How to Quickly Create a Lyric Track for Xlights! (V2 UPDATED)

[@How2Pixel]

If you feel like this tool has been helpful to you, and you'd like to contribute back to Lighting Fanatics, they now have a way you can donate! If you want to "buy them a coffee", you can do so here: www.buymeacoffee.com/lightingfanatic

[@dmurdaugh2569]

Great video. I'm ready to tackle signing faces now!! Thanks for sharing.

[@danyf3116]

Now if I had a wall with Employee of The Month, I would make sure you would be on it. You came through just like you had said you would and that you were working on a solution. Kudos young man, kudos.

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you so much! I'm just glad I was able to save everyone some time with this.

[@danyf3116]

@@How2Pixel You did and then some. ☺

[@tededwards2226]

The site came from the British so he is just showing the site to everyone

[@miguelalopez5685]

Thanks!

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you so much for the super thanks!!!! Glad the video was helpful!

[@patrickpicone1183]

This site and YOU are amazing... I'm just starting to work with Xlights and CRAZY Christmas light projects... You have been a great help... Can't say thank you enough...

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you so so much! I'm glad you we're able to find this useful and save some time programming!

[@leightonB69]

Absolute legend it helped me heaps tonight with working on new layouts for 2023 season

[@How2Pixel]

Glad you found it useful!

[@travisguilbeau8404]

After spending hours today doing my first track I find this…. 🤦 lol thanks for the knowledge. I’m starting fresh and I’m working on my show for next year already. I decided to give it a go after 2-3 years

[@How2Pixel]

You're welcome! Good luck with your show!

[@meowdy0295]

This video inspired me to do faces! You are great at explaining things, thanks so much!

[@petecicero]

Love this channel man keep at it. Congrats on the 100. It’s not easy!

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're enjoying it!

[@jbragg2493]

Thanks man! You just put my show on the next level!

[@lightsonmelvina5654]

Thanks for this video! I did a few lyric tracks last year but needed a quick refresher after not touching Xlights since December lol.

[@How2Pixel]

Thanks, glad it helped!

[@davidmack9303]

Thanks for the video! Can't wait to try it!

[@boslights1043]

Thank you so much for sharing Nicholas 😀! This will be a tremendous help, will be using this for sure 👍🎄👍

[@How2Pixel]

Glad it was helpful!

[@goofy2be1]

I can’t wait to try this. I hated moving around the words and so on. Thanks

[@How2Pixel]

Yeah, it's very time consuming and annoying doing it manually.

[@corbybradford1021]

What a great tip on what would take me days...thanks so much!!

[@How2Pixel]

You're welcome!

[@UOJumblinjim]

This is fantastic! Thank you.

[@noluvninja]

Dude, you hooked it up big time

[@tededwards2226]

Not his website came from over the pond 🇬🇧

[@ARHaunter]

Thank u it's me htj haunter

[@sidatblount]

great video it sure helps a lot but i have a question about the eyes , how can i make them wink ?

[@How2Pixel]

That's a good question! What you'll have to do is go into the sub models of the singing face, and then put an on effect or an off effect (depending on how you want it to look) on the eye you want to wink. Hope this helps!

[@steviep3736]

Have you found a good way to pull out the other vocals other than the main and have other singing faces use these

[@richbeard5500]

Great info!!!

[@ivanosornio4706]

Thanks again 👍🏻

[@franshuman2723]

Thanks so much!! Do you have a video on how to do this when there is more than one lyric track in a song (i.e. a Pentatonix song or a song with background singers)? Thank you!!

[@How2Pixel]

You're welcome! I don't have a video that talks about that, because it is somewhat hard to do. Usually, I take the main vocals from the song and put that into the lyrics file for the website and run that through the program. Then I make another lyrics file and put all the other lyrics in there and run that through the program. Usually the first file turns out ok, but the second one will be a little bit messed up. You'll probably have to manually adjust those lyrics when you import them into xlights. The first and second lyric tracks I import into xlights as separate timing tracks.

[@yurivaliente54]

How do you break the voices into different animations.? Great video I played with it and it works great.

[@How2Pixel]

Just move the singing face effect on the prop you want to sing, and make sure it's lined up with the section of the lyric track you want it to sing to.

[@miracle4molly]

@how2Pixel - What did you use to upload your own personal created lyrics?

[@richtodaro9919]

DUDE YOU ARE THE BEST!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you 😂

[@johndread]

Keep it up man we are learning much from this. How many pixels does your megatree has?

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you! There're 24 strands of 73 lights, so 1,752. There's 2,022 if you count the star.

