Downloads — coming soon
Planned trial: Explore the complete BRG application free for seven days. After the trial, a purchase will be required to continue using it. Availability and purchase details will be announced at release.
User Guide
Description
BRG turns the metronome into a rhythm laboratory for exploration, practice, and musical discovery.
A conventional metronome marks time. BRG opens up the relationships within that time: how notes are distributed across beats, how they are grouped, and how those rhythmic figures repeat or shift against one another. Its concentric rings make the structures visible, while sound remains the primary reference.
The underlying idea is simple: a rhythmic configuration is described by three parameters.
- B — Beats: The number of beats in the repeating cycle. For example, B = 4 establishes four beats as the common reference.
- R — Rate: The number of evenly distributed rate notes within each beat. R = 3, for example, produces triplets.
- G — Grouping: The number of rate notes in a group. Its accents can cross beat boundaries, bringing out rhythms that are not apparent from the beats alone.
With B = 4, R = 3, G = 4, four beats contain twelve rate notes, grouped in fours. The result is a three-against-four relationship: three groups heard across four steady beats. Changing just one number offers a different perspective on the same pulse.
BRG can go further without losing that foundation. Subgrouping organizes a G group internally—for example, seven rate notes as 2 + 2 + 3—and displacement shifts grouping accents against the beat. In Advanced, Form (F) can define a larger return point, Rdiv spreads the Rate over several beats, and G on G adds another grouping layer. These relationships are there to be listened to, practiced, and eventually felt rather than counted indefinitely.
The concept originates from Kostas Anastasiadis and his work The Harmony of Rhythm. The application was developed by Thanos Karakantas / Theta Kappa Music as an interactive audio-visual environment for putting these musical ideas into practice.
Main Features
BRG is designed for both spontaneous exploration and structured musical work. Four workflow modes determine what you are doing:
- Free Mode — Build, hear, change, and save one rhythmic configuration directly.
- Song Mode — Arrange rhythmic configurations into ordered parts, each with its own settings and duration.
- Setlist Mode — Organize complete songs into a sequence for rehearsals, performances, or extended studies.
- Practice Mode — Create exercises that change selected parameters automatically at defined form boundaries.
Independently of these workflows, Basic focuses on B, R, and G, while Advanced exposes Form, Rdiv, grouping displacement, G on G, and further grouping controls.
- Visual and audible rhythm: Concentric rings, optional playback lights, and numerical indicators help follow the current pattern.
- Subgrouping and accents: Explore built-in combinations of 2s and 3s, custom subgrouping, and additional accent choices.
- 26 percussion sounds: The same bundled sound bank, with normal and accented samples, is available on supported mobile and desktop platforms.
- Dedicated mixer: Balance Master, F, B, R, G, and G on G, with per-layer Mute and Solo and an optional Output Boost.
- Precise tempo: Enter BPM values with up to four decimal places, adjust them directly, or use Tap Tempo.
- Live MIDI output: Send rhythmic note events to compatible MIDI destinations, separately from BRG's internal audio.
- MIDI and audio export: Save Standard MIDI Files for use in a DAW, or render BRG's own sounds as Ogg Opus audio.
- Files and sharing: Save presets, songs, setlists, and practice routines; share preset packs and other supported documents.
How to Use — Your First Rhythm
You do not need to understand every setting before starting. A useful way to begin is to hear a steady beat, add its subdivisions, and then change how those subdivisions are grouped.
- Open Free Mode and select Basic.
- Set B = 4, R = 3, and G = 3. Choose a comfortable tempo and press Play.
- Listen to the four beats and the three rate notes within each beat. With G = 3, grouping follows the triplets.
- Stop, change G to 4, and press Play again. Now the grouping accents move across the four beats, producing a three-against-four relationship.
- Try a different G, change the sounds assigned to the layers, or use the Mixer to hear one layer more clearly.
- Clap, sing, move, or play along. Change one parameter at a time and listen to what stays the same and what changes.
From here, try subgrouping to hear combinations such as 2 + 2 + 3, or switch to Advanced to explore larger forms and displaced groupings. Once you have a useful configuration, save it as a preset. You can later arrange presets into a Song, collect Songs in a Setlist, or create systematic variations in Practice Mode.
The aim is not merely to count complex rhythms. It is to make their relationships familiar enough to feel and perform them.
User Guide
A comprehensive BRG User Guide, covering the four workflow modes, rhythmic parameters, sounds and mixer, MIDI connections, exporting, file management, and troubleshooting, is being prepared. It will complement this introduction with detailed instructions and reference material.
Detailed user guide — coming soon.
BRG Interface
