Pitch & Key
Pitch Shift Calculator
Pitching a sample by ear? See exactly how many semitones a speed change equals, or how much a semitone shift speeds up a sample when pitch and time aren't separated.
Based on twelve-tone equal temperament (12-TET), the same frequency-ratio math every pitch-shifter and sampler uses. · Methodology
Ratio and speed, explained
ratio = 2(semitones + cents/100) / 12
Every 12 semitones doubles the frequency, which is one octave. Each semitone is the twelfth root of two (≈1.0595) times the one below it. Shift up 12 semitones and the ratio is 2.0, meaning the sample plays back at 200% speed when pitch and speed are linked. Shift down 12 and it's 0.5, or half speed. Cents are hundredths of a semitone for fine tuning.
The old-school pitch-and-speed trick
This matters most for the old-school way of pitching: when you change a sample's playback speed without time-stretching, pitch and tempo move together, exactly like a record at the wrong RPM. Speeding a break up a few semitones makes it faster and higher, the classic jungle and hardcore sound. This tool tells you the speed change for a given pitch shift, so you can predict how a repitched loop will sit against your tempo.
Modern DAWs let you decouple them with time-stretching, shifting pitch while holding tempo or vice versa, but that processing has its own artifacts, and past about ±3–4 semitones on melodic material it starts to sound obviously synthetic. For drums and textures, the linked speed-and-pitch method often sounds better precisely because it's "wrong" in a musical way. Knowing the ratio lets you choose deliberately instead of guessing.