Auxiliary note

Special mode for finetuning timing

Timing in Ultrastar song is very important - if your notes start or end in the wrong beat, players will not be properly graded for their performance. One beat difference in long notes may not matter, but being one beat off on a one beat long note or making a note too long by multiple beats will definitely negatively impact the players' in-game experience.

To put it plainly - if you skip setting proper timing, your txt file will have poor quality and be annoying to sing.

How is auxiliary note used?

To finetune the start or end beat of the notes, you can use the auxiliary note method. The algorithm is not that complicated. You just need to create a new auxiliary note first.

Start beat

To determine the start beat of a note:

1. Place your new auxialiary note so that it overlaps with the first beat of the syllable.

2. Click space to execute the playback for selected note in audio only mode.

3. Can you hear the syllable "can"?

4. If yes - it means that the note begins either in this beat or earlier. To check if it starts earlier, move the auxiliary note one beat to the left and repeat the steps 2-5.

5. If no - it means that the note begins later. Move the auxiliary note one beat to the right and repeat the steps 2-5.

6. Once you now in which beat the note starts, place it correctly.

7. Remove the auxiliary note.

End beat

Determining the end beat is very similar. You just place the auxiliary note so that it overlaps with the last beat of the syllable.

If you can still hear the vowel clearly in the "Can" syllable it means that the note is at least that long. If you can't - it means that the note is currently too long and needs to be shortened. Move the auxiliary note around executing playback after each move to determine the correct end beat.

If you can hear only a consonant or the vowel is very quiet just decrease the length - microphones do not collect consonant sound very well and it's better to have a note that is a little bit too short than too long.

If you make the note a little bit too short, you will just give the player less points for it. He probably will not even notice while singing as long as the difference is not too big. If you make it too long however, the player will hear that the singer has already finished singing the syllable. Nevertheless he will have to artificially prolong the syllable to get full points for it, or lose these points by staying consistent with the original audio.

Advantages

The advantage of this method is that it is pretty reliable and easy once you get a hang of it.

Disadvantages

You not only need to move the actual notes' start and end beats, but you also need to move around the auxiliary note. If you want to hear the whole line, artificial note will be also audible unless you temporarily remove it just to add it a moment later.

Solution - auxiliary note style playback

If you understood the algorithm above and tested it on some song, then you will realize that actually you do not need the auxiliary note at all. You just need to have the possibility to hear the first beat of the note (together with like 2-4 beats before) and to hear the last beat of the note (with several beats after it).

That's why Karedi gives you the possibility to replace auxiliary note with special type of playback. You do not need to add any additional notes to activate it!

Start beat

To determine the start beat:

1. Select the note that you want to finetune.

2. Press alt + ↑ shortcut to hear the auxiliary note playback.

3. If you can clearly hear the syllable, it means that the note begins in current beat or ealier. Resize the note - move the beginning one beat to the left (press ctrl + ←). Repeat steps 2-4.

4. If you can't clearly hear the syllable yet, it means that the note begins later. Move the beginning of the note one beat to the right (press ctrl + →). Repeat steps 2-4.

5. Make sure that the beginning of the note is in the beat you found as optimum start beat.

With auxiliary note playback instead of real auxiliary note, you can execute visible range playback any time you want without any additional steps.

End beat

To determine the end beat you use a very similar algorithm. Just use alt + ↓ shortcut instead to play the virtual auxiliary note placed at the end of the selected note.

Use shortcuts to finetune the timing much faster.

Auxiliary note playback can be also invoked from the menu, but using the shortcuts is much better. Finetuning timing is an operation where you move the notes a lot and invoke playbacks a lot. Doing it with the shortcuts is way faster than invoking these operations from the menu every single time.