Karaoke Forums

HI,

Last week I did Karaoke for the first time in over five years. I caught the bug again. I'm used to bringing in my own CDG's. But I noticed the DJ had all his songs on the computer. I want the DJ to play songs that I give to him. What format should I buy so that I'm sure the DJ can play them?

Thanks,
Dave

If they are on his computer, you should be safe with a .cdg or .mcg file for the video. Most players simultaneously play the .mp3 file with the video file. There are other formats, but these are the most widely used in the U.S.

Good luck getting a KJ to play it though. Most (to include myself) will absolutely not play a song that is a customer's own file (unless he brings in a legal disk to prove ownership of the license).

Talk to the KJ and ask him if it is possible and how he would like you to present it. I would personally rather have it on an SD card than a hard drive.

Sounds complicated and I appreciate that you wish me luck. If I were a DJ I wouldn't want anybody plugging anything in to my computer. I just had a virus scare tonight.

Thanks for all of your suggestions. I know three places around here I like. I guess I'll just have to visit all three of them to get the answers.
Dave

most software can play straight off discs so i would ask if they will play your discs. i still play customers discs and i know i cant be alone. you may not need to change what you are doing at all.

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

He said the guy was running from a computer. Most computers are not able to play CDGs.

i am on computer and i play discs on it. power siglos, hoster, several programs play discs.

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

I could be wrong, but it was my understanding that cdgs can only be played with CD drives that are MMC-compatible and that support DAO/96 mode.

Not ALL drives do this, although many of the newer computers do.

Mine doesn't, but it is 4 years old.

One way to ensure that your own disks can be played is to have your backing tracks on a CD in mp3/wav format or as a standard music CD. Yes, you will have to learn the song lyrics as these would not be displayed, but I do not know of any modern laptop that cannot play these formats.

If that's the case, then he can just hand over his original, which will play just like a regular CD anyway.

Your best bet is to ask each individual host, as suggested. Some will actually bring a CDG player to accomodate people with their own discs and some will be able to play them on their computer. But there are some who just make it a policy not to play anything a customer brings in and some are even refusing to play certain brands. It varies so much the only thing you can really do is ask and then go to those shows who can accomodate you.

Sadly many computer users just simply choose not to play a customer disc whether they have the ability or not, even some disc hosts will refuse because they just don't want to offer the customer the ability to sing from what they are used to. So like stated, ask the host to find out if they have the ability, don't bother changing any format because the computer users I almost guarantee if they won't play an original disc, they sure will not play anything that they have to insert into their computer.

I run MTU Hoster which does have the ability to play customer cdg's with virtually any dvd drive - however I do have separate players for customer discs always.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I run one CAVS 203G USB per system. What a pain it is to run someone's disk. You have to switch it to DVD mode (which is easy), but switching it back to USB mode takes a minute or 2. I don't play burned disks at all, but if a customer wants to sing from their own original disk, I do let them. Its a pain though.

I just have the player on a separate video switch, when a customer comes in - switch & play, goes back jsut as fast.

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LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Neither one of my programs will play off of discs and I am happy over it because I don't have to discriminate between ones that bring in originals and burns. Because I am a member of KIAA, I am not allowed to play burns. And I wish to remain in good standing with KIAA and the manufacturers. But I also don't want to deal with the complaint that I played his disc, why can't I play theirs type of situation. I will however try and find their songs for the next week if possible. Sometimes it's not possible because the discs are no longer manufactured. If that's the case and they have an original I might offer to buy their disc from them so I could maintain a 1:1 ratio on my drive of songs to discs.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Thanks for the heads-up Danny... Now if I only could know where your gigs are, then I could avoid the disappointment of turning up there to find I could not sing the songs I want to. Do you have any gigs scheduled, or is it that you just haven't updated your website calendar?

Not at this tiime. There are a couple of bars I am going to pursue once I get my GEM series discs imported but right now I am just doing private gigs.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

I'm set for one venue so far. Got a Sunfly pix and mix. The quality of Sunfly seems much, much better than five years ago. I can't wait for this disk to get here.

Thanks everyone for your helpful suggestions.

Dave

I use a Cavs 203G in conjunction with Compuhost. Just press external, play the disc on 203G, then press internal, and I'm back to normal. All of 5 seconds.

Rosario
Serenity Now Karaoke

I'm running an RSQ player through a video capture card with Compuhost to keep the scrolling rotation for people's discs. I don't play burns, but I'll gladly play original discs.