Getting started with Karaoke
· 3 min read
Karaoke turns any song on your computer into a sing-along with the melody on screen and live feedback on your pitch. Everything runs in your browser. This guide walks through your first song.
Load a song
Drop a file onto the Karaoke page, or choose one from your computer.
- Audio: mp3, wav, m4a, flac, ogg.
- Video: mp4, mov, webm.
- Limits: up to 500 MB and up to 10 minutes per song.
Your file never leaves your device. It is processed locally and stored only in this browser, so reopening a song later is instant.
The first time you process a song, the app downloads the vocal separation model once (about 172 MB) and keeps it for next time. After that, only the song itself needs processing: the app separates the vocals, finds the melody as notes, and works out the beat. Use the latest Chrome or Edge for the best speed.
Pick a track
Above the piano roll you can choose what you hear:
- Original plays the song as it is.
- Instrumental plays the backing track with the vocals removed.
- Instrumental + guide plays the backing track with the original vocal mixed in quietly, at 25% by default, so you can follow the tune while you sing.
When Instrumental + guide is selected, a Guide volume slider appears next to the timeline.
Read the piano roll
The roll scrolls from right to left past a fixed playhead.
- Each bar is a note of the melody, labelled with its name, such as
E4. - The playhead marks the current moment in the song. A note is due when it reaches the playhead.
- Your voice is drawn as a live line. Its colour shows how close you are to the target note:
- Green: within 50 cents.
- Amber: within 100 cents.
- Red: further off than that.
A cent is one hundredth of a semitone, so 50 cents is half a step. Matching is octave-insensitive by default: singing the right note an octave higher or lower still counts. You can turn this off in the Pitch panel.
The Live panel shows the target note, the note you are singing and how many cents you are off.
Keep time with the metronome
Turn on Metronome in the Beat panel to hear a click on each detected beat and see the beat dots pulse.
Beat detection is a good guess, not a promise. If the click feels wrong, two controls help:
- Tempo switches the grid between ½×, 1× and 2×. Use ½× if the clicks come twice as often as you expect, and 2× if they are too slow.
- Beat offset slides the whole grid earlier or later, in steps of a twentieth of a beat, until the click lines up with the music.
These only change the beat grid. The notes stay where they are.
Get your score
When the song ends you see a score: the share of the melody time in which you sang the right note. Only moments where the melody has a note count, so rests and instrumental breaks do not hurt you.
The score needs the microphone. If it is off, the app asks you to turn it on. If your pitch line seems to trail the notes, read Set up your mic and latency.