Basic mode Quick start (basic mode) Selecting a file to play Click Load File ( ) button. As standard Open File dialog box will appear allowing you to open karaoke files. The following karaoke formats are supported: File extension Description .cdg Also known as MP3+G. CDG files are usually paired with MP3 files. CDG file contains lyrics, while MP3 file contains audio of the song. To open a pair of MP3/CDG files you need to open CDG file only .bin BIN files contain both lyrics and audio of CD+G song .zip Karaoke ZIP files contain pairs of CDG/MP3 files .cda CD+G disc tracks .kar, .mid MIDI Karaoke .avi AVI video files .mpg MPG video files .kma MTU's Hoster files .wmv Windows Media Video files .mp4, .mpeg, .mov, .webm, .mkv Video tracks If you wish to play a CD+G disc, click Load CD ( ) button (if you have more than one CD drive installed on your computer you may need to select the active drive using Settings ( ) button under CD settings .   Once a file is loaded its name will be displayed over the position bar and the file will also be added to the playlist.   If you do not have any karaoke files you may use  Search for karaoke on the internet command from Tools menu to find karaoke music.   Playing To start the playback click Play ( ) button. Playback is controlled using standard buttons -- you may pause the playback anytime you like. If you would like to view the song on the full screen, click Full Screen ( ) button. To exit the full screen mode press ESC.   To control the volume of the song use Volume slider ( ). There are two additional sliders that may be used during the playback. You may change the key of the song using Key change slider ( ) up to 12 semitones ( NOTE: key changer is not available for MIDI karaoke ). Multiplex slider ( ) allows to control the level of the vocal on multiplex CD+Gs.   Recording Siglos Karaoke Professional allows you to record your voice as you sing along to the karaoke song. Your computer has to be equipped with a microphone. To learn more how to set up your microphone to use it with Siglos Karaoke Professional see Recording settings .   To start recording click Record ( ) button. Your singing will be recorded to the file on your hard disc. To listen to it simply play back the karaoke file, but make sure that Recorded vocal on/off ( ) button is enabled (it is enabled by default).   Once recording is finished you will be prompted to start Siglos Audio Processor , that allows to mix your recorded singing with the music, producing the file you may email your friends or write to CD. Playing Siglos Karaoke Professional allows to play CD+G karaoke discs and files from the hard disc.   To start the playback of the song: · click Load File button ( ) (this allows to play files from the hard disc) · click Load CD button ( ) (this will play CD+G disc) · double-click the song on the playlist · drag-and-drop the file on Siglos Karaoke Professional window   Siglos Karaoke Professional supports the following file formats: File extension Description .cdg Also known as MP3+G. CDG files are usually paired with MP3 files. CDG file contains lyrics, while MP3 file contains audio of the song. To open a pair of MP3/CDG files you need to open CDG file only .bin BIN files contain both lyrics and audio of CD+G song .zip Karaoke ZIP files contain pairs of CDG/MP3 files .cda CD+G disc tracks .kar, .mid MIDI Karaoke .avi AVI video files .mpg MPG video files .kma MTU's Hoster files .wmv Windows Media Video files .mp4, .mpeg, .mov, .webm, .mkv Video tracks   Once the file is loaded its name and playing time will display in the status bar. You may now use transport buttons to control the playback. Button Command Shortcut Description Play P Start the playback Pause S Pauses the playback (and recording, if active) Stop A Stops the playback Previous song <   Plays the previous song from the playlist or CD+G disc Rewind   Moves 10 second backwards ( NOTE: does not work with CD+G discs ) Fast forward   Moves 10 second forward ( NOTE: does not work with CD+G discs ) Next song >   Plays the next song from the playlist or CD+G disc CHANGING KEY AND TEMPO Siglos Karaoke Player allows you to adjust the song you are playing to better suit your voice by changing the key of the song. To do this use key changer slider. Key changer section allows to change the pitch tone of the song up to twelve semitones either up or down. The current key change is displayed next to the key changer slider. You may also change the tempo of the song (from two times slower to two times faster). It is done with tempo changer slider.   NOTE: Please note that pitch shifting may slightly reduce the quality of the music. It gives better results for instrumental parts and worse for human voice. NOTE: Key changer does not work for MIDI karaoke. USING MULTIPLEX CD+G DISCS Siglos Karaoke Player allows you to play multiplex CD+G discs. Multiplex is a special type of CD+G karaoke disc -- there are two tracks for each song on the disc, one track in karaoke format and the other track with the lead vocals so you can learn the song.   Siglos Karaoke Player allows to turn on and off the lead vocals during playback using Multiplex slider.  This gives you the opportunity to turn off the lead vocals as needed.   FULL SCREEN MODE Full screen ( ) button (or F key on the keyboard) allows you to display the karaoke window on full extent of your monitor. To leave the full screen mode press F key again (or press ESC).   If you click left mouse button in the Full Screen mode the Siglos Karaoke Player window will appear on top of the display. You may hide it by clicking Full Screen again.   If you have two monitors attached to your computer you may display the karaoke lyrics in the other monitor while continuing to use the Siglos Karaoke Player window on the main monitor (this is particularly useful if you have TV or large display connected to your computer). Siglos Karaoke Player will automatically detect second monitor, but if it does not go to Settings and select Use secondary monitor under Display settings. If this still does not work please see Troubleshooting . BACKGROUND IMAGE Siglos Karaoke Professional displays images behind the karaoke lyrics. To change the images or use solid background click Settings button ( ) and select Display . Siglos Karaoke Player has five background modes: · Solid color background (choose a color for MIDI karaoke, for CD+G the background color from the file will be used) · Gradient background (smooth transition from the color at the top to the color at the bottom) · Image slideshow (you may define images to be used in the slideshow, select the display time of the single image, and choose to display the images in the random order) Keep aspect ratio option will ensure that images will not be stretched out of proportions (ie. portrait images will have black strips added to their sides so they look proportionally) · Video (moving video will be played in loop) · Camera (if you have camera installed in your system its input will be used as a background) · Music visualizations are animated backgrounds that react to the beat. Siglos Karaoke Player supports Sonique and Windows Media Player plugins. Sonique plugins need to be placed in    %APPDATA%/Doblon/Siglos Karaoke Player /Visualizations folder. Windows Media Player plugins are detected automatically. You may adjust the intensity of the animation using the slider.   