Soundbrenner Core: The Ultimate Smartwatch for Musicians
It offers a plethora of features to help musicians stay on top of their game. From a tuner and metronome to a decibel meter and watch, this smartwatch has it all. Its vibration alerts and bright visual display make it easy for musicians to keep time and stay in tune, while its sleek design and sturdy construction make it perfect for rehearsals, gigs, and on-the-go practice sessions.
But what sets the Soundbrenner Core apart is its ability to sync with other Soundbrenner devices, making it an ideal choice for group practice or performances. With its intuitive interface and user-friendly controls, it’s the ultimate smartwatch for musicians of all levels. Whether you’re a seasoned pro or just starting out, the Soundbrenner Core is an invaluable tool that can help take your music to the next level.
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AZ Customer –
I can imagine most would buy this as a gift. As such, it is unique as it combines several features in one device – some more useful than others, depending on the instrument you play. After a few months use, here are my two cents:MAGNETIC TUNER: This I find most useful of all features. For those of you who play an instrument that needs to be tuned regularly (guitar, ukulele, etc) you will find a good use. If that is all you need though, there is a magnetic tuner at a fraction of the cost (CLING ON TUNER: https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MY7RJXX?pf_rd_p=ab873d20-a0ca-439b-ac45-cd78f07a84d8&pf_rd_r=KK4FNBE88XH1KA84JN4D&th=1 ). It is much smaller and folds down, so you can leave it on the instrument at all times.METRONOME: It does what it says, although the vibrations are more like a wave, rather than one single knock right on the beat. You can adjust the intensity and duration of the vibration, but in my opinion there is a little more to be desired. Being able to sync several Cores at once via their app is definitely interesting.DECIBEL METER: I can see drummers, heavy metal guys and those playing in live music venues using this feature. Not a useful feature for me.WATCH: Now that the Core can display notification this has become a more useful wearable device.
Chris Lake –
It’s a musician’s Swiss army knife of awesome tools wrapped up in a stylish techy watch. But read this first if you have had issues getting it to work…I nearly sent it back thinking it was faulty and I noticed that a few people have had the same complaint. They unbox it, attach the charger and it doesn’t charge or power up. Here are 3 things to draw attention to:1. You have to charge it for 30 mins maximum first. You won’t see a battery bar for the first charge. Wait for a http address to light up on the screen and type it into your phone.2. There are two dark grey transparent plastic caps to both ends of the charging cable. This wasn’t initially obvious to me as the watch’s end of the cable easily attached via the magnet with the cap on and it looked like part of it.3. The only way the watch will switch on for the first time is via the phone app. You have to download the app, stick on your Bluetooth and find the watch. Once it connects, it fires up.These steps may seem obvious but the setup is not as intuitive as other ‘smart’ gadgets. You don’t get a charging status bar (until after it switches on for the first time) and you can’t turn the watch on without setting it up off the app first.If Soundbrenner made the setup totally idiot proof or provided clearer instructions inside the box (the online video is better) , I’d give it 5 stars. However it is a 5 star product and I can testify it does everything it says on the tin.
EupCon –
I did take a long time to decide to purchase my Soundbrenner thinking it may have been an expensive gimmick that would not be used. I am glad to say I was proved wrong. I have found it to be a very useful tool that I use all the time for playing and conducting.This metronome is excellent if you are attending brass band competitions and want to check the tempo.FIRMWARE is an small area for future improvementIt would be incredibly useful if there was an option to stay on the last selection i.e. User selectable option to default to Metronome screen. The watch defaults back to the time far too quickly, meaning you to have to waste valuable time fiddling with it. This is a real frustration (even more so when the dial is so hard to turn). When conducting, or attending competitions the set pieces are 15 – 20 minutes. Large orchestral pieces longer.I am very pleased with this purchase.
