05 October,2014 03:27 AM IST | | Harpreet Kaur Sapra
Want to croon your favourite number and rate your performance or throw a bash and have friends join you for a karaoke night? Here's all the help you need, writes Harpreet Kaur Sapra
Mumbai, LG Songstar, karaoke, Yokee, Free Apps, Android, iOS, karaoke apps, Technology
LG Songstar
You know how to karaoke in front of your computer and while you're out with 3G on your phone. But what if you want to throw a party for your friends to sing along with you?
LG Songstar is designed to be used at home with a television. It is preloaded with 4,000 songs in nine languages including Hindi and English. It lets you choose from genres such as rock, pop, jazz and hip hop. The box contains a microphone with an in-built remote, a song book and a stand for the microphone. The songs are stored on a songpack chip. LG should have more of these available in the market, but at the time of writing, we could only find the chip that comes with the box.
To set it up, you only need to connect the mic to the sound source and to your TV for the lyrics display. Then, you dial the number of your song or search for it and start crooning.
Once you start singing, an app displays the live score on the TV. This product is great for parties. You can enhance your voice with Echo Key Control and Tempo control, which gives you commands over your voice output. It even lets you make a queue of your favourite songs - up to 45 songs and record while you sing.
LG Songstar comes in two variants, NK 230 with a single wired mic (Rs 14,000) and NK 330 with a wired mic, coupled with a wireless sub- mic.(Rs 20,000)
Gaana.com/SingAlong
Gaana.com, the online music streaming portal, now has a section called Sing Along, which is a dream come true if you like Indian music, from Bollywood numbers to Tollywood.
However, the website lets you sing along and rates the quality of your performance using their interactive section. However, to do all this, it needs Adobe Flash, and getting your microphone to work with the website may require you to call that geeky friend for some help.
Lyrics appear on screen as do note lengths and the upcoming lines. The better you sing, the more points you earn. You can also challenge Facebook friends to sing the same song.
The website has over 3,00,300 songs in six languages on jazz, ballad, pop and so on. You could select songs based on the era, the performer's gender and there is no need to download the song as long as your Internet connection is good.
The website displays the song's lyrics and pitch simultaneously and compares your pitch quality with the original. However, most of these features are available only after you log-in with your Facebook account.
Yokee (Free App, Android and iOS)
If it is international music you are looking for, and love to sing in foreign languages, Yokee is a great app to have. It enables you to connect to YouTube via your Facebook account and indulge in karaoke. Once you download the app, you can create your account and share your content with your Facebook friends.
Yokee has an extensive free song catalogue on YouTube. You can record your version of the song and share it on Facebook, so your friends can rate it.
Yokee also enhances your voice with pitch correction and optional harmonies. You can also choose to add echo and reverb to the recording. Though the app is free, you will need to pay a subscription of $7.99 per month to access the VIP song catalogue (which you can do without, as you possibly cannot use up all the free content available on YouTube)
