Music / Production
BPM to Milliseconds (Delay Time Calculator)
Turn a tempo into note lengths in milliseconds and hertz, straight, dotted, and triplet, from whole notes to 64ths, for setting delay, reverb pre-delay, and LFO rates. Includes tap tempo.
BPM to Milliseconds (Delay Time Calculator): A beat is a quarter note, so a quarter note lasts 60,000 ÷ BPM milliseconds: 500 ms at 120 BPM. Halve it for an eighth note and double it for a half note; a dotted note is 1.5 times as long, and a triplet two thirds. The hertz column is 1,000 ÷ milliseconds, the rate of something that repeats once per note. Runs 100% locally in your browser with zero server file uploads.
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| Note | Straight (ms) | Dotted (ms) | Triplet (ms) | Straight (Hz) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/1 · Whole note | 2,000 | 3,000 | 1,333.33 | 0.5 |
| 1/2 · Half note | 1,000 | 1,500 | 666.67 | 1 |
| 1/4 · Quarter note | 500 | 750 | 333.33 | 2 |
| 1/8 · Eighth note | 250 | 375 | 166.67 | 4 |
| 1/16 · Sixteenth note | 125 | 187.5 | 83.33 | 8 |
| 1/32 · Thirty-second note | 62.5 | 93.75 | 41.67 | 16 |
| 1/64 · Sixty-fourth note | 31.25 | 46.88 | 20.83 | 32 |
A beat is a quarter note, so at 120 BPM it lasts 500 ms. Dotted notes are half as long again, and triplets fit three in the space of two. Use the values for delay times, reverb pre-delay, compressor release, or a synced LFO; tap the button in time with a song to find its tempo.
Common tempos
At 90 BPM a quarter note lasts 666.67 ms; at 100 BPM, 600 ms; at 128 BPM, typical of house music, 468.75 ms; at 140 BPM, 428.57 ms.
To hear the tempo, use the metronome; to try a synced delay, the guitar effects pedalboard.
Using the values
Set a delay to a note length and the repeats fall in time with the music. A reverb's pre-delay, the gap before the reverb starts, is often set to a short note value, such as a 64th or a 32nd note, to keep the dry sound clear.
Many plug-ins can sync to the host tempo by themselves; the values here are for hardware and for effects that take times in milliseconds. The online synthesizer has an LFO to experiment with.
How to use it
- Type the tempo in BPM, drag the slider, or tap the button in time with the music.
- Find the note value you want in the table.
- Copy the milliseconds into the delay or reverb, or the hertz into an LFO.
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Frequently asked questions
What delay time suits 120 BPM?
A quarter note is 500 ms and a dotted eighth 375 ms, a popular choice for rhythmic guitar delays.
Why use dotted and triplet times?
They sit across the beat rather than on it, which makes echoes fill the gaps instead of doubling the notes.
How does tap tempo work?
It averages the gaps between your last eight taps; pause for a few seconds to start again.
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