Speed Knob (Don't Panic)

The tempo picker shows up when you need a metronome to actually, y'know, work, when you're death-gripping that metronome live bar button, or when you're mucking around with tempo in the Metadata Editor inside the Song Editor. It lets you set the tempo in beats per minute (BPM). Riveting stuff.

Time Signature? More Like Time to Panic

Wanna change the time signature? Tap that bad boy in the upper left corner to pop open the time signature picker. OnSong defaults to 4/4 because, apparently, we all live in a world of simple fractions now.

Subdivisions? We Got 'Em

The metronome starts with quarter note subdivisions because why not. Tap that icon in the upper right & watch it cycle through: whole notes, half notes, quarter notes, eighth notes, eighth note shuffle, & sixteenth notes. It's like a metronome rave, except nobody's having fun.

Tweak That Metronome Like a Freakin' DJ

You can mess with the audio & visual vibes of the metronome straight from the metronome live bar menu by tapping the wrench icon in the upper right corner. This opens a screen with metronome settings. Tap Done to actually save your precious tweaks, or Cancel if you're having buyer's remorse.

Setting the Tempo (aka The One Thing You Actually Came Here For)

Slide your finger left & right like you're conducting an invisible orchestra to decrease or increase tempo in big, sweeping gestures. Tap the left/bottom or right/top of the picker to tweak by one BPM like a perfectionist.

Or—gasp—you can tap in the middle & actually tap the tempo like a human. The time signature gets factored in so compound time signatures & eighth note timing don't make your brain explode.

Play It, Stop It, Live a Little

Because the metronome should start immediately when you tap the live bar button, holding that button makes it play. This is intentional, btw, since the OS needs a hot minute to figure out if you're tapping or holding. The tempo picker's got a play/stop button so you can start & stop the metronome whenever. Useful for testing a new tempo or confirming you're not completely tone-deaf.

Tempo Got Limits (Sorry, Buddy)

Tempo lives between 40 & 200 BPM. Set it below 40? Congrats, it's now None, & your tempo vanishes like your motivation. You can tweak the min & max BPM in the Settings » Live Settings » Metronome » Audio Settings » BPM Settings if you're feeling spicy.

MIDI Clock Flex (For the Nerds Among Us)

If you've unlocked the MIDI add-on, you can snag tempo from a MIDI clock. It's basically how hardware & software yell at each other to stay in sync during all those dramatic tempo changes.

Flip the switch on to grab that tempo. When you're done being a tempo thief, flip it off to keep your newfound BPM.