UltraStar
Encyclopedia
UltraStar is a clone of SingStar
, a music video game
. UltraStar lets one or several players score points by singing along to a song or music video and match the pitch
of the original song well. UltraStar displays lyrics as well as the correct notes similar to a piano roll
. On top of the correct notes UltraStar displays the pitch recorded from the players. UltraStar allows several people to play simultaneously by connecting several microphones possibly to several sound card
s. To add a song to UltraStar, a file with notes and lyrics is required, together with an audio file. Optionally a cover image, a backdrop image and a video may be added to each song.
The UltraStar is released under Freeware
License. Very old versions were available under GNU General Public License
and all game forks are based on the old code. This change was made to protect and secure users private data sent to the game server. This statement was revealed as a lie, because software does not need to be Closed Source to use SSL. Also, in case of Ultrastar, the SSL certificate used for the server connection is not valid.
UltraStar comes preloaded with a short sample from Nine Inch Nails
hit Discipline from The Slip
album. The original UltraStar is programmed in Kylix
/Delphi and made for Microsoft Windows
operating-system. There are also ports
available in C++ programming language
for other operating-systems such as GNU/Linux, BSD and other UNIX
platforms.
by repairing bug
s. The second difference is the visual appearance. Sparkling stars and various other effects have been added in addition to skin support. Many effects are also based on the Singstar on PS3. Many new features have been implemented:
UltraStar Deluxe is written in Object Pascal
, and compiles with Delphi, Free Pascal
and Lazarus
.
As of version 1.0.1 UltraStar Deluxe runs on Linux via Wine
.
As of version 1.1 UltraStar Deluxe runs on Linux and Mac OS X natively.
game development competition. A few months later work on the dance game feature began and even though it is not yet complete, the feature is already available on the development version of the game.
The project was originally known as UltraStar-NG, but the name was changed in version 0.3 in anticipation of adding other instruments and to avoid confusion as the game is not a fork
of UltraStar. Also, since version 0.3 the graphics rendering is based on OpenGL
for high performance even on slower machines, with full effects, as long as any OpenGL support is available. Various background video formats are supported using ffmpeg
.
: the game analyzes the pitch of each singer and scores the performance based on how precisely the song was performed. As a reference, the lyrics, the notes and the singer's pitch are displayed on screen as the song plays.
Performous does not attempt to clone SingStar but rather has unique features such as scrolling notes and precise singing pitch display as a wave drawn on screen. These allow the player to sing without interruptions and to easily correct his singing pitch to hit the notes precisely.
Performous does pitch detection with fast fourier transform
(FFT) combined with a sophisticated post-processing algorithm. This system is able to operate well in extremely noisy environments, even when using very cheap microphones.
On Linux the game autodetects any connected SingStar
microphones and uses them automatically. On other platforms and with other types of microphones (e.g. webcams or analog microphones connected to sound cards) a best-effort detection is done.
Songs need to be supplied in UltraStar or Frets on Fire
format. Performous comes with a tool named 'ss_extract', for converting SingStar DVDs into UltraStar format.
or Rock Band
: a guitar controller is used and the player will need to match the notes.
For guitar and bass the game tries to figure out the intention of the player rather than just comparing the nearest available chord, making it easier to play fast passages. Hammer-on
s and pull-off
s (HOPOs) also consider player's intention. If the player intends to pick a note in a regular fashion but happens to HOPO it by accident a moment before, the pick will undo the HOPO and no mistake happens. These little gameplay tweaks in favor of the player make the game much more enjoyable as playing correctly will no longer produce mistakes when the timing is slightly off or when the player chooses not to use the HOPO feature. Timing accuracy is still considered in the scoring so that hitting all notes does not always give the maximum score.
Performous detects any connected Guitar Hero or Rock Band controllers automatically. Additionally, a PC keyboard can be used as a guitar controller. Songs need to be in Frets on Fire format.
or StepMania
: the dancer will have to match the steps displayed on screen on a dancing mat as precisely as possible. Songs need to be in StepMania format.
