Karaoke Forums

This may help - direct from the source.

http://www.kjamp.com/forum/index.php?to ... 62#msg1662

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

Thanks, I'll have to try that.

We just finished our fourth gig with it, and nary a complaint about the scrolling performer display. We upped the speed to 2 as people got more used to it, and it works wonders -- everyone knows when they are coming up.

We only show four upcoming singers, then a promo trailer.

For me, the Winamp/Pacemaker tie-in. It just isn't as reliable as MTU Hoster and Compuhost in my experience. I have watched closely hours of people using all three, and the Sax & Dotty users are the only ones who have had to restart the program. I have hosted a couple of dozen gigs using Hoster and now Compuhost, and never had the problems I saw the Sax & Dotty's users have.

When you us Sax & Dotty's, or Clubdjpro, and then exit them and exit Winamp, you can find one or two more Winamp processes still running. You have to kill them with the Task manager to get a clean restart. (I found this out after a host seemed to have to reboot a couple of times a night with S&D. I killed the Winamp images, and the reboot was no longer necessary.)

This of course is the old version. The newer version I can't speak to. But if it still uses Winamp and the very clunky key-change setup they have, it is not nearly at the level of Hoster or Compuhost. (All this is of course my own opinion, as every post here.

We have been running Sax & Dotty's 4 nights a week for four hours for 2 years straight now without ever having to restart, pacemaker works flawlessly (on average we only have to keychange 1 song a night)
I will give you this though, because there are so many people that use S&D, it only stands to reason that there would be more of them that don't have a clue about what they are doing, and I know this as a fact as I have helped many out with their silly stupid problems on the S&D forum (if they only took the time to learn about Winamp and the plugins used!)
And we can see it in a lot of the newbies that want to jump in without ever learning the software or how to do this or that, wanting to become a karaoke host overnight, well let them keep on coming and the rest of us who have paid our "learning" dues will buy out their music and equipment for nickles on the dollar!
Yes the all in one programs cost more and have a very easy learning curve, but If one takes the time to learn about Winamp and the plugins used, it can be used to run a top notch show.
I guess I have never been a fan of the "all in one" answer. I rather like the flexibility I have been able to achieve with S&D and other apps.
Ok, I am now off my soapbox.

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

Sorry, to resurrect an old thread but I have an update. I just recently purchased a Toshiba laptop and am in the process of ripping my entire CDG collection to the hard drive. Also, I have decided to purchase PCDJ KJ as my player.

My biggest concern right now is the video output. The laptop has one VGA output and that's it, and it's there so if your screen goes out or if you wish to use a standard monitor instead of the laptop's screen you can. It simply routes the signal to the separate monitor just like a standard desktop PC video card would. I have found a cheap VGA to S-Video and RCA cord to get the signal to the TV, but my sincere hope is that PCDJ KJ will route just the lyrics to the TV, not exactly what I would be seeing on the laptop's screen. I've got an LCD monitor here that I'm going to test it out on, but I don't have the program yet. Also, I'll be testing running the sound output from the headphone jack in the laptop to the board and amp. I haven't looked into a cord for this yet, but I know it's out there. I'll be back with an update once I figure more out.


Meanwhile here's some spec info.

Toshiba Satellite A205 Laptop
Windows Vista Home Premium
Intel Pentium R Dual CPU @ 1.60Ghz X 2
1GB RAM
Integrated High Definition Realtek Sound w/ Dolby Digital
Integrated Video
DVD-RW (which I will be using to burn backup discs of all my music)


PCDJ KJ Karaoke Player Software $121.00 after shipping. (I wanted a physical copy so I'd have a backup)

VGA to S Video or RCA Adapter Cord:

http://www.computercasesandcables.com/ccc/CV-25120.html

PCDJ KJ:
http://pcdj.com/products/video-karaoke-software/kj/

Are you sure? I just got an entry level Toshiba laptop a couple of months ago and you can plug an external screen into it no problem. The lyrics can be dragged over to the second screen very easily using PCDJ KJ or Kara Fun etc.. You could also use the second screen for any other purpose like a second word processing doc open at the same time, two spreadsheets side by side etc. Look on amazon or ebay for New Vista Sales, I bought PCDJ Blue(you most likely don't need red)for around $40 including shipping and the same for the KJ program. You don't even need PCDJ, you can buy just the Karaoke hosting program by itself. It can function as a stand alone program or as a plug in to PCDJ. Then you can use a media player to play regular music. For the little money that I paid for PCDJ it's worth it, but I found a program called Quintessential player that works great and it's free.

