Karaoke Forums

I tried the JustKaraoke demo a long time ago and it won't let me try it again. At the time I wasn't even concerned about filler music.

What I'm looking for is some info from people using JustKaraoke about how the filler music works. Does the program just go and automatically fade out the karaoke track and start playing filler in between singers? OR??? If you could describe how it works and how the program is set up to find the songs etc. I don't mind if it randomly plays songs from a folder, that would be fine.

I would consider swift Pro 2, it's $99, or Karma or something else that's good for around $99 if it can play filler music between singers automatically.

BUT, what's REALLY important to me is that the program be simple to learn and simple to use. I just started a full time day job and I'm starting a Karaoke gig and I need to be up and running quickly without spending hours and hours trying to figure out how to use a new hosting program.

I looked at Karma months ago and I hated the black background and that there seemed to be minimal choices on the main screen to choose what to do next. I couldn't even figure out how to get a song to play. If there is some sort of tutorial or a video on YouTube or simple explanation of how to get started and how to access the basic functionality of the program I would give it another look. If it is fairly simple to set up the filler and it automatically plays the filler music between singers then that would be great. I'm considering Karma because it seem like some people like it and from what I've read it has a lot of features.

The problem being that what is simple for you will not be simple for the next guy. The features you need will not be the needs of that next guy. You want something that is feature rich but don't want to spend the time to learn how those features work. There are some very basic things all hositings programs do such as play the music and video but after that it depends on the needs of each KJ. I think you're just going to have to bite the bullet and spend some time fooling around with the software until you understand how it works.

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Okay, who took my pants?

I know we think about things very differently weed. You think like a programmer/tech and I think like an end use who wants to get a task done, who doesn't care about how the the motor works, he just wants to get in the car and drive without a bunch of steps and complicated procedures to perform. BIG DIFFERENCE!

To me simplicity of operation for the end user is the highest achievement in software design and the sign of a thoughtful and good programmer/software developer.

I want the software designer/developer to take some time to create a user interface that may be complex underneath but that's simple on the surface. That's MY wants and needs. I stated that clearly.

If you want to say that I'm not willing to take time to learn something complicated you're absolutely correct. I don't have time right now. The software that has a simple interface that allows me to perform the tasks required is the one that will get my money and my vocal endorsement on several internet forums.

NOT A PRO here, but I use virtual DJ for our karaoke. It does not have any SINGER LIST stuff that the hosters do. Just drag a song(karaoke or video too) onto one turntable, when it is done slide the fader to the other turntable where you have your filler music(video).

Simple for me.

Stogie,
The filler player in Justkaraoke fades in and out automatically. The songs are picked randomly and can be done ahead of time. Very simple compared to Karma which you need to drag and drop the songs one at a time. In Justkaraoke, you can load it by folder or by file. That is not to say that Karma is in any way harder to use. Both are straight forward.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

Thanks Danny, just what I wanted to know and exactly what I need. I will buy it today or tomorrow. I'm on my way to the store to see if I can get some S-Video cables and a splitter.

Danny, you can drop multiple of files in Karma, not just one at a time.

I drop 40-50 filler songs at a time.

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Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

I'm sorry if it seems as though I was getting on your case but you should see the problem from my side. The dialogue goes something like this.

KJ: I want the perftect hosting program.
Me: Okay, what's the perfect hosting program?
KJ: well, you could take the key changer from this app. an the second screen display from this other application. And then I would like some coffee, can it make me coffee?
Me: Why yes it can. But, I would have to sell about two hundred of these to make coding it worth my while. Are two hundred hosts going to want coffee?
KJ: of course they are.
Me: (blinking incredulously)Really????
KJ: Yes, and it has play zipped files because someone (I can't remember who) told me I should and so (I can't remember why) I zipped them. And it has to look really, really cool on my screen that no one but me sees and it has to have a lot of features such as an EQ on the screen that is much better handled in hardware but I want it anyway. And, and, "the thousand natural shocks that flesh is heir to" that Hamlet was talking about. I need them listed!
Me: I'm going home now....

Sorry, I guess I just needed to vent.

The long and the short of it is that no two KJs run their shows the same way. I don't use bumper music. I rarely use a key changer. As a KJ, what I want from my software is something that will keep a fair rotation and let me just click play even if I'm blind drunk. The only reason that I have such software is because I wrote it. I think everyone else is in much the same boat. If you can't write the software for yourself don't expect it to be perfect for your needs.

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Okay, who took my pants?

Have you tried the latest edition of Karma?
It allows you to change the colors of anything on the screen (except the cdg video).
you can either drag and drop or just find the song you want next, click on it and tell it to make it the next song. Lots of options, variable fading etc.

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I like everyone when I first meet them. If you don't like me that's not my problem it's YOURS!
A stranger is a friend you haven't met yet

Weed, write me a program that cooks my tea and I will buy 200.
No honest I will.

When the graphical user interface came along it revolutionized computing and made what was once complex and difficult much simpler for most end users. I go back to the days when all you had was a C: prompt, CPM and MSDOS. In the grand scheme of things that wasn't very long ago. When I went to college I had to use punch cards to enter a program into a mainframe, there were no personal computers. I like things a lot better now. Imagine how simple and easy Karaoke software will be in 20 years, it's still in it's infancy.