Other software supporting the format
Songs
SingStar
SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
, a music video game
Music video game
A music video game, also commonly known as a music game, is a video game where the gameplay is meaningfully and often almost entirely oriented around the player's interactions with a musical score or individual songs...
. UltraStar lets one or several players score points by singing along to a song or music video and match the pitch
Pitch (music)
Pitch is an auditory perceptual property that allows the ordering of sounds on a frequency-related scale.Pitches are compared as "higher" and "lower" in the sense associated with musical melodies,...
of the original song well. UltraStar displays lyrics as well as the correct notes similar to a piano roll
Piano roll
A piano roll is a music storage medium used to operate a player piano, piano player or reproducing piano. A piano roll is a continuous roll of paper with perforations punched into it. The peforations represent note control data...
. On top of the correct notes UltraStar displays the pitch recorded from the players. UltraStar allows several people to play simultaneously by connecting several microphones possibly to several sound card
Sound card
A sound card is an internal computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to and from a computer under control of computer programs. The term sound card is also applied to external audio interfaces that use software to generate sound, as opposed to using hardware...
s. To add a song to UltraStar, a file with notes and lyrics is required, together with an audio file. Optionally a cover image, a backdrop image and a video may be added to each song.
The UltraStar is released under Freeware
Freeware
Freeware is computer software that is available for use at no cost or for an optional fee, but usually with one or more restricted usage rights. Freeware is in contrast to commercial software, which is typically sold for profit, but might be distributed for a business or commercial purpose in the...
License. Very old versions were available under GNU General Public License
GNU General Public License
The GNU General Public License is the most widely used free software license, originally written by Richard Stallman for the GNU Project....
and all game forks are based on the old code. This change was made to protect and secure users private data sent to the game server. This statement was revealed as a lie, because software does not need to be Closed Source to use SSL. Also, in case of Ultrastar, the SSL certificate used for the server connection is not valid.
UltraStar comes preloaded with a short sample from Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails
Nine Inch Nails is an American industrial rock project, founded in 1988 by Trent Reznor in Cleveland, Ohio. As its main producer, singer, songwriter, and instrumentalist, Reznor is the only official member of Nine Inch Nails and remains solely responsible for its direction...
hit Discipline from The Slip
The Slip (album)
The Slip is the seventh studio album by American industrial rock act Nine Inch Nails, released on July 22, 2008. It was the fourth consecutive Nine Inch Nails release to be produced by frontman Trent Reznor with collaborators Atticus Ross and Alan Moulder...
album. The original UltraStar is programmed in Kylix
Kylix programming tool
Kylix was a compiler and integrated development environment formerly sold by Borland but later discontinued. It is a Linux version of the Borland Delphi software development environment and C++ Builder, which runs under Microsoft Windows. Continuing Delphi's classical Greek theme, Kylix is the name...
/Delphi and made for Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
operating-system. There are also ports
Porting
In computer science, porting is the process of adapting software so that an executable program can be created for a computing environment that is different from the one for which it was originally designed...
available in C++ programming language
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
for other operating-systems such as GNU/Linux, BSD and other UNIX
Unix
Unix is a multitasking, multi-user computer operating system originally developed in 1969 by a group of AT&T employees at Bell Labs, including Ken Thompson, Dennis Ritchie, Brian Kernighan, Douglas McIlroy, and Joe Ossanna...
platforms.
UltraStar Deluxe
UltraStar Deluxe was started as a modification of UltraStar. Whiteshark initially offered to collaborate with Corvus5, but this offer was declined. Instead Whiteshark started to add some features on his own with the help of Mota. The first release is known as X-Mas mod, due to a release date around Christmas time. This attracted the attention of other developers that were willing to help. The team grew and the source code departed more and more from the original. Smaller features are often implemented in both projects allowing them to benefit from one another. Though the projects' implementations of such features often differ. UltraStar Deluxe is different in three key ways from UltraStar. Significant effort has been put into improving reliabilityReliability engineering
Reliability engineering is an engineering field, that deals with the study, evaluation, and life-cycle management of reliability: the ability of a system or component to perform its required functions under stated conditions for a specified period of time. It is often measured as a probability of...
