Does anyone know of a simple, fast-launching metronome software for windows?

Even with the improvements in X2, it's fairly cumbersome to adjust quickly for practicing an instrument. It woudl be nice if there was something I could launch and set and reset very quickly.

You can actually use any drum VST. Drag and drop is fairly simple and it just to tempo changes automatically.

Just create a few simple metronome beats with your favorite drum VST and use them all year round. In 10 minutes  you can whip out about 20 different metrome rhythms and just save them for total recall with your synth of your choice

Cj

Solved!! A friend Recommended two, both quite useful and quick. http://www.milsoftware.com/ Free 30 days/$9.95 purchase http://www.nch.com.au/metronome/index.html Free

fairly cumbersome to adjust quickly for practicing an instrument

A computer is a fairly cumbersome device for this purpose. Have you ever used one of these? They are portable, accurate enough and muscle powered.

 If you have a smartphone of sorts, there are plenty of metronome apps.

that's what I use for quick practice when I don't fancy powering the computer up.

Like CJ suggested above using a drum vst and also loops are good for that as well. I have a couple I made that works great as well. 

I just play back videos of the American Presidential debate for this purpose.

Hi, Here's another option...  Smart Loops gives away a bunch of Free "Click" loops that you can load into a Project on different tracks. You get all kinds of metronome/click loops, like quarter notes, eighth notes, triplets, and different sounds. After loading each loop to tracks in CW, just save the project as "Clicks.cwp" or "Metronome.cwp", then anytime you need it just load the Project, solo the type of click you want, and put in whatever tempo you need. Done.  Then if the inspiration hits you, just "Save As" a different project using the click track you want, and start recording your new song.

The free click loops, and LOTS more free loops are here... http://www.smartloops.com/Free/

Everyone should have a little hardware metronome, they are cheap and great for keeping you honest between sets/songs so the adrenaline doesn't get the better of you and you can always have it in your pocket/gigbag for some impromptu practice anywhere.