140 BPM
140 beats per minute is one beat every 428.57 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 140.
Updated 2026-10-17
140 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 140 BPM
At 140 BPM one beat lasts 428.57 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.714 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 2.333 beats per second, or 35 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 140 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 27.43 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 54.86 s. That is 4.57 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 210 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.429 s | 428.57 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.714 s | 1714.29 ms |
| 4 bars | 6.857 s | 6857.14 ms |
| 8 bars | 13.71 s | 13714.29 ms |
| 16 bars | 27.43 s | 27428.57 ms |
| 32 bars | 54.86 s | 54857.14 ms |
| 64 bars | 1:49.7 min | 109714.29 ms |
Delay times at 140 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 140 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 321.43 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 428.57 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) | 1714.29 ms | 2571.43 ms | 1142.86 ms | 0.583 Hz |
| 1/2 | 857.14 ms | 1285.71 ms | 571.43 ms | 1.167 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 428.57 ms | 642.86 ms | 285.71 ms | 2.333 Hz |
| 1/8 | 214.29 ms | 321.43 ms | 142.86 ms | 4.667 Hz |
| 1/16 | 107.14 ms | 160.71 ms | 71.43 ms | 9.333 Hz |
| 1/32 | 53.57 ms | 80.36 ms | 35.71 ms | 18.667 Hz |
Reverb times at 140 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 140 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 26.79 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 53.57 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 | 26.79 ms | 428.57 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 53.57 ms | 857.14 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 53.57 ms | 1714.29 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 107.14 ms | 3428.57 ms |
Genres at 140 BPM
140 BPM is in the up-tempo, high-energy range. It sits at the top of the UK garage/breakbeat range (125–140), in the middle of the techno range (125–150), near the upper end of the trance range (128–145) and in the middle of the dubstep range (135–145).
Heard at half-time (70 BPM) it lines up with ambient/downtempo, hip-hop and reggae/dub. 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.
- UK garage/breakbeat: typically 125–140 BPM — shuffled and broken drums can make the count ambiguous.
- Techno: typically 125–150 BPM — from restrained 125 to fast, hard styles near 150.
- Trance: typically 128–145 BPM — a regular kick usually gives a clear pulse.
- Dubstep: typically 135–145 BPM — usually counted around 140 but felt at half-time, near 70.
Mixing into 140 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 140 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 140 BPM reaches 128.8–151.2 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 117.6–162.4 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 140 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 134 BPM | +4.48 % | +0.76 st |
| 136 BPM | +2.94 % | +0.5 st |
| 138 BPM | +1.45 % | +0.25 st |
| 139 BPM | +0.72 % | +0.12 st |
| 141 BPM | −0.71 % | −0.12 st |
| 142 BPM | −1.41 % | −0.25 st |
| 144 BPM | −2.78 % | −0.49 st |
| 146 BPM | −4.11 % | −0.73 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 140 BPM is 70 BPM and double-time is 280 BPM.
280 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 3.04 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 140 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 140 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 140 = 428.57 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1714.29 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 140 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 140 BPM is 321.43 ms: an eighth note (214.29 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 428.57 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 285.71 ms.
- What genre is 140 BPM?
- UK garage/breakbeat, techno, trance and dubstep commonly use 140 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 140 BPM in Hz?
- 140 BPM is 2.3333 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.5833 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 9.333 Hz.