Getting Started

Installation

Download the latest release for your platform from the Releases page and run the binary.

Supported audio formats: .mp3, .flac, .ogg, .wav, .m4a, .aac, .wma.

Supported video formats: .mp4, .mkv, .avi, .webm, .mov, .m4v.

First Launch

On first launch, Nightingale will set up its environment automatically:

1. Downloads ffmpeg — needed for audio/video processing
2. Downloads uv — Python package manager
3. Installs Python 3.10 — via uv, isolated from your system Python
4. Creates virtual environment — with PyTorch, WhisperX, Demucs, and UVR models
5. Downloads ML models — stem separation and transcription models
6. Pre-downloads video backgrounds — Pixabay videos for the first session

This process takes a few minutes and shows a progress screen. After setup completes, Nightingale is ready to use.

Adding Music

When prompted, select your music folder. Nightingale will scan it for supported audio and video files. You can change the folder later in the settings.

Analysis

Before a song can be played as karaoke, it needs to be analyzed:

1. Select a song from the library
2. Analysis runs automatically (stem separation → lyrics → transcription)
3. Results are cached — subsequent plays are instant

You can also queue multiple songs for batch analysis.

Force Re-setup

If something goes wrong with the vendor environment, you can force a fresh setup:

nightingale --setup