I understand your opinion concerning user feedback.
However it looks like you are torn between reworking the algorithm to stay within your gui paradigms or spending the time for that on something else... I can't really help here, you have to decide... I don't want to push you doing anything either...
BTW - I think some feedback in the status line on the bottom is hard to notice too. I tried the practice feature today and wondered what was happening before the metronome click was to be heard... until I discovered that countdown in the status line on the bottom...
Maybe some feedback should open a separate box - also I understand that using the status line is simpler to manage.