Encore Karaoke vs Performous

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.

Performous is free software combining karaoke, band games, and dancing on Windows, macOS, and Linux. Its modes include vocals, lead, rhythm and bass guitar, drums, and dancing, with multiplayer support. Scored singing shows pitch so players can adjust their performance; karaoke mode displays lyrics without notes or scoring. The project says pitch detection works with laptop or webcam microphones. Controllers are autodetected, and the game can use a keyboard, microphones, USB guitars and drums, and dance pads. Supported song formats include Frets on Fire, UltraStar, SingStar XML, and StepMania. Composer edits and converts notes for music games, offering pitch analysis, zoomable timing, note synthesis, and format import and export. Composer lists SingStar XML, UltraStar TXT, and Frets on Fire MIDI formats. Free karaoke song packages are available under different libre and restricted license terms. The site says its free-song page does not yet include band-game or dancing songs. Performous is licensed under GNU GPL version 2 or later, with documentation, Discord, and a GitHub feedback page.