Getting results

Removing vocals

Power Vocal Remover is a tool that allows removing a lead vocal from a stereo recording. It bases on a common technique used in song mastering – lead vocal is usually mixed equally between both stereo channels.

To start AI Vocal Remover click AI Vocal Remover button on the toolbar (image.png) or select AI Vocal Remover from Toolbox menu.

image.png

 

Files

Here you may select the input and the output of the processing. By default the input file is the current soundtrack and the output name is created by appending –music to the input name. You may also create a vocal-only track (it will have -vocal added to the name).

Output folder is where the files will be written to. 

Output format

You may create MP3 or WAV files. For MP3 format it is possible to adjust encoding parameters.

Processing mode

You may choose one of two processing modes, we recommend using Best, but if it does not work or is too slow, try Normal or Highest.
Keep backing vocals will run additional processing that tries to retain background harmonies, doubles, and other supporting vocal layers while removing the main vocal

Creating duets

Simple duets

Basic version of Karaoke CD+G Creator offers basic duet support. It changes text settings using predefined duet styles to visualize the change of the singer. For more information please see section Using duet events.

 

Advanced duets

 Pro version allows to create professional parallel duets. The most important features are:

Duet Wizard that helps to assign lyrics to singers

Full duet synchronization mode

Divided CD+G screen for duets (Singer 1 at top and Singer 2 at the bottom of the screen) with separate settings for each of the singers

 

 Please note that in tutorials section you will find Create song with duets tutorial.

 

General remarks

In duet mode Karaoke CD+G Creator divides the song in three modes: parts that are to be sung by Singer 1, those to be sung by Singer 2, and parts of the song sung together by both singers.

 Parts sung by both singers are displayed in the same manner as the lyrics in non-duets song. But when Karaoke CD+G Creator finds duet part, it divides the screen into two parts and displays lyrics for singer 1 at the top, and lyrics for singer 2 at the bottom (see image above).

 To enable duets in Karaoke CD+G Creator use Full duet mode toolbar button () or select Enable full duet mode from synchronization menu.

 

Non-split duets

If you do not wish to split the screen between two singers and rather have words for both singers displayed one after another, disable Full duet mode before creating karaoke file. Also the lyrics for both singers should interleave -- they need to be in the same order as they should be displayed (so in general this will be like duets in PowerKaraoke, but with concurrent highlighting.

 

 We have prepared an example that shows this -- it is brother john no split.pk2 file.

 

Multiple languages

Full duet mode can be used to create song in two languages. 


 Please see brother john two languages.pk2 file located in Examples subdirectory of Karaoke CD+G Creator directory (usually C:\Program Files\Doblon\Karaoke CD+G Creator Pro or Documents\My Karaoke\Karaoke CD+G Creator Pro Examples on Windows Vista).

 

DUET WIZARD

Duet Wizard allows to assign portions of the lyrics to each of the singers.

To start it click Duet Wizard button on the toolbar (image.png) or select Duet Wizard from Edit menu.

 image.png

 Lyrics assigned to Singer 1 are red, lyrics assigned to Singer 2 are blue, and those that should be sung together are grey.

 To assign a part of the lyrics to particular singer (or to both singers) select this part in the lyrics window (drag mouse to select the text) and then click Selection button next to the singer mode you want to use. Duet Wizard always uses full lines, so if you position the cursor in the middle of the line and then click Selection, entire line will be assigned.

 From cursor to end buttons allow to assign all song lyrics from the current cursor position to the end of the song to one of the duet modes.

 Set all will assign entire song to one of the modes.

 After you close Duet Wizard with OK you will see that Duet events have been inserted in the text of the song.

image.png

 Please note that you can enter Duet Wizard many times and the current duet assignments will be the starting point for further editing.

 

FULL DUET SYNCHRONIZATION

To do this we need to enter full duet mode. To do this click Full duet mode button on the toolbar (image.png) or select Enable full duet mode from Synchronize menu. Duet tab control will appear above the lyrics editor.

image.png

Duet tabs allow switching between duet modes. No duets is for editing lyrics -- it displays the entire text of the song. The other three are for each of the duet roles.

Selecting Singer 1 tab will activate Singer 1 duet mode. It will dim the lyrics that are not assigned for Singer 1 and preview will show Singer 1 lyrics only.

Duet tabs are used to synchronize the duet song. Unfortunately synchronizing duet songs takes three times as long as regular songs -- you have to synchronize part for both singers, and then individual parts for each of the two singers.

To continue with the tutorial try synchronizing the lyrics with the music. Select Both duet tab, click Synchronize entire song button on the toolbar, and synchronize the first and the last verse of the song. Then select Singer 1 tab, click Synchronize entire song button again and synchronize the second and the third verse. And finally synchronize Singer 2 -- this time start in the middle of the second verse.

