Playback queue
Build the set list as people choose songs, see what’s next, remove requests, or clear the queue when plans change.
v1.2.0 — free & open source
Your music library,
turned into karaoke.
Nightingale splits out the vocals, aligns every word of the lyrics, and scores your pitch in real time — with key & tempo controls and audio-reactive backgrounds. One self-contained app, no cloud, no setup.
Everything included
Explore docs
Built for the whole set list
From where your music lives to how it sounds on the mic — every step of the karaoke pipeline is handled in one app.
Library & sources
Pick where Nightingale reads your music from — a local folder, Plex Media Server, Jellyfin, or Navidrome. Run it as the desktop app, or self-host the web build so any device in the house can open it.
📁 Folder library
Point at any folder and Nightingale scans the supported audio, video, and UltraStar files inside.
🟠 Plex
Select music libraries on a local or remote Plex Media Server. Hosted discovery and direct LAN URL + token connection are both supported.
🎬 Jellyfin
Play straight from your Jellyfin library. Songs cache locally on first play so karaoke runs the same as a folder library.
💿 Navidrome
Same idea for Navidrome (audio only). Login details are kept encrypted on disk.
🌐 Self-hosted web mode
Run Nightingale on a Linux box on your home network. Open it from any browser at <hostname>.local — one install script handles the rest.
🧭 Song browser
Switch between table and grid views, sort by multiple columns, and run bulk actions across any filtered song list.
📋 Playback queue
Build and manage the set list while people choose songs, with a clear next-up view and per-song controls.
🗂️ Flexible storage
Choose a main data folder, then split cache, models, videos, and vendor tools into separate folders from Settings.
📦 Single binary
ffmpeg, Python, PyTorch, and the ML models are all bootstrapped on first launch. Nothing to install.
Lyrics & audio
Word-level lyrics, multi-language ASR, CJK forced alignment, and an in-app editor for when the automatic result needs a human pass.
🎤 Stem separation
Vocals are isolated from instrumentals using the UVR Karaoke model or Demucs. Guide vocal volume is adjustable.
📝 Word-level lyrics
WhisperX transcribes and aligns every word to the audio. Existing lyrics from LRCLIB are used when available.
🈯 CJK lyrics
Japanese, Chinese, Cantonese, and Korean songs get per-character forced alignment with romanized readings (Hepburn, pinyin, Jyutping, Revised Romanization) shown above each token.
🗣️ Pluggable ASR
Choose Whisper (default, broad coverage) or Parakeet v3 (experimental) for ~25 European languages. NeMo on CUDA, ONNX everywhere else.
🎼 UltraStar songs
Drop USDX song folders into your library — pitch and lyrics come straight from the file, no analyzer pass needed. Experimental.
✏️ Bring your own lyrics
Paste timed LRC or Enhanced LRC for instant playback, or plain lyrics for alignment. Browse LRCLIB matches, edit existing lyrics, and optionally sing over the original mix without separating stems.
Playback & visuals
Session playback, a customizable lyrics and pitch layout, key/tempo controls, scoring, and audio-reactive backgrounds.
🎯 Pitch scoring
Sing into your mic and get scored in real-time. Star ratings and per-song scoreboards track your progress.
🎚️ Key and tempo shifts
After analysis, adjust key and tempo from the song list to match your voice and comfort level.
🪟 Session mode
Keep playback in a dedicated window or browser tab while the menu stays open for queue management.
↔️ Flexible playback layout
Place lyrics at nine screen positions and independently scale lyrics and the pitch graph from 50–250%.
🎬 Video file support
Drop .mp4 or .mkv files into your library. Vocals are separated and the original video plays as the background.
🌌 Audio-reactive backgrounds
10 GPU shaders that react to your mic input in real time, 5 Pixabay video flavors, plus the source video for video files.
🎙️ Mic monitoring + latency
Optional live mic monitor, adjustable gain (0–200%), and a beep-based latency test for tighter scoring.
Quality of life
Per-player profiles, full gamepad navigation, touch playback controls, and signed in-app updates on macOS and Windows.
👤 Player profiles
Multiple profiles with separate score histories. Switch between singers without losing anyone's records.
🎮 Gamepad + touch support
Navigate menus with a controller and use on-screen playback controls on touch devices.
⬆️ In-app updates
On macOS and Windows: auto-checks at launch, badges the sidebar avatar when a release is available, and installs signed updates with one click. On Linux the Update entry opens GitHub Releases for a manual download.
Latest release
See full docs
What's new in v1.2.0
Session mode
Keep karaoke playing in a dedicated window or browser tab while the main menu stays free for live queue management.
Your playback layout
Place lyrics where they work best and scale lyrics and the pitch graph independently with a live preview.
Faster library management
Run analysis, metadata refreshes, realignment, and cache actions across the current filtered song list.
Multi-level song sorting
Sort the compact table by multiple columns with clear priorities that stay saved between sessions.
Better microphone setup
Test microphone recording and playback in Settings, with ASIO support available on Windows.
The pipeline
Read pipeline docs
From track to stage in four steps
01
Source
Point Nightingale at your music: a local folder, Plex Media Server, Jellyfin, or Navidrome. Run it as the desktop app or the self-hosted web build — either way, the pipeline is the same.
02
Separate
UVR Karaoke or Demucs splits the track into vocals and instrumental. Audio is extracted from video files automatically; songs from a server are cached locally on first play.
03
Transcribe
Synced lyrics are looked up on LRCLIB first. If nothing's found, WhisperX (or Parakeet v3, experimental) transcribes the vocals with word-level alignment. CJK songs get romanized readings above each token.
04
Play
Playback includes highlighted lyrics, pitch scoring, key/tempo controls, mic monitoring, and dynamic backgrounds.
Runs everywhere
One binary, every desktop
Native builds for Linux, macOS, and Windows. GPU acceleration via CUDA or Metal when available, with a CPU fallback everywhere else.
Linux x86_64 · aarch64
macOS ARM · Intel
Windows x86_64
Support Nightingale
Nightingale is open-source, free, and built by one person in their spare time. If it brings you joy, consider chipping in — recurring on Patreon or one-off on Ko-fi.