Karaoke Forums

What outboard equipment do you feel is essential for your sound.

Compressor for mics, limiter for mains, eq's for mains & monitors, effects for vocals & occasionally music, crossovers. These are all key to my sound.

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A comp for mic and effect box for vox.

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I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

The same as the others. In particular, I love my Lexicon MX-200 effects box. It blows away all of the other effects I see out at karaoke.

I use one channel of my eq for my mono mains, and my powered-mixer eq for the monitor. Then I dedicate the second channel of my outboard EQ to rolling off the low frequencies from the FX send before I send it into the Lexicon. That makes the effects much more crisp and clear.

All the above including the Lexicon. Add the Bbe 362 and Aphex 104. Since at times we have to play big band or oldies they are an absolute must. Actually they improve 90% of the library. I have a demo wher I turn all the eFx off and bypass them. Play a segment of a song then with everything on.. The difference is between a mediocre system which has to Eq'd and played with and a system that blows you away. The difference is between night and day.

For the proper EFx and processing input and output level are very critical. I have seen many posts how these procs screw up the sound. They were not set up right. There are stadiums with state of the art audio systems and the last thing in the chain just before the main PA is an Aphex 104 or 204.

These are 2 procs I could not and would not do without. They do have to be inserted right after the EQ and before the main faders.

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Can't live without? Seeing how we all more than likely lived without all the goodies in the past, I guess you can learn to work with anything. At one point I had two ten space racks filled with all the toys to make this do that and that do this. Now, I prefer to use a DBX Driverack, which has Compression, EQ's, RTA, Peak Limiters, Variable Crossover, Feedback Elimination and a Sub Harmonic Synthesizer all built into one single rack space module. I also use an additional outboard stereo compressor/limiter/gate. For outboard FX I use a Lexicon MPX1 (MX200 on steroids)and a good ole reliable Roland SDE1000 (I think Columbus brought it with him). One thing I did learn through all these years is, as the quality of my primary gear improved (Mixer, Amplification and Speakers), I relied less on outboard enhancements. I think experience must come into play here also. As old habits are hard to break, I still own two ten space racks filled with all the toys. The difference now is, they haven't left the house in a few years. I must confess, I am considering adding an Aphex 204, not that I am unhappy with anything, just curious of how well it works. The only problem is, those other two racks are already full of curiosities and experiments.

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Quickness of mind will deceive the eye

well I cant live without my Ziggy

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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."

My old faithful alesis quadraverb for FX & drawmer MX30 compressor/limiter for mics.
They're decent, not the best, but man are they reliable & durable!

I have a Yamaha 15 HP outboard. Doesn't sound so sweet, but when you open it up, man that RIB can boogie!

ya daft apeth

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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."

Hear hear. But I still can definitely tell the difference between the MX200 and the Yamaha and/or Behringer internal mixer effects. Big difference, in my opinion.


I also am developing a couple of racks like that. Not as big, not as fancy, but the amateur equivalent to what you have.

Most karaoke and new stuff does not require procs. But if you are doing an anniversary party and playing a lot of big band oldies, they are an absolute must. It is the same with any vocation. The right tool for the job and knowing how to use them.

I had to sing the other night with a dry throat and the Lexicon not hooked up. What a hell of a difference.

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Vocal effects, a must if anyone is gonna sound decent. Nothing fancy needed, just a touch of some kind of vocal reverb/echo.

Some limiting could be nice, so if someone drops a mic or screams, they don’t hurt ears or blow a compression driver. Not essential.

EQ if using vocal monitors for feedback issues; not essential.



*** On the subject of monitors, which I’ve used when necessary...

careful PA speaker placement can do wonders.

I’m not just talking about aiming one in or setting one back so the singer can hear it, but in certain (not all) situations I’ve encountered,

you can actually put the PA speakers opposite (or close to opposite) the singers, facing the stage area.

I know it sounds weird, but dang, it really works.

They hear the full sound, everything as clearly as can be (maybe you, too), and no feedback problems, not to mention no need for monitors.

Believe it or not, nobody notices that the sound isn’t coming from the area of the singer; I’ve pulled this off many times, and it really works.

Just a thought.

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I find all these essential to good sound, myself. I didn't think compression was so important until I started using it all the time.

And as far as the "nothing fancy needed" on effects, maybe you don't think so. But I can tell the difference on effects, and it makes a lot of difference. I will take the Lexicon MX200 or even an Alesis NanoVerb over most internal mixer effects. And the "echo" I have seen in "karaoke mixers" is flat-out terrible.

Fair enough.

I use a TC ELectronics M300 in my rack at home. I did hear good things about the Lexicon.

I’m not sure what the echo on the karaoke mixer sounds like; I suppose the way I said that might cause one to assume I thought that was sufficient.

I always used a separate mixer, mine happen to be Yamahas, and I can find a pretty good vocal effect on there.

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Hate is like taking poison, hoping the other guy gets sick

After trying to comprehend all this stuff its nice to hear about something I can identify with, !

Even though the effects in my CFX12 good enough for most folks they ain't good enough for me so I can't help smiling and getting just a little bit wet when my TC Electronic M2000 starts shining through

After that it's gotta be my Behringer Multicom Pro-XL 4600 quad compressor and then the Behringer Ultracurve Pro DEQ2496

GH

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Gadget's Karaoke : Boldly singing what no one has dared sing before.

Update :- Now I have the TC Electronic M3000 (overkill I know )

Time to Ebay the M2000.

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Gadget's Karaoke : Boldly singing what no one has dared sing before.

I just bought the MX-200 from the advice of this thread, and the local music place is hooking up everything now. Can't wait to try it in a few days. One question though, can anyone recomend a rack mounted compressor for me. I can supply a list of my componets if it makes any difference. Thanks,Ron

It might, because to use a compressor for vocals only you will need an insert point. Does your mixer have an insert, or if you aren't sure can you give the model?

If you do have an insert, you will need an insert cable. Two TS connectors on one end, to one TRS on the other, usually. (I guess there are XLR ones too, but usually not on the mixers we use in karaoke.) Your local music shop guys can probably get it, or you can find it at:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--HOSSTP20

If you have an insert, and you have your MX200 and that cable, you could try hooking it up with the 27 preset. That has compression and a vocal hall effect. You can put effects on, and compress, two channels with it. I have this compressor:

http://www.zzounds.com/item--BEHMDX1600

I use it on my practice rig now, since I have a Yamaha mixer with built-in compression on my gigging-out rig. It has two channels, and you hook it up to the insert with that same insert cable. I use 2.5 to 1, auto attack/release, and -10db threshold. You usually have to boost the output a bit to make up for signal drop in the chain.

By the way, I believe on most mixers the red connector on the insert cable goes to the output of the compressor or effects device, and the grey one to the input. But I bet mixers could be different -- that works for a Behringer.