A clock divider, also known as a frequency divider, is a module that takes an incoming signal at a certain frequency and generates a lower, divided output frequency. For example, if an audio rate square wave at 440Hz is sent to the input of a clock divider, the output frequencies would be 220Hz at the divide by 2 output and 146.6Hz at the divide by 3 output. Similarly, if an input square wave LFO is at 1Hz, the divide by 2 output would be 0.5Hz. When using a clock generator that displays the rate in BPM, dividing an input signal of 120 BPM by 4 would output a signal equal to quarter notes. Clock dividers are commonly used to create multiple synchronized rhythms from low-frequency sources or lower subharmonics for audio rate signals.
Synonyms:
frequency divider