You might want to go to PowerKaraoke's web site and check out their hosting program Siglos and their power Karaoke CG+G burning program too. You can download a free trial of both. Read around this place and try out some hosting programs that are mentioned. This place is a wealth of good information. I'm taking my PCDJ off my laptop because I don't like VISTA and will be putting it on a Windows XP computer. Hope this helps.

Also, I use an external computer monitor, either a glass tube 17" or 19" or I also have a 19" widescreen LCD. I don't use a TV for the lyrics screen.

Well, no I'm not sure, as I haven't tested it yet, but I'm glad you replied because now I'm fairly certain it's going to work no problem.



So you paid $40 for PCDJ Blue and the KJ plugin? I went to the official hompage of PCDJ and purchased KJ as a stand-alone and it cost me $121.00 But, it's ok, I get the latest version and a CD if I should need to reinstall it.




I'm using Audiograbber to rip my library, it's free and works well. I agree, I hate Vista, and I hate that it comes pre-installed on laptops even more, but, give Vista some time and we'll have some good service packs from microsoft to make it right. My desktop's OS is WinXP and I'm very happy with it.





The clubs I'll be working have their own setup, so I have to hook to theirs.



[/quote]

I paid about $40 EACH not for both. What you paid is still worth it, it's a good program and very powerful. You can put it on 2 seperate PCs too.

If you can get your hands on an external monitor, just plug it into the port. On my laptop it's on the left side. Windows will immediately recognize it and just follow the directions. Even if they have their own setup at the bars, you can still bring your own external monitor if you have one and it works good for you. Let us know what you find out.

[vent]

I have KJ installed now and it's been nothing but problems. The biggest problem as of now is that the program crashes every time I start the ripping process. I called tech support 4 times, and I must say there tech support SUCKS. The first guy had no idea what to do about the crash problem so he transfered me to another tech who said he'd email me a patch. Why do you have to email me the patch is it a secret patch that I can't get on your site or something? So anyway, I gave him my email, and waited for about 45 mins, called back talked to the same tech again and told him,

"I haven't received the email yet, perhaps you took down the email address wrong?"

His I don't give a F@*k response, "Probably."

"So what should I..."

He cuts me off, "You need to send me an email asking for the patch so that I can send you the patch."

Ok.........

So I send him the email around 4:00PM. It's now 5:15PM, still no email.

I'm fed up and I'm p_issed, especially after reading "There will be no refund for products already registered."

I realize that much of the problem is due to using Vista with KJ but I had no choice, and Vista has been out long enough now, these guys should have there software up-to-date and compatible.

So here's the fun part. I live 30 mins away from their office. If I don't receive that email in 24 hours I'm going down there and getting it fixed personally.
[/vent]

I like Sax & Dottys. Been using it 1 year.

Well, if I can't get this program working, I'll be looking at the alternatives... sigh.
I think I'll start with Sax and Dotty's first and if that doesn't do it Compuhost Demo, and from there to Winamp's possibilities.

Set Vista to run the program like it's in XP.

I did, and set it to run in administrator mode too. I also patched it. Still doesnt work.

KRAMIXER is another program (stricly DJ though) that's free and somewhat easy to use.  I use Sax & Dottie's now, but I'm considering going with PCDJ/KJ.  Haven't gotten to test it yet though to see if I like it.  Sounds like it's worth searching for on Amizon though.

Oh, and KRAmixer can be found at www.kramixer.com.

SPOKEN like someone that has NEVER done tech support. "It's been out a year and you should have your products updated!" My how you have such HIGH expectations!

Have you EVER had to deal with the backlog from Microsoft? Could be anywhere from 1-4 DAYS for a response from them, and when you do, it's someone from India going from a script. TRUE tech support is when it's gone up a level or two, and that takes an act of God. Have you seen how long it takes for service packs to be RELEASED, say from 2000Pro to their SP1, 2, 3 or 4? XP to their 1 or 2?

as for not having a choice on Vista, there is ALWAYS a choice IF you know where to shop and how to buy. I said it before and I'll CONTINUE saying it. KNOW your products. Know what the stuff does, and how to fix them. But by going to your local retailer and getting a prepackaged box, then you are setting yourself up to fail. or at least be hand dependant on what others will do for you. I was very dependant on Tig and others helping me at first with computerized systems. I knew some stuff, but they were the experts. SO I PURPOSEFULLY didn't go computerized until I FELT COMFORTABLE with what I was working with.

