Audacity karaoke question

[manguiko]

Dear friends,

Can and do play a video karaoke or a MIDI karaoke, reads the words, listen to the played music by headphones, and sing via microphone OK and do recording OK.

But the recording is in only one track.

I would like different: I would like the music-only be recorded on Track-1 and simultaneously record the voice only on Track-2.

That means Track-1 is recording input from Wave, while simultaneously, Track-2 gets input only from Mic.

I know and can do record the Audio on Track-1 and then record a mic-only on Track-2 while Track-1 plays and I listen, but I do loose the benefit of reading the WORDS of the original karaoke source.

Is this possible (I hope it is)?

If not, is that a proposed enhancement?

Also, which recording software (Windows XP) can do that, if any?

Thanks for any replies.

[steve]

How are you playing the karaoke - on your computer or from an external karaoke player?

Are you able to pan the karaoke music to left or right? Are you able to pan your vocal to the other side?

[manguiko]

How are you playing the karaoke - on your computer or from an external karaoke player?

Are you able to pan the karaoke music to left or right? Are you able to pan your vocal to the other side?

Everything is inside the laptop computer except me and the microphone.

[steve]

Are you able to pan the karaoke music to left or right? Are you able to pan your vocal to the other side?

[manguiko]

stevethefiddle wrote:Are you able to pan the karaoke music to left or right? Are you able to pan your vocal to the other side?
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I don't see the relevance to this question, but I can do any thing to a Karaoke MIDI file, such as pan voices, change instruments, etc.

I can pan left and right at the software mixer that is feeding audaciy too. I can feed line-in or mic, whatever I chose.

I am asking about Audacity tracks, though, and Audacity capability.

[steve]

I don't see the relevance to this question,

If you can pan the karaoke to the left, and at the same time pan the microphone to the right, then you can set the Windows Mixer to record from "Stereo Mix", then record in Audacity as 2 channel (stereo).
This will produce a stereo recording with the karaoke on the upper (left) channel, and your vocal on the lower (right) channel.

Clicking on the name of the track will produce a drop down menu from which you can select "Split Stereo Track", and you will then have 2 mono tracks - one with music and one with vocal.
Select that menu for each track in turn and change the channel to mono.

This is what you asked for, so that's why it's relevant. "Audio on Track-1 and then record a mic-only on Track-2"

If you want the karaoke to be in stereo, then record it again, but as a stereo track, and by zooming in close you should be able to synchronise it very precisely with your mono version (by matching up the waveform).

[manguiko]

Hi Steve,

Thank you for your suggestion.

Recording voice on the left and music on right channel is not what I would like to do.

If I have to record tracks as such, and then re-record, and then synchronize, I can always do it in simpler ways, without having to pan to start with (that's why I don't see the relevance, specially not knowing what you had in mind).

I have done already: Play karaoke and have audacity record only from mic as I read words and sing along, so voice is in center (as voice should be) and only the mic track is recorded. Then All I have to do is add the audio track and synchronize the two. That's much simpler, and no panning is required.

HOWEVER, the problem I encounter is with synchronizing tracks, is as follows: I synchronize them at the beginning, and play them together and as time continues, the two tracks keep going further and further apart in timing.

Perhaps you can advice me on why that happens, but I just don't see why that is so, and synchronizing track problems makes the solution no good . I would appreciate help there on why and how to correct, the problem, if possible.

But what I would like to have is Audacity ALLOW me to pick an input FOR EACH TRACK, to start with. So it would record say WAVE in track 1, and Mic on Track 2, with separate controls. But I suppose that's not possible, but would like to see if Audacity can be made to work like that by the developers.

Additionally, if anyone knows of a recording software that can do that, would appreciate knowing about it.

Thanks!

[steve]

But what I would like to have is Audacity ALLOW me to pick an input FOR EACH TRACK, to start with. So it would record say WAVE in track 1, and Mic on Track 2, with separate controls. But I suppose that's not possible,

Yes it IS possible, and I've taken the time to type out the precise method to enable you to do it.

