My workflow

[Profpatsch]

1. Open up UltraStar Creator. (http://sourceforge.net/projects/usc/)
2. Fill in the tags.
3. Insert lyrics and split into syllables (with '+', one for every pitch change, if there aren't enough syllables use '~')
4. Confirm bpm with a tapping tool. (The program WILL make mistakes, I use this: http://www.all8.com/tools/bpm.htm)
5. Tap that thing. (If to fast set speed to 50–75%, sounds funny but works like a charm (except for crazy fast rap).) This will save you a lot of work, so if you where out of tempo better try again.
6. Set the basic pitch to the one that appears most often. (saves work later)
6. Open up in USDX, fine-tune GAP if necessary, double-check bpm at the end of song. (could be frustrating otherwise)
7. Beat match.
8. Pitch. (You can use a piano and/or the Practice option in Performous.)
9. Check in Performous with Ctrl+S, very easy to notice timing and pitch mistakes.
10. Singing test.
11. If it's very off, pause Performous before the song ends and use Ctrl+arrow keys to go forward/backward.
12. Correct the mistakes you see visually in Performous (your voice pitch), switching between Pf and USDX. I love my workspaces on Linux so much, on Windows you have to alt-tab. Tip: Use a lightweight desktop, like Gnome 2 w/o effects or KDE.

That's the best workflow I figured out yet and I thought I'd share it with you. Any advice?

[Renard]

BPM: most songs have a straight-forward BPM (round number). I'd advise to round what you found, if it makes sense. The US file format actually allows for BPM changes within songs, but I don't really know how to use it AND if the various singstar-clone engines out there support that feature.

That makes BPM usually irrelevant to a song (when timing its lyrics). The only thing that matters is to have a beat, whatever it is, as long as it allows for enough granularity.

[Profpatsch]

That makes BPM usually irrelevant to a song (when timing its lyrics). The only thing that matters is to have a beat, whatever it is, as long as it allows for enough granularity.

I agree with you on that, but only in powers of two of the original bpm.
With 370bpm it would have been a complete and utter mess to beat-match that song (you don't see that in Composer, missing quantization is the main reason I use USDX).