 Please note that synchronization labels in the soundtrack panel are not visible in No duets mode -- you need to activate one of the duet tabs to display and edit them.

 

DUET SETTINGS

To adjust the settings for duets double-click any of the duet events (Duet dialog box will appear) and select Duet settings button to open Duet settings dialog box.

image.png

Here you can define the text settings for Singer 1 and Singer 2 -- just select the mode on the top and adjust the settings. Please note that the number of lines apply to half of the screen only (Singer 1 uses the upper part and Singer 2 uses the lower part of screen). Settings for Both singers mode are copied from general settings.

Using CD+G events

Karaoke CD+G Creator gives you the full control over the CD+G track you create. You may change the text properties, colors, and display images anywhere in the song. These extra options are available by the means of CD+G events. CD+G event is executed after the preceding word is painted or highlighted (it depends of the event, eg. Clear screen is triggered after highlighting, while Colors event during painting).

 You work with CD+G events in lyrics editor. They are displayed as boxes with text describing the type of the event.


 In order to insert a CD+G event position the cursor in the place the event should be inserted and click Insert Event button on the lyrics pane toolbar () or  select Insert CD+G event menu command from Edit menu. Insert CD+G Event dialog box will appear, allowing you to select the event type from the list.


 Below is the list of events available in Karaoke CD+G Creator. Please remember that some of them are available in Pro version only. After you select the type of the event another dialog box is displayed that allows to set the properties of the selected event type.

Clear Screen

Causes a screen to be erased after the last word before the event becomes highlighted

Colors

Allows to change colors for text (both normal and highlighted), effects, background, and border

Countdown

Inserts countdown mark before the next word that helps the singer to start on time

Display Image

Allows to display an image on the screen. Before the picture is displayed the screen is cleared.

Duet

Allows to change the coloring of the text to visualize the change of a singer
 In Pro version duets can be parallel

 Overprint Image

Allows to display the image anywhere on the text. It may also be used to erase a part of the screen

 Set Text Area

Using this event you may display the image and the text on screen at the same time. It also allows to change the portion of the screen that is used to display the lyrics

Text Settings

Allows to modify the properties of the text

 Events can be edited. To edit an event double-click it in the lyrics editor or right-click it and select CD+G Event Properties command from pop-up menu.

 Events can be deleted like other text. There is one more editing feature available for events -- you may copy event and insert it in some other place in the song. to do this right-click an event to copy and select Copy Event command. Now right-click in the place you want the copy of the event to appear and select Paste CD+G Event command from pop-up menu.

 

CLEAR SCREEN EVENT

This event will cause a screen to be erased after the last word before the event becomes highlighted. 

image.png

 You may select the mode that will be used to clear the screen (the default Simple is the fastest and results in immediate screen erase). Reverse will cause the effect to be reversed (ie. Left to Right will become Right to Left).

  If scrolling display mode is selected, after clearing the screen lyrics will painted from the top of the screen.

 

COLORS EVENT

Colors event allows to change colors for text (both normal and highlighted), effects, background, and border.

image.png

 Colors change will affect all words after the event. We do not recommend changing background and border colors in the middle of the page, only after of immediately before Clear screen events.

 With Colors event it is possible to change the sweep mode from highlighting text to highlighting the text outline. To do this select the same color for normal and highlighted text, and then select different colors for normal and highlighted effects. Also make sure to enable Outline text effects in CD+G Settings dialog box.

 Due to CD+G format limitations (only 16 colors can be used at one time) if you use too many color changes on one screen you may experience problems (you will not the colors that you want). We advice to use no more than 6 color sets with disabled effects and no more that 3 color sets with enabled effects.

  Color event needs to be used cautiously if you choose to display image using Set text area event, as the maximum number of colors on screen is 16, and usually image uses up to 10. With one color for background and one for border this leaves 4 colors for text -- that is 2 color sets with no effects and only one with effects enabled.

 

COUNTDOWN EVENT

Countdown event tells Karaoke Creator to display a countdown marker before the next word is highlighted. In the current version of the program countdown marker is a string of dots.

image.png

 Countdown time defines the duration of the countdown (2 seconds by default).

 Number of items is the number of characters to display.

 Use repeated character select the default mode of repeating the single character several times. You may change the character used in Character to use field.

 Use text allows to enter text that will be used as a countdown. The text has to be entered into Text to use field.

 

DISPLAY IMAGE EVENT

Display Image event allows to display the image on the screen. Before the image is displayed the screen is cleared.

 The image will be displayed immediately after the last word before it is highlighted.

