Karaoke Forums

First off I appreciate all the cool people on this forum who helped me solve my PC issue of not playing CDGs. After we found that it was the Winamp (with plugin) that wouldn't work with the CDGs I tried I started wondering what software is best for my needs. Microstudio was what I used to get it to work right in the first place. I've had people mention CDG Ripper and hoster so I thought I would post up what I'm looking for.

All I really want is something I can use along with my Audigy2ZS Platinum audio card on my PC to record and edit stuff. Let me clarify since record and edit can mean a lot of things. What I mainly want which is likely two different software packages, is to record a singer (seperately from the song and overlay the tracks) and be able to alter the voice if I want. What is most important is doing a simple voice recording (with or seperate from time music is played) but it would be very cool if I could play around and tweak the vocals. Of course tweaking the vocals is the reason I would want to do the vocal as a seperate track. I know much of this is done in a mixer for a lot of you guys and happens before it would ever hit a PC but I thought maybe there was something reasonably cheap to alter the vocals. I see that my Audigy software has some tools available for tweaking. Anyway, I'm not out to spend a lot of money. It is for personal use and having fun while creating the best sound to burn to CD for friends. Thanks!

I broke this off from the other thread in case others want to look at it if they find they are needing what I needed (easier to find).

JMan,

I know I gave you my view on another thread but just to let you know that I have the same SB card as you & I do multitrack recording.

I play the cdg file (wave+g) using Karawin and I record my vocal that came from the mixer thru the line in of my Audigy card, this way, I can play both the wave audio & the wave vocal track in Audacity!! I don't work for this Karawin company but it's by far THE best HOME karaoke software to use for what you wish to do. Hoster is nothing but excellent for kj's, but do you need to spend so much for what you wish to do?

You might want to listen to my sub's, some of them were recorded using the method described, my last sub, The Last Waltz is a good example!

Good Luck!

JMan, I have to agree/disagree with Micky, a well respected member here.


Here's the disagree part. The best is a relative opinion. Whatever you opt for, keep in mind that if you "play and record" your CDG, you loose audio quality, whereas if you "rip" your CDG and play the digital format, you have no losses.

Stop being so darn humble Micky, your subs sound great!

Personally, I use Hoster to play/host and CEP to record.

Well, I guess it will be my turn to disagree with AllStar

If you record a session, a wave file for example using the proper tools you will not have any loss at all! It used to be the case in the old analogue world!
The same would apply if you decode an mp3 to wave, if again you're using the proper tools you won't get any losses

My suggestion is just to record the vocal part not the music so you can than play both tracks in Audacity!

You are correct, The Best would be more like my personal opinion

Even ripping from a cdg to the hard drive you will get a different sound depending on the software used or if the drive is in FAT32 or NTFS! For best results, always keep your audio file in an FAT32 drive, much better sound!

Thanks for your nice comments AllStar, really appreciated!

Micky

Thanks for the comments guys.

I tried Karwin (pro version) and had no success with it playing the TT or SC CDGs. Just like Winamp (with plugin) it would not recognize these. The only thing I've found that works so far is Microstudio. I will definitely give Audacity a try. I posted on Karwin forums to see if maybe I should do something different but like I said, it won't even recognize the CD is in the tray. No song list at all.
Of course at this point I'm leaning towards Microstudio since it is like $40 and has worked.

For the recording and editing I'd use Audacity. And yes, playing the tracks w/ vocals seperate is best done through a mixer but software can handle many of the issues you've been having.

If you just want to do some basic home recording you could look into the Soundcraft Compact 4 mixer. It's designed for recording and allows you to record only the vocals while hearing the entire mix out the mains/monitor/headphones. I use the Compact 10 and record onto an old Gateway PII 400Mhz laptop using Audigy and the internal soundcard. Records as wave, I covert to MP3 for posting here on the site. The main advantage to using an external mixer is it allows you more flexibility in the mics you use and in the original source. Most consumer sound cards don't work well with balanced mics and this allows you to use balanced mics, your normal player for the music, and record straight out of a set of RCA jacks on the mixer to the sound card. You can record the vocals and music at the same time but seperately by panning one left and one right. Seperate the left right, modify the vocal track, send output as mono. Hope this makes sense...

For playback you can use a number of packages many of which have already been commented on here and in your other thread.

Ok, I'm thinking of buying Microstudio and using it along with Audacity. I think that will do all I need to do.

karaokemeister-
If I had extra cash I would love to get the mixer you pointed out. It looks perfect for what I would want. Considering I'm keeping the budget tight though I think I would be better to do all my sound altering digital and have everything in the PC.


Micky-
Karawin wouldn't ever work so I can't exactly consider it at this point.

I haven't purchased anything yet but will likely buy Microstudio tomorrow since it actually worked.

Keep in mind that Micro will extract in the cdg format which you can't play with Audacity!

You need to check the CD reading+cdg in option to read the cdg format. For direct reading Micro will do a better job but Karawin will do a better job at reading all the desire Karaoke format!

Unfair to compare the two programs... Both excellent but for different utility!

I've been so happy with my mixer for recording that I just like to make sure that it's considered as an option. Fairly inexpensive ($130 from MusciansFriend - shipped) it works for this application.

Microstudio seems to work pretty well (I've used the demo before). If you want to rip to the harddrive for doing everything on the computer WinCDG (not free) and MP3+G Toolz (free) does wonders.

More confusion. I really would get that mixer if it solved all my other problems but it doesn't get my karaoke CDGs to play. The mixer would be a bonus and something I might buy myself for Christmas.

Micky-

I checked the CD reading+cdg tab on Karawin and it still didn't recognize the CDGs just like Winamp. Maybe they are encoded for copywrite protection while the others are not and only microstudio (that I've seen yet) is getting past it.

I could use Microstudio to see the timing of the lyrics and record the vocals to a track with the volume of the music off. I could then use the audio capture program that came with Plextor to simply rip the songs from cda to wav format. Does this sound like it will work? I see that CAVS has some software too. I'm going to test theirs to see if I get the same problem as winamp and Karawin.

I fully agrre with your suggestion!

I first started using Micro to record my sessions. First I was importing the cdg file in the drive so this way I could read from the HD than play it back with Micro. I was using the wave recorder that came with the audigy card (creative Wave Studio) added some FX again with the EAX control Panel HQ and was recording a single track. Now, if you wish, you could record just the vocal coming from the line in and import the cda track into wave, use Micro for that, it could import to wave if you wish so this way you'll have the audio & vocal track for Audacity!!

Microstudio is able to read a multisession disk not Karawin which explains why it dosn't see anything. Microstudio & CDG Ripper are (I beleive) the only software capable of handling M Sessions disk?

You can't go wrong is you buy Microstudio, it's the software to have when you do PC Karaoke.

Now, spend your time towards singing not figuring out which way to go

Good Luck!

Just wish to add something else, nothing stops you from downloading Karawin Pro because it's a freeware for the CDG/Mp3+g portion but Shareware for the mid/Kar portion.

This way, if you ever go the mp3+g or wave+g route you'll have it!

Ahh.. I'll keep it handy then. I already downloaded everything I could find. CAVS did work by the way but I didn't like it as well for some reason. Microstudio has a simple interface that is easy to read and seems to work well. If I want to do more later I can upgrade or buy something else. $40 for Microstudio seems reasonable. Thanks a ton for the advice everyone. Now I'll be bugging people about tricks of the software.

Jason