klick - User Manual

Table of Contents

Basics

klick [options] [bars] [meter] tempo[-tempo2/accel] [pattern]

Plays a simple metronome with the given meter and tempo. To play a 3/4 beat at 120 bpm:

klick 3/4 120

You can also specify a "target" tempo and acceleration rate, to use klick as a speed trainer. To play a 4/4 beat starting at 80 bpm, gradually increasing the tempo by 1 bpm every 10 measures until reaching 120 bpm:

klick 80-120/10

Once the final tempo is reached, klick will continue playing at a constant tempo.

klick [options] -f filename

Loads a tempo map from a file. This allows for more complex setups including meter and tempo changes etc.
See Tempo Map File Format.

klick [options] -i

Runs klick in interactive mode, allowing you to change tempo and meter while klick is running.
The keyboard commands available in this mode are described in Interactive Mode.

klick [options] -j

In this mode, klick gets all tempo information from JACK. Just run a sequencer as JACK transport master, and klick will play a simple metronome pattern in sync with JACK transport.

Command Line Options

-f filename       load tempo map from file
-j                no tempo map, just follow jack transport
-n name           set jack client name
-p port,..        jack port(s) to connect to
-P                automatically connect to hardware ports
-o port           OSC port to listen on
-i                interactive mode
-W filename       export click track to audio file
-r samplerate     sample rate of export (default: 48000)
-s number         use built-in sounds:
                    0: square wave (default)
                    1: sine wave
                    2: noise
                    3: acoustic bell/click
-S file[,file]    load sounds from file(s)
-e                no emphasized beats
-E                emphasized beats only
-v mult[,mult]    adjust playback volume (default: 1.0)
-w mult[,mult]    adjust playback pitch (default: 1.0)
-t                enable jack transport
-T                become transport master (implies -t)
-d seconds        delay before starting playback
-c bars           pre-roll. use -c 0 for 2 beats
-l label          start playback at the given label
-x multiplier     multiply tempo by the given factor
-h                show this help

Interactive Mode

The following keyboard commands are available in interactive mode:

Arrow up/downincrease/reduce tempo by 10 bpm
Arrow right/leftincrease/reduce tempo by 1 bpm
0-9set beats per bar (0/1: all beats are even)
q/w/e/rset beat type (whole, half, quarter, eighth note)
+/=, -increase/reduce volume
Spacestart/stop metronome
Escapeexit klick

Tempo Map File Format

A tempo map is a plain text file, consisting of an arbitrary number of lines which will be played sequentially. Each line must have the following format:

[label:] bars [meter] tempo [pattern] [volume]

Everything in brackets is optional, and can be omitted to use the default. '#' indicates the start of a comment, empty lines are ignored.

label An optional name that can be used to refer to this line, and start playback at this position.
bars The number of bars for this tempo map entry.
meter The meter, written as beats/denominator. This is optional, the default is 4/4.
tempo The tempo in beats per minute, with a "beat" always referring to quarter notes, no matter what the meter actually is.
tempo Sets the tempo for the duration of the whole tempo map entry.
tempo1-tempo2 Specifies the tempo for the start and the end of this entry, with a gradual tempo change in between.
tempo1,tempo2,... Sets a different tempo for each beat. The number of tempo values must be the same as the total number of beats for this entry (bars * beats).
pattern This can be used to alter the pattern of accented/normal beats. Use 'X' (upper case) for accented beats, 'x' (lower case) for normal beats, and '.' for silence. So for example, given a 6/8 measure, and you only want the 1st and 4th beat to be played, you could use the pattern 'X..x..'; the default is 'Xxxxxx'.
volume Allows you to set a different volume for each part, default is 1.0.

