A tempo-synced delay time in milliseconds is 60000 divided by the BPM, multiplied by the length of the note in beats. At 120 BPM a quarter note is 500 ms, an eighth 250 ms, a dotted eighth 375 ms and an eighth-note triplet 166.67 ms. Dotted notes multiply by 1.5 and triplets by two thirds.
Producers, live engineers and guitarists set delay pedals, plug-ins and pre-delay by ear until the repeats sit in the groove; knowing the exact figure saves that guesswork, especially on hardware without tap tempo. Enter the tempo, choose a note value and a feel, and the result gives the delay in milliseconds and seconds, the matching repeat rate in hertz for syncing an LFO or tremolo, and the length of one 4/4 bar. A table lists every note from whole to sixty-fourth in straight, dotted and triplet form, so a full set of times for the song is visible at once. The maths assumes a steady tempo and a quarter-note beat; songs with tempo ramps or compound meters counted in dotted quarters need the beat value adjusted by hand.
Type the song's BPM; decimals such as 92.5 are accepted.
Choose from whole note down to sixty-fourth note in the Note value list.
Straight, dotted (one and a half times longer) or triplet (two thirds as long).
Every note value is listed for the same tempo, ready to copy into several delay or reverb slots.
Result Delay time (ms): 500
Delay time (s): 0.5
Repeat rate / LFO (Hz): 2
One 4/4 bar (ms): 2,000
One beat at 120 BPM is half a second, so quarter-note echoes land every 500 ms, two repeats per second.
Result Delay time (ms): 351.56
Delay time (s): 0.3516
Repeat rate / LFO (Hz): 2.844
One 4/4 bar (ms): 1,875
The dotted-eighth echo common on house and rock guitar parts sits at about 351.56 ms at 128 BPM.
Result Delay time (ms): 222.22
Delay time (s): 0.2222
Repeat rate / LFO (Hz): 4.5
One 4/4 bar (ms): 2,666.67
One beat is 666.67 ms; three triplet eighths fit in it, so each repeat is 222.22 ms.
delay (ms) = 60000 ÷ BPM × beats × feel factor
BPMbeatsfeel factorA minute holds 60,000 milliseconds, so dividing by the tempo gives the length of one beat. Multiplying by the note's length in beats scales it to that note. A dot adds half the note's value again, and a triplet squeezes three notes into the space of two. The repeat rate in hertz is 1000 divided by the delay in milliseconds.
A dotted eighth repeat falls between the sixteenth notes of the played part, so single picked notes turn into a rolling sixteenth-note pattern. At 120 BPM that delay is 375 ms.
Pick a short note value such as a sixty-fourth or thirty-second note. At 120 BPM those are about 31.25 ms and 62.5 ms, which keeps the reverb tail breathing with the groove without smearing the attack.
It is how many repeats occur per second, 1000 divided by the delay in milliseconds. Use it to set a free-running LFO, tremolo or auto-pan in rate mode so it matches the chosen note.
Not for a given note value, because the calculation is based on the quarter-note beat. Only the bar length shown assumes 4/4; a bar in 3/4 is three beats instead of four.
Drop to a shorter note value. At 60 BPM a half note is already 2000 ms, so a quarter or dotted eighth will fit most units while still locking to the tempo.
A triplet fits three notes into the time normally taken by two of the same value, so each one lasts two thirds as long. An eighth-note triplet at 90 BPM is 222.22 ms.
Using this tool in an assignment, article or report? Copy a citation, or a link for your website.
Tools Directory Editorial Team. (2026, October 12). Delay Calculator (Music). Tools Directory. Retrieved October 27, 2026, from https://tools.milunir.com/video-audio/music-and-audio-theory/delay-calculator-music/
Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Delay Calculator (Music).” Tools Directory, 12 Oct. 2026, https://tools.milunir.com/video-audio/music-and-audio-theory/delay-calculator-music/. Accessed 27 Oct. 2026.
Tools Directory Editorial Team. “Delay Calculator (Music).” Tools Directory. Last modified October 12, 2026. Accessed October 27, 2026. https://tools.milunir.com/video-audio/music-and-audio-theory/delay-calculator-music/.
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