Karaoke Forums

Hi All,

After lots of reading over the past week, of different topics, I think I have found a pretty good semi-mobile solution for my karaoke setup. Please comment on if you have had any good or bad experiences with the products listed below, and what a good alternative might be:

---Computer (building myself)---
OS: Windows XP(SP2)
RAM: 2GB
Hard Drive: TBD, depends on how much space each song takes.
Video Card: HIS Radeon X1650 Pro IceQ Video Card - 512MB GDDR2, PCI Express, CrossFire Ready, DVI, VGA, HDTV
Sound Card: TBD: Audiophile 192; or USB Mbox2 Mini
PC monitor: 15" touchscreen
Singer monitor: TBD, possibly 15" LCD or a standard 24" CRT tv.

---Karaoke Software---
Unify Karaoke Software

---Speakers---
B-52 Matrix-2000

---Mixer---
Yamaha MG82CX or Mackie DFX6 (not sure if I need compressor on mixer, if there is a compressor in the speakers?)

---Microphone(s)---
Shure SM58

The system will be primarily used at home, but I may take it to some friends houses, to use. I don't think I want to leave them with mouse / keyboard, and somewhat complex Karaoke software. I figure with the Unify Karaoke software, it is as simple as touch the song name.... and they queue up. Sure there are no prompters, outlining whos next... but you can see the song queue, and people should know if they selected it. Again, this is for smaller 'gigs' at friends houses... I don't think there will be lots of demand for the same song... as long as no-one bumps up their song in the queue, it should be easy.

Would you recommend USB or internal sounds card? I notices that some have internal, some have USB. For my situation, which would be better?

Any feedback is greatly appreciated!

- Michael

Definitely recommend the internal sound card. There is no reason to add cables to what should be a very clean system. The fewer connectors, the better.

I hope you have a big living room -- the Matrix 2000 will blast you out. I am guessing the lower-cost Matrix 1000 will be fine for a home system. Unless you live in a Hollywood mansion, that is.

The compression on the mic channels is *great* to have. No, there is nothing equivalent on the matrix. Go for the Yamaha.

On the other end, I would recommend the bigger mixer, i.e. the MG124CX. It is nice to have more channels, for many reasons. One, you may have more than one input (an Ipod for example, or a DVD player). Two, you may end up having both wireless and wired mics, and it is always nice to have more mic inputs. Four with compression is better than 2.

Sounds like a great system!

I would go for external over onboard sound every time, there is no comparison...plus if you are going to look at maybe doing some home recording you would be far better to look to something that will offer that option

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

oops maybe I wasnt quite clear...external or pro internal sound card as opposed to onboard which is on the motherboard

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Mantis could you let me know how you find the software please cos I wouldnt mind looking at it for the hotel

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"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

An aftermarket internal card such as the 192 he quoted above is an excellent choice over most externals. You are probably comparing to the built in sound cards on most motherboards.

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Ah, but you know that.....

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The B52 2000 is a killer system, however being this is primarily for home use, you'd probably be just as happy with the Matrix 1000. Smaller in size & will still kick butt!

I'd recommend the Audiophile 192, this is what I personally use & it's a great card - very good signal to noise ratio.

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careful I might just be displaying typical gemini traits

_________________
"Be who you are and say what you feel... Because those that matter... Don't mind...And those that mind... Don't matter."

Hi All,

This is great feedback. I think I will go with M-Audio’s Audiophile 192 sound card, and look into the bigger yamaha mixer. Easier to expand to more microphones, and additional audio sources, as my needs grow.

For the speakers, I think I will stick with the Matrix 2000. Yes, I agree it is huge for my living room, but if I take it outside, to a family party (with 6 nieces / nephews there's a party every month it seems...) it should be good. Not under-powered. Besides, I can always keep the volume really low inside, and high outside.




I would be glad to let you know how the software turns out. I hope it works as well as I am imagining...

Thanks


- Michael

That B-52 system is great, but way overkill for a house. Have you seen the size of the subwoofer? For your house or a friend's house a 10" or 12" speaker is plenty and if you're really fussy and want great sound add a small subwoofer. The B-52 Matrix 1000 is plenty and even that might be more than you need for inside a house unless it's a mansion.

I downloaded a demo of the Unify program a few months ago and it was awful. I have since used Karafun for many hours and it's really a good program and very stable. I had some problems in the past that I thought were caused by Karafun, but they turned out to be an operating system problem and had nothing to do with Karafun.

As I have continued to used Karafun and learned the program, I can say confidently it's very good and certainly for home use a great choice. It's free to download and use for home use. It has lots of features and I have found it to be superior to many other programs I've tried. Karafun also has many features that make it worthy. Pitch control AND tempo control. It remembers your settings for each song too. You can create Karaoke play lists and even use it to play non Karaoke music. Karafun is far superior to Unify, don't waste your time.

