Delay Time Calculator (BPM to Milliseconds)

Every delay time here derives from the quarter note, one beat: quarter note (ms) = 60,000 ÷ BPM, since there are 60,000 milliseconds in a minute. Every other note value is that figure times a fixed multiplier — a half note is double, an eighth note is half, a whole note is quadruple, and so on down to a sixteenth note (a quarter of a beat).

A dot after a note extends its length by half its own value again, so a dotted note's time is the plain value × 1.5. A triplet fits three notes in the time two plain notes of the same name would normally take, so a triplet's time is the plain value × 2/3. Both multipliers apply uniformly across every note length shown.

Musicians and audio engineers use these figures to sync a delay, echo, or reverb effect's time control to a track's tempo so the repeats land in rhythm rather than sounding random — the dotted eighth note delay is a particularly well-known example (the rhythmic guitar echo behind U2's 'Where the Streets Have No Name,' among many others). The quarter note's rate in Hz (beats per second) is also shown, since some LFO-based effects (like tremolo) are synced by frequency rather than a millisecond delay time.