Turn Songs Into Instrumentals Using New Apple Music Feature

You likely already sing along to many of your favorite songs, but wouldn’t it be much easier if you didn’t have that pesky lead singer to contend with? Well, thanks to a new Apple Music feature named Apple Sing, you may be able to turn some of your favorite songs into near instrumental versions, essentially making your favorite tracks karaoke-ready.

With Apple Sing, users will be able to tap on a slider button on popular songs to lower the vocals so that they can then sing in time with music using Apple Music’s enhanced real-time lyrics.

According to Tech Crunch, this feature won’t see users switching over to music tracks that already have the vocals removed, however. Instead, it’s relying on an on-device machine learning algorithm that processes the music in real time. That algorithm then isolates the vocals from the rest of the song, allowing users to adjust the volume as they see fit through the app. At present, this feature works on iPhone 11 and later models, plus iPad and Apple TV.

HOW DOES IT WORK?

While in Apple Music, users are asked to enter the lyrics view mode, where they will then tap on the microphone button to access the slider to adjust the volume. While the vocal is never quite completely phased out, users can adjust to a low level that allows you to essentially be able to sing over the vocals karaoke style.

It should also be noted that Apple Sing is part of Apple’s work toward providing real-time lyrics. While users can already use synced lyrics with line-by-line animation, the new feature allows the user to see animated syllables to provide a closer beat-by-beat sync.

The technology is also updating with features that better support overlapping duets and vocals as well. In this case, background lyrics are also shown in a similar but smaller font to differentiate the backing vocals from the lead and the lyrics for duets will also now indicate when there is a vocalist change. Plus, there are special notations to express when a specific word or portion of a word is held longer for singing purposes.

WHEN WILL IT LAUNCH?

Apple Sing is still in the rollout stages, with the feature not available on all of Apple Music’s 100 million-plus songs at present. But, Apple says that it will be available to launch across the top 80 percent of its catalog and expects that percentage to rise over time.

To start off with, Apple is launching 50 playlists that showcase the feature in a variety of ways, including themed playlists and playlists both by decade and by genre.

Apple Sing’s vocal control is not expected to be available on Android, though Android users will be able to gain other real-time lyrics enhancement. The feature will start off by being introduced to “beta testers” before expanding to a larger launch later this month.

WHO CAN USE IT?

The feature works on the iPhone 11 and later or iPhone SE (3rd generation), the iPad Pro 11-inch (3rd generation and later), iPad Air (4th generation and later), iPad mini (6th generation) or iPad (9th generation and later), and the Apple TV 4K (3rd generation). As you can see below, a Van Halen fan recently discovered the feature and is ready to sail right past the old Sammy–Dave debate in favor of their own vocals.

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