[@DWR6]

Great video. I actually tried the OLD VERSION website along with the video and the website still seemed to work fine. I did have a question.... Is there a way to change the phoneme if the shape does not seem quite right for a word breakdown? I cant seem to find a way to unlock the word breakdown line so I can changed individual words. Thanks!

[@How2Pixel]

I'm surprised the old one worked, the website has been offline for a while. There may be an easier way to do this, but here is the way I usually change a phoneme if I don't like it. If you double click the lyric timing track in the display elements row, (the section where it shows all your models in the sequencing tab) it should show the words and phonemes. Then what I do is push shift and double click the phoneme I want to change, and it opens a pop up that allows you to type in the new phoneme you want. You will have to do this one by one, then adjust the timing if needed for it. Like I said, there may be an easier way, but this is the way I usually do it. Hope this helps!

[@Gionzilla]

Hello and thank you very much for your videos. Can you please tell me which browser you are using? I am immediately thrown off the page after clicking on Upload and then nothing happens. Greetings from Switzerland

[@How2Pixel]

That's strange. I used microsoft edge in this video, but I have noticed before the website happens to act strange sometimes. Maybe try another time later? Let me know if you can figure out what happened.

[@Gionzilla]

@@How2Pixel Unfortunately, it doesn't work for me. I have now tried various browsers and times. Too bad, maybe there is another possibility. I can also get that on your channel 👍 Thank you very much

[@steviep3736]

Its me again,, When I import the timing it is off from the start of the music by about 10 sec. and not sure how to align the whole import to the start of the song, is there a way to do this?

[@steviep3736]

I think i have it figured out, uncheck the timing select it all and them use arrow keys to move the whole import left or right.

[@shellywainwright8952]

looking to start working on beginner show for next year any advice. Buying pixels, props control boards etc.

[@How2Pixel]

A few pieces of advice I'd give is to make sure you buy everything ASAP!!!! Especially the controller. Controllers have been so hard to come by. So as soon as you see the one you want, buy it immediately. For controllers, I'd recommend something from Falcon or Kulp Boards. I think those are the best options and many will agree, however, I've never used Kulp boards. Now for pixels, I'd recommend just getting the standard ws2811 RGB ones since their the easiest to come by, and all pixel controllers work with those. I can't give you too much advice for props and stuff because every display is different. You set it up however you'd like because it's YOUR display. If you're not sure what props to get, start out small by outlining your windows, doors, and house, and maybe even putting some decorations in the yard. But that's my advice for you!

[@shellywainwright8952]

@@How2Pixel did you use a kit for your mega tree or build it yourself

[@NottLazy]

I've got an issue where i can't copy and paste the lyrics like you do in the video, any idea why?

[@How2Pixel]

You have to make sure that you have no timing tracks selected and that you are using paste by time, not paste by cell. Let me know if you need me to send a screenshot of what I mean by no timing tracks selected and using paste by time.

[@TheEddieSpangles]

Thank you so much for all the help

[@How2Pixel]

You're welcome! Glad I could help!

[@aaronclark7945]

Do you have a video on how to do a second song? Have 2 or more songs. I'm not sure what that would look like? Do i just do the same process and it will just add it behind my first song?

[@How2Pixel]

Do you mean have 2 songs in one audio file? What you would do is find the lyrics for both songs, then put them both in the box where you enter the lyrics on the website in the order of the songs in the audio file. 9 times out of 10 it works fine, but sometimes the beginning of the second song will be a little weird, so you may have to fix it in xlights.

[@aaronclark7945]

@@How2Pixel When someone has multiple songs that is what they are doing? I am about done with my first song and was thinking about adding a second. Hoping I can copy everything and move it over after i get both songs. Is that my best option?

[@How2Pixel]

Oh ok I understand what you're trying to do. If you want multiple songs in your show, they don't have to be one audio and sequence file. You can make another sequence with a separate audio track, and then have Falcon Player or Xschedule (Whichever you play to use as your show player) play the different files in the order you want. Having multiple files can be better, because it takes less time for xlights to render them and can be easier if you want to skip to a certain song in your show. However, having all the songs in one file allows you to have smooth transitions between each song. If they are separate files, you will have a slight pause between each song. If you're looking for the simple way, I'd just recommend having multiple files.

[@LightsOnWildPlum]

I keep getting an xTiming:Failed to load XML File: any idea why?

[@How2Pixel]

Hmm that's strange, I've never had that error before. Maybe try going into the Xlights zoom room and see if anyone there can help you.

[@craigfixthat2091]

Do you know if the website is down? Every time I try it all it says is failed to start the conversion Btw love you videos keep it up

[@How2Pixel]

Thank you! The website is acting strange all the sudden. I haven't used it in months until today when I saw this comment, and I'm having the same problem. Maybe give it a few days and they'll fix it, or email them if it continues to not work. They have an email in the FAQ tab.

