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Below is the most UP-TO-DATE list of known issues and possible solutions.
No Particular Order given.


01. Xbox Music Mixer Transfer Tool MUST be used on XP ONLY.
02. Downloaded files are in .KRK format native to XBMM Xfer tool ONLY.
03. Microphone OR Live Communicator can be used.
04. Two mic's are supported at one time. For more you can use a splitter.
05. Microphone adapter can not be used in other games for a Live Communicator.
06. XBMM can not play regular CD+G Disks.
07. Files used by XBMM are in WMA and CDG file format.
08. Files are stored locally on XBOX in /E/TDATA/4d53005a/Media/ESM/
09. MP3 + CDG files can be used by coverting MP3 file to WMA file and FTP'ing to above directory. See next Post.
10. XBMM reads ID3 Tag of WMA file for display of song name and artist.
11. CDG files with a background color do not display correctly.
12. There is a hard limit of 250 WMA+CDG files that can be used. Any more are not displayed. Aphabetically.
13. Recordings are stored in /E/TDATA/4d53005a/Recordings/Karaoke/ and consist of 3 files. DAT, WMA, and PCM. The DAT holds the name, the WMA holds the background music, and the PCM is the recorded part.
14. You can make a listenable recording by using an audio editor to combine the WMA and PCM.
15. The compression of the PCM vocals appears to be 16-bit Intel PCM, 24000Hz, Mono.
16. The XBMM DVD must be in the drive for it to load. **Update*There is a hex fix for this*Posted below**
17. XBMM can not be ran from the HDD. **Update*There is a hex fix for this*Posted below**
18. XBMM does appear to try to go online at first load. Not sure if this is for live or something else.
19. It will work from a backup copy. As long is it is in the drive.
20. A KRK file downloaded with your XBMM key will ONLY work on the XBMM with that key. **Update*Key is EEPROM-based**
21. Mega X key can be used to transfer files too...


Help continue this list...
Please DO help with any useful links for converting or such or anything else.
Please DON'T post where to get files here. This is more a problem/solution discussion.


Thanks goes to Bighurt, zenmonkey, MastaChef, fartblossom, Telemachus, Cayotic, Fofer and others.

This post has been edited by ...ReLLiK: Jan 28 2004, 02:36 AM

Here is Fofer's tutorial for placing MP3+CDG files to the HDD for use with XBMM.

