Tempo marking
VivaceThe traditional Italian marking for 156–176 BPM: lively and brisk.Pulse · tempo · time
170 BPM Metronome
This page opens a working metronome at 170 BPM. Each click arrives every 352.9 milliseconds (0.353 seconds), which the Italian tempo scale calls Vivace. Press start, then change the tempo or the time signature whenever you want — nothing here is locked.
Beats per minute
BPM
1234
Ready at 170 BPM in 4/4.
Tempo facts
How fast is 170 BPM?
A metronome set to 170 BPM plays 170 evenly spaced clicks every minute. Here is what that works out to.
Beat interval
352.9 ms60000 ÷ 170 = 352.9 milliseconds between clicks, or 0.353 seconds.Bar length
1.41 sFour beats of 4/4 at 170 BPM fill 1.41 seconds.Half and double time
85 / 340One beat per two clicks gives 85 BPM; splitting each beat in two gives 340 BPM.How 170 BPM feels
At 170 BPM each beat lasts about 353 milliseconds. The click becomes a texture rather than a countdown, and most players lock onto every second click and feel the bar instead.
What to practise at 170 BPM
Use 170 to test endurance rather than accuracy. A fast passage that survives here has genuinely automatic fingering. If it does not, drop to 85 — half tempo — and rebuild from there.
Where you meet 170 BPM
170 BPM is a core drum and bass tempo and a common speed for fast bluegrass and gypsy jazz. On the Italian scale it is Vivace, close to the boundary with Presto.
Half time and double time
170 BPM in half time is 85 BPM: the same music, counted with one beat for every two clicks. Double time is 340 BPM, where every beat splits into two even eighth notes. Double time is past the 300 BPM ceiling here, so subdivide by ear instead: two even notes on every click.
This relationship is the reason a written tempo and a felt tempo often disagree. Drummers and producers move between the two constantly, and it is also the safest way to learn something fast: build it at 85 BPM, keep the same subdivisions, then double the number once the movement is automatic.