Example Tempo Map

intro:    8 120           # play 8 measures at 120 bpm (4/4)
verse1:   12 120 X.x.     # 12 measures at 120 bpm, playing only the 1st and 3rd beat
          4 120-140 X.x.  # gradually increase tempo to 140 bpm
chorus1:  16 140
bridge:   8 3/4 140 0.5   # change to 3/4 time, reduce volume
          8 3/4 140       # normal volume again
verse2:   12 120          # back to 4/4 (implied)
chorus2:  16 140          # jump to 140 bpm
outro:    6 140
          2 140-80        # ritardando over the last 2 bars

Click Track Export

By default, klick connects to JACK for audio output. To export a click track to an audio file instead, use the -W parameter to specify an output filename. The file type is determined by extension, supported formats are WAV, AIFF, FLAC, Ogg Vorbis (with libsndfile >= 1.0.18).
The -r parameter can be used to set the sample rate of the exported audio, default is 48000 Hz.

OSC Commands

klick understands the following OSC messages:

General
/klick/ping
/klick/ping ,s <return_address>
responds: /klick/pong
/klick/register_client
/klick/register_client ,s <address>
registers a client to receive notifications when any parameter changes
/klick/unregister_client
/klick/unregister_client ,s <address>
unregisters a client
/klick/query
/klick/query ,s <return_address>
reports current state (same as /klick/*/query)
/klick/quit terminates klick
Configuration
/klick/config/set_sound ,i <number> sets the sound to one of the built-in ones
/klick/config/set_sound ,ss <filename> <filename> loads the sound from two audio files
/klick/config/set_sound_volume ,ff <emphasis> <normal> changes the volume individually for both samples
/klick/config/set_sound_pitch ,ff <emphasis> <normal> changes the pitch individually for both samples
/klick/config/set_volume ,f <volume> sets the overall output volume
/klick/config/autoconnect connects klick's output port to the first two hardware ports
/klick/config/connect ,s... <port> ... connects klick's output port to the specified JACK ports
/klick/config/disconnect_all disconnects all connections from klick's output port
/klick/config/get_available_ports
/klick/config/get_available_ports ,s <return_address>
returns a list of all JACK input ports:
/klick/config/available_ports ,s... <port> ...
/klick/config/query
/klick/config/query ,s <return_address>
reports current state:
/klick/config/sound ,i
/klick/config/sound ,ss
/klick/config/sound_volume ,ff
/klick/config/sound_pitch ,ff
/klick/config/volume ,f
Generic Metronome Functions
/klick/metro/set_type ,s <type> sets the metronome type, one of 'simple', 'map', 'jack'
/klick/metro/start starts the metronome
/klick/metro/stop stops the metronome
/klick/metro/query
/klick/metro/query ,s <return_address>
reports current state:
/klick/metro/type ,s
/klick/metro/active ,i
Simple (Dynamic) Metronome
/klick/simple/set_tempo ,f <tempo> sets the metronome's tempo
/klick/simple/set_tempo_increment ,f <increment> sets the tempo increment per bar
/klick/simple/set_tempo_start ,f <start> sets the start tempo
/klick/simple/set_tempo_limit ,f <limit> sets the maximum tempo
/klick/simple/set_meter ,ii <beats> <denom> sets the metronome's meter
/klick/simple/set_pattern ,s <pattern> sets the beat pattern
/klick/simple/tap tap tempo
/klick/simple/query
/klick/simple/query ,s <return_address>
reports current state:
/klick/simple/tempo ,f
/klick/simple/tempo_increment ,f
/klick/simple/tempo_limit ,f
/klick/simple/current_tempo ,f
/klick/simple/meter ,ii
/klick/simple/pattern ,s
Tempo Map Metronome
/klick/map/load_file ,s <filename> loads a tempo map from a file
/klick/map/set_preroll ,i <bars> sets the preroll before the start of the tempo map
/klick/map/set_tempo_multiplier ,f <mult> sets the tempo multiplier
/klick/map/query
/klick/map/query ,s <return_address>
reports current state:
/klick/map/filename ,s
/klick/map/preroll ,i
/klick/map/tempo_multiplier ,f
JACK Transport Metronome
/klick/jack/query
/klick/jack/query ,s <return_address>
currently does nothing