172 BPM
172 beats per minute is one beat every 348.84 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 172.
Updated 2026-10-17
172 BPM
The interactive tool loads when JavaScript is available. The complete guide remains readable below.
Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 172 BPM
At 172 BPM one beat lasts 348.84 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.395 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 2.867 beats per second, or 43 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 172 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 22.33 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 44.65 s. That is 9.67 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 258 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.349 s | 348.84 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.395 s | 1395.35 ms |
| 4 bars | 5.581 s | 5581.4 ms |
| 8 bars | 11.16 s | 11162.79 ms |
| 16 bars | 22.33 s | 22325.58 ms |
| 32 bars | 44.65 s | 44651.16 ms |
| 64 bars | 1:29.3 min | 89302.33 ms |
Delay times at 172 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 172 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 261.63 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 348.84 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) | 1395.35 ms | 2093.02 ms | 930.23 ms | 0.717 Hz |
| 1/2 | 697.67 ms | 1046.51 ms | 465.12 ms | 1.433 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 348.84 ms | 523.26 ms | 232.56 ms | 2.867 Hz |
| 1/8 | 174.42 ms | 261.63 ms | 116.28 ms | 5.733 Hz |
| 1/16 | 87.21 ms | 130.81 ms | 58.14 ms | 11.467 Hz |
| 1/32 | 43.6 ms | 65.41 ms | 29.07 ms | 22.933 Hz |
Reverb times at 172 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 172 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 21.8 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 43.6 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 | 21.8 ms | 348.84 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 43.6 ms | 697.67 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 43.6 ms | 1395.35 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 87.21 ms | 2790.7 ms |
Genres at 172 BPM
172 BPM is a fast tempo that is often felt at half-time. It sits in the middle of the drum and bass range (160–180) and in the middle of the hardcore/gabber range (160–200).
Heard at half-time (86 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.
- Drum and bass: typically 160–180 BPM — modern releases mostly sit at 170–176; often felt at half-time.
- Hardcore/gabber: typically 160–200 BPM — speedcore and some gabber go well beyond 200.
Mixing into 172 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 172 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 172 BPM reaches 158.2–185.8 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 144.5–199.5 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 172 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 166 BPM | +3.61 % | +0.61 st |
| 168 BPM | +2.38 % | +0.41 st |
| 170 BPM | +1.18 % | +0.2 st |
| 171 BPM | +0.58 % | +0.1 st |
| 173 BPM | −0.58 % | −0.1 st |
| 174 BPM | −1.15 % | −0.2 st |
| 176 BPM | −2.27 % | −0.4 st |
| 178 BPM | −3.37 % | −0.59 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 172 BPM is 86 BPM and double-time is 344 BPM.
344 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 2.02 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 172 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 172 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 172 = 348.84 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1395.35 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 172 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 172 BPM is 261.63 ms: an eighth note (174.42 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 348.84 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 232.56 ms.
- What genre is 172 BPM?
- Drum and bass and hardcore/gabber commonly use 172 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 172 BPM in Hz?
- 172 BPM is 2.8667 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.7167 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 11.467 Hz.