MIDI beat clock

MIDI beat clock, or simply MIDI clock, is a clock signal that is broadcast via MIDI to ensure that several MIDI-enabled devices such as a synthesizer or music sequencer stay in synchronization. Clock events are sent at a rate of 24 pulses per quarter note. Those pulses are used to maintain a synchronized tempo for synthesizers that have beats-per-minute-dependent voices and also for arpeggiator synchronization.

The clock is presented as a stream of single-byte MIDI messages. Playback at the tempo presented by the beat clock can be started, stopped and resumed with other single-byte MIDI messages. Location information can be specified using Song Position Pointer messages.

MIDI beat clock differs from MIDI timecode in that MIDI beat clock is tempo-dependent.

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