DR FJL I use a free program called AUDACITY to remove vocals sometimes. It's not perfect, and you have to play with it a bit.
Once you upload the track, you highlight it, then go to effects in the drop down menu. Near the bottom of the list is Vocal Remover. It sometimes leaves a shadow of the vocal.....but sometimes it's good enough for what I want. Depends on how it was recorded, I think.