[kingskel]

Hey:

I was under the impression that those software vocal removers don't work. However, I was at a party and a guy there was using one on a Windows laptop and it seemed to work great. It was real-time also. I'd be interested in checking out a Mac version - is there one anyone is aware of? VPC isn't an option (it's slow and I'm lazy)!

Thanks

[Person Man]

Originally posted by kingskel:
Hey:

I was under the impression that those software vocal removers don't work.

It depends on how the music track you want to remove the vocals from was recorded.

If it was recorded in mono, you're out of luck. It only works with stereo, and then it only works well if the instruments were recorded in separate channels (i.e. drums only in left channel, guitar only in right channel, keyboard only in right channel, bass only in left channel), and the vocals recorded in both channels.

If things are set up that way, they take the left channel and subtract it from the right channel (or vice versa), and play the result. Whatever is in both channels (the vocals) is removed.

In reality, though, the sound is mixed such that you can hear a bit of each instrument in both channels, so when you subtract one channel from the other, the resulting sound is muddy and sometimes horrible. Sometimes they don't even completely remove the vocals.

The track you heard that sounded great was one of those "perfect" tracks.

If you really want to play with this, though, you can do a VersionTracker or MacUpdate search on CD/MP3 players that have a "karaoke" function.