188 BPM
188 beats per minute is one beat every 319.15 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 188.
Updated 2026-10-17
188 BPM
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Beat, bar and phrase lengths at 188 BPM
At 188 BPM one beat lasts 319.15 ms and a 4/4 bar lasts 1.277 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 3.133 beats per second, or 47 bars of 4/4 per minute.
Dance tracks are usually arranged in 8-, 16- and 32-bar phrases. At 188 BPM a 16-bar phrase takes 20.43 s and a 32-bar intro or outro takes 40.85 s. That is 11.57 s shorter than the same 16 bars at 120 BPM. A six-minute track at this tempo contains about 282 bars.
| Length | Time | Milliseconds |
|---|---|---|
| 1 beat | 0.319 s | 319.15 ms |
| 1 bar (4 beats) | 1.277 s | 1276.6 ms |
| 4 bars | 5.106 s | 5106.38 ms |
| 8 bars | 10.21 s | 10212.77 ms |
| 16 bars | 20.43 s | 20425.53 ms |
| 32 bars | 40.85 s | 40851.06 ms |
| 64 bars | 1:21.7 min | 81702.13 ms |
Delay times at 188 BPM
Straight values follow the beat; dotted values are 1.5 times as long and triplets are two-thirds as long. At 188 BPM the popular dotted-eighth delay is 239.36 ms and a quarter-note slapback is 319.15 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) | 1276.6 ms | 1914.89 ms | 851.06 ms | 0.783 Hz |
| 1/2 | 638.3 ms | 957.45 ms | 425.53 ms | 1.567 Hz |
| 1/4 (one beat) | 319.15 ms | 478.72 ms | 212.77 ms | 3.133 Hz |
| 1/8 | 159.57 ms | 239.36 ms | 106.38 ms | 6.267 Hz |
| 1/16 | 79.79 ms | 119.68 ms | 53.19 ms | 12.533 Hz |
| 1/32 | 39.89 ms | 59.84 ms | 26.6 ms | 25.067 Hz |
Reverb times at 188 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 188 BPM a 1/64-note pre-delay is 19.95 ms and a 1/32-note pre-delay is 39.89 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 | 19.95 ms | 319.15 ms |
| Medium plate on vocals | 39.89 ms | 638.3 ms |
| Large hall or pad wash | 39.89 ms | 1276.6 ms |
| Ambient tail over two bars | 79.79 ms | 2553.19 ms |
Genres at 188 BPM
188 BPM is a very fast tempo, usually heard at half-time unless the style is hardcore. It sits in the middle of the hardcore/gabber range (160–200).
Heard at half-time (94 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.
- Hardcore/gabber: typically 160–200 BPM — speedcore and some gabber go well beyond 200.
Mixing into 188 BPM
To bring a track at another tempo up or down to 188 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 188 BPM reaches 173–203 BPM; a ±16 % range reaches 157.9–218.1 BPM.
| Track tempo | Pitch change to reach 188 | Key shift without key lock |
|---|---|---|
| 182 BPM | +3.3 % | +0.56 st |
| 184 BPM | +2.17 % | +0.37 st |
| 186 BPM | +1.08 % | +0.19 st |
| 187 BPM | +0.53 % | +0.09 st |
| 189 BPM | −0.53 % | −0.09 st |
| 190 BPM | −1.05 % | −0.18 st |
| 192 BPM | −2.08 % | −0.36 st |
| 194 BPM | −3.09 % | −0.54 st |
Half-time, double-time and nearby tempos
Half-time of 188 BPM is 94 BPM and double-time is 376 BPM.
376 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 1.69 ms, so neighbouring tempos are close enough to beatmatch with a small pitch move.
Frequently asked questions
- How many milliseconds is one beat at 188 BPM?
- One beat (a quarter note) at 188 BPM is 60,000 ÷ 188 = 319.15 ms. A 4/4 bar is four beats, 1276.6 ms.
- What is the dotted eighth delay time at 188 BPM?
- A dotted 1/8 delay at 188 BPM is 239.36 ms: an eighth note (159.57 ms) multiplied by 1.5. A straight quarter-note delay is 319.15 ms and a quarter-note triplet is 212.77 ms.
- What genre is 188 BPM?
- Hardcore/gabber commonly uses 188 BPM. Genre ranges overlap, so the drum pattern and sound decide the style more than the number does.
- What is 188 BPM in Hz?
- 188 BPM is 3.1333 Hz when one cycle equals one beat. An LFO synced to one bar runs at 0.7833 Hz, and one synced to sixteenth notes at 12.533 Hz.