Trap is 130-150 BPM, typically around 140. It is felt at half that, about 70 BPM, because the snare lands on beat 3.

What BPM is trap?

Trap is 130-150 BPM, and 140 is a fair single number. It is felt at half that - 70 BPM - because the snare only lands on beat 3, so the written tempo is double the pulse you nod to. The machine above is playing trap at 140 BPM - press Space to hear it, then move the tempo and listen for where it stops sounding like trap.

Range 130-150 BPM · Typical 140 · Felt pulse 70 (half-time) · Swing 0

Why trap lives at 130-150 BPM

Trap is 130-150 BPM on paper and 65-75 in the body. The snare or clap lands on beat 3 only - not on 2 and 4 - so the pulse you nod to is half the number on the transport. Producers keep the high number because the hi-hats are the detail of the genre, and at 140 a hat roll is written as 16ths and 32nds on the grid rather than 32nds and 64ths. Most of the canonical Atlanta records, from Lex Luger through Metro Boomin, sit at 135-145; the slower end shades into the Memphis-derived phonk feel and the faster end into drill.

Because the felt tempo is so slow, a few BPM makes a large difference. At 130 a trap beat drags, at 150 the rolls begin to smear and the 808 has no room to slide. Swing is exactly zero - trap hats get their movement from changing subdivision, not from delaying offbeats, and any swing at all turns the 32nd rolls to mush. The groove above is written at 146 and plays here at 140; move the tempo and listen to the rolls first, because they are what breaks.

140 BPM in milliseconds

For setting delay times, checking a sample's length, or programming by ear: at 140 BPM one bar of 4/4 is 1,714 ms and a 16th note is 107 ms.

At 140 BPM	Length	Rate
One bar (4/4)	1,714 ms	0.58 Hz
Quarter note (one beat)	429 ms	2.33 Hz
Dotted 8th	321 ms	3.11 Hz
8th note	214 ms	4.67 Hz
8th-note triplet	143 ms	7.00 Hz
16th note	107 ms	9.33 Hz
32nd note	54 ms	18.67 Hz

The genres either side

Tempo windows overlap, and what separates neighbours is usually swing and where the snare falls rather than the number itself. Trap with its nearest neighbours by tempo:

Genre	BPM	Typical	Felt pulse	Swing	Family
Techno	128-140	134	as written	0	Dance
The Amen Break	136-137	136	as written	0-8	Breaks
Trap	130-150	140	65-75 (half-time)	0	Hip hop
Phonk	130-160	140	65-80 (half-time)	0	Hip hop
Drill	138-145	140	69-72 (half-time)	0	Hip hop

Frequently asked

Should I write trap at 70 or 140?

Either is correct and they sound identical; the choice changes only how the grid is labelled. 140 is the convention because hat rolls fit the grid as 16ths and 32nds. This machine's step grid is 16ths, so 140 with the snare on 3 is the natural way to write it here.

What is the difference between trap and drill tempo?

Not much on the transport - trap 130-150, drill 138-145 - but drill's window is narrower and its hats stutter in triplets where trap's roll in 32nds. At 140 the two are the same tempo with different hat and snare habits.

Can I make trap at a different tempo?

Yes, and the edges of the window are where the interesting records live. The point of the range is that inside it a listener hears trap before they hear anything else; outside it, the same drum pattern reads as a neighbouring style. Drag the tempo on this page to hear the crossover happen.

Go deeper

Every genre's tempo

BAP Studio is inspired by classic 16-pad sampler and drum-machine workflows. It is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to Akai Professional, Roland, or any other manufacturer.

Made by Max Berggren.

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