Tap Tempo
Tap along and read the BPM. Uses a trimmed median, so one accidental tap does not wreck the answer.
Tap here, or press space.
Tap at least twice.
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Why one bad tap does not matter
The obvious way to work out a tempo from taps is to average the gaps between them. It is also the wrong way. One mistimed tap - a cough, a distraction, a missed beat - produces two bad gaps, a short one and a long one, and an average carries both forward permanently. Tap twelve times with one slip and the answer is several BPM out with no sign anything went wrong.
This uses the median of the recent gaps instead, after trimming the extremes. A stray tap is discarded rather than diluted, and the reading stays where it should be. Consistency is reported separately as a percentage, so if your tapping really was ragged you can see that rather than trusting a number produced from it.
Half time and double time
Tempo is genuinely ambiguous by a factor of two. A track at 140 BPM can reasonably be counted at 70, and drum and bass sits at 174 or 87 depending on what you are counting. Both are shown because both are legitimate answers and only you know which one you are feeling.
How many taps
Two gives a number, but not a trustworthy one - the page says so rather than showing it confidently. Four or more and the reading settles. Keep tapping and it keeps refining, using a rolling window so a tempo that genuinely changes is followed rather than averaged away.
Sending it to the metronome
Once the reading is steady, one link opens the metronome at that tempo. Only the number travels.
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Quick answer
Tap the pad or press space in time with the music. After three or four taps the reading settles. Half and double time are shown because a tempo is often ambiguous by a factor of two.
Key facts
- Tap with a mouse, touch or the space bar
- Uses a trimmed median, so one bad tap is discarded
- Reports tapping consistency as a percentage
- Shows half time and double time
- Sends the result straight to the metronome
- Resets automatically after a pause