The Math We express musical tempos in beats per minute or BPM.

If our tempo is 120BPM, how long is one beat? Since our answer will be expressed in milliseconds, let's think of a minute as 60,000 milliseconds so BPM could be expressed as 60,000 divided by tempo. Let's pull out our calculators! What's the duration of a quarter note at 120 BPM? 60,000ms / 120 = 500ms So, if the tempo of our song is 120 BPM, setting a delay time of 500ms will give us a perfect quarter-note delay. Once we know the duration of a quarter note at any tempo, it's easy to figure out the delay time needed to produce any other rhythmic figure. Take a look at the following chart to see how this simple formula can be used to find delay times for rhythmic values at any tempo.

Delay Times for Common Rhythmic Values at 120 BPM Rhythmic Value Multiplier Delay Time Whole Note Quarter Note x 4 2000ms Half Note Quarter Note x 2 1000ms Quarter Note Quarter Note x 1 500ms 8th Note

Quarter Note x .5 250ms 16th Note Quarter Note x .25 125ms 8th Note Triplet Quarter Note x .333 167ms Quarter Note Triplet Quarter Note x .666 333ms Half Note Triplet Quarter Note x 1.333 667ms

Figure 9.18. Delay Times for Common Rhythmic Values at 120 BPM.

X Quater Note AT BPM = ? X2? = Answer 1 Min = 60,000ms