When I looked at JustKaraoke being used by a local KJ around a year ago or so, I liked the very simple text based interface and even though I like fancy graphics and eye candy, I want just a few things from a hosting program. 1. Easy and fast search function, 2. the least number of steps to get a song loaded into the player and playing, 3. a simple and basic rotation management, 4. automatic filler music between songs, 5. good sound quality, 6. good quality key change, 7. a stable program that plays nicely with the operating system and other programs and that doesn't crash. That's 99% of what I want and need. If I can get most or all of that for $25, then I think that's a very good deal and well worth the price.

I like using a seperate program for my inbetween music.

I use Karma for Karaoke and Winamp for my filler. each on their own sound card so that I can simply raise a fader on mixer and have no dead air.

I have used this method back at least 10 years now where before I have to run 2 instances of winamp.

I bought JustKaraoke and it's a bargain at $25.

It took me almost no time or effort to learn how to use it. It's easy to load the Karaoke song database and filler music list-really easy. The search works super fast and it's simple to operate.

Filler music plays automatically and stops automatically or it can be manually operated. This feature is important to me and i works just fine.

Sound quality is good and the key change is good. You can change the key instantly even during song play.

It's very easy to add a song to each singer's name. There is no real rotation management other than the order that you put the names into the program.

JustKaraoke gets the job done simply and easily. It doesn't have all the bells and whistles that MTU Hoster or Compuhost have, but in my opinion it works GREAT.

AutoKDJ does filler music, well, automatically. You select a group of songs, or folder, and drop them into your playlist. Now, you set those songs to low priority. Karaoke songs queued in the playlist are by default high priority, so if they exist in the playlist they are played first. Once there are no karaoke songs in the playlist, the program switches to your filler music.

You can read about AutoKDJ and how the program handles filler music here http://www.autokdj.com/?q=node/76

Hope this helps,

Tux

Don't even bother with Justkaraoke or any other Tricerasoft product like their VERY EXPENSIVE " Swift Elite 4 LITE " which unfortunately I bought and got the license with this
Activation Code:

until now it still is not working 'cause you have install a lot of codecs which in their product requirement is not even mentioned. This is how their support help you (copy paste from email) "
----- Original Message -----
From: TriceraSoft Support mailto:submit@tricerasoft.com
To: rene
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2010 11:12 PM
Subject: Re: License for Swift Elite 4 LITE to Magic Karaoke


You had 4 (@$%&#!) hours of free customer servive - who does that? Why did I do that for you??!?!??! You are not listening. (@$%&#!), you still have no clue - FFDShow is a universal CODEC - BUT YOU DON'T (@$%&#!) GET IT!!! DO YOU KNOW WHAT UNIVERSAL MEANS!?!? HOW DO YOU ADD EVERY CODEC ON THE PLANET IN ONE PROGRAM!!?? WHAT PATCH??!? YOU DON'T PROGRAM CODECS INTO A PROGRAM, YOU INSTALL THEM AND THEY ARE USED! GET A (@$%&#!) CLUE!
"

WoW!! Sounds like someone needs decaff...hehe...

What's missing is the FULL dialog between this guy and Tricerasoft! I'm sure if we were made aware of the FULL dialog it would be obvious why Tricerasoft responded this way. Also, I hope Tricerasoft goes after this guy for posting the activation code, a clear violation of the user's agreement this guy agreed to when installing the software.

I'm not a Tricerasoft fan, but this is crossing the line. Moderators, hopefully you will remove the activation code and bounce this guy outta here?

tbreen

He asked us how to support MP4s in our product, we explained to refer to our forum on how to install the correct codecs to support MP4 (required by any product to support a foreign format in Windows). He decided to read us the Fifth amendment and the Riot Act. The normal reponse is to install the codecs and in two minutes later you are up and operational. We tried to educate by providing information and instruction, but he insisted that he should not install anything extra to solve a common issue. After 7 hours trying to help, he was charging-back his money while we were helping -- have you ever been robbed while you were doing your gig and asked to dance while they spit on you? I felt that way, that evening and morning. He even continued to ask questions when we finally just gave up at 3 am in the morning - I fail to understand people like this, but to go as far as to post his unpaid license illegally on the forum is a new low. He failed to understand what a codec is and what it is used for, infact he insisted that he should not need to care, however it is a fundamental component of Windows and how it works to support foreign or new formats - this is how Windows works. If you look at any program out there that uses DirectX, it instructs how to install codecs for the formats you want to use - but apparently shooting the messenger was on the menu that day - I thought I was going to help him and 10 minutes after everything would be solved, he wasn't interested from the first email and I should of read into that.

For those who are not aware, FFDShow is a good universal codec to support a variety of formats without installing an illegal codec pack (such as KLite). The MP4 container also requires an additional splitter to get to the format steams within - for those who were not aware, we found a newer splitter aside from the MP4Splitter.ax called the Haali Media Splitter (do not install this if you already use the MP4Splitter.ax), found here:

http://haali.su/mkv/

Thank you tbreen, we appreciate you understanding.

halaka, that was a shot in your own foot... moron...

Thanks for the explanation TriceraSoft.