Karaoke Forums

We recently bought our first CD, and I am trying to figure out how to get the file so Sax and Dotty will recognize it. I tried just copying them and renaming them (they are all just named 'Track 1, Track 2, etc' . But when I open them it only seems to recognize them as a CD music file. It is a Big Hitz Karaoke CD. Is there a special way I have to burn the file over ?

Sorry if it's a stupid question but we're new to all this. Any advice would be appreciated.

You need a ripper & cd/dvd rom drive that is cdg compatible to begin with.
MTU Microstudio & Powerkaraoke CDG Ripper is probably the better ones out as they are compatible with many drives that aren't recognized by other software.

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Thanks I had no idea. We learn something new everyday. How would I know if my CD/ DVD drive is cd+g compatable?

The software you get should be able to determine that - like stated the MTU & Powerkaraoke programs will recognize most drives that other rippers won't - including ones that aren't listed as cdg compatible. Unless you know the exact make & model (and that isn't ALWAYS a guarantee).
I have 4 drives that are all recognized & work perfectly by MTU Hoster & Microstudio. Tried the Compuhost & Tricerasoft ripper & only 1 of my drives will work with those.

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You could first try Audiograbber...it too will let you know if your drive is CDG compatable and will rip your karaoke tracks...it is also a free program.

http://www.audiograbber.com-us.net/

But if you are going to get serious about this (computer karaoke) take Lonmans advice about either one of the two programs he mentioned in his post, both do a very good job and are highly reccomended on this forum by many users.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

3 Green, I don't want to hijack your thread here, but I just have a quick question without starting another thread. I have purchased music recently, and am ripping music on my hard drive, some of the CDGs have extra reference vocals. Should the RVs be ripped to the library along with the regular instrumental tracks? Probably another stupid question, but I just want to do it right from the beginning. Thanks,Ron

Personal choice - if your show uses the guide tracks, then I suppose yes you should. I figured for myself I don't play them in my show, NEVER had anyone ask for the vocal guide tracks - since the majority (over 80% i'd estimate) of my discs do not have them anyway, why bother wasting space on my drive for the vocal guides? I use the real songs for any kind of possible dj work, so wouldn't need those guide versions for anything in any manner.

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Thank You Lonnie, Thats kinda what I thought, but its nice to know for sure...Ron

Most times I simply play some DJmusic *before* show times, but there are many times I will play the karaoke disc with the vocal tracks, especially when I have just gotten a new disc to see what's on it and how it goes. Depends on the crowd. Sometimes it goes over well, sometimes it don't.....MrD

So for that reason, I would like to have the vocal tracks ripped to my harddrive to continue in such a way......I like having the vocal tracks on the Cd or to practice from...good way to kind of learn the song, especially if you don't really know it to begin with.

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
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Personal preference, but I think it is a good idea to have the w_vocal tracks. I have a lot of kids at my non-bar karaoke gigs, and they sometimes request to have the vocal to sing along with.

Also, if you are at a slow-starting gig, you can put up some w_vocal tracks to start things off. People see the words and hear the (not always outstanding) singers and think, hey -- maybe I can do that!

So if this is your first purchase of a CDG Disc; what files were you using with Sax & Dotty before you bought this new disc and where did you get them from? Seems odd to me that someone would even know about Sax & Dotty and not know how to rip a karaoke disc.

I think its funny how people here have to freak and think somebodys a pirate just cause they bring up computer CDG. is it out of the relm of possibility that he was at a show hosted with S&D and talked to the host? has a friend who uses S&D ect?? you didn't say it, but you were fishing for it. this kinda BS is going to make people affraid to ask a question around here.

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

I use audio grabber. there is an internet based naming database that your CD may be in. if so you klick on the bird icon and it does all your naming. if not you have to enter the names manualy. When I do this I submit my file names so the next guy doesnt have to do the work too. I choose rip to cdg wma and that seems to work for me. i believe either of the 2 bottom choices in the rip cdg options will work. It does take some trial and error to figure out audio grabber but its a great program for the price (free).

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the voices arent real, but they have some good ideas

"When I do this I submit my file names so the next guy doesnt have to do the work too."

WHO is this next guy that you speak of? Is he the guy or the community that you will e-mail that particular track to? ...or will it wind up in some torrent file?

Now who seems to have put their foot in their mouth? Arrrrrrrrrr me bucko. Where's me treasure?

Do you mean that you put your foot in your mouth when you intimated he does illegal file sharing?

No, he submitted the *file names* to FreeDB, which keeps a name database. And the ironic thing about your accusation is that it is only really used by people who have legal disks. If you downloaded, you wouldn't need to rip. And if he had illegal disks, chances are the data from them wouldn't work on FreeDB so there is no point using it.

I have used FreeDB on about 800 karaoke disks now, and it has probably only had about 80% of the disks I ripped on file. I submitted a few of the ones I named, not many. The data usually gives me a starting point, because I end up changing the file names to fit my favorite DISKID-TRACK - Artist, The - Title, The.zip format.

I love righteous indignation. I couldn't count the amount of times where I've read on the Singer's Showcase where someone writes to someone else...."thanks for sending me the backing for this song". The sharing part doesn't bother me. It's just that according to the forum rules; discussing how to illegally download is supposed to be forbidden here now. People here used to use yousendit.com on a daily basis to swap files with each other so let's not be naive, okay? I'm sure it still goes on. It's just not discussed out in the open any longer. This all started out because I thought it odd that someone was fully acquainted with Sax & Dotty's software long before they ever bought their first CDG disc. It still seems very odd to me. Someone can always come up with a scenario to explain any situation but I believe that if a poll was taken; 99 out of 100 people that are into karaoke bought their first CDG disc long before they ever learned about computer hosting programs for karaoke.

And exactly what does that have to do with ripping CDG disks? And what about it makes it OK for you to accuse someone of illegal behavior?

It couldn't have been a question of knowing Sax & Dottys simply because they did an internet search on how to run karaoke off a computer. This is how I originally became aquainted with MTU Hoster. Even went as far as to purchase the program, this was before I knew I needed a special drive to read cdg's. Back then it was pretty drive specific. So I had a program to run karaoke but no knowledge on how to use it. Sounds like a same situation here.

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How many CDG discs did you own already when you "started" investigating for a karaoke software program, Lonnie? This person just bought his first CDG but already knows all about a program that many people use to play tracks that they download from the internet for free. Just seems like an odd progression to me. That's all. It usually works the other way.

Me thinks you doth protest too much Mr. Mouse. The case may be very circumstantial but it seems odd that anyone would know all about SAX & DOTTY before ever buying a CDG disc. I know that I had purchased hundreds of CDG's before I had ever heard of it. I was just wondering what this person was using SAX & Dotty for if he didn't own any CDG's. What songs were this person playing with sax & dotty and how did he get them if not from his own CDG discs? Is it at all possible that this person bought a PC from someone with S&D already loaded with a boatload of ZIP files? Is it at all possible that someone put the software on his PC as a favor or for a price? It's not as if that never happens.