Question 1

How do you calculate delay time from BPM?

Accepted Answer

Delay time in milliseconds = 60,000 / BPM × note value in beats. A quarter note equals 1 beat, an eighth note 0.5 beats, a sixteenth 0.25 beats, and so on. At 120 BPM one beat is 500 ms, so a quarter-note delay is 500 ms, an eighth-note delay is 250 ms, and a sixteenth-note delay is 125 ms. This calculator applies the formula to every standard note value, dotted and triplet, so you can dial the exact time into any delay plugin or pedal.

Question 2

What is the delay time for a dotted eighth note?

Accepted Answer

A dotted eighth note = 1.5 × an eighth note = 0.75 beats. Delay ms = 60,000 / BPM × 0.75. At 120 BPM that is 375 ms; at 100 BPM it is 450 ms; at 128 BPM it is about 351.56 ms. The dotted-eighth delay is the signature sound of rhythmic guitar parts in rock and worship music, where each repeat lands between the beats you play.

Question 3

What is slap delay in milliseconds?

Accepted Answer

Slap delay (slapback) is a single short repeat, typically a sixteenth note or shorter — roughly 75 to 250 ms depending on tempo. At 120 BPM a sixteenth note is exactly 125 ms, which is the classic rockabilly slapback time. At 100 BPM use 150 ms, at 140 BPM about 107 ms. This calculator shows sixteenth and thirty-second note times for any BPM so you can set slapback precisely instead of guessing.

Question 4

How do triplet delay times work?

Accepted Answer

A triplet squeezes three notes into the time of two, so a triplet note value = 2/3 × the straight value. An eighth-note triplet at 120 BPM = 500 ms × 0.5 × 2/3 ≈ 166.67 ms; a quarter-note triplet = 333.33 ms. Triplet delays create rolling, galloping rhythms that straight delays cannot, and they stay locked to tempo when you use the exact triplet time instead of an approximation.

Question 5

What is reverb pre-delay and how do you calculate it?

Accepted Answer

Pre-delay (also written pre delay) is the gap, in milliseconds, between the dry signal and the start of the reverb tail. Syncing it to tempo keeps the reverb from muddying the attack: a common starting point is a 64th note (60,000 / BPM / 16), which is 31.25 ms at 120 BPM and 37.5 ms at 100 BPM. Longer pre-delays (32nd note, ~62.5 ms at 120 BPM) push the vocal forward in the mix. This calculator gives you both from your BPM.

Question 6

What reverb decay time should I use for room, plate and hall?

Accepted Answer

As starting points: room ≈ 0.6 s decay with a 64th-note pre-delay for tight drum and instrument ambience; plate ≈ 1.8 s with a 64th-note pre-delay for the classic vocal sheen; hall ≈ 2.8 s with a 32nd-note pre-delay for spacious ballads and pads; vocal ≈ 1.4 s with a 64th-note pre-delay as an all-round sweet spot. Decay itself is not locked to BPM the way pre-delay is, but the calculator also shows how many bars your tail lasts, which helps the reverb breathe with the arrangement.

Question 7

Can you calculate compressor attack and release from BPM?

Accepted Answer

Only as a starting point — honestly, there is no physics linking a compressor's envelope to tempo. A widely used rule of thumb is attack = one 64th note (60,000 / BPM / 16) and release = one eighth note (60,000 / BPM / 2): at 120 BPM that is about 31 ms attack and 250 ms release, so the compressor recovers roughly every eighth note. Treat these as starting values and adjust by ear for the source material; a snare and a pad at the same BPM need very different envelopes.

Question 8

How do I sync an LFO rate to my song's tempo?

Accepted Answer

LFO frequency in Hz = BPM / 60 × cycles per beat. At 120 BPM, one LFO cycle per beat = 2 Hz, two cycles per beat = 4 Hz, and one cycle every two beats (half speed) = 1 Hz. If your synth or effect asks for Hz instead of a note value, this formula converts instantly. The calculator also shows the equivalent period in milliseconds (Hz = 1000 / ms) for tools that think in time rather than frequency.

Question 9

How long is my song in minutes from BPM and bar count?

Accepted Answer

Song length in seconds = bars × beats per bar × 60,000 / BPM / 1,000. For example, 128 bars at 120 BPM in 4/4 = 128 × 4 × 500 ms = 256 seconds = 4:16. In 3/4 the same 128 bars would be 3:12. This calculator handles any time signature and also works backwards: enter a target duration and it tells you how many bars fit, which is handy for radio edits and DJ-friendly arrangements.

Question 10

How do I convert speaker distance to delay milliseconds?

Accepted Answer

Sound travels about 1.13 ms per foot, so delay ms = distance in feet × 1.13. A delay speaker 10 feet behind the mains needs 11.3 ms of delay; 25 feet needs 28.25 ms. For metric distances, convert meters to feet first (× 3.28084): 5 meters ≈ 16.4 feet ≈ 18.54 ms. The calculator works in feet or meters and also converts the other way, ms back to distance, for time-aligning PA systems and subwoofers.

Question 11

How do I convert milliseconds to Hz and back?

Accepted Answer

They are reciprocals: Hz = 1,000 / ms and ms = 1,000 / Hz. A 500 ms delay repeats at 2 Hz; a 2 Hz LFO has a 500 ms period; 250 ms = 4 Hz. This is useful when a plugin shows rate in Hz but you are thinking in note values, or when you want to know the pitch of a very short delay (under ~20 ms delays start to be heard as pitch rather than echo).

Question 12

How do I set delay time on a guitar pedal or in my DAW?

Accepted Answer

Find the tempo of the song in BPM, pick the note value you want (dotted eighth for rhythmic guitar, quarter for spacious leads, sixteenth for slapback), and enter the exact millisecond time from this calculator into the pedal or plugin. If the device has tap tempo, you can tap along instead — see our tap-tempo tools (bpm-tap-calc, tempo-detector, tempo-tapper) for finding the BPM in the first place — then fine-tune with the calculated ms value.

Question 13

Delay time calculator vs tap tempo — which should I use?

Accepted Answer

They solve different problems. Tap tempo finds an unknown BPM by tapping along with music. A delay time calculator like this one starts from a known BPM and converts it into exact millisecond times for delays, reverb pre-delay, LFO rates and more. Use tap tempo to discover the tempo, then use this calculator to set every time-based effect in the session to match it.

Question 14

Does this work for 3/4, 6/8 and other time signatures?

Accepted Answer

Delay note values are tempo-relative, not bar-relative, so a quarter-note delay is 500 ms at 120 BPM whether the song is in 4/4, 3/4 or 6/8. Time signature only matters for bar-based math: the song-length calculator uses beats per bar (3 for 3/4, 6 for 6/8), and dotted values behave the same in any meter. Compound meters like 6/8 just mean you may prefer dotted-quarter-based thinking, which the calculator covers.

Question 15

Is this delay time calculator free?

Accepted Answer

Yes — completely free, no account, no sign-up, no limits. It runs entirely in your browser as a single page, so it works offline once loaded and never sends your inputs anywhere.

Question 16

Is my data private? Does anything get uploaded?

Accepted Answer

Everything you type stays in your browser. This tool makes zero network requests — no analytics, no fonts, no tracking scripts — so your BPM values and settings never leave your device. You can verify this yourself with your browser's developer tools network tab.

Delay Time Calculator — BPM Timing Studio

Your tempo

Delay time table

Reverb pre-delay & decay

Compressor attack & release starters

LFO rate from BPM

Song length from BPM & bars

Speaker distance → delay (time alignment)

Reverse: ms → distance

Milliseconds ↔ Hertz converter

The formulas

FAQ

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