Music tools
Tempo to delay calculator
Enter your tempo to get delay and reverb times in milliseconds for every note value. Everything runs in your browser.
| Note | Straight | Dotted | Triplet |
|---|
How it works
Enter a tempo in beats per minute and get the delay time, in milliseconds, for every note value - whole, half, quarter, eighth, sixteenth, and so on - in straight, dotted, and triplet forms. Setting a delay or echo to a note value locked to the song tempo makes it sit in the groove instead of fighting it, and the same numbers are the starting point for tempo-synced reverb pre-delay and decay.
The math is straightforward: a quarter note lasts 60000 divided by the BPM milliseconds, and the other values scale from there (dotted is one and a half times, triplet is two thirds). The tool also shows the matching frequency in hertz for modulation effects. It all computes live in your browser.
Example. At 120 BPM a quarter note is 500 ms, an eighth note is 250 ms, and a dotted eighth - a favorite for rhythmic delays - is 375 ms. Dial those into your delay plugin and the echoes lock to the beat.
FAQ
How do I calculate delay time from BPM?
A quarter-note delay is 60000 / BPM milliseconds. Halve it for an eighth note, halve again for a sixteenth; multiply a value by 1.5 for its dotted version or by 2/3 for its triplet. The calculator does all of this for you.
What are dotted and triplet delay times for?
Dotted delays (especially the dotted eighth) create the syncopated, off-beat echo heard in a lot of modern productions, while triplet timings give a rolling, swung feel. Both are listed next to the straight values.
Can I use these numbers for reverb too?
Yes. The same note-value times are a good starting point for reverb pre-delay and for matching decay to the tempo, so the tail breathes with the track rather than blurring it.
Does it run offline?
Yes. The calculations happen in your browser with no server calls, so it works offline and nothing is uploaded.