Hey Jack, I'm with ya, I love Gold Wave, best $50 I ever spent.
Sometimes it's just plain easier to work with a nice simple wave file. And often a stereo wave file is all you have, not a multi track.
I have had to do this for many clients. The politically correct term is not Karaoke but a Performance track. Karaoke is a more video format. Performance tracks are bed tracks from studios and usually way better quality than Karaoke. A lot of church folks use them and have brought them to me to change key's, tempos, add an extra verse, chorus and often to make a better count in. Some were split track format with guide vocals on on side to practice with. Many were tapes I transferred to CD.
I use Wave lab, but most any wave editor will work, Even a freebie like Wavosaur. Sonar too but it would be my last choice.
Here's a few tricks I've used.
Steal the count in from another song and split and slide the clicks until they count in time. You can do this visually by looking at the songs transients. All you really need is a sound bite of a rim shot of hi hat and a wave editor can quickly cut / copy paste for any style count in.
I like to accent the down beat and use a 2 measure count in. I often use a snare fill to start.
1-2-3-4 -
1-2-3
TaTaTa With 30 years of using backing tracks I have a passion for count ins that actually work.