How it works
A presto metronome runs at 168 to 200 beats a minute in Wikipedia's list of common tempo markings, which calls its figures very rough approximations. Presto is Italian for quickly, the Tempo article says, and simply indicates speed.
Read the full guide
Start
Tap the pad, or press Space, and 184 starts at once; tap once more for silence.
Change the tempo
Tap the number under the pad and type a whole tempo, or use minus and plus, which move one beat a minute at a time.
Questions and answers
What is the presto metronome speed?
168 to 200 beats a minute in Wikipedia's list of common tempo markings. Five settings of the most common wind-up scale in its Metronome article fall inside that: 168, 176, 184, 192 and 200. This page opens on the middle one.
Is presto faster than vivace?
At the top, yes, but the two share ground. The list runs Vivace, lively and fast, from 156 to 176, so every tempo from 168 to 176 answers to both words. Vivacissimo and Allegrissimo, at 172 to 176, lie wholly inside Presto's range.
Does a presto metronome marking count quarter notes?
Not always. Wikipedia prints the Presto of Beethoven's Seventh Symphony, in 3/4, at dotted half note = 132. Chopin's Etude Op. 25 No. 2, in the Mutopia Project's edition, has Presto, half note = 112. In quarter notes, by our sum: 396 and 224.
Is prestissimo faster than presto?
Yes: it begins on the figure where Presto stops. The list gives Prestissimo, extremely fast, as 200 beats a minute and over, with no top. The most common wind-up scale has a single notch left for it, 208; this pad goes on to 1000.
Why can't I hear the metronome?
A phone has three usual culprits: the ring switch, the volume, and Bluetooth, which may be playing the click through headphones. At this speed the two dots on the pad swap about three times a second, sound or no sound.