If for some reason you don't want to use Karafun, Powerkaraoke has some very good programs too and they are reasonably priced. Their software is high quality and stable/reliable. Try the Siglos demo. I'm not sure where you got the idea to use Unify, but there are much better programs out there.

Hi Stogie,

Thanks for the input. I got the idea for Unify from just searching out different karaoke software online. There wasn't much info here on this site (which maybe is a hint that it isn't so good )

The software seems simple. So simple in fact, that if I were to import and properly 'document' each song, that even people who haven't used a PC, could select a song. I like the simple 'touch screen' interface.

It also looks similar to the system that was used a at Karaoke 'bar' that I would frequent in Malaysia. A group of us would rent a room, and just use a remote control to search & select songs. We could search by Language (as I only speak English, and they would sing in Cantonese & Mandarin), Male / Female artist... etc.

If this was a pure home-use system, I would have no concerns with the complexity of the software, my wife and I would be the only ones operating the system. As we are both pretty knowledgable about computers. I would be very comfortable with using the setup.

However, as there may be occasion to take this to parties, and others would be selecting songs (entering them directly into the queue)... I was thinking "as simple as possible", without the use of CD + G disks, in a 300-400 disk carousel. This can be simple to choose songs, however the disks could get bounced in transport, causing 30-45 minutes of time just to reset the disks.

As you seem to be quite knowledgable in this area and I am new, I will begin with trials of multiple pieces of software (one at a time, for a proper evaluation period) before I decide to invest in purchasing software (if necessary). I will bookmark both of the pieces of software you have mentioned.

Thank you for your reply, and honest opinion.

- Michael

Yes, outside it is nice to have lots of speaker and power. I am doing a party outside tomorrow (if the weather cooperates) and my 2500w power amp and 15" speakers are just enough.

I hope you have a van or trailer with a ramp, a forklift, or a couple of men with strong backs. The 2000 weighs quite a bit. It will roll nicely, but trying to lift it might be a lot to do. I was looking longingly at the 1000, but when I decided not to get a van or a trailer I changed my mind and went lightweight. My crowd isn't bass-heavy, and I love my PR-Sub and PR-10s.

Give Karfun a try, it's free. I'm pretty sure you'll like it. I don't use disks so that is something that might not be a strong feature of Karafun. I ripped all of my disks to the hard drive as CD+G files and it works great. You can have the 300-400 disks on the computer and then no need for disks anymore. The process is very time consuming but once it's done it's very worth it. I used audiograbber running under windows XP. Good luck and let us know how it goes. Cheers.

Again, unless you plan on doing some medium to larger clubs, you most likely will not need the 2000 system, the 1000 should be MORE than adequate for home & occasional outside parties - unless you are doing some large acerage, and even then anyone that's going to be focused on the music will typically be within listening range anyway. But that's up to you.

The mixer I could see MAYBE needing bigger if you get more than 2 singers at anytime, but not really needed for home/private outside parties. More often than not you can get groups that are comfortable sharing a mic or 2. More mic channels means more mixing & possibly more feedback, again, unless you plan to go pro with it, really no need.

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Hi Stogie,

This is the plan for me as well. I am actually beginning my test period now. I have purchased one DVD, one VCD, and one CD+G. I have been able to rip the CD+G to my hard drive, but the lyrics don't really clear the screen so well. So I see specks of previous lyrics from the screen before. I am using Audiograbber (per your recommendation). Do you think it is the CD + G disk (Sweet Georgia Brown SBB0055 Oldies #1)? Maybe I am ripping them into the wrong format? (have tried .bin to use Windows Media Player, and .CDG + .mp3, to use TriceraSoft. Seems I have the same results in either format.

The good news is, I can get the DVD & VCD to play just fine in the computer. Now I just need to figure out how to rip them

Oh well, one step at a time.

Thanks for your help.

- Michael

i have the 1000. it is really good. and i just came back from a wedding in cincy for my cousin. the people doing the wedding had the same exact system (1000), it was a pretty darn big room 300 people. it sounded really good. surprised me. so these guys are probably right, the 2000 would be overkill unless you are playing huge gigs. nice to know what my own system is capable of now!!

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I have tried Unify and did not feel satisfied...I'm sorry that I can't provide specifics as it has been many months since I demo'ed the product...I do remember the feeling of "clunkyness" about the product.

I too am an amateur home karaoke party thrower, and I too struggled to find a solution to giving guests an interface to select their songs. I decided to use winamp with the excellent autokdj/autokfe plug ins. These apps enable the singer to search for a song based on keyword and add it to the queue via a terminal (the laptop that runs the show). This setup works fine in a home environment where you trust your guests will not damage your equipment.

If you're looking for an interface with a remote then I would guess that Unify is the way to go. If you can tolerate a terminal type interface then I would give winamp/autokdj/autokfe a go.

Have fun with your quest!

I just right click on a song in windows explorer, to add that song in the queue. Never have needed the auto fill-ins... winamp with the karaoke plugin works great!