Please allow me to outline the scheme:

1) Record music panned to one side and the vocal panned to the other.
2) Spit the stereo track
3) Set each of the split tracks to mono.

You now have "WAVE in track 1, and Mic on Track 2, with separate controls." and they are perfectly synchronised.

For a detailed step-by-step guide, see my previous post.

The only downside of this is that your karaoke is now in mono. This is because you only have a 2 channel sound card - if you have a 4 channel sound card you can have the karaoke in stereo.

I synchronize them at the beginning, and play them together and as time continues, the two tracks keep going further and further apart in timing.

That's because you are using a cheap sound card and the sound cards internal clock is not stable -it's drifting. In Audacity 1.3.5 you could attempt to correct this using the "time track" feature, but it is difficult to get it exactly right because the amount of drift is not regular. The only real solution to this particular problem is to upgrade your sound card.

[manguiko]

Hi Steve and thanks for your reply.

I really do want stereo recording and would like to have the voice be on a separate track, in perfect synchronism. And from what you say it's only possible if I have a better sound card?

I have an Audigy 2zs notebook laptop card, possibley not the cheapest or worst. Which card would you say would do the job? Please advise.

But, frankly, I doubt that the problem be with my card's clock not being stable. It seems to me that the time problem may well be due to processing done by Audacity, perhaps. The time difference is quite notorious to the ear.

Now, if it were an internal clock problem of my sound card, wouldn't you say it would be compensated as it is playing the karaoke, and all Audacity have to do is record what it's hearing?

Also, this would mean that songs I play with it can vary in time duratiion by up to 1 or 2 seconds in 3 minutes total playing time?

No, I feel the problem is Audacity processing times so that it does not really record what it hears the first time and what it hears the second time correctly, as far as time is concerned.

I really see the need for a recording software in which one can specify the input FOR EACH track, which would give us what is obvious is needed.

I also think that it is possible for such a program to be written, would like Audacity to work like that, and would appreciate knowing of one that woks like that.

Thanks again!

[steve]

I have an Audigy 2zs notebook laptop card, possibley not the cheapest or worst

I agree that it is surprising that the speed should drift so much with this sound card - it usually only happens this noticeably on low end sound cards such as are often employed as "on-board" sound.

The thing is though, that Audacity records pure digital data from the sound card on record, and on playback sends pure digital data to the sound card. It tells the sound card that the data should be 44100 Hz, or 48000 Hz, or whatever you have selected, then from that point on it is entirely down to the sound card to convert it to analogue sound at the correct rate - Audacity has no control over that.

While you are doing just one recording, you should not notice a problem. The only time that you will notice a problem is if you record something, then record it again, if there is any difference in the clock speed, then the recordings will be different lengths. This is because if Audacity is set to record at say 48000 Hz, then each sample it receives it will place along the time line at exactly 1/48000 second intervals. Now if the actual sampling rate by the sound card is say 47998 Hz, then Audacity will still space them out along the time line at 1/48000 second intervals which means they are spaced out a little bit closer together than they should be for a sample rate of 47998 Hz. Even this would not matter if the sound card plays the data back at exactly 47998 Hz, but if for example the sound cards sampling rate has changed to say 48021Hz, then the sound that you hear will be at slightly the wrong speed.

I really do want stereo recording and would like to have the voice be on a separate track, in perfect synchronism.

The problem here is that your sound card has only 2 audio channels, so you can only record 2 audio channels at one time. If you want to record 3 channels at the same time, then you need hardware that has at least 3 channels.

The way that you can have your karaoke track in stereo and your voice voice together is perfect synchronisation is to record the karaoke track first (in stereo using both channels), then record your voice while listening to the tracks that you have already recorded. Because Audacity is recording your voice at the same time as playing the karaoke track, the two should be synchronised correctly. There are just two things that can mess this up: 1) if you sing out of time, 2) If the sound card uses 2 different clock signals, one for recording and one for playback, (but this is very unlikely) and the two clock signals are out of time with each other. The only drawback with this method is that you do not have the words displaying while you sing, so you may need to write the words on a sheet of paper.