Encore Karaoke vs Nightingale

Encore Karaoke is an open-source karaoke player for computers that uses music supplied by the user; a song library is not included by default. It works best with MIDI and MP3+G files and also supports popular audio and video formats. An audio mixer can enhance a singer’s voice, video recording captures performances, and advanced scoring gives real-time feedback on pitch and timing. Encore Sessions lets people create karaoke rooms, while EnMoku allows song queuing, chat, and cheering from a machine without installing an app. The player can romanize Japanese and Korean songs automatically, and users can place their own background images or videos behind lyrics. The latest listed release describes OBS scene automation and overlays for lyrics and the current setlist. The setup menu is PIN-protected and starts with PIN 0000, which users can change. The listing includes Android, Linux, macOS, and Windows, with desktop support varying by release: Windows for versions 1.0.0–1.3.1, Linux from 1.4.0, and macOS from 1.10 onward. The plan costs nothing.

Nightingale turns songs from local folders or Plex Media Server, Jellyfin, and Navidrome libraries into karaoke tracks with separated vocals, synchronized lyrics, and real-time pitch scoring. Vocal separation uses the UVR Karaoke model or Demucs. WhisperX transcribes and aligns lyrics word by word, and LRCLIB lyrics are used when available. Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, and Korean songs can use character-level alignment and romanized readings.

After analysis, users can adjust key and tempo and follow pitch scoring. Lyrics can be provided as timed LRC or Enhanced LRC, pasted as plain text for alignment, or edited. Playback backgrounds include 10 GPU shader options, five Pixabay video styles, and video files. The app supports MP4 and MKV videos and experimental UltraStar song folders. Multiple profiles keep separate score histories; navigation can use a gamepad or touch controls. Native Linux, macOS, and Windows builds use CUDA or Metal acceleration when available, with CPU fallback. A web build can run on a Linux computer on a home network and open in a browser. The app is free and open source under GPL-3.0-or-later, describes itself as having no cloud, and encrypts Navidrome login details on disk.