                 In Pro version you may modify this behaviour with Synchronization settings.


 Note: CD+G image format is 288x192.

 Images may be of any size and color depth, however if they contain more than 16 colors or are larger than 288 x 192, they will be automatically converted to CD+G format. If you would like to use an image editing software to decrease the color depth and resize the images, make sure you save them as 4-bit BMP file.

 File

You need to select the file containing the image. The following formats are supported:

To invoke the file selection dialog box select Browse button.

By default Karaoke Creator leaves the images on the hard disk and reads them when needed (Link to file option selected). This behavior reduces the size of PK3 files and allows making changes to the images using image editors (you do not have to visit the event again -- just edit the image and re-create the song). However if you delete the image file from disk, it will not be available.

 If you would like to share your PK3 files select Insert contents option. It will cause Karaoke Creator to include the image in PK3 file, so you may send it over to a friend or delete image files. Note that if image source file is deleted you will not be able to edit it any more.

Keep on screen for N seconds

This setting controls how long will the image be visible before it is erased. Note that painting time (up to 10 seconds for a full screen sized picture) and erasing is not included, so the total time that the picture takes equals to the sum of painting time, display time, and erase time.

 Selecting 0 will cause the image to become erased immediately after it is fully painted.

Border color

Choose the color that will surround the image. Note that it is different than Borders color setting in Colors event, as it refers to the area not taken by the image, and not only to the border of the screen. If you are using image as a background (in Set Text Area event) the background color must match the background color of the text.

Display mode and Erase mode

These settings control the way image is painted and erased. By default images are painted from left to right and erased immediately. You may change it by selecting any of the display effects.

 Checking the Reverse checkbox will cause the effect to run backwards, for example Left to Right mode will become to Right to Left.

 Note that selecting Fade and Simple as Display mode will cause the screen to go blank for several seconds (the image still needs to be painted, and this is done in a way that is not visible, yet still takes time).

Alignment

You may select the position of the picture if it is not full screen sized. Simply select the appropriate rectangle. By default images are centered.

Force scaling

This option will force the image to be scaled to the size defined in Width and Height boxes. This size cannot be larger than the full screen (288 x 192).

Dithering

If the number of colors in the image is larger than 16, Karaoke Creator will reduce it. You may select the algorithm that is used to make the image look as good as possible with the lower number of colors. Selecting none will disable any dithering. The simples way to see how each of the algorithms works is to select it and then to click the Preview button.

Resizing

This setting controls the way image is scaled if its size is not 288 x 192 (full screen).

Fit will cause the image to be scaled up or down to take as much screen as possible.

Fit if larger (default setting) will scale the image only if it is too large, it will not stretch it.

Crop will not scale the image and will display as much of it as possible.

 All resizing modes retain aspect ratio of the image.

Preview

Click this button to see how the picture will look.

Notes

·    Images with more colors take longer to paint.

·    Inserting image in the middle of the song may use up the time and cause the loss of synchronization.

 

 Synchronization (Pro version only)

By default the image will be displayed immediately after the last word before it is highlighted. It is possible to define the exact time when it should appear (but remember that image needs to fit between the previous and the next word).

 You may define the exact time the image should be visible (From the start of the song) -- the value in Display at box is a position in seconds. You may use Copy from cursor button to enter current cursor position into Display at box.

 You may also define time before the next word is highlighted (Before the next word) or after the previous word finishes highlighting (After the previous word).

 Please remember that the time position refers to the moment image is fully painted. It does not include painting nor erasing time.

DUET EVENT

Duet event allows to change the current duet mode.

 In regular version of Karaoke CD+G Creator duet mode changes the coloring and alignment of the text to visualize the change of a singer.

  In Pro version with full duet mode enabled duets can be parallel. The upper part of the screen is taken by Singer 1, and the lower by Singer 2. The lyrics for each of the singers are highlighted independently. Please see Creating duets section for more information.


 All words after the event will be colored according to the selected mode. Three duet modes are available:

·    Singer 1

·    Singer 2

·    Both

 

You may view and change the predefined coloring and alignment assigned to duet modes by clicking Duet settings button.


 Mode allows to change the duet mode that you would like to modify. Only Singer 1 and Singer 2 modes are available -- for Both Karaoke CD+G Creator uses global CD+G settings for the song (as defined in CD+G Settings dialog box).

 Color and Highlight allows you to change the color of the text assigned to the selected mode, while Alignment controls the alignment of the text assigned to the selected mode.

  In Pro version you are also able to set lines count and vertical alignment for each of duet modes.

 The duet settings are global for the song.

 Note: Colors and Text settings flags overwrite the duet settings.

  

OVERPRINT IMAGE

 Note: This event is available in Pro version only.

