Karaoke Forums

Well, to have an affect on the output of the laptop, it would have to do something to the signal.
So the output of the laptop would feed into this, and the output to the PA ?

It's not a 'signal processor'. It could be compared to listening to a $10 Walmart pair of headphones over the $200 Beats Audio pair of headphones - both are just headphones, just one is built to reproduce sound, the other is built to rerpoduce REALLY GOOD sound because of better components & design. The Alpha is a pro-audio level sound card (it's also a recording interface if desired). The sound cards that are built into the - equate to the $10 headphones - still a sound card, still reproduces sound - just sucks doing so!

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So then, it takes the sucky signal from the laptop, and turns it into a azz kicking signal ?
Don't mean to sound dense, I have been a semi pro musician for over 2 decades, but I'm pretty much a guitar to amp kind of guy without much in between, effects and processors never got my attention.
But this of course is for a different application, just trying to grasp the concept of how it works, and how it stands a chance to improve my rig.
Do pretty much all laptop kj's use one, or similar ?
You about got me sold, guitar center has them in stock for the same price, and I got one right down the road.

No, it takes NO signal from the laptop sound card. It REPLACES the laptops internal soundcard. So all sound is directed through the external soundcard only. You won't even be hooking up the 1/8" headphone jack. You have 1 USB cable that runs from the laptop to the Alpha. Then you have 2 1/4" balanced cables running from the Alpha to the mixer. That is your audio line.

I'm a guitar player as well - lets say your amp is a Fender '65 Deluxe Reverb (or if you prefer a Marshall JCM 100) (we'll equate that to the Lexicon) - great amp, sound awesome.
Now lets say the sound card in your laptop is pretty much any 'transistor' amp. Still an amp, but not going to give that full rich warm sound of the Fender (or Marshall).

Most of the pro kj's that have any knowledge on quality sound use some sort of USB I/O interface on their laptop over the stock headphone jack. I prefer the Lexicon because it's cheap, proven and easy to use. The sound I got out of the $59 unit is better than the $200 sound card I bought for my home recording studio.

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Ok, makes sense now.
Audio signal is delivered via USB. I actually did try using a usb thumb drive sound card, results none to impressive as you might imagine.

Those little thumb drive cards aren't designed for anything high end. Just like the internal cards, a way to deliver sound only, not much about quality of sound.

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Well, when I got it for $3.88 including shipping, I figured it wasn't going to scorch the fuzz off my socks, and it didn't disappoint !

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0773880538

Um, yeah - NO!

The Alpha is nothing like that. It actually has some substance to it.

I use a separate computer for fill music at my show. I have two sound cards in it - one for play and one for simultaneously recording. The one for playing was a $100 SoundBlaster Live card, the other is a SoundBlaster X-Fi that ran around $40 new - but 'supposedly' was going to be the equivalent to the higher priced cards - but I was just using it to do some on the fly recordings of my singers a few years back. It's not even close when I have it as the 'playing' card. The X-Fi makes all my mp3's SOUND like they are heavily compressed (most of my files are 192 or better on that system). Very tinny, you get that underwater garble type sound. When I play the same files through the Live card, everything opens up, the fullness, no harshness, the garble is gone - if you didn't know any better, you couldn't tell it was an mp3.
That is what the Alpha will do over the stock card.

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Lonman,

You have any experience with the Native Instruments Traktor Audio 2 sound card. I've read good reviews on it also. In fact I just purchased on for my system.

Got the alpha today, had it on sale for $50, I'll post some impressions when I had a chance to toy with it

It's a good unit too, but for the price the Alpha is just as good & a little more flexible in it's capabilities.

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Price on the Alpha is definately better It was a difficult choice between the 2 units.

audio2DJ is a much better card than the alpha.
the stock sound card like was stated already is like a Marshall MG (to keep the guitar terms ) makes noise, though not pleasant.
Alpha is your Valvestate Marshall, better than solid state, but missing the resonance and warmth of power stage tube drive. made for a step up unit for kids.
the NI is the full tube JCM2000. made with better components and for a pro.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Thanks for the response Paradigm. I went ahead and purchased the NI Audio 2. It arrives on Friday. Can't wait to try it out.

I wouldn't say much better. We did a side by side in Guitar Centers computer/recording room - closed doors through high end monitors - there was little to no difference between the two audibly.

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Greetings ,,, I have been using Siglos pro for quite a while and like it.
I don't use the "pro mode", seems overkill for my purposes, and quite confusing. In basic mode I have the ability to search for songs/artists then play them with a click, thats all I really want.
Also figured out how to drag the lyrics screen to monitor and have only the lyrics show ... Would be kinda nice if they remained on the laptop as well, but I can live without it.

Thing that bugs me is when I play a track, it will auto launch right into the next track when its over. Searched options, and can't find a way to stop this annoying behavior. I would much prefer to start a track when I want, not when the program wants. Is there any way to do this ?

xray, may I recommend karma? Give it a try. Download their FREE trial mode, no strings attached. Don’t like it? Fine, they won’t bother you with annoying follow-up emails. Like it? Buy the license for $99. Well worth the price!! ‘been using it for over a year now & always glitch-free & flawless operation. Disclaimer: I am not associated with karma latshaw in any way, shape or form. http://www.latshawsystems.com/ProductDetails_Karma.aspx

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

leave the pro part open, click on preview screen, resize to your taste. as for automatically going on to the next song, uncheck "proceed automatically" by the start button.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens