confusing element...still once the basic of basic solea compass is under one's fingers and 'in time' the 'impro' option will certainly aid in 'feel' and 'Aural' perception of compas...so to me an accelerated learning and practice experience...but yes one must learn to play the 'basic' time feel..dr compas can provide this and more.
for group 2 chances are there is a background that incorporates improvisation or at least syncopation of the 'basic' pulse or 'feel'...so again this can highlight a musicality..a kind of push or throwing into unknown areas which seems to me what flamenco is about to a degree...this way you can add variations on the patterns you've worked hard on...in real time... dont get me wrong though am a great believer in the 'click' to work things out but when it comes to 'practice' you want to be extending your 'ears' 'feel' in a spontaneous way [providing it is in 'time'] so the impro feature is a mighty cool thing indeed....so much of flamenco is about interaction
just remembering my first ever flamenco showa [totally thrown in the deep end with experienced players] there was a good cajon player there and found it difficult to work out where the compas was due to various accents and phrases he was playing... in support of the doctor if that option were available then i would have probably faired better with his rhythmic 'interference' of what i thought compas was....
dr compass operates as a basic metronome, a compass loop and something else which throws you into a type of performance mode
quote:
volume
got to be honest it has'nt been an issue...crank the volume when coming from my phone [i can hear it ?]or use a light sound with headphones [like you would when recording with a cajon, so i see it as like practicing with in ear monitoring]...and theres always the computer speakers at home where i practice.., my aer also has aux inputs...huge sound!..good sounds to practice with.
quote:
tap
sure. but not that important. most would know where the main markers on a metronome are.
the downside of dr compass? yet to find one other than it not being available on a variety of platforms but guess that's on it's way.
sometimes i get the dust off the wittner mechanical metronome...they sound great too.
RE: Doctor Compás flamenco metronom... (in reply to Guest)
quote:
If you can't play with a steady boring click IN COMPAS then "improvisation feature" is total BS
Sure, but what about those who can play in compas using a normal metronome? Not everyone who can play in compas wants to play along to "a steady boring click." Learning how to play in compas amid the changes presented by an improvisation feature sounds like a useful way for an intermediate player to practice.
Printable Version
whoops
waiting for the pc version as well 
........ 
" 
New Messages
No New Messages
Hot Topic w/ New Messages
Hot Topic w/o New Messages
Locked w/ New Messages
Locked w/o New Messages
Post New Thread