Pitch & Semitone Calculator
Pitch & Semitone Calculator
See how a pitch shift in semitones changes frequency ratio, playback speed and cents. For tape tricks, sampler tuning and key changes. Free and instant.
Semitone reference
| Semitones | Ratio | Speed change |
|---|---|---|
| +12 (octave up) | 2.000 | +100% |
| +7 (fifth) | 1.498 | +49.8% |
| +5 (fourth) | 1.335 | +33.5% |
| +1 (semitone) | 1.059 | +5.9% |
| -12 (octave down) | 0.500 | -50% |
Click a key in each row to get the shortest semitone move between them — up or down. Great for transposing a sample, beat or vocal to a new key.
Pitch a sample without time-stretch and its tempo moves with it. Convert a semitone shift into the resulting BPM — or work out the shift you need to hit a target tempo.
You have a sample and want its new tempo after altering the pitch.
You have a sample and want to know how much to alter its pitch to reach a certain tempo.
Semitones, cents and tape speed
See how a pitch shift in semitones changes the frequency ratio, the playback speed percentage, and the result in cents. Useful for tape and vari-speed tricks, sampler tuning, and matching a part to a new key.
The formula
The frequency ratio for a shift is two to the power of semitones over twelve. Twelve semitones doubles the frequency (one octave) and doubles playback speed. One semitone is one hundred cents.
FAQ
How much does one semitone change speed?
About 5.9% faster going up a semitone, or 5.6% slower going down a semitone.
How many cents in a semitone?
100 cents. An octave is 1200 cents.
If I speed a sample up 100%, how much higher is it?
Doubling the speed raises the pitch by one octave (12 semitones).
Is it free?
Yes, free forever. The paid upgrade is the plugins on Meshplugins.com.
How does pitching a sample change its tempo?
When you pitch a sample without time-stretch, tempo scales with pitch. New BPM = original BPM times 2 to the power of semitones over 12. So +3 semitones on 120 BPM gives about 142.7 BPM.
What pitch shift do I need to match two tempos?
Semitones = 12 times log base 2 of (target BPM divided by original BPM). Going from 111 to 129 BPM needs about +2.6 semitones.
Want clean pitch shifts?
This does the math. The plugins on Meshplugins.com do the shift on your audio. Pro studio results, bedroom-friendly.
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