Using Composer to build a karaoke song

[Renard]

Composer is a song editor, capable of exporting to the UltraStar / Performous file format. This is so far my tool of choice to edit karaoke files, so here's a quick look on how it works.

You can download it here:
http://sourceforge.net/projects/performous/files/editor/1.0/



This is the main window. This is where you'll spend most of your time working on the rhythm and pitch. At first, it will be completely empty, and you'll be greeted by a small how-to screen providing a few directions.

You may want to load a music file and throw in some lyrics at this point.

On the left side, you'll notice a keyboard. This will help you greatly with setting the pitch, syllable by syllable.
If you click on the keyboard, you can play a note.

Let's get into the details.

Interface basics



There are a few things to notice in the "Playback" zone of this screen.
- The Play button, obviously, will start the music playback.
- "Grab Playback" means that the score will scroll automatically during the playback.
- "Synthesizer" is an interesting option. If checked, each note you added will be played with its current pitch. This makes it easy to check if it's in tune.


Note properties
- Normal notes: the usual
- "Golden" notes: the player will gain extra points if they consistently sing well the segment (from its start to its end).
- "Freestyle": no given pitch, it's up to the player. No points are awarded for these parts.


Phrase beginning: This is important for the overall timing. Each syllable starting a phrase HAS to be checked as such; that will start a new line in the Karaoke player.
Syllable starting a phrase will receive a red mark, as seen on the above picture.


How to sync a song
You'll need a background music file and some lyrics.

The first thing you will want to do in Composer is to find the correct rhythm for all syllables.
When you first load a song, Composer will try to guess both the rhythm and pitch of the lyrics you first paste in it. This isn't always accurate, but sometimes can be a good start.

As seen here:

The background trace is what Composer thinks what the lyrics should be in text and pitch. That's a wild guess.

Rhythm
You'll have to break down the whole lyrics into syllables. Then, specify on which syllable each phrase starts.

Once done, it's only a matter of dragging the speech bubbles on screen so they coincide with the lyrics you hear when pressing the "Play" button. This usually requires some trial and error, and you'll need to work phrase by phrase. Use the "Time Phrase" button to repeat the same phrase over and over again.

Once you're happy with the timing, move on to the next phrase. Repeat until the end of the song.

Pitch
Simply drag the speech bubbles to the desired pitch. You can also select a bubble by clicking on it, then move it with your keyboard's arrow keys.

Repeat for each syllable.

[Renard]

Windows users only: If you don't enjoy Composer for a reason or another, but still like its workflow, you can give a try to UltraTools.
http://sourceforge.net/projects/ultratools/

It offers about the same set of features with another interface. The synth might even be a bit better.

[Renard]

So I made a quick video of my overall workflow in Composer.