Kanto Karaoke Player&Recorder vs UltraStar Deluxe

Kanto Karaoke Player&Recorder is karaoke software for amateur and professional singers, with live lineup management, mixing and crossfading. It plays MP3, MP3+CDG, WAV+CDG, KFN, MP4, AVI, WMV, KAR and MIDI files. Live Performance shows the current and upcoming songs and lets users queue tracks by dragging and dropping them. Singers can record microphone vocals over a song and adjust microphone and music volume, latency, echo and reverb. The software converts MIDI and KAR files to MP3, with an option to remove the melody track, and supports importing and changing SoundFonts for MIDI playback. Users can select an external MIDI driver or device, and a built-in browser can play online karaoke songs such as YouTube videos. Dual Display opens a second window for lyrics on another monitor or TV while songs are managed on the computer. Free editions are available for Windows and Mac. Paid options include personal and professional licenses, with different device counts and use restrictions; the Standard and Professional licenses last three years.

UltraStar Deluxe is a free, open-source karaoke game for Windows, Linux and macOS. Players sing and score points based on pitch and rhythm, and can create their own songs. Party mode supports 8–12 players divided into two or three teams. The maker says more than 10,000 songs are available; players can also use DRM-free audio files or music stored on their computers. SingStar microphones work with the game. Users can create themes and download community plugins, free songs and code patches. Lua plugins are supported, with the .usdx extension and placement in the plugins directory required. The Official UltraStar Song Format is shared with partner games and song editors. Listed minimum requirements include a 1GHz CPU, OpenGL 1.2, 512MB free RAM and 200MB disk space, plus room for songs and videos. The downloads page lists version 2026.9.0 and links to an installer, release notes and source; Flathub and AUR are alternative installation methods. Audio devices do not have plug-and-play support, so the game must be restarted after a new device is connected.