Siglos Karaoke Professional

Importing songs

 

The first thing you need to do before you use Siglos Karaoke Professional to run your karaoke show is creating a database of songs. The database contains the list of songs on your hard disc, allowing finding the songs you need in a lightning fast manner. It also allows Siglos Karaoke Professional to keep track of the songs sung by singers.

 

To create the song database you need to have the songs saved on your hard disc. If you do not have songs on the hard disc, but rather on CD+G discs, we recommend Power CD+G Burner to convert your discs into digital format.

 

 

To start the import process select Manage database button on the playlist window, and then choose Import songs. You may also choose Import songs command from File menu.

 

 

First you need to select the root of your song collection (use Change button to do this). Then select file types you would like to import (see Supported file types for the list of supported formats). Include subfolders allows to scan all folders starting from the root folder. Switch it off if you want to scan a single folder only.

 

Siglos Karaoke Professional scans MP3 files it finds for ID3 tags containing song title and artist name (it also reads ID3 tags of MP3 files inside ZIP files, but it may significantly slow down the performance and is not recommended). If ID3 tag is not found, a parsing rule is applied to the file name. You may select a predefined rule or create a custom one. It is possible to use one of the four data fields (Artist, Title, DiscID, and Track). Choosing Ignore will cause the parser to ignore this part of the file name.

 

 

Import rule example
 
If your song collection is named as this example:
 
         SC7541_02 - Gary Lewis & The Playboys - This Diamond Ring.cdg
 
you need to select the following rule:
 
         DiscID_Track - Artist - Title
 
The first separator should be '_' (underline), and following separators should be set to ' - ' (minus with spaces before and after).

 

 

Once you are done setting the import rule, select OK. Siglos Karaoke Professional will scan your disc (it may take a while for large collection of songs) and will report its findings in Song Import Results dialog box.

 

 

 

Song Import Result dialog box contains all files Siglos Karaoke Professional has found, divided into three groups. First list contains files that either contained ID3 tags, or matched the parsing rule, and were successfully imported into the database. The second list contains the files that matched the file extension, but did not have ID3 tags, nor their names matched the parsing rule. The third list contains files already in the database.

 

You may manually edit songs that were not matched -- to do this select the song you would like to edit, and then click Edit button. To add edited songs do the database click Add Selected button. Once you are done editing select OK. You will return to Song Database dialog box, which allows you to view and edit all songs currently in the database. Once you are done click OK.

 

 

Adding singers and playing songs

 

The main part of the Siglos Karaoke Professional is the playlist window. By default it works in rotation mode -- it allows to manage the list of singers and songs, add new singers to the rotation, and start the playback of the song.

 

 

The next step is to add the singer to the rotation.

 

To add the singer to the playlist select Add Singer button on the playlist window or choose Add singer/song command from File menu. Add Singer dialog box will be displayed.

 

 

Choosing the singer

 

First you need to select the singer. If you would like to use the singer that already is in the rotation, select it from the drop-down list. If you are adding a new singer, type the name into Singer's name.

If you enter the name of the new singer that already is listed in the database, Siglos Karaoke Professional will display warning and will prompt you to choose one of the possible actions:

•Add hidden description in parentheses will create a new singer name by adding hidden number to the name (the number will be visible to you only, your audience will not see it)

•Use different name allows you to select the different name for the singer

•Add new singer of the same name will add a new singer with the same name as the one in the database

•Use the last singer of the same name from the database will invoke the last singer of the same name from the database

 

 

It is also possible to add to the name extra description in parentheses (eg. John (Smith)). The part of the name in parentheses will not be visible to the audience, it is for your use only. You may also add extra notes about the singer in Notes field.

 

Siglos Karaoke Professional allows you to tag the singers by venue name. To this check Add hidden venue name option and type the name of the venue into the edit box. With this option enabled Siglos Karaoke Professional will add hidden {V:Name} field to the singer name. You may later choose to display only singers from the same venue (to do this check Show from current venue only option in History Options).

 

If the singer requires non-standard song key, select it in the Key list. It is possible to change the key 12 tones lower or higher, but using values larger than 5 may cause sound quality degradation.

 

You may also modify the tempo of the song -- the range is from -100% (it is twice as slow) to +100% (twice as fast).

 

If you have added singers in the past, the list next to Singer's name will contain singers and songs they sung -- to quickly select the singer double-click appropriate item on the list (or single-click it and then select From History button). Selecting a singer from the history will fill Song list with the list of the songs sung by the singer in the past. Both song list and history list can be expanded and searched, using the search button next to them.

 

Once you have chosen the singer, it is time to choose the song

 

Note: you may skip selecting the singer step -- if you do this singer field will be blank

 

 

Selecting song

 

Siglos Karaoke Professional allows to search the song database using multiple field matching. You may use the global filter, that matches text in artist name, song title, and disc ID, or search each of the fields separately. Each of the search field have multi-matching capability, meaning that you may enter several match phrases. For example, entering ma he in Title field will display all songs that contain 'ho' and 'ca' strings in their titles (so the list of results may include Made In Heaven, Hell's Maid, and Mayhem.) As you can see the searches are not case-dependent, and the order of the match does not matter.

 

Search phrases need to be at least 2 characters long (for large databases displaying all matches for single character might be too slow), but if you would like to apply single-character match or even display all of the songs in the database, select Apply Filter button.

 

Once you entered the search criteria the Song list will be populated. To choose the song simply select it from the list.