 This event allows to display the image anywhere on the text. It may also be used to erase a part of the screen.

 

 As you can see the settings are very similar to Display image event.

 

File

You need to select the file containing the image. The following formats are supported:

To invoke the file selection dialog box select Browse button.

 Note: CD+G image format is 288x192.

 Images may be of any size and color depth, however if they contain more than 16 colors or are larger than 288 x 192, they will be automatically converted to CD+G format. If you would like to use an image editing software to decrease the color depth and resize the images, make sure you save them as 4-bit BMP file.

By default Karaoke CD+G Creator leaves the images on the hard disk and reads them when needed (Link to file option selected). This behaviour reduces the size of PK2 files and allows making changes to the images using image editors (you do not have to visit event again -- just edit the image and re-create CDG file). However if you delete the image file from disk, it will not be available.

 If you would like to share your PK2 files select Insert contents option. It will cause Karaoke CD+G Creator to include the image in PK2 file, so you may send it over to a friend or delete image files. Note that if image source file is deleted you will not be able to edit it any more.

Display mode

These settings control the way image is painted. By default images are painted from left to right. You may change it by selecting any of the display effects.

 Checking the Reverse checkbox will cause the effect to run backwards, for example Left to Right mode will become to Right to Left.

Position

You may select the position of the picture by selecting the appropriate rectangle.

 You may also display the image in any part of the screen. To do this select Custom and enter coordinates of left top corner of the image position.

Force scaling

This option will force the image to be scaled to the size defined in Width and Height boxes. This size cannot be larger than the full screen (288 x 192).

Display during

You may choose whether the image should be displayed after the preceding word is painted, or highlighted.

Erase image

This option will erase the image instead of painting it (used if you have displayed an image in the same place before).

Dithering

If the number of colors in the image is larger than 16, Karaoke CD+G Creator will reduce it. You may select the algorithm that is used to make the image look as good as possible with the lower number of colors. Selecting none will disable any dithering. The simples way to see how each of the algorithms works is to select it and then to click the Preview button.

Resizing

This setting controls the way image is scaled if its size is not 288 x 192 (full screen).

Fit will cause the image to be scaled up or down to take as much screen as possible.

Fit if larger (default setting) will scale the image only if it is too large, it will not stretch it.

Crop will not scale the image and will display as much of it as possible.

 All resizing modes retain aspect ratio of the image.

Colors

Use this setting to define the number of colors that will be added to the current palette to match the colors in the image. Below are some suggestions how to set this option regarding the types of the usage:

Maximum

Use this setting if you are displaying the image on the clear screen. You may also use it if this is the only image displayed on the current page and you do not change the colors for text

10, 8

Use this setting for the color-rich images for the songs with changing text colors (or duets)

4

This is the best setting for small images (stars, tick marks) displayed on screen. Remember that if you want to display the same image more than one you should select this setting for the first image only

Use current palette

Use this setting if you are displaying the image for the second time or if you have already used up many of the palette entries (the total number of available colors is 16)
 Preview

Click this button to see how the picture will look.

 

SET TEXT AREA EVENT

 Note: This event is available in Pro version only.

 Using this event you may display the image and the text on screen at the same time. It also allows to change the portion of the screen that is used to display the lyrics.


 If you choose to display the image, it will be painted according to the selected options and will not be erased. The lyrics will appear at the defined area. Using this setting you may display the banner on the top of the text or an image anywhere on the screen.

 Clear screen or Display image event resets the text area to the full screen.

 Note: If the selected display mode is other than Overwrite, the image will be visible only on the first page.

 

 

Display image

Select the image you would like to appear on screen. You need to select the image file using Properties button before Display Image checkbox becomes active.

 Properties button will open Display image dialog box, the same as for Display Image event.

 Note that you the erase mode will not be used event if you define it, as the image will stay on screen.

Use all available area

Select this option if you want text to use all the screen that is not used by the image.

Copy to custom area

This button will set the custom area dimensions to the area not used by the image.

Define custom area

Using this option you may define the rectangle that will contain the lyrics. It may be useful if you want the lyrics to appear in the middle of the picture or simply move the text a little to the right. The full screen has width of 288 and height of 192 pixels.

 The custom area is visualized by the blue frame (black area represents full screen). You may modify it by dragging the edges of the frame.

TEXT SETTINGS EVENT

Text Settings event allows to modify the properties of the text.

Font

This setting specifies which font will be used for the lyrics and how large the letters should be. If you are trading you PK2 files make sure that you use fonts that are installed on the destination computer.

Vertical alignment

Allows to change the placement of the lines of the text. You may select Center, Top, or Bottom which would place the text at the appropriate part of the screen, or choose Space evenly, which makes sure that the first line is at the top, the last at the bottom, and all the spaces between the lines are equal.