by repairing bug
Software bug
A software bug is the common term used to describe an error, flaw, mistake, failure, or fault in a computer program or system that produces an incorrect or unexpected result, or causes it to behave in unintended ways. Most bugs arise from mistakes and errors made by people in either a program's...
s. The second difference is the visual appearance. Sparkling stars and various other effects have been added in addition to skin support. Many effects are also based on the Singstar on PS3. Many new features have been implemented:
- More video formats are supported, such as DivX, XviD, FLV, Avi and WMV.
- Singing screen with golden notes, line bonus and popups
- Lua scriptable Party mode with various game types. This includes support for lua plugins that allow further extension of such game types.
- Improved song management and selection with the ability to search for songs and use playlists
- More detailed statistics screen
UltraStar Deluxe is written in Object Pascal
Object Pascal
Object Pascal refers to a branch of object-oriented derivatives of Pascal, mostly known as the primary programming language of Embarcadero Delphi.-Early history at Apple:...
, and compiles with Delphi, Free Pascal
Free Pascal
Free Pascal Compiler is a free Pascal and Object Pascal compiler.In addition to its own Object Pascal dialect, Free Pascal supports, to varying degrees, the dialects of several other compilers, including those of Turbo Pascal, Delphi, and some historical Macintosh compilers...
and Lazarus
Lazarus (software)
Lazarus is a free cross-platform IDE which provides a Delphi-like development experience for Pascal and Object Pascal developers. It is developed for, and supported by, the Free Pascal compiler. Since early 2008, Lazarus has been available for Microsoft Windows, several Linux distributions,...
.
As of version 1.0.1 UltraStar Deluxe runs on Linux via Wine
Wine (software)
Wine is a free software application that aims to allow computer programs written for Microsoft Windows to run on Unix-like operating systems. Wine also provides a software library, known as Winelib, against which developers can compile Windows applications to help port them to Unix-like...
.
As of version 1.1 UltraStar Deluxe runs on Linux and Mac OS X natively.
Performous
Performous is an open-source rhythm/performance platform that contains singing, guitar/bass playing, drumming and dancing all in one game. The project began as rewrite of the UltraStar singing game in October 2006, using C++ and targeting Linux. Adding more elements to the game was planned for several years and in 2009 first band game features were added and published on Assembly (demo party)Assembly (demo party)
The Assembly demo party is a demoscene and gaming event in Finland. The main organizers of the event are Pekka Aakko and Jussi Laakkonen . The event takes place every year between late July and early August, and lasts three to four days...
game development competition. A few months later work on the dance game feature began and even though it is not yet complete, the feature is already available on the development version of the game.
The project was originally known as UltraStar-NG, but the name was changed in version 0.3 in anticipation of adding other instruments and to avoid confusion as the game is not a fork
Fork (software development)
In software engineering, a project fork happens when developers take a legal copy of source code from one software package and start independent development on it, creating a distinct piece of software...
of UltraStar. Also, since version 0.3 the graphics rendering is based on OpenGL
OpenGL
OpenGL is a standard specification defining a cross-language, cross-platform API for writing applications that produce 2D and 3D computer graphics. The interface consists of over 250 different function calls which can be used to draw complex three-dimensional scenes from simple primitives. OpenGL...
for high performance even on slower machines, with full effects, as long as any OpenGL support is available. Various background video formats are supported using ffmpeg
FFmpeg
FFmpeg is a free software project that produces libraries and programs for handling multimedia data. The most notable parts of FFmpeg are libavcodec, an audio/video codec library used by several other projects, libavformat, an audio/video container mux and demux library, and the ffmpeg command line...
.
Singing game
This part of the game is essentially karaoke, but with scoring and realtime feedback. The gameplay is similar to SingStarSingStar
SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
: the game analyzes the pitch of each singer and scores the performance based on how precisely the song was performed. As a reference, the lyrics, the notes and the singer's pitch are displayed on screen as the song plays.