 

The list right to the search criteria contains the songs from the history, displayed in order from the newest to the oldest. To choose the song from the history double-click it or select it on the list and then click From History button. Both song list and history list can be expanded and searched, using the search button next to them.

 

To display singers from the current session only, or to limit the number of items in the history lists, use History Options button.

 

All lists are sortable -- to sort the list by the column, click its header. Appropriate sort mark will appear.

 

Adding tracks from CD+G discs

 

It is also possible to add tracks from the CD+G disc or a file from the hard disc that is not registered in the database. To do this select Add CD Track or Add File option -- Siglos Karaoke Professional will display the dialog box allowing to choose the track number or file location, and to enter the song title and artist name.

 

Display scrolling reminder during previous song will cause the program to display a banner at the bottom at the screen reminding the singer that he/she will be singing the next song. The message that will be displayed is customizable ({Singer}, {Artist}, and {Song} will be replaced with the appropriate text).

 

 

Rotation management

 

Siglos Karaoke Professional automatically manages the rotation of the singers, however you may select the position in the rotation where then new singer will be placed. By default new singers are placed at the end of the rotation, but you may change this behaviour by adding them to the beginning, after the singer that is currently on stage, or you may specify the exact place to add the singer.

 

Once you are done with all the settings, select Add and Close button. You will return to the rotation window, and the singer and song you have selected will be added.

 

 

Playing songs

 

Song playback is controlled from the rotation/playlist window.

 

 

The rotation/playlist window can operate in two modes: rotation and playlist. Rotation allows to manage the singer rotation, and playlist shows the list of songs and singer in order how they will be played. We recommend using rotation mode for hosting karaoke shows.

 

What is the rotation?

 

To run the show in fair way you need to make sure that one person does not sing more often than the other. To do this Siglos Karaoke Professional places the singer in the queue, and first play one song for each singer before allowing the second round. The order of the singers is displayed in the list on the left of the rotation window.

 

In rotation mode the window displays two lists -- singers on the left, and songs on the right. When you click on the singer, the list on the right contains all songs added for the selected singer. The number in brackets displays the number of songs for the singer.

 

Next column contains estimated time the singer will be on stage. Last displays the last time the singer was on stage. In column contains the time singer or song was added.

 

TIP: You may choose which time-related columns should be displayed in Settings dialog box.

 

By default Siglos Karaoke Professional waits for the operator to start the song (songs and singers are added by clicking Add Singer button). When the song is ready to be played, the button at the lower left will say Start and will display and exclamation mark.

 

List controls

 

Both singer list and song list have control buttons next to them. First five buttons () allow to change the position of the selected item (they are for respectively moving the item to the top, moving it upwards, removing from the list, moving down, and moving to the bottom of the list).

 

Move to next button allows to advance the singer or the song in the rotation -- it will position the singer or the song for the next performance.

 

Disable button temporary disables the singer or song. It will not be removed from the rotation, but will be skipped until the singer or song is enabled again. Disabled items are marked as gray on the list.

 

Add Song button opens Add singer dialog box with the current singer selected -- it allows to quickly add songs for the selected singer.

 

Remove empty singers button removes from the list all the singers that have no songs assigned (they have [0] next to their names).

 

 

Usually you would want to display announcement for your audition -- this is controlled with Show announcements option. When it is enabled, Siglos Karaoke Professional will display an information screen with singer's name and the song details.

 

 

The look of the announcement screen (background and text styles) can be changed in KJ section of Settings dialog box.

 

When you are ready to play the song, click Start. The song will start, and the button text will change to Go to next. Also Restart button will become available. Once the song finishes or you click Go to next button, the next song will be loaded and Start button will appear again (you may also press F5 key for this).

 

 

 

Proceed automatically option will cause the program to enter the automatic mode. It will not wait for you to click Start, but will display the singer announcement for the period of time defined in KJ section of Settings dialog box, and then will automatically play the song.

 

Show scrolling message is a global control for the message displayed at the bottom of the screen announcing the next singer.

 

If you click Go To Next button, Siglos Karaoke Professional will finish the song and will move to the next singer/song, waiting for the operator to click Start button. If 'Go to Next' starts the song option is selected, the song will start immediately, without waiting for Start.

 

Wait for songs is a control that allows to manage singers that have run out of songs. If the singer that is about to sing has no songs in the queue, Siglos Karaoke Professional will pause and will allow you to choose what to do.

 

         

 

 You may choose to skip the singer but keep him/her in the queue, you may remove the singer from the queue, or you may add the song for the singer and allow the singer to sing straight away.        

 

 

Manage song database gives access to song database management, and Settings button opens KJ Settings dialog box.

 

Show windows section allows to show and hide additional program windows.

 

 Fill in playlist is an additional playlist with music tracks that are played in between karaoke songs

 

 Item details displays and allows to edit currently selected playlist item (you need to select Apply button to accept the changes)

 

 Preview window displays a copy of the singer's screen (it is useful if you cannot see the screen)

 

 Instant Sounds window that allows to program keys to play frequently used sound effects or other music files

 

 

Rotation presets allow to save active rotation for later use and load predefined selection, while User Presets button allows to save and load a set of songs for the current singer (you can use this for regular customers).

 

Quick Songs and Quick Singers allow fast access to songs and singers without the need to open Add Singer window

 

Remote Queue () is the command center of the remote access to your show, allowing to browse song list and add requests from remote devices as phones or tablets. This also allows to set up a kiosk mode. See more info in Remote Access section.