Delay Calculator

The method: one division, then fractions of a beat

Almost every delay setting you will ever use is a fraction of one beat, so the whole tool rests on a single division. Once you know how long a quarter note lasts at your tempo, every other note value is that number multiplied by a fixed fraction.

The fractions halve as the notes subdivide: a 1/2 note is 2 quarters, a 1/4 is 1, a 1/8 is 1/2, a 1/16 is 1/4, and so on down to a 1/512, which is 1/128 of a quarter. Dotted values add half of themselves again, which is how a dotted 1/8 lands between a 1/8 and a 1/4 and creates that familiar galloping rhythm. Triplets squeeze three notes into the space of two, so each one lasts two-thirds of the straight value. The Hz column is not a separate calculation — it is the same interval read as a repetition rate, included because some units and most modulation sources ask for a rate instead of a time.

This page is the deep version of the delay table on the combined reverb and delay console on the home page, which shows both grids together when you want reverb timings in the same glance.

Reference table: the full grid at 120 BPM

120 BPM is the handiest reference tempo because the quarter note is a round 500 ms and every value below can be rescaled mentally — at 60 BPM double everything, at 240 BPM halve it. The live tool above recalculates this entire grid for your exact tempo.

For a wall-friendly version covering many tempos at once, print the complete BPM to milliseconds chart instead of screenshotting this table — it is laid out for paper and covers the tempos this page does not.

Choosing a delay value in practice

Straight, dotted or triplet?

Straight values reinforce the existing rhythm — a quarter or 1/8 delay thickens a part without changing its feel. Dotted values answer the gaps between played notes, which is why they add energy without obvious echo clutter. Triplets push against a straight grid and suit swung, shuffled or 6/8 material; on rigid four-on-the-floor parts they can feel restless, so audition them at low feedback first.

The dotted 1/8 callout

One value deserves its own paragraph: the dotted 1/8, the setting behind the interlocking guitar lines associated with The Edge. You play steady 1/8 notes, the delay repeats each one a dotted 1/8 later — 375 ms at 120 BPM, 351.56 ms at 128 BPM — and the repeats land in the empty 16th-note slots, turning a simple pattern into a shimmering 16th-note texture. It only works when the delay time is exact and the played part stays disciplined, which is precisely what this grid is for.

Setting a guitar pedal from this page

Plenty of players arrive here from a guitar search rather than a mixing one, and the delay side of this site is the right landing spot: most pedal delays have no tempo readout, only a time knob or a millisecond display. Work out your song tempo first — tap it with the tap-tempo BPM tool if the band does not play to a click — then read the millisecond value for the note you want and dial or type that number into the pedal. A dotted 1/8 for a 120 BPM song means setting roughly 375 ms, whatever brand name is printed on the enclosure. If your pedal offers tap tempo with a subdivision switch instead, set the switch to dotted 1/8 and tap quarters; the pedal is doing this same multiplication internally.

Pairing delay with reverb

Delay and reverb rarely compete when their jobs are split: let the delay carry the rhythmic information and keep any reverb shorter and quieter behind it. The gap before a reverb tail starts is its own setting with its own tool — see the pre-delay values that keep a source clear of its own wash — and feeding a tempo-synced delay into a tempo-fitted reverb is a classic way to get depth that still grooves.

Limitations

The grid assumes a constant tempo; in a live recording that drifts, an exact millisecond value will drift against the performance, and tapping an average tempo is the pragmatic fix. Very short values below roughly 30 ms stop sounding like echoes at all and become comb filtering or a subtle doubling, which is sometimes desirable but is a different effect. The grid also cannot tell you how many repeats to use, how dark they should be, or how loud — feedback, filtering and level are arrangement decisions. Finally, some hardware rounds to whole milliseconds, so a value like 703.13 ms becomes 703 ms on the unit; at normal tempos that rounding is inaudible.

Frequently asked questions