Type a tempo in BPM and see exactly how many seconds each note value lasts — handy for setting delay times, sync'd effects, or just checking your count.
60 ÷ BPM. Every other value is a simple multiple or fraction of that: a half note is twice as long, an eighth note is half as long, and a dotted note is 1.5× its plain value. Triplets divide a beat into three equal parts instead of two.
| Note value | Beats | Duration |
|---|
A quarter note (crotchet) is defined as equal to one beat, so its duration in seconds at a given tempo is simply 60 ÷ BPM (beats per minute) — the foundation that every other note value is calculated from.
Every other note duration is a simple multiple or fraction of that one quarter-note value: a half note lasts twice as long, an eighth note lasts half as long, a whole note lasts four times as long, and so on through the standard note-value hierarchy used in music notation.
A dotted note (marked with a small dot after the note head) adds half of its own value again, making it 1.5× the plain note's duration. Triplets divide what would normally be one beat into three equal parts instead of the usual two, which is why they sound like they're 'squeezed in' compared to straight subdivisions.
60 divided by the BPM (beats per minute) gives the duration in seconds — for example, at 120 BPM, a quarter note lasts 60 ÷ 120 = 0.5 seconds.
It adds half of the note's own value again, making the total duration 1.5 times the plain note — a dotted half note, for example, lasts as long as three quarter notes.
A triplet divides a beat (or a note value) into three equal parts instead of the usual two, so each note in the triplet is shorter than it would be in a normal duple subdivision, giving that distinctive 'three notes in the space of two' feel.
Yes — enter any BPM value and every note duration (whole notes down to the smallest subdivisions, plus dotted and triplet variants) is calculated proportionally from that tempo.