122 BPM
122 beats per minute is one beat every 491.8 ms. Below: bar and phrase lengths, delay and reverb times, LFO rates, the genres that use this tempo, and the pitch change needed to mix in from nearby tempos. Start the metronome or tap along to a track to check it is really 122.
Updated 2026-10-17
122 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 122 BPM
At 122 BPM one beat lasts 491.8 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.967 s. The beat is not a whole number of milliseconds, so round to the nearest 0.1 ms when you type times in by hand, or use your plugin's tempo sync. That is 2.033 beats per second, or 30.5 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 122 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 31.48 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 1:03.0 min. That is 0.52 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 183 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.492 s | 491.8 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.967 s | 1967.21 ms |
| 4 bars | 7.869 s | 7868.85 ms |
| 8 bars | 15.74 s | 15737.7 ms |
| 16 bars | 31.48 s | 31475.41 ms |
| 32 bars | 1:03.0 min | 62950.82 ms |
| 64 bars | 2:05.9 min | 125901.64 ms |
Delay times at 122 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 122 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 368.85 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 491.8 ms. The Hz column is the matching rate for an LFO, tremolo or auto-pan synced to the straight note.
| Note | Straight | Dotted | Triplet | Rate (straight) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1/1 (one 4/4 bar) | 1967.21 ms | 2950.82 ms | 1311.48 ms | 0.508 Hz |
| 1/2 | 983.61 ms | 1475.41 ms | 655.74 ms | 1.017 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 491.8 ms | 737.7 ms | 327.87 ms | 2.033 Hz |
| 1/8 | 245.9 ms | 368.85 ms | 163.93 ms | 4.067 Hz |
| 1/16 | 122.95 ms | 184.43 ms | 81.97 ms | 8.133 Hz |
| 1/32 | 61.48 ms | 92.21 ms | 40.98 ms | 16.267 Hz |
Reverb times at 122 BPM
A common way to keep a reverb in time is to tie its pre-delay to a short note value and let the tail fade within a longer one. At 122 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 30.74 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 61.48 ms.
The decay control on most reverbs is RT60, the time it takes the tail to fall by 60 dB, so the audible tail ends earlier than the number shown. Treat these values as starting points and adjust by ear.
| Reverb character | Pre-delay | Decay (RT60) |
|---|---|---|
| Tight room on drums | 30.74 ms | 491.8 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 61.48 ms | 983.61 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 61.48 ms | 1967.21 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 122.95 ms | 3934.43 ms |
Genres at 122 BPM
122 BPM is squarely in the most common club and dance-music range. It sits near the upper end of the pop range (90–130), in the middle of the disco range (105–130) and in the middle of the house range (118–130).
Heard at half-time (61 BPM) it lines up with ambient/downtempo. A detector or a tag in your library may report either reading, so check by ear which one the drums suggest.
These ranges are common practice rather than rules: genre is decided by rhythm, sound and scene as much as by tempo, and plenty of tracks sit outside the usual numbers.
- Pop: typically 90–130 BPM — a wide band; the genre is defined by songwriting, not tempo.
- Disco: typically 105–130 BPM — steady four-on-the-floor sections are easy to count.
- House: typically 118–130 BPM — most club house clusters around 120–128.
Mixing into 122 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 122 BPM, move its pitch fader by the percentage below. Without key lock the key moves too, by the number of semitones shown; about 6 % is one semitone, so changes beyond that are where key lock (master tempo) starts to matter.
A ±8 % pitch fader on a track at 122 BPM reaches 112.2–131.8 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 102.5–141.5 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 122 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 116 BPM | +5.17 % | +0.87 st |
| 118 BPM | +3.39 % | +0.58 st |
| 120 BPM | +1.67 % | +0.29 st |
| 121 BPM | +0.83 % | +0.14 st |
| 123 BPM | −0.81 % | −0.14 st |
| 124 BPM | −1.61 % | −0.28 st |
| 126 BPM | −3.17 % | −0.56 st |
| 128 BPM | −4.69 % | −0.83 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 122 BPM is 61 BPM and double-time is 244 BPM.
244 BPM is outside the 60–200 range of these pages; the half/double-time converter works with any value.
Each 1 BPM step at this tempo changes the beat by about 4 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 122 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 122 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 122 = 491.8 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1967.21 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 122 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 122 BPM is 368.85 ms: an eighth note (245.9 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 491.8 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 327.87 ms.
- What genre is 122 BPM?
- Pop, disco and house commonly use 122 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 122 BPM in Hz?
- 122 BPM is 2.0333 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.5083 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 8.133 Hz.