180 BPM
180 beats per minute is one beat every 333.33 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 180.
Updated 2026-10-17
180 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 180 BPM
At 180 BPM one beat lasts 333.33 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.333 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. 180 BPM is exactly 3 beats per second, which makes it a handy reference for counting along with a clock.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 180 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 21.33 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 42.67 s. That is 10.67 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 270 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.333 s | 333.33 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.333 s | 1333.33 ms |
| 4 bars | 5.333 s | 5333.33 ms |
| 8 bars | 10.67 s | 10666.67 ms |
| 16 bars | 21.33 s | 21333.33 ms |
| 32 bars | 42.67 s | 42666.67 ms |
| 64 bars | 1:25.3 min | 85333.33 ms |
Delay times at 180 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 180 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 250 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 333.33 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) | 1333.33 ms | 2000 ms | 888.89 ms | 0.75 Hz |
| 1/2 | 666.67 ms | 1000 ms | 444.44 ms | 1.5 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 333.33 ms | 500 ms | 222.22 ms | 3 Hz |
| 1/8 | 166.67 ms | 250 ms | 111.11 ms | 6 Hz |
| 1/16 | 83.33 ms | 125 ms | 55.56 ms | 12 Hz |
| 1/32 | 41.67 ms | 62.5 ms | 27.78 ms | 24 Hz |
Reverb times at 180 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 180 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 20.83 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 41.67 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 | 20.83 ms | 333.33 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 41.67 ms | 666.67 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 41.67 ms | 1333.33 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 83.33 ms | 2666.67 ms |
Genres at 180 BPM
180 BPM is a very fast tempo, usually heard at half-time unless the style is hardcore. It sits at the top of the drum and bass range (160–180) and in the middle of the hardcore/gabber range (160–200).
Heard at half-time (90 BPM) it lines up with ambient/downtempo, hip-hop, reggae/dub, reggaeton/dembow and pop. 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 180 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 180 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 180 BPM reaches 165.6–194.4 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 151.2–208.8 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 180 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 174 BPM | +3.45 % | +0.59 st |
| 176 BPM | +2.27 % | +0.39 st |
| 178 BPM | +1.12 % | +0.19 st |
| 179 BPM | +0.56 % | +0.1 st |
| 181 BPM | −0.55 % | −0.1 st |
| 182 BPM | −1.1 % | −0.19 st |
| 184 BPM | −2.17 % | −0.38 st |
| 186 BPM | −3.23 % | −0.57 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 180 BPM is 90 BPM and double-time is 360 BPM.
360 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 1.84 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 180 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 180 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 180 = 333.33 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1333.33 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 180 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 180 BPM is 250 ms: an eighth note (166.67 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 333.33 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 222.22 ms.
- What genre is 180 BPM?
- Drum and bass and hardcore/gabber commonly use 180 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 180 BPM in Hz?
- 180 BPM is 3 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.75 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 12 Hz.