Horizontal alignment

This setting controls the way the individual lines of text are placed. You have the choice of Center, Left, and Right.

Lines per screen

Allows to specify the maximum number of lines to be shown. Note that if the font size is too large, the actual number of lines may be lower.

Additional spacing

The number of pixels to insert between the lines.

Text Effects

Select the text effect you want to apply. You have the choice of Outline (you may choose the size of the outline), Shadow and Heavy shadow. The color of the text effects can be set in Colors dialog box.

 You may enable any of the following text effects:

 

·    None

Text effects are disabled

 

·    Outline

Text is outlined by a single pixel

 

·    Shadow

A one pixel shadow is added to text

 

·    Heavy shadow

A two pixel shadow is added to text

 

·    Outline (2-5 pixels)

An outline of a selected width is added to the text

 The color of the effect is controled separately from the color of the text. By default efects are painted in black.

 Note: Enabling text effects decrease the speed of display the text. For the fast-paced songs it is recommended to disable the text effects.

Sweep words

Uncheck this option if you want to highlight the entire word at once, instead of coloring it gradually as it is sung.

Images

Karaoke CD+G Creator allows to display images anywhere in the song. It also has shortcuts for adding title and credits screen.

 The following formats are supported by Karaoke CD+G Creator:

To invoke the file selection dialog box select Browse button.

 Note: CD+G image format is 288x192.

 Images may be of any size and color depth, however if they contain more than 16 colors or are larger than 288 x 192, they will be automatically converted to CD+G format. If you would like to use an image editing software to decrease the color depth and resize the images, make sure you save them as 4-bit BMP file.

 Pro version also allows to add images at the side or around of the lyrics.


 See the following topics for more information:

Using title and credit images

Displaying images in the middle of the song

Displaying image and lyrics at the same time

Displaying images using styles

  

USING TITLE AND CREDIT IMAGES

Title image is displayed at the beginning of the song. Credits image is displayed at the end of the song, when the singing stops.

To define title and credit images open CD+G Settings dialog box click CD+G Settings button on the toolbar () or select CD+G Settings command from Create menu.


 

Images

This group of options allows to select the pictures that are to appear before the song and after the song. By default these pictures are disabled.

 To display title image select Title checkbox and then click on Settings button. Display image dialog box will appear. To learn more about it please see Display Image event section.

 The same procedure needs to be applied for credits image.

 Checking Insert silence to accommodate the picture ensures that the title picture will not interfere with the flow of the song (this option works for BIN files only).

 

DISPLAYING IMAGES IN THE MIDDLE OF THE SONG

To display image in the middle of the song place cursor position in the place that image should appear, click Insert CD+G Event button on the toolbar (), and then select Display Image event type.

 Display Image event allows to display the image on the screen. Before the image is displayed the screen is cleared.

 The image will be displayed immediately after the last word before it is highlighted.

                 In Pro version you may modify this behaviour with Synchronization settings.


 

 File

You need to select the file containing the image. The following formats are supported:

To invoke the file selection dialog box select Browse button.

By default Karaoke Creator leaves the images on the hard disk and reads them when needed (Link to file option selected). This behavior reduces the size of PK3 files and allows making changes to the images using image editors (you do not have to visit the event again -- just edit the image and re-create the song). However if you delete the image file from disk, it will not be available.

 If you would like to share your PK3 files select Insert contents option. It will cause Karaoke Creator to include the image in PK3 file, so you may send it over to a friend or delete image files. Note that if image source file is deleted you will not be able to edit it any more.

Keep on screen for N seconds

This setting controls how long will the image be visible before it is erased. Note that painting time (up to 10 seconds for a full screen sized picture) and erasing is not included, so the total time that the picture takes equals to the sum of painting time, display time, and erase time.

 Selecting 0 will cause the image to become erased immediately after it is fully painted.

Border color

Choose the color that will surround the image. Note that it is different than Borders color setting in Colors event, as it refers to the area not taken by the image, and not only to the border of the screen. If you are using image as a background (in Set Text Area event) the background color must match the background color of the text.

Display mode and Erase mode

These settings control the way image is painted and erased. By default images are painted from left to right and erased immediately. You may change it by selecting any of the display effects.

 Checking the Reverse checkbox will cause the effect to run backwards, for example Left to Right mode will become to Right to Left.

 Note that selecting Fade and Simple as Display mode will cause the screen to go blank for several seconds (the image still needs to be painted, and this is done in a way that is not visible, yet still takes time).

Alignment

You may select the position of the picture if it is not full screen sized. Simply select the appropriate rectangle. By default images are centered.

