Karaoke Forums

Hey,
I am only a few months into the hosting of karaoke events and local places around my area, I am catching on fairly quickly and learning that you need to keep up with the times and music to keep everyone happy which brings me to my question. I am interested in making my Laptop a Mobile Karaoke Host so I do not have to carry around endless amounts of CDs and have the risk of them stolen or broken. I have invested in an External harddrive to save all of my music to once I get started. I am in need of your thoughts on what programs I should purchase to help ensure a smooth and trouble free experience for me and my customers. I did do some research myself, I came across a program by the name of Siglos Karaoke Professional I tried the trial and it seemed to be what I needed/wanted for what I do. I would like to know what you guys and gals think about this app and what other ones I will be needing or if you have better suggestions for me. I also have another question, is there any way to convert MP3s you have to the proper karaoke format so you can use them? Any help would be much appreciated.

Thanks

There are tons of posts regarding this very question. It's been covered many, many times. Try doing a search and reading through some of them.
Here's a couple to get you started:
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=16211
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=15881

And when you are done looking, go with compuhost.

((sigh)) compuhost folks remind me of the fanaticism of the mac users in a world of windows operating systems!

There are more than a few other options for hosting other than Siglos and Compuhost.

I don't suppose you've ever actually *tried* Compuhost, have you?

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I used the predecessor to Siglos, Power Karaoke Pro, when I simply had a system in my basement for friends/family. Ya know, for $39, it wasn't bad. It is a basic "point and shoot" player though without any complex hosting features.

When I got back into the biz I moved onto RoxBox which served me well for over a year, but recently stepped up to Compuhost. Expensive, but I am very glad I did it.

Well, I use Siglos myself, and I think it is a fine program. I have had no problems with it at all. I love it.

Compuhost DOES have some additional features, but I can get by without them and Siglos runs 1/2 the price.

If you have specific questions on Siglos, I can probably help, there is also a lurker around here that works for PowerKaraoke (I think that is his handle) who can help.

Once again, I will say that I use autokdj and I love it it. The best part is that it's free, if you can get your hands on it these days.

And I will chip in and say

Go with Sax 'n' Dottys - I do and I love it.

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[font=Fantasy][/font] "Travellin' at the speed of light"

All those are just players except Siglos Pro and AutoKDJ, and those have a terrible user interface (in my opinion, if that even need be said).

If you just want a player, fine. That is what you get with S&D or Winamp or VDJ or PCDJ. Find the song, click on it. It works. Well, mostly -- just don't ask those Winamp players like S&D to do a reliable key change. Better check on Pacemaker yourself.

Compuhost is the best package out there to assist a host in doing a good show, as configured out of the box. It announces the singers for you, does promos, makes it easy to send messages and play standard tunes like "Happy Birthday", and will play video dance breaks as well.

If you don't want and need all that, absolutely fine. But S&D and Compuhost are not on an even footing. One does a lot more than the other, and the people starting out should know that.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

They should also know that one costs TONS more than the others!
Again your opinion on the user interface is just that. I have quite the opposite opinion. I find autokdj user intuitive and very easy to use. And again, it's FREE. You can't beat free.

You can if you invest in something that will pay back more than it costs.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

I have, probably one of the few that didn't care for it.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

All of the things that CompuHost does are redundant for you.

You are an experienced host with many years of doing the job without the assistance of something like CompuHost. You have your own rotation program, and a way of putting out announcements and keeping people informed of their place in the rotation. And you have a static installation with all of those things in place without having to set them up.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

You make it sound like it costs thousands of dollars. I agree with Mcky on this. It's an investment and a good one for all the things it does. I can't compare because I don't use the others althought I tried Rox Box and didn't like but with the filler tunes, audio bites, video bites, scrolling marquee, rotation program including skipping names that don't have songs (oh and who's on deck, who's third etc etc on the scrolling marquee) key changing, separate volume for filler tunes, audio bites, sound bites, and the faves button to play karaoke old faves at a click of a button. Lots of other stuff. Only issue I've ever had is their tech support tended to be a little "holier than thou" when I first started using the program. I'm past that now. Did I mention the promo trailer? Now that thing is a blast!

They're redundant for me too. I can a run my show completely without any regular hosting program at all. All of these things you mentioned, ANYONE can do, not just experienced hosts. How does this make a difference on whether he likes the program or not?
I use autokdj because it makes my job easier and I like the "extras" it provides to me. It doesn't do it for me and Compuhost doesn't do the job for you either. Nor should it. If you are relying on Compuhost to make your announcements and run the show for you, then your hosting "abilities" probably need to be reasessed.

And this makes a difference on the program you choose how?
Personally, I think static setup or not, it shouldn't make a difference. The program resides on the computer itself, portable or not. Whether the speakers, mixer, etc are moved from show to show makes zero difference to the program.

Yeah I agree. It's not a matter of being experienced or stationary, I simply don't like the program. Yes it has a lot of cool features, but other than that I was never impressed.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I could do my job with a single-tray CDG player, and have. Just not as easily or as well. Sax and Dotty's isn't much more than that.

The promo trailer works while I mix, for example. Does Sax and Dottys do that? No. Does AutoKDJ or Siglos do it as professionally? No.


Anyone can do them providing they remember to and can execute them. But not many do, I'll tell you. I have attended hundreds of different karaoke shows, and the CompuHost ones are almost always run better than the Sax & Dottys ones. (Haven't seen AutoKDJ or Siglos in use in the wild more than once.)

MTU Hoster is getting better -- I saw their take on the promo trailer and upcoming singer announcement recently. Not bad. I still think their interface is terrible.


He doesn't have to make an effort to do these things because he is used to doing them without thought or effort. If you are not an experienced host, or haven't solved the problems well, it will be a lot easier to do a good job with Compuhost.


Great! That's your opinion and I respect it. It doesn't match with my experience -- I found it fragile and difficult to learn. There are some nice things about it, to be sure. I think if I committed to it that it would probably work well for just me.

But I have another problem -- I have four hosts I have to teach to run the program. They would be absolutely lost with AutoKDJ or Siglos Pro. Compuhost they get in a few sessions.


That's uncalled for.


If you have static signboards, or a separate computer or screen for rotation, that is difficult to do mobile.


There is more to a show than just playing karaoke songs.

_________________
[color=#ffff55]Mickey J.[/color]
Alas for those who never sing, but die with all their music in them.
-- Oliver Wendell Holmes, Sr.

Mckyj, relax. what I said was IF YOU ARE RELYING.
I didn't say you were, not was it directed at only you personlly. It was directed at anyone who relies on the program to do the job they should be doing.
Let me clarify.
I personally feel that a host should be doing just that: hosting.
If they aren't making the announcements and calling up the singers themselves and are relying on the program to do it instead, then they seriously need to asses their abilities as a host. Those announcements and calling up the singers, etc is what make a show. In other words, the host's personality comes through.
If they aren't doing that and are only using the program to do it, then you might as well have a jukebox and forget paying a host to run the thing. It would amount to the same thing: no personality ergo: just a computer.

Completely agree! Yes, I've been publicly on record that I've tried Compuhost. I personally find the hoster type of softwares way too much baggage. I run a simple show, with simple needs.

I personally love ClubdjPro. It mixes videos, has a key adjuster, and as I don't need or use a rotation software, it works just fine for me.

It IS a player software, but as I merely replaced the dual cdg players at my show with this, it works perfectly, and I love the video fade features.