BPM Detection software
Written on: January, 2004.Updated: May 21, 2008.
List of BPM-detection software
This page is dedicated to those who have considered classifying their MP3 collection according to tempo (measured in beats per minute or BPM). A great application of this song characteristic is to create playlists: a playlist with fast music to play at the gym, a playlist with slow music, etc.
I wrote this page because Winamp, my preferred list-maker, has been very incomplete in the area of BPM. Ideally the library module of Winamp would have a function to analyze all the MP3 files and store the BPM information in the BPM field of the ID3v2 tag. However, it does not. Furthermore, only recently (sometime between version 5.02 and 5.51) did the Media Library add support for a BPM column.
Besides Winamp, I also use iTunes but it also doesn't analyze BPM. However, unlike Winamp, the interface in iTunes has had a BPM column available from the beginning. Here's a tip for iTunes users sent by a visitor to this page: if you add BPM information to an mp3 file (using the software listed below) that was already in the iTunes library, to get the BPM information to iTunes do the following: select/highlight all the songs in the album and choose get info; don't make any changes and select OK. The BPM is now updated in iTunes.
Currently the only way to calculate BPM is to use an application outside of Winamp or iTunes. This page collects information about such software. The leading application for this very specific job at this point in time seems to be the free "MixMeister BPM Analyzer". Please let me know about your favorite.
Below is the information I have collected so far on the "beats per minute" software issue. If you found this page because you were also looking for BPM detection information, then you may know of some application not yet listed here. In that case please contact me using the link at the top.
If you think this page is useful and you have a web site, please link to the page with the link "BPM Detection". Thank you, back links are very much appreciated. If you are a developer and would like to be listed here, please contact me too.
Software that shows the BPM valueIf you manage to associate a BPM value with an MP3 (see other software below), the products in this section will display that value, which helps in the creation of a playlist, for example. See the BPM of your songs in...
Software that calculates the BPM value by analyzing the songPlug-ins for Winamp, iTunes, and other applicationsBPMeter (a.k.a. BPM Meter) - Winamp Automatic-detection BPM counter. DJ Helper for Winamp 2.x It's a mixer, but it contains BPM music analysis. DeKstasy - iTunes It's a mixer, but it contains BPM music analysis. Record Box Editor for Final Scratch Fully automatic BPM detection and mp3 file tagging. Standalone BPM applicationsImport the songs into MixMeister and it will compute BPM automatically and save that information in the ID3 tag. You can also export a text file with that information, which is one way of creating BPM playlists if you are using Winamp. Does automatic BPM count and Beat Intensity analysis and lets you save the data to the iTunes library. Automatically (or manually) determine BPM and store the result in iTunes. Create matchlists, i.e. playlists based on one or more sample songs. Categorize songs by their sound color. And much more. Seems to be at least as complete as MixMeister and also free. Many specialized options: BPM in fractions or in BPM/100 integers; writes to TBPM in ASCII instead of UNICODE; etc. Analyses not only MP3 and WAV, but also music CD's. BPM information is saved in a text file or is appended or prepended to the song filename. Does not save to the ID3v2 tag.. Beat Counter (shareware) Takes a queue of MP3 or WAV files as input and calculates their BPM. DJ-oriented applications with BPM functionsFrom the site: "It helps profile your songs by saving important properties, such as the BPM, key, time signature, styles, comments, and more. The software includes automatic BPM and key detection, as well as tools to determine this information yourself--a BPM tapper and a MIDI keyboard." With version 1.7.2, Scratch LIVE now has built-in BPM detection and saving to the ID3 tag. MP3 mixing software, "targeting every DJ from bedroom DJs to professional superstars" according to the developers. It helps profile your songs by saving important properties, such as the BPM, key, time signature, styles, comments, and more. Not as fancy as the professional mixing tools, but it is free. The BPM application is separate from the main DJ application. Detects BPM but does not save to ID3v2 tag. Detects BPM and saves to ID3v2 tag. Traktor DJ Complete DJ application, not just a counter. Automatically matches and mixes beats from different tracks. DJ Mix Lite is designed to play continuous music with cross fading, beat matching mixes between songs. Other:
For software developersBpmDj (open source Linux) GJay (open source Linux + X) Builds a GUI around BpmDj. Find the beat by tapping(Not recommended if you have four thousand files in your collection...) Freeware.
Freeware. FlyPop (freeware) Manual tapping. Warning: this application produces very un-reliable results. It generates different BPM values depending on other programs that may be running on the same machine. Not recommended. MuseBook Metronome (shareware) Manual tapping BpmChecker (shareware) Manual tapping Web applications
The song tempos database search locates and download songs you like that match the workout pace you prefer.
The song tempos database search locates and download songs you like that match the workout pace you prefer. ArticlesBeat Detection Algorithms, by Frederic Patin.
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Letters from visitors to this page with un-biased reviews of BPM software Bruce Abel on beaTunes:The application seems to work as advertised. I am evaluating the trial version, primarily for the beats per minute functionality. In general it seems pretty good. The application can be a little slow to start, but that's probably mainly down to the size of my library - 35GB. Once started it seems to be pretty straightforward. The interface is quite decent, with nice hints & tips popups (along with a way to remove them after you no longer require the reminder - nice!) The analysis of a single track seems to be a little slower than using MixMeister. MixMeister does not have an accuracy slider. I have not compared the two in terms of accuracy of the beast count. Who knows? BeaTunes may be more accurate and therefore slower at the 'most accurate' setting (which is what I am using - as there seems to be a fair amount of discrepancy between results derived with that setting or with the default 'average' setting). One feature that may come in handy is some form of notation regarding how 'sure' the application is of its BPM calculation for each track (if that's even possible). This might draw attention to problem tracks in your collection. For instance, other than manually checking each of my many thousands of songs, how am I to know which may require beat doubling or halving. This notification issue also relates to the beat analysis range... How am I to know if the tracks I have selected to analyses are within the range. If they happen to be outside, do I receive a warning that the track is not suitable using the selected range, does the analysis for that track fail with no warning and not embed metadata for the BPM, does it return an inaccurate result? This is an area that I strongly believe requires further documentation and / or feedback within the application. Other than that, the application seems to work as advertised for the BPM analysis. So far it's all automated and feeding results nicely to the metadata and iTunes. The other features of this app, like analyzing for song 'color' etc are outside the scope of this review. Alan Muskat on various applications: I am on an Intel Mac. I tried Mixmeister on the PC side but there's a bug between it and iTunes. Tangerine does not seem very accurate. Dekstasy seems very impressive functionally, but not very easy to use. Beatunes does an OK job with the accuracy turned all the way up and the proper beat range selected. In general one has often have to halve or double the BPM a tool comes up with. I am finding that if one measures every song by quarter note as the computer does, the results are often misleading. Two songs can have the same BPM and yet one feels half as fast because it only really emphasizes every other note. In these cases I have halved the measured BPM even though technically it was probably accurate. |
