How to Set Delay Time to Tempo: Quarter, Dotted and Triplet

Five steps from BPM to delay time

A tempo-synced delay needs two inputs, the BPM and a note value, and one formula. Plug-ins with a sync switch do the math internally; hardware pedals, older units and live-sound processors need the millisecond value typed in or tapped.

1. Find the song’s BPM

   Read the tempo from the DAW transport, the setlist or the score. For a recording, measure it with the tap tempo BPM finder. The delay is only as accurate as this number: an error of 2 BPM at 120 BPM moves a quarter-note delay by more than 8 ms.

2. Choose the note value

   Quarter notes give a clear, spacious echo for ballads and vocals. Eighth notes fill faster parts. Dotted eighths create the rolling, off-grid rhythm heard on many guitar parts. Triplets add a swung, shuffle feel. Sixteenths give a short doubling or slapback texture.

3. Calculate the milliseconds

   Divide 60,000 by the BPM for a quarter note, then multiply by the note’s length in quarter notes.

   delay (ms) = 60,000 ÷ BPM × note length in beats

   An eighth note is 0.5 beats, a sixteenth 0.25 and a half note 2. At 128 BPM: 60,000 ÷ 128 = 468.75 ms for a quarter, and 468.75 × 0.5 = 234.38 ms for an eighth.

4. Apply the dot or triplet

   Multiply by 1.5 for a dotted note, because the dot adds half the note’s value. Multiply by 2/3 for a triplet, because three triplets fill the time of two plain notes. At 90 BPM an eighth lasts 333.33 ms, so a dotted eighth is 500 ms and an eighth-note triplet is 222.22 ms. The guide to dotted notes and the triplet guide explain both ratios.

5. Set the feedback so repeats clear the next phrase

   Feedback sets how many repeats sound. Raise it until the echoes decay just before the next vocal line or phrase begins, then back it off a little. A quarter-note delay at 120 BPM repeats every 500 ms, so four audible repeats last 2 seconds, one full 4/4 bar. Longer delay times need less feedback to fill the same gap.

Worked delay times at 90, 120 and 128 BPM

The same six note values give very different millisecond settings at each tempo. Every value below uses 60,000 ÷ BPM and the ratios from step 4, rounded to two decimals.

For any other tempo, the BPM delay calculator lists straight, dotted and triplet values for every common note length.

Why the dotted-eighth delay is so common

A dotted-eighth delay repeats three sixteenths after each note, so the echoes fall between the played eighth notes and create a new rhythm. A guitarist playing straight eighths at 120 BPM hears the notes every 250 ms and the echoes offset by 375 ms.

Set the mix of the delayed signal close to the dry level for the effect to read as rhythm rather than ambience. The pattern works best on steady eighth-note parts; it blurs dense sixteenth-note playing.

Delay timing mistakes to avoid

Most out-of-time delays come from a wrong BPM, a wrong beat unit or a millisecond setting left over from another song.

• Doubling the tempo by accident: a 70 BPM track counted as 140 BPM halves every delay time.
• Leaving a fixed millisecond value on a pedal when the setlist moves to a new song.
• Ignoring tempo changes: a synced plug-in follows a DAW tempo map, a millisecond setting does not.
• Over-feeding the repeats until they mask the next phrase; the pairing with a timed reverb is covered in reverb pre-delay and decay timing.

Questions