Music timing tool
Convert beats per minute into milliseconds per beat, common note values, dotted timings, triplets, and beat fractions for tempo-synced music production.
Enter a tempo to calculate beat length, note delays, dotted values, and triplet timings for synced effects.
Beat duration
500 ms
One beat is one quarter note in 4/4 timing.
| Note value | Beats | Milliseconds | Seconds |
|---|---|---|---|
| Whole note | 4 | 2,000 ms | 2 s |
| Half note | 2 | 1,000 ms | 1 s |
| Quarter note | 1 | 500 ms | 0.5 s |
| Eighth note | 0.5 | 250 ms | 0.25 s |
| 16th note | 0.25 | 125 ms | 0.125 s |
| 32nd note | 0.125 | 62.5 ms | 0.0625 s |
| Dotted whole | 6 | 3,000 ms | 3 s |
| Dotted half | 3 | 1,500 ms | 1.5 s |
| Dotted quarter | 1.5 | 750 ms | 0.75 s |
| Dotted eighth | 0.75 | 375 ms | 0.375 s |
| Dotted 16th | 0.375 | 187.5 ms | 0.1875 s |
| Dotted 32nd | 0.188 | 93.75 ms | 0.0938 s |
| Whole triplet | 2.667 | 1,333.33 ms | 1.3333 s |
| Half triplet | 1.333 | 666.67 ms | 0.6667 s |
| Quarter triplet | 0.667 | 333.33 ms | 0.3333 s |
| Eighth triplet | 0.333 | 166.67 ms | 0.1667 s |
| 16th triplet | 0.167 | 83.33 ms | 0.0833 s |
| 32nd triplet | 0.083 | 41.67 ms | 0.0417 s |
1/4 beat delay
125 ms
1/2 beat delay
250 ms
2 beat delay
1,000 ms
Beats per minute is a tempo: how many steady pulses fit into one minute. To convert BPM to milliseconds, divide 60,000 by the tempo. At 120 BPM, one beat lasts 500 ms; at 60 BPM it lasts 1,000 ms; at 174 BPM, a common drum'n'bass tempo, one beat is about 344.83 ms. In 4/4 production work, that beat is usually treated as a quarter note, so a half note is two beats and an eighth note is half a beat.
Producers and mixing engineers use these values when setting unsynced delays, reverbs, tremolo, gates, sidechain release times, and modulation rates. A quarter-note delay repeats on the beat; an eighth or sixteenth delay feels tighter; dotted notes push the echo later by 50%; triplets divide the beat into three even parts. Those relationships follow standard note-duration names explained in basic rhythm lessons from musictheory.net.
Genre ranges are only starting points. A ballad might sit near 70 BPM, pop often lands around 120, dance records commonly center near 128, footwork is frequently around 160, and drum'n'bass is often near 174. The exact delay should still serve the groove, vocal space, and arrangement. Use the calculator for clean math, then fine tune by ear in context.