Sweep slow on last word of line

[DrJimi]

When replaying my attempts at songs, either in KHP or when viewing the final CDG via MicroStudio, all of the color sweeping is in sync, except for the last word on almost every line. This last word sweeps very slowly, instead of sweeping at the speed I intend, then maybe pausing. I believe I am making appropriate use of the Space and CRTL keys, but have not yet found a way to get the last word "sweeped" cleanly -- whether there is a short or long pause after the line.

Questions:[list=1][*] What is the right way to employ the CTRL key in this case? Assume I want to sweep the last word and pause sweeping for a second or two. Admin Answer: FIRST - Make sure you have added the 2 blank lines at the end of your song. Without these, your last word willl not sweep correctly (this is covered in the manual in Step 2 #4Insert Two Required Blank Lines at the Song End). Now, before you tap the space bar for the 2 blank lines, do the following sequence. Tap the space bar to start sweeping the last word (or *syllable). When you want the sweep to stop, tap the Ctrl key, immediately followed by the space bar 2 times for the 2 blank lines. This should sweep the last word correctly over the duration started by the spacebar tap to place the last word and ended by when you tap the Ctrl key.
[*] Is there a prefered page layout? I'vre tried using the bottom 3 lines and the middle two (depending upon how the song lines "scan", etc.). Admin Answer: No. It is totally flexibile as to how you want the song "phrasing" to appear on lines to sing. You can use blank lines in any line position on the display. Keep in mind - the upper lines (all but the bottom-most) are replaced when the last line (even if it is blank) starts to sweep, which will not be visible if it is a blank line. If you don't allow some time for sweeping the last line, you run the risk that the next "page" of lines will not draw fully before the first line must start sweeping. In a really fast moving song, the first line may not be fully drawn before it starts sweeping. This is a CDG limitation you must learn to live with as a producer.
[*] I have tried breaking up words into sylables (the "* " trick), but then see the last sylable sweeping slowly. Admin Answer: This is the same problem as described in #1 above. Follow the suggestions to solve it.
[*] Occasionally, the final word does not sweep at all (no color). Maybe this is a case of space bar input getting dropped? Admin Answer: No. It appears you are not adding the 2 required blank lines at the end of the song and tapping the spacebar to place them (read Manual Step 2 #4). You can use the Ctrl key before them or not.[/list=1]

BTW, system is an Athlon 850, ASUS K7M board, 256MB of PC133 memory, Voodoo 3500 TV video card (to be replaced soon with an ATI Radeon 64 DDR, I hope), Western Digital disks @ 7500 rpm, ATA66.

Anyone have any suggestions? I'm quite prepared to believe it's my technique or lack of knowledge causing this.Admin Answer: Please carefully read ALL of the manual Step 2 on Formatting the Lyrics File, including #5 which is Advanced Features.

Regards, Jimi

[admin]

Sorry to have not answered before, but we have no experience ourselves or from other clients with your problem. I'll make some suggestions based on your questions.
Where you press the Ctrl key will stop the sweep for the word placed with the last Spacebar. The color sweep time will be from the Spacebar press to the Ctrl press. You should press Ctrl where the singer should stop singing, which will pause the sweeping until the next Spacebar press.

There is no "prefer" page layout. The 4 lines are "drawn", whether you use them or not. Using fewer lines will draw faster than all 4 because there is less to be drawn.

When you use * to split words, you must tap each portion in with a Spacebar press. If you aren't aware of this, your second word portion (following the *) will be placed with the next Spacebar press. If you think that press is for the next word, you are wrong. That can explain the sweep color not following the music as you might think. I would not use the * until you are quite proficient on just placing whole words. Then, you will know when you are not placing *-split words correctly.

As to the last word not sweeping at all, I have no explanation. We have never seen or heard of this before that I can remember. I expect it might be a Ctrl press was entered without realizing it. However, the next Spacebar press would have placed the last word, which would still sweep it.

Do you still have these problems? If so, it might be beneficial for us to get your song music and lyrics and try it here to see what we generate. Let me know.

[bose]

Here is a little tip I have learned....

When you're doing a very fast song and sometimes the next screen doesn't draw itself quick enough, make the last line of each screen have as much text as possible, for example...

Screen Example 1

WHEN YOU'RE IN LOVE
WITH A BEAUTIFUL
WOMAN
IT'S HARD

Screen Example 2

WHEN YOU'RE
IN LOVE
WITH A
BEAUTIFUL WOMAN IT'S HARD

The second screen will give more time for the next words to appear at the top because if you look closely at a KHPro song - the swept lines only start to clear after the first word of the fourth line has been swept. This means the longer the fourth line is, the more time it gives the software to draw the next three lines.

