Free Metronome

Worked example

Type 100 into the box beside "BPM" and press Enter; the big number shows 100. Choose "Woodblock" under "Click sound" to hear one hit. Leave "Time signature" on 4/4, which gives four beat dots, the first one larger and marked ">". Tap the third dot once to make it silent. Tick "Speed trainer: raise the tempo as you play", leave "Add" at 5 and "BPM every" at 4 bars, and change "bars, up to" from 160 to 120. Press the round play button ("Start metronome"). Each 4-bar run lasts about 10 seconds at first and the number steps 100, 105, 110, 115, then 120 after 16 bars, about 36 seconds in, when "Target tempo reached: 120 BPM." appears. The silent third beat still flashes.

Which settings to use, and the limits

• Set the tempo four ways. Drag the slider, which spans 20 to 300 BPM, use the − and + buttons for one BPM at a time, type into the number box (it applies on Enter or when you leave the box, rounds to a whole number and keeps it between 20 and 300), or press "Tap tempo" along with the music. Taps need at least two, and a gap over 2 seconds starts a new count, so the slowest tempo you can tap is 30 BPM. The tempo starts at 120. Tempo changes made while playing take effect without stopping.
• Choose the time signature and subdivision. "Time signature" offers 2/4, 3/4, 4/4, 5/4, 6/8 and 7/8. The top number is the number of clicks in a bar, and "BPM" counts those clicks. So 6/8 gives six clicks a bar at the BPM you set, not two large beats. "Subdivision" adds ticks between the beats: "Eighth notes" (2 per beat), "Triplets" (3) or "Sixteenth notes" (4). The ticks are quieter than the beats.
• Tap a beat dot to change its accent. Each dot cycles through accent, normal and silent. Beat 1 starts as the accent, and the accent dot is larger and marked ">". A silent beat is a dashed circle and also silences the subdivision ticks after it, so it is a true gap, though the dot still flashes in time. "Reset pattern" restores the default, and changing the time signature does the same. Accents play at the full "Volume" setting, normal beats at 70 percent of it and ticks at 35 percent.
• Pick a click sound that cuts through. "Click sound" offers Beep, Click, Woodblock, Cowbell and Hi-hat. Beep is a sine tone at 1000 Hz, rising to 1500 Hz on the accent and dropping to 750 Hz on ticks, which can disappear under a drum kit or a distorted guitar. The other voices start more sharply, which tends to cut through better. Choosing a sound while stopped plays one accent hit so you can hear it. "Volume" runs from 0 to 1 in steps of 0.01 and starts at 0.7.
• Use the speed trainer for practice. Tick "Speed trainer: raise the tempo as you play" and set three numbers. "Add" is 1 to 50 BPM (default 5), "BPM every" is 1 to 64 bars (default 4), and "bars, up to" is the target tempo, 20 to 300 (default 160). The tempo steps up only at the start of a bar, never in the middle, and stops at the target. Changing the tempo by hand or by tapping restarts the count from the new value. It only speeds up; there is no setting to slow down.

Common problems and how to fix them

It says "Something went wrong starting the audio. Try again, or reload the page."

The tool could not create the audio engine or resume it when you pressed start. The same message appears if you return to the tab and the engine will not resume. Press start again, and reload the page if it repeats. Safari needs audio to be resumed from the start press itself, so the tool waits for that press before it begins.

It says "Your browser doesn't support Web Audio, so this metronome can't play sound here. Try a recent version of Chrome, Safari, Firefox, or Edge."

The browser has no Web Audio support, so the metronome is replaced by this notice and no controls are shown. Every click is generated live, so there is nothing to fall back on. Update the browser or open the page in another one.

Space, T or the arrow keys do nothing.

The shortcuts are ignored while the focus is on a button, a text box or a dropdown. After you click the round start button the focus stays on it, so press somewhere empty on the page first. Then Space starts and stops, T taps the tempo and the up and down arrows change the tempo by 1 BPM. The hint line is shown only on wider screens.

It is running but you hear nothing.

Check two things. "Volume" at 0 makes every click silent. Also, if every beat dot is set to silent (dashed circles), the dots keep flashing but nothing sounds; press "Reset pattern" to bring the accent and normal beats back.

The tempo changes by itself while playing.

"Speed trainer: raise the tempo as you play" is ticked, so the number rises at the bar lines until it reaches the target, then shows "Target tempo reached: 120 BPM." Untick the box to hold the tempo. Tapping "Tap tempo" or pressing T also sets the tempo.

How it compares

The Metronome schedules each click ahead on the browser's audio clock, checking every 25 milliseconds and scheduling about 0.1 second ahead, so the beat does not depend on how busy the page is. It covers 20 to 300 BPM, six time signatures, subdivisions, per-beat accents and silent beats, five sounds, tap tempo and a speed trainer. It does not save your settings, so a reload returns to 120 BPM in 4/4, and it has no count-in, bar counter, polyrhythm or setlist. A physical metronome or a practice app with those features suits a long rehearsal better. This one needs nothing installed, and nothing is recorded or uploaded.