Force scaling

This option will force the image to be scaled to the size defined in Width and Height boxes. This size cannot be larger than the full screen (288 x 192).

Dithering

If the number of colors in the image is larger than 16, Karaoke Creator will reduce it. You may select the algorithm that is used to make the image look as good as possible with the lower number of colors. Selecting none will disable any dithering. The simples way to see how each of the algorithms works is to select it and then to click the Preview button.

Resizing

This setting controls the way image is scaled if its size is not 288 x 192 (full screen).

Fit will cause the image to be scaled up or down to take as much screen as possible.

Fit if larger (default setting) will scale the image only if it is too large, it will not stretch it.

Crop will not scale the image and will display as much of it as possible.

 All resizing modes retain aspect ratio of the image.

Preview

Click this button to see how the picture will look.

Notes

·    Images with more colors take longer to paint.

·    Inserting image in the middle of the song may use up the time and cause the loss of synchronization.

 

 Synchronization (Pro version only)

By default the image will be displayed immediately after the last word before it is highlighted. It is possible to define the exact time when it should appear (but remember that image needs to fit between the previous and the next word).

 You may define the exact time the image should be visible (From the start of the song) -- the value in Display at box is a position in seconds. You may use Copy from cursor button to enter current cursor position into Display at box.

 You may also define time before the next word is highlighted (Before the next word) or after the previous word finishes highlighting (After the previous word).

 Please remember that the time position refers to the moment image is fully painted. It does not include painting nor erasing time.

 

DISPLAYING IMAGE AND LYRICS AT THE SAME TIME

To display image at the side or around the lyrics use Set Text Area event. To do this position lyrics editor cursor in the place that image should be displayed, click Insert CD+G Event button on the toolbar (), and then select Set Text Area event type.

 Note: This event is available in Pro version only.

 Using this event you may display the image and the text on screen at the same time. It also allows to change the portion of the screen that is used to display the lyrics.


 If you choose to display the image, it will be painted according to the selected options and will not be erased. The lyrics will appear at the defined area. Using this setting you may display the banner on the top of the text or an image anywhere on the screen.

 Clear screen or Display image event resets the text area to the full screen.

 Note: If the selected display mode is other than Overwrite, the image will be visible only on the first page.

 

 

Display image

Select the image you would like to appear on screen. You need to select the image file using Properties button before Display Image checkbox becomes active.

 Properties button will open Display image dialog box, the same as for Display Image event.

 Note that you the erase mode will not be used event if you define it, as the image will stay on screen.

Use all available area

Select this option if you want text to use all the screen that is not used by the image.

Copy to custom area

This button will set the custom area dimensions to the area not used by the image.

Define custom area

Using this option you may define the rectangle that will contain the lyrics. It may be useful if you want the lyrics to appear in the middle of the picture or simply move the text a little to the right. The full screen has width of 288 and height of 192 pixels.

 The custom area is visualized by the blue frame (black area represents full screen). You may modify it by dragging the edges of the frame.

 

DIPLAYING IMAGES USING STYLES

To apply a predefined visual style to your song click Styles button on the toolbar ({DC368090-BAB1-4DE9-85D3-1AAFD5C6FF2B}.png) or select Styles command from Create menu.

image.png

 Song details section of the dialog box allows you to enter title of the song, artist name, and text that will be displayed as your company information (probably something like Presented to you by DOBLON). Credits are displayed after the song is finished.

                Tip: To force a new line in Title, Artist, or Company name fields, use ^ character.

 

What is style?

Karaoke Creator allows to set styles for:

·    Title: image displayed before the song

·    Credits: image displayed after the song is finished

·    Song: colors, text formatting, page layout, and image (in Pro version only) of the lyrics

 

Each of this styles can be applied individually, or it is possible to use presets.

 Style preset combo box allows to select one of predefined templates. It will change all styles in Applied styles. You may store your combination of Title, Song, and Credit styles using Add button. To save changed combination use Save button. Delete button removes your preset from the list.

 Applied styles lists styles used for each of the sections of the song. To change the style select it in Applied styles list and then choose the new style from Available styles combo. Selecting (Unused) will disable the style.

 Style editor button starts Style Editor dialog box which allows you to create your own styles.

 Preview window displays the preview of the style selected in Applied styles list.

 Selected styles will be applied to the song when you select OK button.

 To continue with the tutorial select Rock style preset and click OK button.

Style editor

Style Editor allows you to create your own visual styles.

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 Style editing is done in visual manner. The first step is to select the style type in Style type combo box (you may create Title, Song, and Credit styles). Once you select the style type Current style combo box is filled with available styles of the selected type.

