Tempo Calculator — BPM to Note Duration in Milliseconds

Quarter note duration (ms) = 60,000 / BPM. At 120 BPM: 60,000 / 120 = 500ms per quarter note. Multiply by 2 for half notes, divide by 2 for eighth notes. Dotted notes are 1.5x the straight value. Triplets are 2/3 of the straight value.

Many audio effects (delay, reverb pre-delay, LFO rate, gate timing) are set in milliseconds. To sync these effects to the tempo of your music, you need the exact millisecond value for each note division. This ensures effects groove with the music rather than fighting it.

A dotted note lasts 1.5 times as long as a regular note. A dotted eighth note = eighth note + sixteenth note = 1.5 x eighth note. Dotted eighth note delays are extremely popular — they create the rhythmic delay sound heard in countless pop and rock recordings.

A triplet divides a beat into three equal parts instead of two. A triplet quarter note is 2/3 the length of a regular quarter note. Triplets create a swinging, rolling feel and are fundamental to jazz, blues, shuffle and many dance music styles.

The tempo marking (Largo, Andante, Allegro, Presto and so on) is an indicative classification only. Historical Italian tempo terms describe character as much as speed, and their BPM ranges overlap heavily and vary by source and era — for example Allegro is given anywhere from roughly 84 to 168 BPM depending on the reference. The millisecond and sample-count results, by contrast, are exact: they come straight from 60,000 / BPM and do not depend on the marking.