QUOTE

Okay, here's my shot at a step-by-step tutorial on how to add your own karaoke tracks to Xbox Music Mixer. Nearly all of this info is already covered in this thread, just scattered about... hopefully these notes will make it clearer for everyone just jumping on board. Of anyone has additions, feel free to pipe in... For starters, kudos to Bighurt, zenmonkey, MastaChef, fartblossom, and Telemachus for paving the way! Now, a little background: most commercial karaoke disks are sold in a format called "CD+G." Basically, these are audio CDs whose tracks have no lead vocals. Each track, however, has an accompanying "CDG" file which contains the lyrics. Just think of this "CDG" file as a synchronized movie that plays alongside the instrumental song. Together, these two files allow the singer to enjoy karaoke. And these discs will only play in hardware specifically designed to be CD+G (and thus, karaoke) compatible. Now, in order to better organize, play, and share their karaoke collections, lots of folks have begun ripping their CD+G karaoke disks to a different formats. The most popular is of course MP3+CDG. Using a tool like TriceraSoft CDG Ripper, karaoke DJ's can convert their books and books of karaoke disks and digitize them... perhaps to organize on a laptop to bring to the next party. http://makeashorterlink.com/?I2F0323E6 One karaoke track results in two files: an typical MP3 file, and a matching CDG file. These are the files we'll be converting and copying to the Xbox. Now, the "Xbox Music Mixer PC Tool" download only transfers WMA, MP3, JPG, and the proprietary .KRK files available for sale for $2 apiece (!) at xboxkaraoke.com. This tool won't recognize .CDG files and so therefore is useless for our project. So, here goes: 1. It goes without saying that your Xbox needs to be modded in order for this to work. You'll be FTP'ing files into your Xbox's E: directory. That said... 2. Acquire karaoke files, usually found in "MP3+CDG" format. You can get them off IRC, Usenet (alt.binaries.sounds.karaoke) or create them yourself off of CDG disks with the aforementioned software. Keep in mind that currently the limit, coded into Xbox Music Mixer, is 250 songs (and this includes the dozen or so that came with it.) So don't go too crazy acquiring 300+ songs, as you won't be able to use them all on the Xbox currenty. It would be great if we could somehow work around this hard limit (the software complains with an annoying alert, and simply omits any song over #250, in alphabetical order.) Those of us with 120+ GB drives would certainly appreciate working around this limit. But, I suppose it's possible that it's been coded this way for performance issues, and not just storage limitations. In any case, I suggest acquiring 10-20 as a trial run first before going full hog. Now, a note about different karaoke publishers. Each uses different formats and styles for their CDG animation. Some work perfectly on the Xbox and some don't. In my experience, SoundChoice, Sunfly, Legends Series, Chartbuster, and Helluvadisc work fine. (Soundchoice seems to be the most popular on Usenet.) I had problems with songs from Pioneer and DKKaraoke. The words won't "erase" properly and will overlap, basically making the karaoke song unusable. There are tools that allow you to "edit" and clean up the CDG animation -- but in the end this is a very laborious process and quite frankly probably not worth the time. If you're THAT into a particular song that doesn't play properly, then either buy it for $2 off xboxkaraoke.com or consider getting a higher-end karaoke setup! 3. At this point it's a good idea to check the tagging of the MP3 files. Most that I've found start with none at all. Make sure you label the Artist and Song name properly, as this is how the song will appear in the Xbox Music Mixer interface. (For our purposes, the "album" field doesn't matter.) Use whatever your preferred ID3 tagging program is -- I personally used iTunes (with an otherwise empty database) as this allowed me to sort and sample the tracks and batch tag. I also export the track listing when I was done so I could import it into a simple FileMaker database... and print two hard copies of my karaoke library (sorted via song name and sorted via artist.) 3. Once you have a bunch of perfectly tagged MP3+CDG files, put them all into one flat directory (take them out of their individual folders and put them into one "parent" folder) ... and then convert the MP3 files to WMA. There are a few utilities to help with this, I used Acoustica MP3 To Wave Converter Plus. There is an option on this utility to "remove silence at the beginning of song." Be sure to UNCHECK this! This is because the MP3 tracks are perfectly synchronized with the CDG files. Removing the necessary silence will make the song and lyrics no longer line up. http://www.mp3towave.com/ Acoustica MP3 To Wave Converter Plus utility actually puts the newly created WMA file into a different directory. So when it's done, you'll want to merge the new WMAs back into the new flat directory you created, alongside