Karaoke Forums

Well, after much research, I think I've decided to go with a PC based Karaoke system. Does anyone out there have any experience with them or does anyone have any suggestions as to what components would make a great system? Any info would be appreciated. Thanks.

Greg K.

Greg...
Not to burst your bubble or budget...
But I use PCKJit does me well, and my "show PC's" are over-teched and
hot-rodded to the hilt to do things that were not meant for ordinary karaoke shows.

If you are Stuck on PC based systems...

I would "Highly" suggest ya go with a mixture of machines and Pc based formats.. Right now as I'm still informed "Legally" Priddis Is the only Company Allowing media to be loaded onto MTU's "Hoster" and PCKJ
there are other systems that come pre-loaded like CAVS which I'm not a fan of at all.. for copyright and licensing reasons.. but that's a personal deal. and they still have some "compatability and speed issues" on thier newer "Super CDG/DVD" product.. but thier older stuff if ya can tolerate it will do if you can get the media manufacturer's permission to convert the files.

I repeat this again.. get 2 cdg players and a small live mixer and your PC based system like "hoster" or "PCKJ" and go from there.

You will still need to purchase the media anyways.. there are no short cuts in karaoke.. only legal ways to doing it right.. the Illigals get caught eventually.

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Brian D.
(BHB)

I currently use a PC for my shows. I have a Toshiba Laptop with 60gig HD and about 8000 songs with no dupe's. I'm using MTU's Hoster Software and I love it. I have done about 40 shows with Hoster and it works flawlessly.

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

I have been using hoster for a year now, 3 different versions, all improved over the last. I have 19,280 tracks, and boy it beats the heck out of carrying all those cd's around.

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Hi Doc D and others here, I have some quick questions for you concerning the PC karaoke. Which software do you guys use and what kind of program converts the CDG's to computer files for you? Also what kind of CD roms do you use for the reading of the CDG's?

Also on a guestimate, about how much GB of space would 5,000 songs take on the hard drive if they're in MP3+G format?

I'm debating doing this myself, but I'm just not quite sure if I want to get all of the products involved.

Thanks in advance!

Well,
"Hoster" software, and the cd reader is "plextor", 5000 songs would take I would guess about 10 gigs. It converts the songs to .KMA files which are like mpg+3 but more compact and have a better sound.


the Plextor drive, I have seen for about $100 at best buy, and the Hoster program is at www.mtu.com

hoster will index, rip, and make your songbooks for you (if you have a printer).

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I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Go to Tigerdirect.com

The Plextor drive, is $71.00 there.

TriceraSoft CDG Ripper does the ripping from CDG to mp3+g, as does MP3Toolz.

email me at maxxlight@aol.com

There are two files associated with each song title. A .MP3 file (sound) and a .CDG (graphic) file. I have approximately 43000 songs on a 160 GB (~150gb formatted) drive, so roughly, mine translates to about 17.44 GB per 5,000 songs. Of course, it will vary depending on the length of the song (larger MP3 and CDG files).

Cool, thanks for the info everyone!

newegg.com has really good deals... even better than tigerdirect!

Plextor burners for $47!!!!

Just my opinion but after spending Hundreds of $$ on PCDJ and PCKJ I found a simple pc based karaoke hoster - sax and dottys for $35. Worth every penny and I even paid an extra $35 to put it on a backup system. This does a great job and now I feel stuck with PCDJ+KJ resale is terrible.

Hope this helps- trial version available which will speak for itself.

understand, with the Sax & Dotty's version, you have to use the WINAMP player, and associated plugins...

Also, their player works with zip files, with is good, cause of the compression. But it doesn't feel like a standard mixer the way PCDJ or PCKJ does. Sax ALSO doesn't have a mp3 mix music playing capable between singers.

It's all what you want, really. I'd love an alternative to HOSTER or PCKJ that's more affordable, but so far, I haven't found it.

Matt

I use BPM Pro for my DJ and Sax n Dotty strictly for KJ. All plug-ins are free that they use so don't let that freak you out from trying it. If you are looking for a single solution to both DJ & KJ then maybe the above might be your course. I find the break in between a good opportunity to play some crazy stuff like curly's woop woop wooping or Yeah baby from Austin Powers. The crowd seems to like it.

Swampy,
Ya know BPM is probably worth a look.. i'll look into it with my retaler and write a review on it.. Our club pros in Albuquerque can shake it doen with me in the store and and we'll so a sat. in-store.. and get some opinions..

I'll let ya folks know..

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Brian D.
(BHB)