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Complete Karaoke 99
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faq.txt
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1999-01-27
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MIDI Karaoke Frequently Asked Questions
Written by Raphael Pungin
Q: What is karaoke?
A: Karaoke is a form of entertainment in which a live person sings a
song with a pre-recorded accompaniment that can be played back by
various karaoke devices called karaoke machines. Besides playing back
the accompaniment the karaoke machines also display the song lyrics
that light up in-time with the music. The word "karaoke" is Japanese
for "empty orchestra". This great form of entertainment originated in
Japan and is spread throughout the world. A typical place to see
karaoke is a bar, restaurant, or a club where people come to have fun
by singing pop songs. This web page will help you to turn your computer
into a karaoke machine so you can have as much fun in your own home.
Q: What is MIDI?
A: MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface. It is a
standard by which various electronic musical instruments (such
as keyboards, synthesizers, computer soundcards, etc.) can communicate
with each other. MIDI can be also used to connect a computer to a
musical instrument so that the computer can control the instrument.
For example, the computer can play the whole song on an electronic
instrument via MIDI. The information on how the song is played is
stored in a MIDI file. Click here for more information on MIDI.
Q: What is MIDI Karaoke?
A: MIDI can be used to play the background music on an electronic
musical instrument and at the same time display the song lyrics on
the computer screen. A computer program can play a MIDI Karaoke
File containing the song musical data as well as the lyrics that are
displayed on a computer monitor.
Q: What are MIDI karaoke files?
A:MIDI karaoke files are Standard General MIDI files that have song
lyrics built into one of the tracks according to a certain format.
Using a program that supports this format, the lyrics can be
displayed on the screen in synch with the music. This CD-ROM contains
a wide variety of karaoke files. There are several types of MIDI
karaoke files.
Q: What are the different MIDI karaoke file types?
A: In the beginning there was only one file type: .kar. This file
format was designed by Tune 1000 Corp. Even though this file format
is now abandoned by the company, it is still prevailing file format
in shareware/public domain market. There are numerous file producers
that are making these files and just about every computer karaoke
player supports this file format. However some karaoke player makers
created their own file format that can be played just by their
player. Here is the list of various file formats:
.KAR - MIDI Karaoke file type 1 (Soft Karaoke). The dominant in
shareware/public domain market. Just about every karaoke player
software on this page can play these files. There are numerous
shareware utilities written that allow making a .kar file from a
regular MIDI file.
.MID + .TXK - KaraDOS. This is actually a combination of two files.
The first is a MIDI file containing the music. The second is a text
file with the song lyrics. This file format is used by KaraDOS player.
.MID - MIDI Karaoke file type 0. This is the new standard of Tune 1000
Corp. - the original designer of MIDI Karaoke. Tune 1000 has created
numerous songs in this format. Check out their catalog. These files
are not available on because they are commercial. These files can be
played by the commercial program Soft Concert made by Tune 1000.
Currently the following shareware programs can play these files:
GSPlay, Midi Songs Karaoke System.
.CRT - Soft Concert. These files are created with Tune 1000's Soft
Concert program and are not compatible with any other program.
.ST3 - Star 3. This file type is only used by Star 3 Karaoke software.
This file format uses a compression scheme that makes the file
smaller than a regular MIDI file. Currently there are few of these
files on this CD-ROM in this format.
Q: What hardware do I need to be able to use MIDI karaoke files?
A: You need a General MIDI synthesizer or a computer sound card to
hear the music. It is highly recommended to use a wavetable synthesizer
sound card as opposed to FM synthesizer. Wavetable soundcards have
samples (digital recordings) of real instruments instead of their
limitations produced by FM synthesis. See below for more information
on wavetable soundcards.
Of course you also need a computer with the sound card or with a MIDI
adapter that is connected to your external instrument. You will use
the computer monitor to display the lyrics of the song.
Q: What software programs can I use to play MIDI karaoke files to be
able to see the lyrics?
A: This CD contains numerous programs that can play .kar files.
Q: Can I use a regular MIDI file player to play MIDI karaoke files?
A: Yes, however you will not be able to see the lyrics. If your MIDI
player can not play files with an extension other than .MID, rename
the MIDI karaoke files from .KAR to .MID extension.
Q: Where can I get more MIDI karaoke files?
A: More MIDI karaoke files can be BOUGHT from Tune 1000 and their
distributors, which are various music stores. For more information call
Tune 1000. The current list price for a disk with 10 songs is $24.95.
Note that these file are not in .kar format. They are in MIDI Karaoke
Type 0 format.
Q: What is the MIDI Karaoke Type 1 (.KAR) file format?
A: A MIDI Karaoke file is a Standard MIDI File type 1 that contains a
separate track with lyrics of the song entered as text events. Load one
of the MIDI karaoke files into a sequencer to examine the contents of
the tracks of the file. The first track contains text events that are
used to make the file recognizable as the MIDI Karaoke file. @KMIDI
KARAOKE FILE text event is used to for that purpose. The optional
text event @V0100 denotes the format version number. Anything starting
with @I is any information you want to include in the file.
The second track contains the text meta events for the lyrics of the
song. The first event is @LENGL. It identifies the language of the
song, in this case English. The next couple of events start with @T
which identifies the title of the songs. You can have up to three
events like these. The first event should contain the title of the
song. Some programs (ex. Soft Karaoke) read this event to get the
name of the song to be displayed in the File Open dialog box. The
second event usually contains the performer or author of the song.
The third event can contain any copyright information or anything
else.
The rest of the second track contains the words of the song. Each
event is the syllable that is supposed to be sung at the time of the
event. If the text starts with \, it means to clear the screen and
show the words at the top of the screen. If the text starts with
/, it means to go to the next line.
Important note: There can be only 3 lines per screen in a .kar file
for Soft Karaoke being able to play the file correctly. In other words,
there can be only two / (forward slashes) beginning each line in a
line of lyrics. The next line has to start with \(back slash).
Q: How can I make a MIDI karaoke file from a regular General MIDI file?
A: There are a number of programs available that do this.
Q: How can I extract lyrics from a MIDI Karaoke file?
A: Several programs allow saving lyrics in a separate text file. The
one on this CD-ROM is Midioke.
Q: Can I display the song lyrics on a TV?
A: Yes. You need to get a VGA to TV converter. These devices cost
starting from about $150 and can be obtained in a computer hardware
store. They plug into your VGA card output port and have a video out
port. You can also connect a monitor to the device to see the image on
the monitor and on the TV at the same time. Once of such devices is
Tvator made by Antec Inc.
Q: Why do I get Track Overflow errors in Soft Karaoke software when I
am loading some .kar files downloaded from this page?
A: Some karaoke file producers make karaoke files that do not conform
100% to the Soft Karaoke MIDI file standard. This is probably because
they do not have Soft Karaoke to test their files. Other players
might not have a problem with these files. The solution is either
to edit the file so it conforms to the Soft Karaoke standard or to
use a different player. The Track Overflow error occurs when a file has
more than 3 lines per verse. The file needs to be edited to have at
most 3 lines per verse. That means that there can be at most two /
characters in a row to separate lines. The next one should be \.
Q: Why does the music sound so cheasy? I can't put my voice to this
lousy accompaniment.
A: Most probably you are using an FM soundcard. Use a wavetable sound
card for best results
Q: What are some of the wavetable soundcards?
A: Ensoniq Soundscape
Everex 3D Sound Express Plus
Gravis Ultrasound
Sound Blaster AWE family
Turtle Beach
Yamaha DB50XG
Yamaha SW60XG