MIDI quantize and swing lab
A two-bar drum loop played a little loosely. Choose a grid, a quantize strength and a swing amount, then listen to the loose take and the quantized take back to back. Every note's movement is drawn and measured.
Quantize settings
The performance
Audio is synthesised in your browser with the Web Audio API; nothing is uploaded. Headphones make small timing differences easier to hear.
What to listen for
- 100% strength, 1/16 grid: perfectly on the grid. Tight, but with every hit at a slightly different velocity it can still sound alive. Compare it with the loose take — this is the classic "machine" feel.
- 50–70% strength: each note moves part of the way to the grid. The worst timing errors disappear while some of the player's push and pull survives. Many producers stop here.
- Swing 58–62%: every second 16th note is delayed slightly. The hi-hats start to bounce without sounding like a shuffle.
- Swing 66%: close to a triplet shuffle. At 100 BPM a 16th note lasts 150 ms; 66% swing delays the off-beat 16ths by about 48 ms.
- Wrong grid: quantize a straight beat to 1/8 triplets and hear notes snap to the wrong places. Always match the grid to the smallest subdivision the part really uses.
Frequently asked questions
What does quantize strength do?
It sets how far each note moves toward the nearest grid line, as a percentage of the distance. At 100% the note lands exactly on the grid; at 50% it moves halfway; at 0% nothing changes.
How do I calculate the length of a 16th note?
Divide 60,000 by the tempo to get one beat in milliseconds, then divide by four. At 120 BPM a beat is 500 ms and a 16th note is 125 ms.
Should I quantize everything?
Usually not. Quantize the parts that define the pulse — kick, snare, bass — more firmly, and leave hi-hats, percussion and melodic parts looser so the groove keeps some human movement.