Korg TM-60 Combo Tuner Metronome, White

I bought this tuner a few weeks ago to practice hitting the right notes on my Egyptian ney. I like the built-in metronome function although I don’t really have a need for it. I also like how it will play back a particular note for you if you want to hear what it should sound like. Overall, it’s an excellent tuner.

I’ve named her Sabrina. She’s much smaller and compact than I anticipated. I tested all of her bells and whistles and she works just fine. What inspired me to actually come on here and type up a review for you people, were the small details that I noticed and appreciated. For starters, there’s a little kickstand in the back, which is a delight to someone whose previous tuner/metronome was a smartphone app which required a pitiful kickstand made of chopsticks. Second, the way it was packaged tells me: if they went through the effort of placing protective film over the LCD screen, their engineers probably aren’t the type to cut corners and it’s a product worth protecting. Plus it was designed/engineered in Japan so it already goes without saying that it’s a high-quality piece of technology. I have a lot of love in my heart for Asians in general, but I’m pulling the favorite card for the Japanese. This metronome also came with a full detailed instructional pamphlet, which I’m sure was very informative. Idk I tossed it to the side. I’m more of a wing-it gal myself but it is comforting knowing I’ll have something to read if ‘Rona lasts until 2021. Sabrina also arrived with batteries in tow! This was probably my favorite part since it saved me the time I would’ve spent rummaging through 37 drawers in my kitchen. Time that I’m sure was wasted on this review, instead. Oh well. Circle of life, folks. Lastly, Sabrina has a Tempo Range chart engraved on her back. I can’t pronounce half of it but we’ll get there.
Now brace for impact because here comes the closing statement nobody asked for..
This company didn’t have to add any of these features in order to deliver the product that you asked for: a tuner metronome. Which leads me to believe that they did so because they take pride in their work. Yes, one could argue that they did so as a marketing advantage to justify a steeper price? …..ehh. This isn’t a $1200 iPhone. Paying $24 for a reliable product is a bargain in my book. Especially given that the cheaper option was literally a bell and spoon. In summary, choose this product. Don’t let Sabrina be the one that got away.

Es un buen afinador, es muy preciso y fácil de usar, la iluminación de la pantalla es muy útil, los materiales son de buena calidad y el metrónomo es muy útil.

I’ve used a lot of different metronomes: Taktells, seiko style, qwiktime, numorous card style metronomes, my teacher’s dr beat which I loved (and was a major reason I chose to practice in his studio) and my mother’s seth thomas electric metronome when I would come home. Of all of these, my favorite besides the dr beat was the seiko style ones. They were durable with one movable knob only, no display- nothing fancy to break down (the seiko one i used for teaching, I must have dropped a hundred times) – and they were loud! I’d leave one in a practice room or somewhere and it was no big loss. Those card style digital ones in particular were like 10 bucks anywhere 15 years ago! I’ve always been nervous to get an integrated metronome such as the one above because I figured the more features, the more possibilities for something to stop working. This has been sort of proven to me in my experiences with some of these integrated tuner/metronome combos. The only tuner I’ve ever owned, on the other hand, was my beloved korg CA-30. I had it for 15 years. Practiced intonation using the tone generator for an hour each day for something like 5-6 of those years. It never failed. In fact, I lost it last year during a move. I bought a few decent looking tone generators to try and replace it (I only use the tuner when setting up instruments, not when practicing), and finally picked this one up. It doesn’t have any fancy roll wheels to change tempo (like that dr beat). In fact, on the surface, the design looks pretty clunky: It’s a little large. Separate sides for both functions with dedicated buttons, no color display or anything, but i’ve gotten used to it and i really appreciate its design now. The metronome tap feature I use all the time and is quite accurate. I also like that when i turn it off and on, it returns to the tempo at which I had previously left it. That’s a nice touch. There are beat subdivisions and you can set it to a few different meters. I don’t really use any of those features much, but some will appreciate them in so portable a unit. It’s pretty loud, though I wish it were a little louder and my main gripe on this side is that i can’t track the tempo as subtly as i would like.. Sometimes, I’ll click it up a hair and the tempo divisions seem to go between 3 and 4 bpm at around 50 bpm to 8 (!) at around 200 bpm. This is a minor inconvenience though. Taktells, for example have this lack of precision borne into the design. The tone generator is great, just like the one in the CA-30. In fact I don’t remember that unit having a 3 octave range, which this does. Good strong square wave tone, great for practicing intonation drills. I can’t comment on the tuner as I haven’t used it yet but i’m sure it’s just as fine as the one in my ca-30. It has an adjustable backlight so you can use it in poorly lit conditions, but the controls are so intuitive, you really shouldn’t even need it other for just tuning. I haven’t needed to change the provided batteries yet, in several weeks of use from an hour or two a day or more so i’d say it doesn’t kill batteries quickly. Now, it’s strange that this was the last of the metro/tuners that i bought given how well my previous Korg products seem to hold up but I’ll just add that of the two other metro/tuners I’ve bought over the last year, this is the only one that still works. Granted, I’ve only used it heavily for a few weeks, but the first one i bought (using this forum- you might find my review online, i don’t want to mention it here) died several months in. The second one, which i dropped some money on for a few more features failed as well and i was able to return it for store credit. There’s, in short, a rash of cheaply made items about that have feature well above their ability to maintain those features. caveat emptor. If it looks too good to be true for the price, it probably is. Get the reliable one instead.

Edit: Two years in and everything still works as it should. I think i did get around to changing the batteries but only once so far.. This is about the performance I expected. Good ol’ KORG!

Edit 2: Four years in and all is well. Looks brand new. Replaced the batteries twice, and I’m using rechargable eneloops (which i use all over the house) with no noticeable loss of performance.