What's going on? Any updates in the lab regarding the 5.x tempo upgrades?
Updates from my side - I finally figured out what resync means and that one correct workflow for tap tempo sync is to tap tempo with stopped sequencer and metronome on, which allows for manual syncing Nome to live audio and then engaging resync one pre-count before the end of the measure in the live music.
NUDGING - CONTROL SUGGESTIONS
I think I believed that there is a good reason for nudging being done via the settings button rather then via the tap button, but I cannot see it now.
- It would be better ergonomically if nudging was done via the TAP button. Natural flow from tap tempo to re-sync to nudge.
- It could be done with non-dominant / left hand while the other hands can do some other actions.
- It would be smoother to go between nudging and adjusting tempo decimals.
- it gets around the issue of the settings button nudging accidentally turning of the midronome if we are not looking at the screen and don't notice the countdown.
- it would require moving the present recall shortcut to SETTINGS + KNOB TURN, which is metronome volume at the moment, which would be moved to something else - probably KNOB TWIST (push + turn). This all seems more logical and ergonomic than the current state of things, but of course I'm biased and have an agenda to accomplish
The real enemy though is manufacturers not willing to change things once they were established
METRONOME / AUDIO OUT - NOISE ISSUE
With metronome either enabled or disabled, there are some regular cyclical noise burst occurring, that last roughly 2 seconds and peak 25-30 dB above the background noise level (if any). Why is that? It might be caused by something else in my USB chain, I should retest, but it's coming from Nome and it's specific noise, not the usual "computer" noise I've heard from USB audio devices in the past.
EDIT: running Nome from battery instead of USB hub seemingly eliminates the noise... BUT only seemingly, because the amplifier doesn't amplify correctly for some reason, even the click is much much more lower volume. I've tried multiple batteries and cables and they all exhibit the same issue. Additionally, running from battery ungrounds the Nome, so the noises are substituted for the DC hum.
TURN OFF FUNCTION - AUTO-TURN OFF SUGGESTIONS
Is it technically possible to implement a auto-off timer?
Ideally, I would suggest two settings:
- pre-start auto-off = timer starts after the device is powered on and is cancelled once we start the transport. This is meant to automatically switch off Nome when started automatically as a part of a larger setup, but not used at the moment (i.e. powered by a computer USB hub that starts the Nome even though we just use the computer for work and keep the rest of studio down)
- post-stop auto-off = timer starts every time the transport is stopped. Each start of the transport cancels the timer, but it starts counting again after next stop. This is meant to automatically switch off Nome when we take a brake from music making and / or end music making session but keep the power for Nome on, because for example our setup is the same as in the first case - connected to computer USB hub, that stays on most of the time.
SMART TAP TEMPO - SENSITIVITY SUGGESTION
I think the smart tap tempo would benefit from a couple of sensitivity profiles or ability of users to customize the parameters of the algo. I don't know how exactly the algo works, but I certainly don't like the fact, that I can do 16 regular taps and then completely mess up the tempo with one or two off tempo taps. So here is the first idea for the algo I get and some parameters it would use:
- what spread / error is considered human - i.e. if each individual tap of last T taps is in the plus minus 3% range off from the average of last M*T taps, then average them together, but it the AVERAGE of last X taps is going beyond 2% in a SINGLE direction against the average of last M*T taps, then start establishing new tempo
- how many taps is T (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8....) + how is it scaled with tempo (and time signature, ooops)
- what is the time scale M (1.5, 2.0, 2.5, 3.0, 3.5, 4....) ( + how is it scaled with tempo and time signature
- what are the spreads (2% and 3% in the example above) and how do they scale with tempo and time signature
- outlier spread percentage (5, 7.5, 10, 12.5, 15....) - any single tap out of T taps that is off by more then outlier percentage is ignored and not calculated into the applied average
NEGATIVE CLOCK OFFSET - FEATURE SUGGESTION
I'm not sure how niche this is, I would use it, but it's a hobby usage, not sure if anyone is working with such latency these days anywhere where it counts.
Anyways, when live syncing to system that has significant latency (30-300 ms) and patching / monitoring our output (whether metronome or music) via the same system that adds latency to it, tap tempo obviously produces offset clock and the metronome (and our instruments) are delayed in the system audio output. We are talking about noticeable / significant latency, but it's generally something that fits within 1/4 of the measure. So the idea is for the Nome to compensate for it, by understanding that out taps are couple of milliseconds up to 1/4 of measure milliseconds too late and output the compensated clock and metronome.... and behave accordingly - i.e. with one 4/4 measure pre-count, it would understand that the first 1/4 is already passing and only count 2, 3, 4 and start.
this is what I am looking forward to the most! Controlling the tempo through the DAW is not as cool as the big knob from Nome II <3