[@premcyjohn]

Hi, any language can we program for light show or only English

[@How2Pixel]

Um I'm honestly not sure. I don't think xlights has a way to change the language, but you could take a look on the about tab inside of xlights to see if there is a way to change it.

[@premcyjohn]

@@How2Pixel thank you

[@paulcalannio3450]

Where do you get the singing faces? I’m new to this.

[@How2Pixel]

There are tons of different versions you can buy from different places. The top 2 stores I recommend purchasing the faces from are Boscoyo Studios and Gilbert Engineering. When you buy it, it's basically a piece of very thick cardboard that has holes in it, where you'd fill it in with pixels. Just search "singing faces" on either of the websites and you'll find tons of options.

[@dannygasca6898]

Thanks for the info 👍this will definitely help save time. Awesome!!!!! I already have some songs @ 20 fps . Is there a way to change them to 40fps? Awesome new name 😁🤜

[@How2Pixel]

I'm glad you found the video useful! To change the sequence to 40 fps you need to click the gear next to the zoom buttons in xlights, which is on the top right. Then click the question mark next to the sequence timing setting, click yes, and then type in 25 for the frame interval. The 25 is for 25 millisecond timing aka 40 fps. Hope this helps!

[@dannygasca6898]

@@How2Pixel Awesome it worked 🤜 Thanks for your help.

[@johnnykat21]

Awesome info. Thank you so much for this.

[@mattdoesstuffyt]

you are a life saver

[@How2Pixel]

Glad it was useful haha

[@scootorshoot6]

Where did you get the song?

[@How2Pixel]

I saw another light display using it, so I just looked up the song on KZbin and downloaded it. It's called "Hey Come Look At My House"

[@travisguilbeau8404]

One more question, when you have a track with multiple voices or male/female. Can you duplicate the lyrics and just delete the female lyrics so just the male sings and then when doing the female lyrics delete the male lyrics from the females line? I tried doing that and I couldn’t delete a bunch of lyrics at once. I had to go in and delete every one individually

[@How2Pixel]

So you should be able to delete as many as you want at once, but you have to uncheck all your timing tracks and then it gives you the selection tool where you can highlight as many of the words as you want. What I normally do is just use one lyric track and change the singing face effects on the prop. So if one of the faces shouldn't be singing I'll turn it off or have the singing face effect set to rest mode.

[@travisguilbeau8404]

@@How2Pixel I’ll try that and see how it goes but that’s a good idea about turning off the face. Appreciate the tip

[@scottgordon4431]

How do you do the chorus ?

[@How2Pixel]

Do you mean with the lyrics aligner? you could just upload an mp3 file that has just the chorus of a song, and then the lyrics that are just for that part.

[@ivanosornio4706]

Does only work on mp3 files ?

[@How2Pixel]

Yeah from the testing I've done other files don't work so make sure to use just mp3.

[@rnrphoto]

seems like this website not working either. guess it has to be mp3 and not mp4s

[@How2Pixel]

Yes, from what I know you can only use mp3 files. You can find tons of converters online though that will take any audio file and make it mp3.

[@tededwards2226]

I see you haven’t credited the originators at all but he did not create the tool that is used,

[@How2Pixel]

I just assumed most people would be coming from my older version of this video. I show the original website in that video.

[@thomasreuter2720]

Du machst ja echt tolle Videos, aber für mich als Deutscher redest du verdammt schnell 🙂 Trotzdem danke für die Tutorials

[@How2Pixel]

Das tut mir wirklich leid. Ich hatte schon immer die längste Zeit Sprachprobleme und die meisten in meiner Familie, vor allem auf der Seite meines Vaters, sprechen sehr schnell. Ich werde versuchen, in zukünftigen Videos langsamer zu werden, aber diese Geschwindigkeit ist für mich normal 😂

[@stevenhymel2364]

I am using xlights version 2022.24 and every time I try to import a lyric timing track I get the following error: "xTiming: Failed to load XML file: 'C:\Users\user\Downloads\output.xtiming'"

[@How2Pixel]

Is it just a problem with 2022.24? does it work in other versions? If it does it may just be a problem with xlights. You can go back to an older version or wait for a newer one that might fix the problem.

[@stevenhymel2364]

@@How2Pixel i just tried in 2022.25 and same thing

[@How2Pixel]

hmm. Have you tried it in an older version that it does work in?

[@miracle4molly]

@how2Pixel - What did you use to upload your own personal created lyrics?

[@How2Pixel]

I just record my voice and any other voices I want in the track, edit it into a single mp3 file, then I use that as the "song" in Xlights and the auto lyrics align website.