How it works
A 7/4 metronome has seven quarter-note beats to the bar, and its number is the quarter-note tempo. Beats one and five are marked, four then three; Wikipedia's Septuple meter article gives 4/4 plus 3/4 as one way of writing seven.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, and listen for the highest click on beat one and a lesser lift on beat five. Tap again and it stops.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad to enter a tempo for the quarter note; 152 goes in as quickly as 120. Minus and plus nudge it one beat a minute at a time.
Questions and answers
Is 7/4 just 7/8 written in longer notes?
It can be. Open Music Theory prints one rhythm first in 7/4 and then in 7/8 and observes that it sounds the same either way. What changes is the note that carries the count: a quarter note here, an eighth note on the 7/8 page.
Does 7/4 split 4+3 or 3+4?
This page counts one two three four, one two three. The Septuple meter article also records a ballet number in 7/4 subdivided three then four, and stress patterns of two, two and three. There the pad's second raised click is misplaced: follow beat one.
Why does 7/4 feel uneven?
Because seven will not split into equal groups of two or of three. Open Music Theory calls such bars asymmetrical: they divide into unequal groups, which makes for an uneven pulse. On this pad the unequal groups are a four and a three.
Where is 7/4 used in music?
Wikipedia's Time signature article lists the ending of Stravinsky's Firebird among its 20th-century examples. The Septuple meter article has an older one: parts of an 1888 operetta number in 7/4, written as bars of 4/4 and 3/4 in turn, this page's four then three.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
Check that the phone is not on silent (the ring switch), that its volume is not at zero, and that no Bluetooth speaker has claimed the sound. The dots need none of it: seven light in turn, the first and fifth larger.