Lyrics & Transcription

Nightingale provides word-level synchronized lyrics through two sources.

LRCLIB

LRCLIB is queried first for existing synced lyrics. When a match is found, lyrics are used directly without needing transcription. This is faster and often more accurate for well-known songs.

WhisperX Transcription

When LRCLIB doesn’t have lyrics for a song, Nightingale uses WhisperX with the large-v3 model to:

1. Transcribe the isolated vocals into text
2. Align each word to precise timestamps in the audio

This produces word-level timing information that drives the karaoke highlighting during playback.

Language Support

WhisperX supports a wide range of languages. The language is auto-detected from the audio. Nightingale includes CJK font support (Noto Sans CJK) for Chinese, Japanese, and Korean lyrics.

Highlighting

During playback, lyrics are displayed with word-by-word highlighting:

• Current word — highlighted in the accent color
• Sung words — shown in a completed state
• Upcoming words — shown in a dimmer color
• Next line — previewed below the current line