Just a tip!

Admin Point: This is an excellent TIP! I included this tip in the KHP 2.009 manual from a prior post bose had made. It points out that the length of the BOTTOM-MOST line on the display (regardless of how many lines you have selected to display) is VERY - VERY - VERY important. Bose, you done yourself proud (as we say when we get into our deep southern drawl).

[DrJimi]

Thanks to both of you for your suggestions. It turns out it was mainly my technique, coupled with a little misunderstanding, causing my problem. That, and using the Red sweep color. All became clear when I changed to Blue :-)

My interpretation is as follows (and please correct me if I'm wrong):

I hit the space in time with each sylable (I'm using the "* " trick here) including the last sylable of each line, and then when I want the sweep of the last sylable to end I advance (space) to the 1st sylable of the next line, then hit CTRL. This works fine BTW.

This became obvious when using the Blue sweep color, as the word about to be (not yet) "actioned" is shown in red, whereas words (or sylables) already tagged via the Space are in Blue.

I realize I'm not explaining it well, but I'm happy that I've found a solution that I can work with and that gives me the timing and results I was looking for.

I have also found a few ways to "speed up" the redraw of the screen (using 2, 3 and 4 line display).

I did also upgrade my graphics card to the Radeon 64 DDR which had some positive effect.

All in all, I'm now very happy. If I could center the words on the screen, I'd be extatic Admin Answer: Karaoke Home Producer 2.009 has line centering as a Setting you can change. Also, the manual addresses how to use the em-space that will take up a capital "M" width on the display, moving text to the right if the text left-align setting is selected instead of centering.

Thanks, Jimi

[George]

Fot the benefit of anyone else that might crop up with this problem,I had this same problem and found a simple solution that works for me. When typing the lyrics in notepad, after the last word make another line with nothing on it except 3 or 4 dots. This fools the system into thinking that's the last word if you treat it as such when processing the song in KHP.

Admin Answer: There are some tricks you can do using dots, hyphens, etc. and the em-space. The em-space is entered by pressing and holding the Alt key while typing 0160 numbers. The em-space appears when you release the Alt key.

The neat thing about the em-space (and the underline "_" also), is when either is used between characters (-_-_-_-_- for example), the string places as a word (spacebar space delimits words so you can't do this with the spacebar space). Then, when you tap the spacebar to place the first "-", the entire -_-_-_-_- "word" is placed. When you want sweeping to end (releative to the music), tap the Ctrl key, or if at the song end, tap the spacebar two more times to place your two REQURED blank lines.
Thanks,

George

[admin]

This is a good "learning" thread. I have added Admin Answers: by each point.

PS: Please don't forget to read the Karaoke Home Producer 2.009 manual. It has IMPORTANT tips to solve these problems.

[George]

As an old song title says"'Taint Necessarily So"
That applies to making certain the last line on the screen has the most text in it. It depends on how long the last line takes to sing. If there are any words in it that are held for a longer time than any others on the set of four, they can easily outweigh the number of characters in the other lines. The number of characters in the last line will only hold true some of the time. The meter of the music far outweighs that theory.

Thanks,

George

[admin]

However, the way the tool works is clearly not affected by the meter of the music.

We are the toolmakers. Our job is to tell you how it works.

Your are the producer. Your job is to use the tool to produce your songs.

We have not had any songs reported that cannot be turned into Karaoke CDG with Karaoke Home Producer. I hope we never will.

[George]

The tool IS designed to function with the meter of the music in this sense, assuming whoever is producing the song knows when to tap the spacebar and when to hold back. Lets say the last word of a set of four is "evermore" and when properly sung would come across something like "eveeeeermooooooore" The tool is designed to sweep sloooowly across the word
" evermore" and not sweep to the next word until you tap the space bar. In almost every instance where this is the case there would be adequate time for the new words on the next page to be in place, irregardless of the number of characters in the last line of the set as compared to the previous 3 lines. That's what I was eluding to, and it is the way the tool is designed to work, thank heavens. In those instances one need not make sure the last line has more characters in it. Anywhere in the song, the longer you wait to tap the space bar, the slower the sweep on the word you're on. In that sense it is therefor designed to work with the meter of the music, and it's great . Nothing was said about not being able to create a cdg song.

Thanks,

George

[admin]

George... Very well done my friend!

I am humbled by your understanding and clarity. I will add this bit wisdom to our Karaoke Home Producer manual. It is something all our users should be aware of.

Would you please post this as a separate thread in this Open Forum that I can then move into the Karaoke Home Producer Tech Support Forum? It belongs there also.