 There are two types of styles -- system (predefined) styles and user-defined styles. Predefined styles have * in front of their names and cannot be altered.

 Once you select a style from the Current style combo box the style preview will be displayed in Preview window. Also fields available for the selected style type will be displayed on Available styles list. Each of the style types has different fields.

 For Title and Credit styles you may change the background image, colors, and define the position and properties of text fields. To change the position of the text field select it on the Available fields list. The field will be displayed as a light blue rectangle on the preview area. Use mouse to change the position. You may also change the font, color, and alignment of the text fields.

 Song style does not have a text field, but has lyrics field. You may define the properties of the lyrics using Lyrics properties button. If you would like to use settings defined for the current song, use Load from current song button.

 

 

 Note: The next paragraph applies to Pro version only.

When using background image for text style you need to remember that lyrics cannot overlap with any part of graphics. Also please make sure that the background color selected in Background color exactly matches the lyrics area color. If this is not the case the lyrics will not be displayed properly.

 Note: We recommend that you prepare your images so they are of 288x192 resolution and have no more than 14 colors for title and credits, and 8 colors for lyrics background.

 

 

Import lyrics from CD+G file

One of the most exciting features of Karaoke CD+G Creator is an ability to import existing CD+G songs. This allows to re-edit commercial editions of karaoke songs with endless possibilities -- use this to change font and images, fix broken characters, change lyrics or create parodies. Karaoke CD+G Creator imports both lyrics and synchronization, so the most cumbersome part of the song creation is already done, leaving you all the fun.

 To import CD+G song select Import CD+G File command from File menu or click Import CD+G File button on the toolbar.

 First you need to select file containing CD+G songs. Two file formats are supported -- CDG BIN file. If you use CDG file, Karaoke CD+G Creator will automatically look for MP3 file of the same name and use it as a soundtrack.

 If Insert 'Clear Screen' events automatically is checked, Karaoke CD+G Creator will detect when entire screen is erased in CD+G song and will insert 'Clear Screen' events at the same places in the imported song. This help to maintain the text flow for page-by-page songs (SoundChoice songs give very good results with this option enabled).

 Import process takes a while (up to half a minute on a slower computer). Once it is completed you will see the imported lyrics in the lyrics editor. Please check for spelling mistakes, as some of the characters may be recognized incorrectly.

 

NOTE:
1. Not every song can be imported. Duets are not supported, also songs using scrolling will not import.
2. Optical character recognition (OCR) is not perfect and may sometimes make an error. Please check the lyrics for spelling mistakes.

 

 

Searching for MIDI karaoke on the web

Internet is full of MIDI karaoke files and Karaoke Creator provides a simple tool to help you find them.

 To start MIDI karaoke web search select Search the web for MIDI Karaoke command from File menu.

 

 Search engine combo allows you to change the place that you will use to search for files. You may try changing search engine if you are not getting the results you need.

 Clicking on OK button will open the search in your web browser. Once you find the file save it to your hard disc -- you may use it as a source to create karaoke file with Import MIDI Karaoke Wizard.

 Disclaimer: Doblon does not provide MIDI karaoke files. They are provided by various websites that are not affiliated with us.

Batch file create

Batch file create command from Create menu allows to write multiple files in one session.

 

 Use Add button to add PK2 files to the Input files list. Overwrite existing files without prompting will disable warning messages that might stop the batch process.

 Clicking OK will start processing. Please note that it may take a substantial amount of time if you add many files to the list.

 

Batch MIDI import

Sometimes it is necessary to convert several MIDI Karaoke songs into karaoke. This process cannot be fully automatized, however Karaoke Creator gives you the possibility to convert a batch of KAR songs without any user intervention. These songs can be opened and edited later to make sure they play correctly. Batch conversion saves time -- you do not have to select the songs and wait till they are recorded as WAV files, instead you choose the songs and let Karaoke Creator convert them all in a single process.

Important: Make sure that your MIDIs are converted correctly using Import MIDI Karaoke Wizard before using this feature.

To convert a batch of KAR songs select Batch MIDI Karaoke Convert command from the Import MIDI submenu of the File menu. Batch KAR Convertion dialog box will appear.

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 Add the files to convert using Add button. Note that you may add several files at once.

 If you would like to remove any of the files, use Remove button.

 Output directory points to the directory that will contain all WAV, PK3 and output karaoke files (CD+G or Video, depending on the product) created during the convertion.

 If you do not want to be warned that files are getting overwritten, check Overwrite existing files without prompting.

 Checking Create .PK3 files option makes sure that every song is saved in .PK3 document. This option makes possible to open and edit converted files afterwards.

 Selecting Don't show error messages ensures uninterrupted processing, but may result in bad results if some of MIDI files contain errors.

