BPM Calculator
Turning Tempo Into Milliseconds
A tempo in beats per minute tells a musician how fast to play, but a delay pedal, DAW echo plugin, or reverb pre-delay needs a number in milliseconds. Converting between the two by hand is where most producers get sloppy — a delay set a few milliseconds off the grid either disappears into the mix or fights the groove. This calculator takes a BPM value and a note subdivision and returns the exact delay time so the echo lands precisely on the beat, dotted note, or triplet you intend.
The Formula
Delay Time (ms) = Quarter Note Duration × Note Factor
Every other note value is a fixed multiple of the quarter note: a half note is double, an eighth note is half, a dotted note is one-and-a-half times its plain value, and a triplet is two-thirds of the next-larger plain value.
Where Producers Use This
- Delay and echo plugins — dialing in a dotted-eighth or triplet-quarter delay by ear is unreliable; the exact millisecond value keeps the repeats locked to the grid.
- Reverb pre-delay — setting pre-delay to a sixteenth or thirty-second note value at the track's tempo keeps the reverb from smearing into the next transient.
- LFO and modulation sync — synth LFOs synced to tempo (for filter wobbles, tremolo, or auto-pan) are set the same way when a plugin lacks a "sync" toggle.
- Sample and loop editing — knowing how many milliseconds a bar or beat occupies at a given tempo makes it possible to slice loops cleanly without a beat-detection tool.
| Note value | Delay time |
|---|---|
| Whole note | 2000 ms |
| Dotted half note | 1500 ms |
| Half note | 1000 ms |
| Dotted quarter note | 750 ms |
| Quarter note | 500 ms |
| Quarter note triplet | 333.33 ms |
| Dotted eighth note | 375 ms |
| Eighth note | 250 ms |
| Eighth note triplet | 166.67 ms |
| Sixteenth note | 125 ms |
Figures computed directly from the formula above at 120 BPM; scale proportionally for other tempos.
How to Use This Calculator
- Enter the track or session tempo in the Tempo (BPM) field.
- Choose the note subdivision you want the delay time for — from whole notes down to sixteenth-note triplets.
- Select Calculate to get the delay time in milliseconds, along with a full breakdown of every subdivision at that tempo.
Related Calculations
Once you have a working tempo, the Metronome Calculator converts it into beat intervals and can derive BPM from tapped timing, and the Tempo Change Calculator shows how a track's runtime shifts when you speed up or slow down the tempo.