Preferences
Access the Prefences window thru menu option Preferences.
MIDI ports
You can select a synthesizer to play the midifiles. By default this is jmseq, but you may have others available on your computer. In Linux jmseq is not available install QSynth and have it running before you start Serenade. If there is a midi keyboard controller connected then you can select it as MIDI In.
Karaoke
On top is the selection for the lyrics font
and size.
Unicode is checked by default, it allows you to enter lyrics in
languages with very much different characters like Chinese,
Japanese and Korean. However if you want to play karaoke files
with lyrics that contain language specific characters that are
not in Unicode but need to be played with a language specific
font file (e.g. Russian font) then unicode must be switched off.
Editor font and size should be a fixed width font, otherwise you
will be able to work in Chords&Lyrics mode. If it is anything
else then "Courier New" then it will also be used for
the lyrics displayed in the eventlist and staff window, because
it might be a language specific font and characters will not be
displayed correctly without it.
Outline thickness makes the lyrics better visible on backgounds
with various colours (pictures).
Click on the colour of lyrics, chords to change them.
Load or remove a background picture that is shown when no other
picture is specified in playlist or karaoke file.
Check the right to left option if you have lyrics in Arabic
language.
Check the play drums while paused to prevent complete silence
when you interrupt the song for some comment during a performance
before public.
Check the stop at end of song option if you want to continue only
after some intermediate action.
Specify a delay in seconds between the songs if you need that.
By default the inserted lyrics will be MIDI lyrics events but you
can also choose MIDI text events. Some karaoke players will only
show text events.
The default to specify a linefeed in the MIDI file is a slash (/)
at the beginning of the line but there are other options. The
slash is automatically added when you insert lyrics. Already
existing linefeeds in the MIDI file are not changed by this
option.
The default code for new verse is a backslash (\) you can also
choose a slash or have no verses displayed. You need to to place
a slash at the start of each first line of a verse in the Editor
window before you insert the lyrics . When the song is played
only one verse will be displayed at a time.
Apart from the preferences you can also
change fontname, fontsize, picture, subtitles, unicode and right
to left settings for a specific MIDI/karaoke file. Add a marker
event in the eventlist with the value:
fontname:specifyname
fontsize:specifysize
picture:specifyname
subtitles:on
subtitles:off
unicode:on
unicode:off
righttoleft:on
righttoleft:off
These changed values will be valid for the currently loaded MIDI file only and will be in effect for the entire MIDI file regadless at which timing they are placed. An exception is the specified picture, you can insert multiple pictures at different timings in the midifile, thus creating a slideshow.
Remote
Enable the remote control.
MIDI files
Select to save Karaoke/MIDI files as type 1
(default) or type 0 (if to be used in older software/devices)
Select to maintain tracks from original file or to place each
channel in a separate track.
Select to save chords in XF chords (Yamaha standard) or in marker
events (visible in any sequencer).