Short answer: if you want an MP4 to post or play on the TV, Youka handles it. It doesn't score your pitch.
It turns a song into a karaoke video: removes the vocals, syncs the lyrics automatically and exports a 1080p MP4, with a background, font and colour you pick. There's a browser version and a desktop app for Windows and macOS, plus an editor for fixing the timing when it comes out crooked.
If what you want is a file — for the TV at a party, for Instagram, to send to someone — video is the right answer. An MP4 plays anywhere, with no account and nothing to install.
What comes out the other end.
Video is pixels. The lyrics were drawn onto the frame; nothing inside the file knows which note is being sung or which syllable is live right now. That's why video can't score: there's nothing to compare your voice against.
A karaoke chart is data. Every syllable has a start, a duration and a note pitch. That's what lets the microphone hear you and the program tell you that you went sharp, or came in late, and what you scored. StarSinger hands it back in that format — the same one UltraStar uses — and the vertical video comes out too, at the end of the song.
So the choice isn't "which is better". It's what you're going to do with the song once it's ready: watch it, or sing it and be measured.
.txt in UltraStar format and take it to your own
install.| Youka | StarSinger | |
|---|---|---|
| What comes out | a 1080p MP4 | a playable karaoke and a vertical video |
| Pitch scoring | no | yes, note by note |
| Where it runs | browser and desktop app | browser |
| Removes vocals | yes | yes |
| Syncs lyrics automatically | yes | yes, with published lyrics checked against the audio |
| Editor | yes | yes |
| Two singers on microphones | not what it's for | yes |
| Taking the file away | MP4 | MP4 and an UltraStar .txt |
| Trying it without paying | free credits at signup | 3 songs a month, every month |
Competitor prices move, so we don't print theirs here: Youka charges by credit, on monthly plans, and gives you a handful of free credits when you sign up. Check it at the source before deciding.
I want a file that plays anywhere: video. Youka, or any decent lyric-video generator.
I want to sing and know what I scored: that needs a chart with note pitch, and video can't do it — not theirs, not ours.
I want both: StarSinger gives you the playable karaoke and records the vertical video at the end of the song. On the Free plan that video comes out watermarked.
It depends what you want out the other end. If it's a video to post or play on a TV, any good lyric-video generator will do. If it's singing with pitch scoring, video doesn't solve it: you need a tool that returns a karaoke chart with note pitch.
I couldn't find a singing-scoring feature on their site: the product delivers karaoke and lyric videos. That isn't a flaw, it's the scope — video is an image, and an image has no way to compare your voice to the right note.
It gives you free credits at signup, enough for a few songs, and the monthly plans are paid by credit. Competitor pricing moves, so check it at the source. Here, the Free plan is 3 songs a month, renewed every month, with no card.
Not directly. An MP4 doesn't carry which note each syllable is, which is what the scoring has to read. To score, the file has to be a karaoke chart — the UltraStar format, for example.
StarSinger does those three steps for you. You upload a file you already have, it separates the vocals, transcribes the lyrics with per-syllable timing and gives you a karaoke that plays in the browser, with pitch scoring. You can try it without paying: the Free plan does 3 songs a month and asks for no card — the vertical video comes out watermarked. Past that, Pro is US$ 3.99 a month.
The caveats, because they're real: the transcription gets words wrong on screamed or heavily distorted vocals, and processing takes 2 to 3 minutes per song with the cloud accelerator on, and over 10 when it is down.
Try it free