Pitch converters

The cent was invented by Alexander Ellis in 1885 as one hundredth of an equal-tempered semitone, with 1200 cents in an octave, 700 in an equal-tempered fifth, and 702 in a pure fifth.

The ellis (El) was introduced by Robert Stuckey at the 1985 Ellis Centenary Conference in Belfast, as a non-, or at least minimally, Eurocentric method of expressing pitch in an easily recognised form. It uses cents to express pitches within the octave, with a preceding subscript figure to indicate the number of octaves above the 32-foot C at 16.35 Hz, which is used as a base pitch.

Interval to cents converter

To use this converter, enter two pitches, either as a simple ratio or in Hertz. The interval will be displayed in cents.

Cents to Hertz converter

To use this converter, enter a base pitch in Hertz and an interval in cents. The pitch of this interval from the base pitch will be displayed in Hertz.

Hertz to Ellis converter

To use this converter, enter a frequency in Hertz. The equivalent pitch in ellis will be displayed. You can also display the distance from that pitch to the nearest note in our chromatic scale (assuming 12-note equal temperament), relative to a tuning standard of your choice

Ellis to Hertz converter

To use this converter, enter a pitch in ellis (octave and cents). The equivalent pitch in Hertz will be displayed. You can also display the distance from that pitch to the nearest note in our chromatic scale (assuming 12-note equal temperament), relative to a tuning standard of your choice