Delay time & BPM calculator
Every note value in milliseconds and Hz for your tempo — tap it in if you don't know it — plus samples and distance-to-delay for speaker alignment.
Click TAP (or press T) in time — four taps give a stable reading.
| Note | Straight ms | Dotted ms | Triplet ms | LFO Hz | Samples |
|---|
Using delay times musically
Delays locked to the tempo sit inside the groove instead of fighting it. Classic moves: dotted-eighth echo on guitars and synths, quarter-note on vocals for big choruses, triplet-eighth for shuffle feels. The LFO column is the same conversion for tempo-syncing chorus, tremolo or auto-filters when a plugin only takes Hz: Hz = 1000 / ms.
Distance to delay: aligning speakers
Sound covers roughly a foot per millisecond — precisely, c = 331.4 + 0.6·T meters per second at temperature T°C. Delay fills and subwoofers by the distance they sit ahead of the mains: the tool's distance box gives the milliseconds to dial in. Under ~25–30 ms arrivals fuse into one sound (the Haas window); beyond that you start hearing a distinct echo.
FAQ
Why do dotted and triplet columns exist?
A dotted note is 1.5× its straight value; a triplet is ⅔. They're the two most-used rhythmic feels for delays — dotted pushes against the beat, triplet rolls with swung material.
What's the samples column for?
Sample-accurate work: lining up printed delays, nudging regions, or setting look-ahead. It's the straight note value at your selected sample rate.
Does temperature really matter for alignment?
Outdoors, yes: from 5 °C to 35 °C the speed of sound changes ~5%, which is over 1 ms across 10 m — audible as comb filtering between stacked sources. Indoors at stable temperature it's a rounding error.