Ken Harrison –
I got one of these for my birthday and haven’t played with it much. It has several functions and some very limiting issues.PROSTuner works really well. Attach the mounts to any guitars you want to be able to tune, and then when needed, you just twist the unit out of it’s watch band and attach to the guitar.The metronome is both visual and vibrating. The vibrating time keeping bit takes a little getting used to, but after a while it becomes natural. The visual uses two different colors for down beats and the up beat (and a third color that I haven’t figured out what is). Comes with a body strap if you don’t wish to wear it on your wrist. You can run up to 5 units (Core or Pulse) from one app so all are synched. The app allows quick and easy tempo adjustments. You can also set the tempo by tapping on the screen, or by twisting the face. It also can synch to Ableton Live by wifi, and most other DAWs through USB cable (to the app device, not the watch).dB meter is just kind of a handy feature to have on board.There are four time modes…watch (obviously), timer (which counts down, like an egg timer), Stopwatch (which counts up) (BOTH timer and stopwatch can be paused), and alarm (which goes off at set times.)The watch is pretty much a watch. The timer, stopwatch, and alarms can all be used at the same time, making it very flexible. For example, you can set alarms for the end of each set, AND you can time a 15 minute break using the timer so that when you go 3 minutes over your break start, your next set starts after 15 minutes instead of “on time”…whatever you need.You can get smartphone notifications if you’re paired to your phone.In the app, you can set up songs and from those songs, you can make setlists.CONSMetronome is limited in scope, which is unfortunate since it works with an app…doesn’t APPEAR (it may) to be able to do variable tempos. Certainly this can be done if connected to your DAW.Twisting the face to control the tempo in the metronome mode is really a bit awkward for those of us with big hands.Timer, stopwatch and alarms cannot be set from the app…and cannot be synched. It would be nice to have this synched so that all would get the same alarm for set end, or whatever.Timer function cannot be turned off and must complete before being used again. That’s sup-prime. You can exit the timer, but it continues to count down in the background.THIS IS PROBABLY A NIT: Everything works on magnets. Attaches to the platforms (watch or body) with magnet, attaches to power via magnet, attaches to tuner mounts via magnet. Magnets eventually wear out, although I’m not sure how long that will take. Probably decades, so maybe not an issue. Also, this could be an annoyance if you were working in the back of your speaker cab . . loldB alarm cannot be set to a specific level. It is simply on or off. Would be nice to be able to set it . .Have been warned by others who have older versions that the watch straps are all kind of flimsy, and although I have semi-small wrists, I have to wear mine on the very last hole on the strap. Don’t know what you’d do if you had actual large wrists. But they offer many nice options, including leather.”HOW TO” information is not readily available. Playing a song with any straight time sig is easy (even 19/16 that Zappa was fond of), but what of Rush’s Tom Sawyer that dives into 7/8 in the middle of a 4/4 song? Or Happiness Is A Warm Gun that has 6 different time signatures at various points? Can it change tempo in the middle of a song? Although I have not watched all the “How To” videos, I searched their knowledge base pretty extensively and couldn’t even find out how to set up a song…There’s a lot to like, and some room for improvement. Much like everything else in life.
Soundpot Limited –
I don’t know if it is product’s problem or just sender gave me a faulty one but it doesn’t charge. When I plug that green ‘LITTLE’ cable (By the way, why a company give 10 cm cable that has a unique pins so you can’t use any other cables) it shows charging signal at the beginning but suddenly it stops charging and usb end on the cable warms up ( when I say “warms up” I mean yo can literally cook couple of eggs on it). I am sending back, think twice when you buy it.
Frosty –
“Soundbrenner Manual Core” musician’s watch reviewSetup: It was easy to pair with an iPhone. There were YouTube instructions and it works with Android.*There is a “Song” and “Setlist” Library with the “Plus” app. This may not be available in the free app. The “Plus” app is $3.99 per month.Overall Impression:* The sturdy “Soundbrenner Core” box is useful for storing the accessories (earplugs with metal case, charging cord, magnetic tuner mount, straps).* The charging cord has a standard USB end; the other end magnetically attaches to the device. Battery life is approximately 4 days (watch) or 3 hours (metronome).*Multiple straps: You either wear it on the wrist (watch strap) or on upper arm, leg, or torso (body strap). It’s easy to switch between straps.*Simple controls: There are two buttons, a rotating bezel, and the face is sensitive to tapping.Metronome:*You not only “feel the beat” but also see it (flashes).*It’s easy to adjust tempo, time signature, and vibration intensity.Tuner:*You permanently stick a “magnetic tuner mount” on your instrument. You need one mount per instrument. The “magnetic tuner mount” is about the size of a $1 stack of dimes.Decibel Meter:*The watch measures ambient sound above 70db. It’s sensitive; small sounds (telephone rings) registered.Watch:*It’s a Bluetooth watch (stopwatch, timer, alarm, alerts); however, it has a monochromatic display.*It’s not waterproof!
Marcos –
I REALLY wanted this to work!The Good:Stand-alone, it’s good – nice strong vibrations that work well for practice.The Bad:My reason for buying was to use when writing/recording music in Logic Pro X. I was able to get it all connected fine and 8 times out of 10 it would start in sync when I pressed play or record in Logic but it would soon fall out of sync, becoming instantly useless.YMMV
charles carafano –
I used this product for drums. I every single piece of it. Worth the high price for outstanding quality. Thank you Soundbrenner for e musicians succeed!