Performous does not attempt to clone SingStar but rather has unique features such as scrolling notes and precise singing pitch display as a wave drawn on screen. These allow the player to sing without interruptions and to easily correct his singing pitch to hit the notes precisely.
Performous does pitch detection with fast fourier transform
Fast Fourier transform
A fast Fourier transform is an efficient algorithm to compute the discrete Fourier transform and its inverse. "The FFT has been called the most important numerical algorithm of our lifetime ." There are many distinct FFT algorithms involving a wide range of mathematics, from simple...
(FFT) combined with a sophisticated post-processing algorithm. This system is able to operate well in extremely noisy environments, even when using very cheap microphones.
On Linux the game autodetects any connected SingStar
SingStar
SingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
microphones and uses them automatically. On other platforms and with other types of microphones (e.g. webcams or analog microphones connected to sound cards) a best-effort detection is done.
Songs need to be supplied in UltraStar or Frets on Fire
Frets on Fire
Frets on Fire is a free, open-source Finnish music video game created by Unreal Voodoo. Players use the keyboard to play along with markers which appear on screen, with the aim to score points, achieve a high point multiplier, and complete a song...
format. Performous comes with a tool named 'ss_extract', for converting SingStar DVDs into UltraStar format.
Band game
The gameplay is similar to Guitar HeroGuitar Hero
Guitar Hero is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems and published by RedOctane for the PlayStation 2 video game console. It is the first entry in the Guitar Hero series. Guitar Hero was released on November 8, 2005 in North America, April 7, 2006 in Europe and June 15, 2006 in...
or Rock Band
Rock Band
Rock Band is a music video game developed by Harmonix Music Systems, published by MTV Games and Electronic Arts. It is the first title in the Rock Band series. The PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions were released in the United States on November 20, 2007, while the PlayStation 2 version was...
: a guitar controller is used and the player will need to match the notes.
For guitar and bass the game tries to figure out the intention of the player rather than just comparing the nearest available chord, making it easier to play fast passages. Hammer-on
Hammer-on
Hammer-on is a stringed instrument playing technique performed by sharply bringing a fretting-hand finger down on the fingerboard behind a fret, causing a note to sound. This technique is the opposite of the pull-off...
s and pull-off
Pull-off
A pull-off is a stringed instrument technique performed by plucking a string by "pulling" the string off the fingerboard with one of the fingers being used to fret the note.-Performance and effect:...
s (HOPOs) also consider player's intention. If the player intends to pick a note in a regular fashion but happens to HOPO it by accident a moment before, the pick will undo the HOPO and no mistake happens. These little gameplay tweaks in favor of the player make the game much more enjoyable as playing correctly will no longer produce mistakes when the timing is slightly off or when the player chooses not to use the HOPO feature. Timing accuracy is still considered in the scoring so that hitting all notes does not always give the maximum score.
Performous detects any connected Guitar Hero or Rock Band controllers automatically. Additionally, a PC keyboard can be used as a guitar controller. Songs need to be in Frets on Fire format.
Dance game
The gameplay is similar to Dance Dance RevolutionDance Dance Revolution
Dance Dance Revolution, abbreviated DDR, and previously known as Dancing Stage in Europe and Australasia, is a music video game series produced by Konami. Introduced in Japan in 1998 as part of the Bemani series, and released in North America and Europe in 1999, Dance Dance Revolution is the...
or StepMania
StepMania
StepMania is an open source and cross-platform rhythm video game and engine. It was originally developed as a simulator of Konami's arcade game series Dance Dance Revolution, and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a wide variety of rhythm-based game types...
: the dancer will have to match the steps displayed on screen on a dancing mat as precisely as possible. Songs need to be in StepMania format.
