Online Metronome
A steady pulse with tap tempo, time signatures and subdivisions — scheduled on the audio clock so it never drifts.
How to Use
- 1. Set the tempo with the slider, the presets, or by tapping along.
- 2. Choose how many beats are in a bar and whether to accent the first.
- 3. Add subdivisions if you want clicks between the beats.
- 4. Press play and practise against the pulse.
Practising With a Metronome
The most common mistake is practising too fast. A metronome is not there to push you toward performance tempo; it is there to expose the places where your timing slips. Set it slow enough that a passage comes out clean every single time, then raise it about five BPM and repeat. Playing at a speed where mistakes appear simply rehearses the mistakes.
Subdivisions are the fastest way to tighten rhythms that fall between beats. Switching from quarter notes to eighths gives you a reference point exactly halfway through each beat, and anything that was drifting becomes immediately audible.
Timing accuracy matters in the tool itself. Browser timers are throttled and jittery, so a metronome driven by setInterval alone drifts noticeably within a minute. This one queues each click a fraction of a second ahead against the Web Audio clock, which is sample-accurate and unaffected by what the rest of the page is doing.
Related: Voice Recorder, Audio Trimmer, and Countdown Timer.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does this metronome stay in time when a simple timer does not?
Because it schedules each click against the Web Audio clock rather than firing it from a JavaScript timer. Browser timers are throttled and jittery, especially in a background tab, so a metronome built on setInterval alone drifts audibly within a minute.
What does the accent do?
It plays the first beat of each bar at a higher pitch, so you can hear where the bar starts without counting. Turn it off if you want a flat pulse with no metre.
How does tap tempo work?
Tap the button in time with the music at least four times. The tool averages the gaps between your recent taps and sets the BPM from that, discarding taps separated by more than two seconds so an abandoned attempt does not skew it.
What are subdivisions for?
They add extra clicks between the main beats, so eighth notes give two clicks per beat and triplets give three. Practising with subdivisions is the fastest way to tighten up rhythms that fall between beats.
What tempo should I practise at?
Slow enough to play a passage cleanly every time, then raise it in steps of about five BPM. Practising at a tempo where mistakes creep in trains the mistakes, which is why steady increments beat jumping straight to performance speed.
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