173 BPM
173 beats per minute is one beat every 346.82 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 173.
Updated 2026-10-17
173 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 173 BPM
At 173 BPM one beat lasts 346.82 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.387 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 2.883 beats per second, or 43.25 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 173 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 22.2 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 44.39 s. That is 9.8 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 260 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.347 s | 346.82 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.387 s | 1387.28 ms |
| 4 bars | 5.549 s | 5549.13 ms |
| 8 bars | 11.1 s | 11098.27 ms |
| 16 bars | 22.2 s | 22196.53 ms |
| 32 bars | 44.39 s | 44393.06 ms |
| 64 bars | 1:28.8 min | 88786.13 ms |
Delay times at 173 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 173 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 260.12 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 346.82 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) | 1387.28 ms | 2080.92 ms | 924.86 ms | 0.721 Hz |
| 1/2 | 693.64 ms | 1040.46 ms | 462.43 ms | 1.442 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 346.82 ms | 520.23 ms | 231.21 ms | 2.883 Hz |
| 1/8 | 173.41 ms | 260.12 ms | 115.61 ms | 5.767 Hz |
| 1/16 | 86.71 ms | 130.06 ms | 57.8 ms | 11.533 Hz |
| 1/32 | 43.35 ms | 65.03 ms | 28.9 ms | 23.067 Hz |
Reverb times at 173 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 173 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 21.68 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 43.35 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 | 21.68 ms | 346.82 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 43.35 ms | 693.64 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 43.35 ms | 1387.28 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 86.71 ms | 2774.57 ms |
Genres at 173 BPM
173 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 (86.5 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 173 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 173 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 173 BPM reaches 159.2–186.8 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 145.3–200.7 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 173 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 167 BPM | +3.59 % | +0.61 st |
| 169 BPM | +2.37 % | +0.4 st |
| 171 BPM | +1.17 % | +0.2 st |
| 172 BPM | +0.58 % | +0.1 st |
| 174 BPM | −0.57 % | −0.1 st |
| 175 BPM | −1.14 % | −0.2 st |
| 177 BPM | −2.26 % | −0.4 st |
| 179 BPM | −3.35 % | −0.59 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 173 BPM is 86.5 BPM and double-time is 346 BPM.
346 BPM is outside the 60–200 range of these pages; the half/double-time converter works with any value.
86.5 BPM falls between two whole tempos, so the nearest pages, 86 and 87 BPM, are linked instead.
Each 1 BPM step at this tempo changes the beat by about 1.99 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 173 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 173 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 173 = 346.82 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1387.28 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 173 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 173 BPM is 260.12 ms: an eighth note (173.41 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 346.82 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 231.21 ms.
- What genre is 173 BPM?
- Drum and bass and hardcore/gabber commonly use 173 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 173 BPM in Hz?
- 173 BPM is 2.8833 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.7208 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 11.533 Hz.