Assembly Summer 2009
'Performous Band', a stripped-down version of the game, containing only the band game (guitar, bass and drums) took part in the game development competition. The game was displayed with a pre-recorded presentation video, but there were significant audio-video synchronization issues with the video even though the game itself had no such issues. Due to copyright issues and the lack of freely usable songs at the time, part of the demonstration was done with the music completely muted. The game finished on the 12th place with 642 points.Languages
- English
- Catalan
- Czech
- Danish
- Dutch
- Euskara
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Greek
- Hungarian
- Icelandic
- Italian
- Japanese
- Luxembourgish
- Norwegian
- Polish
- Portuguese
- Russian
- Serbian
- Slovak
- Slovenian
- Spanish
- Swedish
See also
- SingStarSingStarSingStar is a competitive music video game series for PlayStation consoles, developed by London Studio and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. 23 English-language instalments of the series have been released for the PlayStation 2, and six versions for the PlayStation 3 have been released...
- Karaoke RevolutionKaraoke RevolutionKaraoke Revolution and its many sequels are video games for the PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, Nintendo GameCube, Wii, Xbox, and Xbox 360, developed by Harmonix Music Systems and Blitz Games and published by Konami in its Bemani line of music games. The Original Concept for Karaoke Revolution was...
- Xbox Music MixerXbox Music MixerThe Xbox Music Mixer is a multimedia accessory/utility developed by Wild Tangent and published by Microsoft Game Studios for the Xbox. The Xbox Music Mixer was released on December 1, 2003. The Xbox Music Mixer allows one to transfer certain types of music and pictures directly from a PC to the...
- LipsLips (video game)Lips is a video game for the Xbox 360. Lips was developed by iNiS and published by Microsoft Game Studios. The game features the use of motion sensitive wireless microphones and supports the use of songs already owned through a Zune or iPod. The game was released on November 18, 2008 in North...
- BoogieBoogie (video game)Boogie is a music video game developed by Electronic Arts for the Wii, PlayStation 2 and Nintendo DS. Being touted as a party-game, it enables players to create their character, then use the Wii Remote and a microphone to sing and dance through it. Each song within the game can be performed either...
- StepManiaStepManiaStepMania is an open source and cross-platform rhythm video game and engine. It was originally developed as a simulator of Konami's arcade game series Dance Dance Revolution, and has since evolved into an extensible rhythm game engine capable of supporting a wide variety of rhythm-based game types...
- SingSong
- Canta Game
External links
- UltraStar - Original game created by Corvus5 (Delphi/Kylix)
- UltraStar Deluxe - Based upon UltraStar, has more features and ports (Delphi/Kylix/FPC)
- Performous - A game similar to UltraStar written from scratch in C++ and later expanded with band and dance features. Formerly known as UltraStar-NG (USNG).
- UltraStar Mac OS X - Mac OS (Intel) port of UltraStar
Other software supporting the format
- Canta Game - Python platform-independent karaoke game that can play UltraStar-files. Uses a 3D engine for output including 2D/3D themes. Includes a built-in editor.
- kJams - Mac OS software that can play UltraStar (SingStar) files "karaoke style", and convert them to CD+G format for burning.
- LyricsCatcher - LyricsCatcher, a fast way to create singable ultrastar songs from your mp3's (in Java)
- SongEasy - UltraStar tool and similar karaoke game
- UltraStar Creator - UltraStar tool to easily create karaoke files from scratch
Songs
- http://usdb.animux.de/ - Page where users can up- and download txt-files for UltraStar
- UltraStar Italia - Il primo portale italiano dedicato ad UltraStar con una numerosa community e tanti testi di canzoni reperibili
- UltraStar Italia - Portale interamente dedicato ad UltraStar con molte risorse e testi di canzoni reperibili
- UltraStar España - Spanish community with many songs to download, covers, plugins and more
- UltraStar Magyar rajongói oldal - Magyar és külföldi dalokkal, leírásokkal, letöltésekkel
- Magyar Ultrastar oldal Csak magyar Ultrastar zenékkel, segédanyagokkal és segítőkész csapattal.A közvetlen Fórum link: Fórum
- UltraStar.net.pl - Polska, największa strona z piosenkami.
- Ultrastar Portugal - Portal inteiramente em Português com muitas das canções feitas pelos membros. Donwloads de músicas facilitado.