 Output type defines if the output CDG song is saved into CDG or BIN file. For more information about CDG and BIN files please see Writing CD+G files.

 All CDG tracks are created using the current settings. You may modify it using CD+G Settings command from Create menu.

Advanced lyrics import

 Note: This feature is available in Pro version only.

 Import lyrics with timing command from Toolbox menu allows to import the lyrics stored in a text file along with the synchronization information.

 The sample text file might look like this:

 00:16.540 00:16.840 On

00:16.842 00:17.100 a

00:17.102 00:17.360 dark

00:17.362 00:17.660 desert

00:17.666 00:17.800 highway\n

00:19.010 00:19.300 Cool

00:19.429 00:19.521 wind

It contains the start and the end time of a word. The end of the line is marked by \n symbol.

 After the import is complete you may review the results by playing the file or inspecting time labels in the soundtrack panel.

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Lyrics file

Select the text file containing the lyrics.

File preview

Here you can see the contents of the selected file.

Time format

Choose the appropriate time format. Following formats can be used:

MM:SS.TTT

minute:second.millisecond

milliseconds

milliseconds only

SS.TTT

second.millisecond

File format

Select the format of the file. Following settings are available:

Begin time only

File contains only the start time of the word

Begin and end times

File contains both the start and the end time of the word
Separator

Choose the separator between start time, end time, and text. The defaults are any space or tab characters.

Max word length

If no end time for the word is given, PowerKaraoke assumes that the ending time is the beginning time of the next word, but word duration cannot be longer than value specified by this option.

New line

Enter the text string that is used to mark a new line of text. By default it is '\n'.

Exporting lyrics

You may export lyrics from Karaoke Creator lyrics editor to the text file. To do this select Export lyrics command from Toolbox menu.

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 Lyrics can be exported as a plain text (Lyrics only mode), they can contain starting time for the words (Lyrics and starting time mode), or both starting and ending time (Lyrics and full time mode).

 To write to Unicode text file make sure to select Use Unicode checkbox.

Adjusting program settings

To adjust Karaoke Creator settings, select Settings from the Tools menu.

  Note: This option is available in Pro version only.


 

Automatic countdowns

Automatic countdowns command from Edit menu allows to insert countdown event after every instrumental break of the specified length.

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 Minimal break duration is a number of seconds of instrumental break after which countdown event will be inserted.

 Countdown settings allows to define settings for countdown events that will be inserted.

Automatic clear screen insertion

Insert 'Clear Screen' at optimal positions command from Edit menu allows to insert Clear Screen events automatically. Karaoke CD+G Creator analyzes the flow of the text and inserts events in such way, that pages are changed during the longest breaks between words. This ensures that there is enough time to display lyrics of the new page.

This command works for songs with two or more lines per page.

BIN/CDG converting functions

BIN to CDG+WAV  / CDG to BIN

To convert between various formats of karaoke files we recommend Power CD+G Burner 2. BIN to CDG+WAV and vice versa converting can be done in trial version of the software without the need of purchasing it.

Text snippets

Often you may want to insert the same elements of the song multiple times into different songs. It may be your custom title page, instrumental break or a way you like to format song's chorus. You may use Text snippets to automate such tasks.

 Text snippet is a part of a song (lyrics and events) that can be reused. You may define as many text snippets as you like, you can also move them between computers.

 

To define a text snippet:

1.   Select the text you would like to save as a snippet

               

 

2.   Choose Text snippets from Edit window or right-click the selected text, choose Insert text snippet from a drop-down menu and then choose Edit snippets from a submenu

             

               

3.   Text Snippets window will open. You will see the text you have selected in the Preview field. Your snippet will be auto-named (you may change the name of the snippet by typing the new name in the name field and then clicking Rename button)

             

 

4.   You may switch between snippets by selecting them from the drop-down list. You may also remove currently selected snipped using Remove button.

5.   If you would like to insert a snippet using keyboard, you may define the hotkey for it. To do this use Assing hot key button. You may use combination of alphanumeric keys with SHIFT, ALT and CTRL.

6.   Selecting Close will save your snippet collection. Cancel will abandon the changes.

 

To insert a text snippet:

Position the cursor in the place you would like to insert the snippet and select Text snippets from Edit menu, choose the snippet to insert and click Insert

or

Right-click with your mouse and choose the snippet from Insert text snippet submenu

or

Use the hotkey defined for the snippet

 

To copy snippets to another computer:

Choose Export from Tools menu in Text snippets window. You will be able to choose a location of the file. All snippets will be saved. Move this file to a destination computer and choose Import there. You will be presented an option of replacing the snippets or appending them (with renaming if necessary).