Black Sabbath · Sabotage
Symptom of the Universe
Symptom of the Universe is in E major at 88.1 beats per minute.
Tempo
88 BPM · Andantemedian of 137 analyses · 88–88.3 across the middle eight tenths- Key
- E major4 sharps · the key most of the analyses agreed on
- Agreement
- 60%share of analyses that agreed
- Analyses
- 137people who ran the extractor
- One beat
- 681milliseconds, 60,000 ÷ BPM
- Tuning
- 440.3Hz · +1 cents from A 440
- Dynamics
- 2.9dB the level wanders from its average
- Loudness
- 0.806Essentia's 0–1 scale, not dB
- Danceability
- 1.053Essentia's danceability, 0–3
Source: AcousticBrainz, dump of 2022-06-23 (CC0) · MusicBrainz core data, 2026-09-17 (CC0) · how each number is measured. Measured up to 23.06.2022 — AcousticBrainz stopped collecting in 2022, so nothing released after that date is here.
What the numbers say
137 independent analyses of this recording were submitted to AcousticBrainz. A bare majority of them — 60% — put it in E major, a key signature of 4 sharps. The tempo printed above is the median of the 137 readings; 98% of them land within 2% of it, and they barely differ at all.
At 88.1 BPM one beat lasts 681 milliseconds, so a sixteenth note is 170.3 ms and a dotted eighth 510.8 ms — the delay times for this recording. Counted half as fast it is 44.1 BPM, counted twice as fast 176.2. A score would mark that Andante, by the ranges this site uses.
The analyses put the reference pitch of the recording at 440.3 Hz, which is 1 cents above concert A at 440 Hz — close enough to standard that a tuner would not argue. That is a fact about this transfer of the music, not about how it was played.
The dynamic complexity of the recording measures 2.9 dB: that is how far the level wanders from its own average, so a small number means a loud, flat master and a large one means a recording that still breathes. Its average loudness is 0.806 on Essentia's 0-to-1 scale, which is not decibels and is not comparable to a streaming service's number.
10 other recordings here are in E major; the ones listed below are the closest in tempo.
Beats per bar are not in this dataset. AcousticBrainz's analysis reports a tempo, a key and a loudness, and no time signature at all, so this page does not print one — a 4/4 here would be a guess dressed as a measurement.
Keys that fit with E major
Each of these differs from E major by at most one accidental, or shares its tonic. That is the whole of what a mixing wheel encodes; here the relations are named instead of numbered.
Delay times at 88 BPM
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Hertz |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2724.2 | 0.37 |
| Half note | 2 | 1362.1 | 0.73 |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 1021.6 | 0.98 |
| Quarter note (one beat) | 1 | 681 | 1.47 |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 454 | 2.2 |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 510.8 | 1.96 |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 340.5 | 2.94 |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 227 | 4.41 |
| Dotted sixteenth | 0.375 | 255.4 | 3.92 |
| Sixteenth note | 0.25 | 170.3 | 5.87 |
| Sixteenth triplet | 0.167 | 113.5 | 8.81 |
| Thirty-second note | 0.125 | 85.1 | 11.75 |
Half time 44.1 BPM · double time 176.2 BPM. Every row is one beat (681 ms) times the fraction in the second column.
Closest in key and tempo
- Me & Mr JonesAmy WinehouseE major88BPM
- Juke Box HeroForeignerE major88BPM
- I Love YouCéline DionE major89BPM
- I Like ItDeBargeE major87BPM
- PinheadRamonesE major89BPM
- Monkey WrenchFoo FightersE major87BPM
- Thought I’d Died and Gone to HeavenBryan AdamsE major87BPM
- GirlDestiny’s ChildE major89BPM
- Come BackFoo FightersE major89BPM
- ¡Viva la Gloria!Green DayE major89BPM
Recordings in E major, ordered by how near their tempo is to 88 BPM. A calculation, not a recommendation.
All songs in E majorAll songs at 88 BPME major at 80–89 BPMBlack Sabbath
MusicBrainz collapses 26 recording ids into this one. Recording id 9ac447ff-05d9-4058-b6fb-012fd57cd592.