Karaoke Forums

Hello,

I'm hoping someone can provide some guidance on what I'm trying to build.

I have a home theater PC (HTPC) with a Turtle soundcard optically connected to a yamaha receiver (surround). The HTPC is the main video source for our big screen as well. We like to use www.karaokeparty.com on the HTPC for karaoke.

I bought a decent wireless rechargeable dual mic set but the sound has a perceptible ms delay when plugged into the Turtle sound card and output to the yamaha. The delay makes singing impossible and loud singing into the mic sounds bad, so I want to upgrade

My plan is to buy a mixer/amp combo to connect the mics and buy a dedicated speaker powered by that amp for vocals only. I would split the mic output to the Turtle card to pick up the voice silently (mic mute) in the HTPC for scoring purposes. I've tried this with no perceptible loss in quality so far. I am very happy with the sound quality of the HTPC outputting the music to my surround system.

If this plan is sound, I really need help finding a simple and inexpensive mixer/amp combination and a speaker (or 2?) for vocals only. I'm hoping the speaker can be small or slim, similar to my rectangle yamaha center speaker. My searches so far seem be for mixers and speakers designed to handle music and vocals and are overkill for what I'm trying to do. I hope to stay below $200 but can go $300 if necessary.

I appreciate any guidance!

After reading your needs carefully, I think you need something like one of these:

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/CubeStBlk/

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/TransActMob/

You are just plugging a mic up to it, and playing the music through your home theater. Going to be hard to mix, but for home use with the family huddled 'round the karaoke TV, this seems very suitable. The Alesis unit is going to sound MUCH better than the Roland unit, but I included the Roland unit because it seems to be more of the form factor you are looking for.

Good luck!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

I am currently using my HTPC for watching HD and karaoke.

I used to feed my mic to my karaoke dvd player and the output signal sends to amp.
The music sends out from my HT Omega Striker 7.1 (analog signal) will merge with the karaoke signal and feed into amp.

I got no problem with any latency.

I have tried another way by feeding my mic signal to my M-Audio 1010LT card.
From the routing of M-Audio it will convert analog signal to digital annd send out as digital to my amp. Of course the music and mic voice is mixed together.

Both configuration are sound the same.

I recently upgrade my karaoke system to use pro equipement with the hope to improve the vocal which is the most difficult part to make it sounds great to me.
Music is no problem since all playing from dvd .

My recent post is
Need help setup/fine tune Lexicon MX400 XL for vocal
http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic.php?t=20509

I bought Lexicon MX400 since everyone agrees that Lexicon has the best reverb for vocal.

To me you can either buy a cheap karaoke dvd player for less than $100 or try to buy pro equipment like myself but it does requires alot of help to set it up correctly.

But once you got it right for the pro you never want to go back the standalone karaoke system.



See

Listen, dude....I gave you good suggestions based on your original post. In your original post you asked for something "inexpensive.....below $200."

Now all the sudden you are s***ting on my suggestions because you "buy pro equipment."

Decide what you want, then maybe someone can help you. I have been putting together PA systems for 10+ years, and personally own three systems, with my club system costing somewhere in the neighborhood of $4500-5000. You say that you "require alot of help," well me and dozens of other people on this board can help you, but not when you ask for something inexpensive, then get all high-and-mighty about the crappy options you have at the crappy price point you gave.

Good equipment costs good money. Not "below $200." If you want a suggestion for good equipment, then ask that question. You are now off buying stuff you don't need because you are not listening to the advise on this board. You bought alot of good pro equipment, but you still have not addressed the weak link in your system that is causing your original problem with vocals!

Step 1 in getting good vocal sound for karaoke is eliminating the HTPC as anything but the DVD karaoke player and getting a good PA to handle ALL of the audio. Your home theater receiver and home theater speakers are NOT designed to handle the peak spikes of live vocals, so it does not matter that you added a mixer, compressor, EQ, and effects, you are still going to get distortion on your vocals as long as you are running them through your home theater. You NEED to add PA speakers. You can get either powered speakers that you can run directly through your Mackie mixer, or a PA amp and two passive PA speakers. The home theater receiver and speakers are the weak link in your system that are messing up your vocals. Until you replace those in the signal chain, your vocals are going to continue to struggle and distort at high volumes and high energy levels. You honestly did NOT need the compressor, did NOT need the EQ, did NOT need the Lexicon effects. Those are all nice to have items, but are not going to have any effect to your original vocal issues. You probably also should have purchased a PA mixing amp instead of the Mackie board for what you are trying to accomplish. Anyway, point being that you have dropped like $1,000, and if you hooked it all up right now, you are still not going to like the vocals, because you haven't bought anything to address the fact that your reciever and speakers can't handle vocal peaks and spikes.

Step 2 is to come with a more humble attitude, and you'll get some good advice!

Step 3, listen to the good advice.

Step 4, enjoy your worry-free home karaoke PA.

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Hey Topher, I think you just berated the wrong person. ... those quotes are from two different users

I think the same guy used two different screen names, because both had the same setup and posted on the same day asking the same questions in some other posts. I'm not sure why he has two user names, but I'm pretty sure it is the same guy.

I don't wanna berate the guy, he just asked for advise, then didn't follow the advise, and wasted a bunch of $$$. It's not my $$$, so no problem here, I was just trying to help out!

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C Mc
KJ, FL

Personally I would never use a computer input for a mic in even a home system. I wouldn't use the mic inputs on any karaoke playing device either. Even a cheap mixer, preferably with effects sounds much better. I also wouldn't use a home theatre surround system either.......just my opinion, not a beration......

Get an EMU1616.

http://www.emu.com/products/product.asp ... duct=19007

$449 but, it gets you into the world of true digital mixing, routing, and effects. Mic inputs are 2nd to none. You can plug other devices into its other inputs, and cross fade between inputs.

It'll turn you into a home studio. Every method the pro's use to mix, you'll have too. How do you like the sound of that?