their CDG file counterparts. Luckily Acoustica's tool keeps the tagging intact from the original MP3 file. On the other hand, here are some FREE converters: OSS Audio Converter http://download.com.com/3000-2140-10187276...tml?tag=lst-0-4 Audio Converter 3 LE (included with Windows Media Player Bonus Pack) http://makeashorterlink.com/?P113253E6 4. Now you'll have to fix the actual filenames, as some of them are long (ie: more than 42 characters) or include illegal characters that the Xbox's file system doesn't appreciate. Use the program "PreXBoxCopyTool" to batch-process them. It's important that you process both the WMA and the CDG files, as the software depends on the files having MATCHING names. For every .WMA file there should be one identically named .CDG file. http://dwl.xbox-scene.net/~xbox/xbox-scene...Tool.02Beta.zip 5. At this point you can also feel free to delete the original MP3 files, if your only intention is to get these onto the XBox. Many karaoke programs are now supporting WMA files as well, so you're not necessarily losing compatibility on the PC either. Still, this is your call if you decide to keep the original MP3's or not. 6. Load up your favorite FTP client, and copy the WMA and CDG file for each song to /E/TDATA/4d53005a/Media/ESM/ 7. Pop in your Xbox Music Mixer disc and reboot the Xbox. Go to the karaoke screen and stare in wonder at your new karaoke listing. Warn your neighbors, crank up the volume, and belt out your favorite tune! Some other notes about Xbox Music Mixer: 1. I've read reports that the game won't launch from the HD. This is likely because it's coded to look for the audio files off an inserted disc. So it should run from a backup disc, just not the HD. The commercially sold package comes with a perfectly usable microphone (similar ones typically sold for at least $15) as well as the necessary mic adapter, so I don't think it's a bad deal at $30. (Well, at first I thought it was a rip-off when I realized I couldn't play CD+G disks and my only option was to buy $2 tracks. Now with the above knowledge it's not such a bad deal.) 2. Undoubtedly you'll come across some files that don't display properly, such as the ones from Pioneer, DKKaraoke, or some other smaller publishers. As discussed above I suggest you just go back into the directory via FTP and delete them... it's not worth the hassle. Try to stick with the known compatible publishers like Soundchoice and Sunfly. 3. Some folks want to extract their vocal recordings back to their PC's. Perhaps to post on the web and share with friends? Land a recording contract? I haven't done this yet but will simply repost MastaChef and fartblossom's findings: Go to /E/TDATA/4d53005a/Recordings/Karaoke/ The folders in there have three files: DAT is the save name that you set WMA is the background instrumental music PCM is your vocals fartblossom wrote: "The compression of the PCM vocals appears to be 16-bit Intel PCM, 24000Hz, Mono. Cool Edit Pro 2.0 is a great program I use to overlay the two tracks. The Multitrack view allows you to insert a second track at any point relative to the first track. 1. Insert your vocal track at 0.00s of the multitrack view. 2. Insert your music track at n seconds of the multitrack view, where n is your "microphone delay". You will have to figure this out by trial and error. It took me about 5 minutes to figure out. My delay just happens to be 0.150 seconds. I'm curious what everyone else's is???" 4. Regardless of whether or not you have Xbox Live, I have experienced symptoms that imply Xbox Music Mixer tries to connect to the internet when you boot up the game, if the network cable is plugged in. I'm guessing this is for Gracenote lookups, or to prepare for the online purchases. So if you are paranoid about this, unplug your ethernet cable before you use this title. 5. MadCatz sells the microphone and adapter separately for $20 or so. This is so you could have a second person sing duets with you. I already had a 2nd microphone so I picked up a $5 splitter from Radio Shack, and now plug both mics into the one adapter that came with the game, and both work fine. I understand you could also use the Xbox Live headset but I don't think that's the best equipment for karaoke. After all... it's all about swinging the mic around and feeling like a rockstar. ;-) 6. Obviously the work involved with converting MP3+CDG's, renaming, and transferring them to the Xbox HD is somewhat unwieldy. The 250 song limit, and lack of any hierarchical organization, is a bummer too. Ideally we'll see workarounds for this in the future, or perhaps the popularity of this software will convince the XBMP/XBMC developers to include MP3+CDG (and WMA+CDG!) compatibility in a future version. Then we'll be able to organize and store our entire karaoke libraries on our PC, and simply stream it to our Xboxen the same way we do with our regular music. While Xbox Music Mixer plays the files perfectly, I find it's menu (and interface sounds) to be terrible ... I much prefer XBMP/XBMC and hope to see it replace Xbox Music Mixer someday soon.