You may also choose an image or video to be displayed instead of default black background on the playback screen. This may be your logo or some other information. To do this select image to display using [...] button in Inactive background section.   MIDI KARAOKE You may change the way that MIDI karaoke songs are played. To do this click Settings button ( ) and select Display . You may change the font used for MIDI karaoke lyrics, change the number of lines on the screen, and define the lyrics location (top, bottom, or middle of the screen). Recording Siglos Karaoke Professional allows you to record your voice as you sing along. Before you begin recording we suggest that you review your recording settings. Recording settings Before you start please make sure that you have microphone connected to your computer. The microphone input is usually pink on your soundcard panel at the back of your computer. If you have more than one soundcard in your computer please choose the one you wish to use in Windows' Control Panel/Sound and audio devices/Audio as a default recording input. To adjust recording settings choose  Settings  ( ) button and then choose  Recording .   You will see the name of the active recording device (soundcard) and the active input. You may need to change the input to the microphone. Now test the recording level -- say something to the microphone and  Recording preview  should display the green bar. You may use  Input level  slider to adjust the level of the recording -- if it is too low you will not hear it and if it is too high it will distort. You may also control the recording level using  Recording level  slider ( ) of the main Siglos Karaoke Player window.   If you cannot hear what you are saying to the microphone you may need to enable microphone output on your soundcard. To do this click  Open mixer  button and standard Windows' mixer will appear. Now make sure that  Microphone  input is not muted (if you cannot see it choose  Options/Properties  and check the enable to microphone input).   File settings section allows you to select the format that Siglos Karaoke Player will use to save your voice. MP3 is selected as default. You may also define where the file with your voice will be stored -- but default Siglos Karaoke Player creates My Karaoke  subfolder under  My Documents . Sing away! Now you are ready to sing. Click Record ( ) button and sing the song. Recording stops when the song finishes or when you click Stop button. Note: Pause button does not work while recording.   Listen to yourself If you play a karaoke song that you have singed along to and recorded your voice, you will hear yourself singing, providing Recorded vocal on/off button ( ) is enabled.  You may control the level of the recorded singing using Recorded vocal level slider. Please note that setting the recorded level to high may cause distortion. AUDIO PROCESSOR Siglos Audio Processor allows you to mix your voice with the music and create an MP3 file you may share with your friends.   Siglos Audio Processor may be run automatically after recording is finished, or you may choose to start it anytime using Siglos Audio Processor command from Record menu. It requires two input files: music (usually your backing track), and vocal (your recorded singing). Music may be BIN, WAV, or MP3 file, and vocal may be MP3 or WAV.   Note: Siglos Audio Processor will not work with MIDI karaoke (MID and KAR), and with tracks from CD+G disc. If you would like to process songs from CD+G discs you need to save them to your hard disc first.     For both music and vocal you may adjust mix level -- the higher it is the louder will it sound in the result file. Please note that choosing to high mixing levels may result in audio distortion.   Key change is used if key changer was enabled when you recorded your singing.   Time offset allows to compensate for sound card recording latency -- if your singing is out of sync with the music you may use this slider to fix it.   Reverb adds a reverb to your voice. You may switch it off or modify its intensity.   Siglos Audio Processor may save the result to MP3 file (you may adjust compression parameters using Settings button) or to WAV file. The name and location of the output file may be changed in Output section.   Preview section allows to listen to the processing results before processing the entire file.   To hear what the processed song would sound like click Play result button. The playback will start -- Current position slider represents the playback position. You may move it by dragging the slider's thumb. To hear the original song click Play original button -- you may switch between result and original song.   You may modify the settings during playback -- you will hear the change nearly immediately.   If Play in loop is selected, the playback will start over after it has reached the end. You may use Loop start and Loop end sliders to define the part of the song you would like to listen to.   Using playlists Siglos Karaoke Player/Recorder gives you a simple way of managing the songs but the means of the playlists. Playlist window is displayed below the main Siglos Karaoke Player/Recorder window (its position and size may be changed).   Playlist is automatically filled when you select Load CD button. Siglos Karaoke Player/Recorder will try to connect to online FreeDB database to retrieve song names, and will display them in the playlist if successful.   Currently played song is printed in red. You may play a different item from the playlist by double-clicking it. To add a file to the playlist use Add files button or drop files on the playlist. To add the content of entire directory use Add directory command from File menu. You may select Recurse to include subdirectories. You may also drop a folder onto playlist window -- its content (without subfolders) will be added.   To change the order of the file drag it and drop to the desired position.   Playlists can be saved are reloaded. Their file extension is CDP. If  you have a large playlist you may want to search for songs. To do this click  Search button or press F3.