Advanced metronome — polyrhythms, odd meters, speed trainer
Four independent voices inside one bar, each with its own subdivision count. Set a practice plan that raises the tempo by bar, by time or across a fixed session, up to 1200 BPM.
Sequencer
Tap a step to switch it on. Give a voice a different step count and the two pulses form a polyrhythm.
Presets
Practice routines
Ready-made sessions: a pattern plus a full tempo plan. Load to look it over, Start to play it now.
Tempo control 88 → 132
Six even steps on a plain 4/4 click. Lock the pulse before anything else moves.
Intermediate6 min88–132 bpmSixteenth gears ♩ = 69 → 100
A rock pattern on a sixteenth grid, stepping up every sixteen bars. Watch the hand, not the number.
Intermediate7 min240–400 bpmCompound feel 6/8
Two dotted-quarter groups of three, one small tempo bump a minute. Count in twos, play in threes.
Intermediate7 min150–240 bpm5/4 groove lock
Eight steps in 3+2. Stop counting by bar four — the accent should carry it.
Intermediate9 min92–132 bpm7/8 at speed ♩ = 80 → 140
Long-short-short, forty bars a step. The last group is where it falls apart.
Advanced9 min160–280 bpmPolyrhythm 3:4 lock
Three against four, rising slowly. Switch which pulse you hear as the downbeat each step.
Advanced8 min80–120 bpmMetric modulation gym
Quarters against dotted quarters for 100 seconds a step. Re-hear the triplet as the new pulse.
Advanced12 min300–420 bpmCross rhythm 3:4:5
Three conflicting pulses in one bar. Mute a voice, find your anchor, bring it back.
Advanced14 min72–108 bpmLadder to 1200
Twelve steps up to 1200 and back down. A subdivision grid, not a pulse — double-kick and tremolo territory.
Advanced15 min300–1200 bpm
Bar clock
- Ring 1Up4
- Ring 2Up4
- Ring 3Down4
- Ring 4Tap4
Rings run outside in, one per voice. A ring with its own step count is a second pulse against the bar.
Speed trainer
One fixed tempo, no plan. Switch to By bar, By time or Set time to build a speed-trainer plan.
Metric modulation
Re-hear one subdivision as another; the note speed stays identical while the written tempo changes.
Keyboard
- space
- · start / stop
- esc
- · stop
- ↑↓
- · tempo ±1, shift ±10
- ←→
- · previous / next step
What the advanced view adds
The basic metronome plays one pulse. This one plays four at once: every voice has its own row of steps, and a row's length is independent of the bar's. Three steps against a four-step bar is 3 over 4 — a polyrhythm, not a subdivision — and the bar clock draws both rings so you can see which pulse you are hearing as the downbeat.
On top of that sits a speed trainer. Give it a BPM range and it builds a plan: raise the tempo every N bars, every N seconds, or spread the whole range evenly across a session of fixed length. Nine ready-made routines pair a pattern with a plan, from a six-minute 4/4 tempo-control drill to a twelve-step ladder that runs to 1200 BPM and back down.
Questions
How do I set up a polyrhythm?
Give one voice a different number of steps from the bar. With the bar on four steps, set voice two to three with the − and + buttons beside it: three evenly spaced hits across the same bar is 3 over 4. The Polyrhythms preset group has 3:4, 4:3, 5:4, 7:4, 3:2 and a stacked 3:4:5 cross rhythm ready to load.
What is the difference between By bar, By time and Set time?
By bar raises the tempo one step every N bars, so the step length follows the tempo. By time raises it every N seconds regardless of tempo. Set time takes the whole BPM range and spreads it evenly across a session of fixed length — pick 40 minutes and 12 steps and each step lasts a little over three minutes.
How does the metric modulation calculator work?
Pick the subdivision you are playing now and the one it becomes. The notes keep their real speed; only the written tempo changes. An eighth-note triplet re-heard as an eighth note turns 120 BPM into 180. Set tempo applies the result to the transport.
Can I save my own patterns?
Yes. Save current stores the pattern, kit, tempo and plan in this browser under Saved, with no account. Export writes them to a JSON file, and Import reads that file back — which is how you move a pattern between a phone and a desktop.
Why does a drum pattern sit at 400 BPM?
BPM counts clicks of the grid, not quarter notes. A sixteen-step bar at 400 BPM is 100 BPM in quarter notes, which is why the pattern presets look fast. The transport shows the quarter-note equivalent beside the big number whenever one step is not a quarter.