Music & audio

Music production and audio math: tempo-synced delay in milliseconds, note names to Hz (A4 = 440 Hz), uncompressed PCM/WAV file size from sample rate and bit depth, and cents between frequencies for tuning and intonation. Does not replace a DAW — quick reference for dial-in values.

Delay times come from a single relationship: a quarter note lasts 60,000 divided by the tempo in BPM, in milliseconds. At 120 BPM that is 500 ms, with eighth notes at 250 and sixteenths at 125. Dotted values multiply by 1.5 and triplets by two-thirds, which is why a dotted-eighth delay sits so well against a straight-eighth part. Note frequencies here assume equal temperament with A4 at 440 Hz; orchestras and early-music ensembles sometimes tune elsewhere, and other temperaments place the intervals differently, so treat the Hz values as the modern default rather than a universal. Cents are logarithmic — 100 cents to a semitone — which is why the same cent offset represents a much larger frequency gap high in the register than low.