🎛️ BPM Delay Calculator
Enter your tempo to get tempo-synced delay times in milliseconds — quarter, eighth, dotted-eighth, and sixteenth — so every echo locks to the beat.
🎚️ Sync Your Delay
What is a BPM Delay Calculator?
It converts a tempo into the note-length times you need to set a tempo-synced delay. Enter the BPM and it works out the quarter, eighth, dotted-eighth, and sixteenth in milliseconds — the numbers a delay pedal or plugin wants when it isn't syncing over MIDI.
Use it to lock a rhythmic echo to the groove, set a dotted-eighth for that cascading guitar sound, or time modulation to the beat. It's pure maths from the tempo, so the results are exact and repeatable every time.
❓ Frequently Asked Questions
How does the BPM delay calculator work?
Enter your track's tempo in beats per minute. A quarter note lasts 60000 divided by the BPM in milliseconds, and the eighth, dotted-eighth, and sixteenth follow from the same beat. The calculator rounds each to the nearest millisecond so you can dial them straight into a delay pedal or plugin.
What's the dotted eighth used for?
The dotted-eighth delay is the classic rhythmic setting behind countless anthemic guitar parts. Set against the beat, it creates a galloping, cascading pattern that fills space without muddying the groove — a staple of stadium-rock and ambient guitar tones.
Do I use these times for delay or for reverb?
Primarily for delay and any tempo-synced modulation such as tremolo or a rhythmic filter. For reverb, the same numbers can guide a musical pre-delay so the tail sits in time with the track, though reverb decay is usually set by feel rather than an exact note value.
My pedal only shows one time — which do I use?
Start with the quarter note for a straightforward on-the-beat echo, the eighth for a busier repeat, and the dotted eighth for that rhythmic, off-kilter feel. If your delay can tap tempo instead, tap it to the track and use these figures to sanity-check the result.