156 BPM
156 beats per minute is one beat every 384.62 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 156.
Updated 2026-10-17
156 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 156 BPM
At 156 BPM one beat lasts 384.62 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.538 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 2.6 beats per second, or 39 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 156 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 24.62 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 49.23 s. That is 7.38 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 234 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.385 s | 384.62 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.538 s | 1538.46 ms |
| 4 bars | 6.154 s | 6153.85 ms |
| 8 bars | 12.31 s | 12307.69 ms |
| 16 bars | 24.62 s | 24615.38 ms |
| 32 bars | 49.23 s | 49230.77 ms |
| 64 bars | 1:38.5 min | 98461.54 ms |
Delay times at 156 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 156 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 288.46 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 384.62 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) | 1538.46 ms | 2307.69 ms | 1025.64 ms | 0.65 Hz |
| 1/2 | 769.23 ms | 1153.85 ms | 512.82 ms | 1.3 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 384.62 ms | 576.92 ms | 256.41 ms | 2.6 Hz |
| 1/8 | 192.31 ms | 288.46 ms | 128.21 ms | 5.2 Hz |
| 1/16 | 96.15 ms | 144.23 ms | 64.1 ms | 10.4 Hz |
| 1/32 | 48.08 ms | 72.12 ms | 32.05 ms | 20.8 Hz |
Reverb times at 156 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 156 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 24.04 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 48.08 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 | 24.04 ms | 384.62 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 48.08 ms | 769.23 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 48.08 ms | 1538.46 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 96.15 ms | 3076.92 ms |
Genres at 156 BPM
156 BPM is a fast tempo that is often felt at half-time. It sits near the upper end of the hardstyle range (145–160) and near the low end of the footwork/juke range (155–165).
Heard at half-time (78 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.
- Hardstyle: typically 145–160 BPM — most releases sit near 150.
- Footwork/juke: typically 155–165 BPM — built around 160 with half-time and triplet patterns.
Mixing into 156 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 156 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 156 BPM reaches 143.5–168.5 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 131–181 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 156 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 150 BPM | +4 % | +0.68 st |
| 152 BPM | +2.63 % | +0.45 st |
| 154 BPM | +1.3 % | +0.22 st |
| 155 BPM | +0.65 % | +0.11 st |
| 157 BPM | −0.64 % | −0.11 st |
| 158 BPM | −1.27 % | −0.22 st |
| 160 BPM | −2.5 % | −0.44 st |
| 162 BPM | −3.7 % | −0.65 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 156 BPM is 78 BPM and double-time is 312 BPM.
312 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 2.45 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 156 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 156 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 156 = 384.62 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1538.46 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 156 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 156 BPM is 288.46 ms: an eighth note (192.31 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 384.62 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 256.41 ms.
- What genre is 156 BPM?
- Hardstyle and footwork/juke commonly use 156 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 156 BPM in Hz?
- 156 BPM is 2.6 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.65 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 10.4 Hz.