BPM in. Delay times out.

Delay times from tempo: one formula, every division

Every tempo-synced effect starts from the same identity: one beat = 60,000 ÷ BPM milliseconds. At 120 BPM that's 500 ms; at 87, 689.7 ms. Halve for eighths, halve again for sixteenths, multiply by 1.5 for dotted, by two-thirds for triplets — the entire table on this page is that one division, worked out so you never mistype it at 2 a.m.

§How to set a delay time from BPM

1. Enter or tap the tempoType the BPM, or tap it in if the track is playing. The table recalculates live.
2. Pick the divisionQuarter for space, eighth for movement, dotted-eighth for the cascading bounce. Click any cell to copy the milliseconds.
3. Paste into the pluginSet your delay to milliseconds mode and paste. For LFOs, use the Hz column or the LFO sync mode instead.

01The formula, worked once

60,000 ms per minute divided by beats per minute gives milliseconds per beat. From there every musical length is a multiple: a bar of 4/4 is four beats, a 1/8 is half a beat, a dotted value is its straight value × 1.5, a triplet is × 2/3. Frequency is the reciprocal — 1000 ÷ ms gives Hz. At 87 BPM: beat 689.7 ms, 1/8 = 344.8 ms, dotted 1/8 = 517.2 ms, 1/8 triplet = 229.9 ms, and a 1/4-note LFO runs at 1.45 Hz. That worked example is the whole tool.

02Three settings that earn their keep

A vocal slapback at 1/64–1/32 (roughly 20–60 ms at most tempos) thickens without reading as an echo. A dotted-eighth on guitars or synth stabs creates the self-propelling cascade that makes eighth-note playing sound like sixteenths. And a 1/4-note LFO on a volume or filter gives the sidechain-style pump without touching a compressor — set it from the Hz column and it stays musical at any tempo.

03Bars and LFOs: the slow end of the table

Delays live between 1/64 and 1/2, but modulation often wants whole bars — a filter sweep across four bars, an auto-pan across two. The LFO sync mode extends the table upward: at 120 BPM a bar is 2 seconds (0.5 Hz) and four bars is 8 seconds (0.125 Hz). Those sub-1 Hz numbers are the ones plugins rarely label musically, which is exactly why the mode exists.

04Reverb pre-delay from the same clock

Pre-delay separates the dry hit from the reverb's onset, and tying it to tempo keeps the space breathing with the song: around 1/128 of a bar reads tight, 1/64 classic, 1/32 roomy. Decay can borrow the same logic — endings that land near a bar boundary feel finished rather than cut off. The Reverb times mode prints starting points per space type; they are starting points, not law, and your ears outrank the table.

05From one tempo to your whole session

This card works one tempo at a time and asks you to bring the BPM. The studio's BPMandKey reads the tempo — and the key — from every track in your library automatically and keeps them cached, so the number you'd type here is already sitting next to the song it belongs to. Wall card in the booth, library in the studio.