Enter a BPM and get note values in milliseconds for delay times and reverb pre-delay.
Why sync delay times to your tempo?
A delay repeats whatever you feed it at a fixed interval. When that interval matches a note value in your track (a quarter, an eighth, a dotted eighth), every echo lands on the grid and becomes part of the rhythm. Pick an arbitrary time and the repeats fall between the beats, smearing the groove instead of reinforcing it.
Synced echoes also stay out of the way: an eighth-note delay on a vocal fills the gaps between phrases instead of colliding with the next line. Not everything should sync, though. Slapback thickening, ambient washes and hand-ridden throws often sound better slightly off the grid, where the smear is the point. Set the grid value first, then drift on purpose.
How to use the ms values in your DAW
If your delay has a tempo-sync switch, use it. This table is for everything else: unsynced plugins, hardware that only takes milliseconds, or values you want deliberately off-grid. Tap a value above to copy it and paste it into the delay-time field.
- Straight values land squarely on the beat: the default for vocals, drums and anything that must sit tight.
- Dotted values run 1.5× longer, so echoes land three sixteenths apart: the classic cascading three-against-four pattern.
- Triplet values run at 2/3 length: three repeats in the space of two, for swung or shuffled grooves.
- Flip the toggle to Hz when an effect wants a rate instead of a time: an LFO at 2 Hz cycles every 500 ms (a quarter note at 120 BPM).
Reverb pre-delay and decay, explained
Pre-delay is the gap between the dry sound and the moment the reverb starts. Even a short gap lets the transient through clean before the tail blooms. That is how a vocal stays upfront inside a big space. This calculator ties pre-delay to a 1/64 note, so it scales with your tempo: 31.3 ms at 120 BPM.
Decay is how long the tail rings: too long and it is still ringing when the next downbeat hits, washing out the mix; too short and the space collapses. The starting points scale with the room they imitate: Tight decays within a 1/8 note, gone before the next hit; Room rings for a 1/2 note; Hall stretches to two bars minus the pre-delay, so pre-delay plus decay resolve exactly on a downbeat two bars later.
The math: from BPM to milliseconds
Everything on this page comes from one line of arithmetic, worked at 120 BPM:
- One beat (a quarter note) = 60,000 ÷ BPM → 60,000 ÷ 120 = 500 ms.
- Each shorter note halves it: 1/8 = 250 ms, 1/16 = 125 ms, down to 1/64 = 31.3 ms.
- Dotted = straight × 1.5 → a dotted 1/8 is 375 ms.
- Triplet = straight × 2/3 → a triplet 1/8 is 166.7 ms.
- Hz = 1,000 ÷ ms → 500 ms is 2 Hz.
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Frequently asked questions
What delay time should I use at 128 BPM?
One beat at 128 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 128 = 468.8 ms, your quarter-note delay. An eighth note is 234.4 ms, a dotted eighth 351.6 ms. Enter 128 above for the full table down to 1/64.
What is the difference between dotted and triplet delay times?
Dotted is the straight value × 1.5: the echo lands three sixteenths after the hit, a syncopated three-against-four pattern. Triplet is the straight value × 2/3: three repeats fit the space of two, which suits swung and shuffled grooves.
How much pre-delay should I use on a reverb?
A 1/64 note (31.3 ms at 120 BPM) is a musical starting point: a small gap between the dry transient and the reverb onset keeps the source clear under a long tail. Shorten it to glue the reverb to the source; lengthen it to push the space back.
How do I convert a delay time to an LFO rate in Hz?
Divide 1,000 by the time in milliseconds: Hz = 1,000 ÷ ms. A quarter note at 120 BPM is 500 ms, so 1,000 ÷ 500 = 2 Hz. The ms/Hz toggle above shows the whole table as LFO rates.
Are these values rules or starting points?
Starting points. Synced values put echoes and tails on the grid, which is usually what a mix needs, but slapback, ambient washes and off-grid throws are valid reasons to break the grid. Set the synced value first, then tune by ear.