BPM to ms Converter | Delay Time Calculator

Convert BPM (tempo) to milliseconds for delay, echo and LFO rate, listing every note value from whole notes to 32nd notes. Also converts a known ms value back into its synced BPM — a free tool for DAW producers.

Delay Time Reference Table for Common BPM Values

Delay times (ms) for quarter, dotted eighth, eighth and sixteenth notes, listed for common tempos from 60 to 200 BPM.

BPM	Quarter note	Dotted eighth note	Eighth note	Sixteenth note
60	1,000.0 ms	750.0 ms	500.0 ms	250.0 ms
70	857.1 ms	642.9 ms	428.6 ms	214.3 ms
80	750.0 ms	562.5 ms	375.0 ms	187.5 ms
90	666.7 ms	500.0 ms	333.3 ms	166.7 ms
100	600.0 ms	450.0 ms	300.0 ms	150.0 ms
110	545.5 ms	409.1 ms	272.7 ms	136.4 ms
120	500.0 ms	375.0 ms	250.0 ms	125.0 ms
128	468.8 ms	351.6 ms	234.4 ms	117.2 ms
130	461.5 ms	346.2 ms	230.8 ms	115.4 ms
140	428.6 ms	321.4 ms	214.3 ms	107.1 ms
150	400.0 ms	300.0 ms	200.0 ms	100.0 ms
160	375.0 ms	281.3 ms	187.5 ms	93.8 ms
170	352.9 ms	264.7 ms	176.5 ms	88.2 ms
174	344.8 ms	258.6 ms	172.4 ms	86.2 ms
180	333.3 ms	250.0 ms	166.7 ms	83.3 ms
190	315.8 ms	236.8 ms	157.9 ms	78.9 ms
200	300.0 ms	225.0 ms	150.0 ms	75.0 ms

How BPM and Delay Time Relate

To make a delay's echo lock to a track's rhythm, you need to set a millisecond value that matches the tempo. The reference point is the length of a quarter note, found by dividing 60000 by the BPM. From there you just multiply by a factor for each note division, but once you bring in dotted notes and triplets the arithmetic gets tedious fast. This tool takes a single BPM value and instantly lists every straight, dotted and triplet delay time from a whole note down to a 32nd note.

It also works in reverse. Enter a delay time and a note division, and the tool calculates the BPM that value is synced to — handy for estimating the tempo of a track or sample when you do not already know it. Keep in mind that some songs are produced at a tempo with fractional decimals, so treat the reversed result as a close estimate rather than an exact figure.

How to Find a Delay Time

Enter the BPM Type in the track's tempo and the delay time for every note division appears in the table. Use the tempo exactly as shown in your DAW.
Choose the note division Read off the straight, dotted or triplet column for the value you need. If you are unsure, quarter notes and dotted eighth notes are the most common choices.
Enter the value into your DAW The number shown is in milliseconds. Most delay plugins accept a direct ms input, so you can type it straight in.
Reverse-calculate BPM from a delay time If you only know an existing ms setting, enter it along with the note division to work out the BPM it is synced to.

Tips for getting more out of it

Delay times are given in milliseconds (ms). Most DAW delay plugins accept direct ms input, so you can type the calculated value straight in.
The dotted eighth note delay (e.g. 375ms at 120 BPM) is famous as the signature setting used extensively by U2 guitarist The Edge, and it hits a sweet spot for locking rhythmically with the beat.
Use the reverse calculator to work out the BPM behind an existing track or sample delay time — handy when you do not already know a song's tempo.
A triplet delay divides the same beat into three equal parts, producing a shorter interval than straight or dotted notes — useful for tightly-spaced, rhythmic echo effects.

Ways to Use BPM-to-Delay-Time Calculations

Sync a delay to the tempo

When an effect has no built-in tempo sync, or you are working with outboard gear, you get the millisecond value to type in immediately.

Match LFO or tremolo rate

Modulation effects that set their cycle in milliseconds can also be locked to the beat using the same table of values.

Set a reverb pre-delay

Using a sixteenth or 32nd note value as the pre-delay keeps the reverb tail from feeling detached from the beat. The shorter note columns are useful here.

Estimate the tempo of an existing track

If you know the delay setting used on a reference track, the reverse calculator gives you an approximate BPM.

Delay Terminology

BPM: Beats per minute — the number of beats in one minute, used to express a track's tempo. A higher number means a faster tempo.
Delay time: The interval between the dry signal and the echo that follows it, typically specified in milliseconds.
Dotted note: A note lengthened to 1.5 times its plain value. Because it equals three-quarters of a beat, it produces a bouncing, syncopated feel.
Triplet: A note division that splits one beat into three equal parts. It creates a denser repeat pattern than straight notes and gives a floating character to the sound.
Pre-delay: In reverb, the pause between the dry signal and the start of the reverb tail. Setting it to a short note value helps the reverb blend naturally.
Feedback: The amount of delayed signal fed back into the input. A higher value produces more repeats of the echo before it fades out.

Frequently Asked Questions

The length of a quarter note in milliseconds is given by "60000 ÷ BPM". To lock a delay's feedback to the song's rhythm, you take that quarter note length as the base unit and multiply it by a factor for each note division — half that for an eighth note, 1.5 times that for a dotted eighth note, and so on.

A dotted note is 1.5 times the length of the plain note, while a triplet divides the same number of beats into three equal parts, making it two-thirds the length of the plain note. For example, at 120 BPM an eighth note is 250ms, so a dotted eighth note works out to 375ms and an eighth-note triplet to about 166.7ms.

Some tracks are produced at a tempo with a fractional BPM rather than a round integer, so the reversed result should be treated as a close estimate. It is a good idea to fine-tune it using your DAW's tap-tempo feature alongside this calculation.

When a delay time has no relationship to the song's tempo, the echoes land off the beat and the rhythm starts to sound muddy. Syncing the delay to the tempo lets the repeats fall precisely on the off-beat or the timing of the next note, reinforcing the overall groove of the track.

Side Note — How U2's The Edge Popularized the Dotted Eighth Note Delay

One of the reasons millisecond-based delay settings became common practice traces back to the "dotted eighth note delay" used extensively by U2 guitarist The Edge. The arrival of digital delay units in the 1980s let performers, for the first time, dial in a precise numeric delay time; by locking that value exactly to the song's tempo, he built a signature shimmering texture in which a single guitar sounds as though several are layered together.

What makes the dotted eighth note such an elegant choice is that it lands at exactly three-quarters of a beat, so the dry signal and the delayed repeat complement each other rhythmically instead of producing a flat, monotonous echo — the result feels lively and syncopated. Because working out that math by hand every time is tedious, tools that automatically convert a BPM into millisecond values became a standard part of many guitarists' and producers' workflow in the decades that followed.

Triplet delays are similarly popular in dance music and hip-hop production. Because a triplet divides the same beat into three equal parts, it produces a denser pattern of repeats than a straight or dotted note, which is a well-established technique for adding a floating, drifting feel to a vocal tail or a synth phrase. As long as you know the BPM, you can instantly work out the delay time for any note division, saving you from redoing the math by hand every time a track's tempo changes.

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