This is why I hate computerized karaoke for those that don't know what they're doing with a PC. They expect others to do the work for them.

If a package says it's supported by Win95, 98, NT, 2000pro and XP, then THAT's ALL it's supported for. ANY and ALL software makers are under NO obligations to up their support for a buggy software to begin with. MOST don't even touch upgrades, until Microsoft upgrades it's OWN problems.

Microsoft DOES sell downward upgrades for Vista, though. Go backwards to XP and your software will work as it's supposed to do.

redrust, I live about 30 minutes from their office too. I'm in Pinellas Park. I had a problem with their software-Vista related. After trying to fix it myself and emailing them I decided to go to their office. They fixed it and were very nice. Now I want to take their software off my laptop and install it onto my XP desktop, but I can't figure out how to uninstall it so I don't lose that install. I guess I am going to drive over there again. Wanna go in there together?

Yeah stogie, I wouldn't mind going in together. But, I have to find the time to do so. I work a regular job during the day, so getting down there during their office hours will be a challenge. I think I can get this Wednesday off though, let me know if that will work for you and we can go down there.

I'm pretty sure you can install KJ on up to 2 different computers, so if you haven't installed it on any other computer since the first one you should be able to install it and register it again on your XP desktop.



Yeah, I've never done tech support, and I'd be singing a totally different tune if the tech support guy had a good attitude during the whole process, but he was a snobby, disinterested jerk, and I was being friendly with him the whole time. I've NEVER had that poor of quality tech support.



Your talking about OS's. I'm talking about a single program. Big difference.



PCDJ BLUE VRM, RED VRM, FX VRM, and KJ

   * Intel or AMD 1 GHZ Processor or above - Pentium M Intel Centrino Mobile Technology 1.6 GHz (Laptop)
   * Celeron or Duron Processor are not Recommended
   * Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32 bit version only)



Time and money were my constraint. Also:

PCDJ BLUE VRM, RED VRM, FX VRM, and KJ

   * Intel or AMD 1 GHZ Processor or above - Pentium M Intel Centrino Mobile Technology 1.6 GHz (Laptop)
   * Celeron or Duron Processor are not Recommended
   * Windows 2000, XP, Vista (32 bit version only)



KJ was recommended to me by a friend here in the area who uses it to host his own shows with no problems on an XP machine. He showed me the program in use before I ever purchased it. I did my research.



That is a pompous, self-righteous, and belittling statement, that is not only untrue in my case, it is also uncalled for.

So what is tech support for? What are tech support forum threads for? Ever heard of the old saying 2 heads are better than one? Let me reiterate that I WOULD NOT be posting p_issed off if the guy had been FRIENDLY and PROFESSIONAL, even if my issue was still not solved when I hung up, I would not be in a bad mood. Tech support is more than being able to solve technical problems it is also the ability to relate to people, be sympathetic to their problems and frustrations, and have decent social skills in general, some general guidelines you would do well to follow knightshow. The thing is I DO, know what I'm doing with PC's, yet I am not familiar with Vista as this is my first system with it as my OS.

Truth is I'll just use that XP professional disc with the corporate license I have to install and dual boot XP and run it there, and see if it runs as it should. My guess is that it won't.

Dude, you have no right to come in here and lay into me for getting p_issed at some random tech support guy, unless of course you happen to BE that tech support guy, which I can totally believe at this point.

I use win amp with a with http://www.autokdj.com/ plug in and the pacemaker plug in.  This set up allows you to search your library set you singer listing and adjust tempo and pitch.  It will also allow you to send the karaoke graphics to a seperate tv screen while working on the laptop.  I've used Kara fun also but I'm much happier with the winamp.  The autokdj pluggin also allow for say, someone in your line up wants to sing in a different key you can set that in the karaoke playlist function so when it's there turn you don't have to remember to change it, or you can do the pitch change during the song if someone doesn't relize it's out of there range and want it lowered.   I have also used the audiograbber for ripping and have had satifactory results it ripps most CD+Gs ok although I do get the occasional songs that the graphics get messed up in the middle of the song, but for free I can't complain to much.