BPM to Delay Calculator — Musical Delay & Reverb Timing

Tempo-synced delays create rhythmic echoes that enhance the groove rather than clashing with it. A quarter-note delay at the song BPM produces a clean, musical echo. Dotted eighth notes create the classic U2/Edge delay pattern.

Pre-delay is the time between the dry signal and the onset of reverb reflections. Setting it to a musical value (typically 1/32 or 1/64 note) keeps the reverb in time with the music and maintains clarity on transients.

Using the Roger Linn / MPC convention that every DAW shares, swing is given as a percentage where 50% means straight (both notes of an eighth-note pair are equal) and ~67% means a perfect triplet shuffle (the on-beat note gets two-thirds of the beat and the off-beat note one-third). For a swung eighth pair at 120 BPM, 67% gives a long note of 333 ms and a short note of 167 ms; at 50% both are 250 ms. Set your delay’s long and short echoes to match the swing percentage of your track for a natural feel.

Dotted notes are 1.5x the straight note value. Triplet notes are 2/3 of the straight value. Dotted eighth delays (3/16 note) are very popular in pop and rock production for their bouncing, forward-moving feel.