Karaoke (kar) files are commonly used for singing along to a music track with on-screen lyrics. These files usually have a .kar extension and are different from digitized audio files such as mp3, WAV, and others. While digitized audio files contain pre-recorded sound data, kar files are MIDI-based and contain only the musical data, not actual sound recordings. MIDI stands for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, and it is a protocol used for communicating musical data between electronic devices.
However, popular applications such as Ultrastart Deluxe, Performous, and Vocaluxe do not directly support KAR files. It's unclear why these applications don't include native support for KAR files or at least a converter for importing them into their internal TXT format. In this article, I will explain the reasons behind this incompatibility and show you how to overcome it using two third-party applications.
1 Why can't Kar be played in a normal player?
Kar files cannot be played on a normal player because they do not contain any actual sound recordings. Instead, they contain information about which notes should be played, how long they should be held, and what instruments should be used. This data is then interpreted by a synthesizer or sound card to produce the sound. A MIDI/kar file requires a special player that can interpret this musical data and produce the sound accordingly.
2 How are KARs different from regular MIDI files?
The main difference is that KAR files contain both musical notes and synchronized lyrics, while other file formats like MIDI only have the musical notes. I've found a tool that can convert KAR files to be used in the popular Ultrastar Deluxe application. However, there's an issue with this conversion - the lyrics are synchronized based on the MIDI file, not the original recording by the artist. This means that if you want to sync lyrics with an MP3 file using a TXT file, you'll need to manually edit it in Yass Editor, which can be quite time-consuming. So instead of going through all that hassle, why not directly convert the KAR file to MP3?
3 Why do .kar files sound unnatural?
The sound quality of kar files is usually poor because they rely on the synthesizer or sound card on your computer to produce the sound. The sound quality produced by these devices can vary greatly depending on the quality of the sound card, the software used to produce the sound, and other factors. To better understand the situation, I will give an analogy - the same composition can be played by both an orchestra in a concert hall and a street musician. The difference in sound will be enormous, although the main melody will remain unchanged. Exactly the same thing happens with a synthesizer - it has a limited set of samples, which may not be suitable for the melody, changing it beyond recognition.
4 Improving sound quality using Sound Fonts
Sound fonts are a collection of digital samples that a synthesizer or sound card uses to create sound. These samples are recordings of actual instruments, and the synthesizer can utilize them to generate music that sounds lifelike. When karaoke software incorporates top-notch sound fonts, it can deliver significantly superior audio compared to relying solely on the sound card's internal synthesizer. In other words, rather than a generic piano sound, you get the rich tones of a high-quality grand piano, and the guitar part is performed using an authentic Fender Stratocaster.
5 Getting the soundtrack for Ultrastar Deluxe using MIDIRenderer
Now that we understand the theory, it's time to put it into practice. We will need only two tools - one to convert the melody into a high-quality mp3 file and the second to extract the lyrics and save them in a text format with notes.
- Download and install MIDIRenderer on your computer.
- Open MIDIRenderer and click on the "Add Files" button.
- Browse and select the kar file you want to convert.
- Set the output format to mp3 and adjust any other settings as desired.
- Click on the "Start" button to begin the conversion process.
- Once the conversion is complete, you can import the mp3 file into Ultrastar deluxe.
Now let's move on to extracting synchronized lyrics. For this we will need an application written in Java, so make sure that the virtual machine is installed on your computer. You can download the latest version from the official website here.
Unfortunately, the author's website is currently unavailable and you will have to search Google using the name of the applet.
- Download and run MidiKar2UltrastarText.jar
- Select your Kar file
- Select Ultrastar TXT Exports folder
- Enter 0 in the Melody Track Number field
- Click Convert button.
Now, you just need to open the TXT file and make changes to the artist, title, and path of the MP3 file. Once you're done, you can add the folder containing both the TXT and MP3 files to the Ultrastar. Most likely you will want to add a background image and video to the song, but that's a different story.
6 Conclusion
In conclusion, the main benefits of converting kar files to mp3 format using MIDIRenderer are improved sound quality and greater compatibility with a wider range of karaoke players. By using high-quality sound fonts, the resulting mp3 file will sound much better than the original kar file, making for a more enjoyable karaoke experience. Additionally, mp3 files can be played on a wide range of devices, including smartphones, tablets, and portable media players, making them more convenient to use than kar files.