QUOTE

Please make this a PINNED topic!

Done. Check "Member Submitted Game Guides"

My 100th post is a <BUMP>!

BTW, anyone know if the key spit out by XBMM is generated by using the eeprom? I would interested to see what key my same copy of XBMM spits out on another xbox! At first I thought it was a hard coded key per copy... hmmm!

** UPDATE ** The key is known to be generated by your EEPROM value.

This post has been edited by ...ReLLiK: Jan 28 2004, 02:31 AM

new hard drive default.xbe is out that does make the music mixer program work off hard drive!
I tryed it and it works!
( I did make sure it worked without the dvd game in dvd drive...running purely off Hard drive)
Name for the zip is:
HDD Fix for xbox music mixer program riot

P.S. I should add I could post the hex fix for it here ...but I didn't know if that was allowed ... let me know it's ok and I'll post it if you want?

This post has been edited by rgtaa: Jan 21 2004, 11:57 PM

Don't see no problem posting it as long as anyone that has a legitimate copy is using it. Neither I nor X-S promote piracy. Thanks for the alert to this fix!

Here it is: !!! DO NOT DO THIS IF YOU DO NOT KNOW HOW TO USE A HEX EDITOR !!!

To remove code that prevents Xbox Music Mixer (XBMM) from loading on hdd.

FTP XBMM's default.xbe from the xbox to the PC.
Open default.xbe in a HEX EDITOR.

Go to OFFSET 0x000AB6BD.

Replace:
C7 05 5C 00 37 00 00 00 00 00 33 C0
With:
33 C0 B0 06 A3 5C 00 37 00 90 90 90

Then go to OFFSET 0x000AC4E3

Replace:
E8 28 F5 FF FF
With:
90 90 90 90 90

Save changes and FTP back to your XBOX.



* UPDATE *
If the above patch doesn't work, try editing this address too:

Go to OFFSET 0X000C04B5.

Replace:
E8 CA FD FF FF 85 C0 7D
With:
E8 CA FD FF FF 85 C0 EB

This post has been edited by ...ReLLiK: Feb 27 2004, 08:14 PM

I tried the patch, no success though, it just relaunches avalaunch. I'm version 1.0 with an xecuter chip, 300 Gig Maxtor HDD. I tried all different variations of the patches, (one, or the other, or both, and all diffrent occurances) but they all just trigger a reboot. I've got to get a backup, I use this program ALOT! I mean ALOT!
and the CD can't handle much more abuse. Do I maybe have a "Bunk" copy of XBMM, or is HEX editing really more complicated than it looks? Cause it looks pretty obvious, and simple. How about a link that works to a real patch default.xbe, I got one for this program "RIOT HDD fix", but no one seems to actually have this program. Any help would be super appreciated, and as usual, TEAM AVALAUNCH KICK's ASS!

XBOX Live GMRTAG
El Guapo69
Houston TX

that works a charm mate.. i can confirm!

thanks heaps.

The first patch work just fine.

Does anyone have a full guide for the music mixer ?

10x

I know this is a little late but I wanted to say thanks for the hex edit info. I just picked up XBMM today from Best Buy for $15 new with a mic just for kicks and was able to back it up to my hdd with no problems.

My steps that I took:
- Just download and install Freeware Hex Editor XVI32

- Then Open up your default.xbe on your pc with XVI31

- Hit "CTRL-R" for the replace window
-- FIND: C7 05 5C 00 37 00 00 00 00 00 33 C0
-- REPLACE WITH: 33 C0 B0 06 A3 5C 00 37 00 90 90 90

- Hit OK in the replace window

- Hit "CTRL-R" for the replace window again
-- FIND: E8 28 F5 FF FF
-- REPLACE WITH: 90 90 90 90 90

- Hit OK

- Save default.xbe and transfer back to your xbox hdd

Now off to learn how to backup karaoke songs on the hdd for xbmm...

All of these issues are addressed in another part of the forum, do a search for music mixer.

I think so far the only issue that hasn't been resolved is the 250 song limit....there are quick fixes but nothing that works nicely.

i have all the new karaoke files on my hd, and they all work fine. most of them are soundchoice and sunfly. only problem is they come up as TRACK15 - TRACKX instead of the acutal title/artist in the list of songs. Is there any way to change this?

Thanks

In order to correctly list each song in Music Mixer, you have to change the Artist and Title info of each WMA file's properties. I just do it by right clicking on the WMA, select Properties, then Summary--which is where I can fill out the info--then Apply or OK.

I believe this has been answered in another Music Mixer thread (the big one). You can find all the answers to these kinds of questions by just reading that.

quote
21. Mega X key can be used to transfer files too...


How can this be done? Any links would be helpfull.

I am going to have to try this out.