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Pitch Shift / Playback Speed Calculator

Convert between playback speed, semitones and cents, and get the resulting BPM and frequency — for varispeed, tape and sampler pitch changes.

Varispeed changes pitch and tempo together.

About this tool

Relate playback speed to pitch three ways: find the semitone and cent shift caused by a speed change, find the speed needed for a given semitone transposition, or read the resulting BPM and frequency. It runs locally in your browser with no uploads.

Speed and pitch are linked by a single ratio. From a speed percentage, ratio = speed ÷ 100, then semitones = 12 × log₂(ratio) and cents = 1200 × log₂(ratio). Going the other way, a semitone shift gives ratio = 2^(semitones ÷ 12) and speed % = ratio × 100 — so +12 semitones doubles the speed to 200%, and −12 halves it to 50%. Any original tempo and frequency you supply are simply multiplied by the ratio: new BPM = BPM × ratio and new frequency = frequency × ratio.

This models classic varispeed behaviour, where changing playback rate shifts pitch and tempo together (as on tape or a naive sampler). Modern time-stretch or pitch-shift plug-ins can change one without the other; use those numbers as your target, and this tool tells you the ratio, semitones, cents, tempo and pitch involved.

Frequently asked questions

Why do pitch and tempo change together?
In varispeed — like speeding up tape or resampling audio — playback rate controls both pitch and tempo through one ratio. Doubling the speed raises the pitch an octave and doubles the BPM at the same time.
How many semitones is a doubling of speed?
Exactly 12 semitones (one octave). The formula is semitones = 12 × log₂(ratio), so a 2× ratio gives 12, a 1.5× ratio gives about 7.02 (a fifth), and half speed gives −12.
What are cents used for?
Cents are hundredths of a semitone, ideal for fine tuning. Cents = 1200 × log₂(ratio), so a small speed nudge that is a fraction of a semitone is easier to read in cents.
Can I keep pitch while changing tempo?
Not with plain varispeed, which this calculator models. To change tempo without pitch (or vice versa) you need a time-stretch or pitch-shift algorithm; this tool gives you the ratio, semitones and cents to dial into those tools.

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