OneTaskBy Tim King · Updated
Metronome With Subdivisions
Subdivisions, Accents, Tap Tempo and Tempo Trainer, Free
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How the Practice Metronome works
This metronome with subdivisions clicks eighths, triplets and more. A metronome built for practice rather than just keeping time. Choose eighth notes, triplets, sixteenths or swung eighths and a quieter tick fills in between the beats. Click any beat in the bar to make it accented, normal or silent, so you can build a 7/8 grouped 2+2+3 or drop beats to test whether you can hold the tempo through a gap. Tap the tempo in from a recording, and switch on the trainer to raise the speed a few BPM every four or eight bars while you play.
Metronome with subdivisions: subdivisions
Playing in time is easier when you can hear the space between beats divided up. Eighth notes put one tick between each beat, sixteenths put three, and triplets put two spaced at a third of a beat, which is the feel of 12/8 and of most shuffles. Swing eighths mark only the third triplet, so you hear the long-short pattern of a jazz ride cymbal without the middle tick. The subdivision ticks are a short high noise burst, deliberately lighter than the beats, and the rail shows how many milliseconds each beat and each subdivision lasts at the current tempo.
Accent patterns
The row of numbered pads is one bar. Each click on a pad cycles it from accented, shown in orange and played with a higher, louder tone, to normal, to silent, shown dimmed. The first beat starts accented. Setting beats per bar to seven and accenting one, three and five gives a 2+2+3 grouping; nine accented on one, four and seven is 3+3+3. Silencing every other beat, or every beat but the first, is a classic exercise for internalising the pulse rather than leaning on the click: if you are still with it when the sound returns, your time is solid.
Tap tempo and the trainer
Tap the button along with a song or in the tempo you feel and the average gap between taps sets the slider; the last three seconds of taps count, so a short burst of six or eight taps gives a stable reading. The trainer raises the tempo by the step you choose every four or eight bars, the standard way to bring a difficult passage up to speed: start well under performance tempo, play it cleanly, and let the metronome push. The slider follows the increases so you can see where you have reached, and it stops at 300.
Why it does not drift
Every click is scheduled ahead of time on the audio hardware's clock rather than fired by a page timer, so a busy browser tab or a laptop on battery does not smear the pulse. The flashing pads are drawn separately and may lag a frame without affecting the sound. The site's original metronome page is simpler, with a WAV export of the click track if you need a file to play elsewhere.
FAQ
How is this different from the other metronome on the site?
The original metronome has a single accent on beat one, no subdivisions and a WAV export. This one adds subdivisions, an editable accent pattern with silent beats, tap tempo and a tempo trainer, and has no export. Use whichever fits the job.
Why does changing the subdivision restart the bar?
Changing the subdivision or the number of beats rebuilds the schedule from beat one so the new pattern lines up with the bar. Tempo changes and accent edits take effect without a restart, which is what you want while the trainer is running.
Can it do 5/4 or 7/8?
Set beats per bar to five or seven and accent the beats that begin each group. For 7/8 in 2+2+3, accent one, three and five; for 5/4 in 3+2, accent one and four. The subdivision still applies to every beat.
What tempo should I start the trainer at?
Slow enough to play the passage without mistakes, often half the target. Set the step to two or three BPM every four bars for fine control, or five every eight bars for a gentler, longer climb; large jumps tend to reintroduce the mistakes.
Does the first click come late?
The first press of Start has to wake the browser's audio engine, which is only allowed after you interact with the page, so the first bar can begin a fraction late. After that, stopping and starting is immediate.
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