Karaoke Forums

I recently purchased a used set of Music Maestro Velvet Elvis and I was surprised about the quality of the backing track.

That made me wonder about some things. I remember from a few karaoke shows i went to that sometimes you hear music that sounds like 80's game music, you know, like they used a midi file to create the cdg.

Since I'm just a home user and not a pro, I only have about 30 cdg discs (not including the velvet elvis box) from sunfly and zoom entertainment. I'm really happy with these manufacturers, I understand soundchoice has some good quality backing tracks too.

So my question. Which manufacturers have the best audio quality and which ones should I stay away from?

Cheers

You will find that just about everyone here will say that both Sound Choice and Chartbuster are the best you can get. DK Karaoke is also very good except they're no longer in business although you can still find them on Ebay. Of the UK manufacturers; Zoom, Sunfly and SBI are also good. In fact, some would argue that Zoom is equal to Sound Choice and Chartbuster quality.

What many here consider not so good would be Sweet Georgia Brown, Karaoke Currents, and Supercore.

So here is the rank I would put them in:

1st place: (tie) Sound Choice and Chartbuster
2nd place: DK Karaoke
3rd place: Zoom
4th place: (tie) Sunfly and SBI

Thanks,

I'll check out sound choice and chartbuster.

This is a topic we revisit pretty often, but haven't recently. Here is a thread from the past which should give a good summary:

http://www.karaoke-forum.com/viewtopic. ... light=zoom

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

Honestly, it all depends on what your planning on doing with the tracks If it`s for karaoke only, well, follow the suggested link but if your asking which is best for solo performance or recording in multitracks, well that is totally different, what you said about Music Maestro is perfectly right, most of the velvet tracks don't have that karaoke sounding you'll find with SC. For solo performance and studio recording, I would select Zoom & Chartbuster first and I would remaster them.

Note that my comment about the karaoke sounding of a SC track is not a negative comment, anyone of their tracks are also available to buy for studio recording but are much more expensive than the karaoke version

Something wrong with pop hits monthly?

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

You'll find many on here that'll tell you Music Maestro tracks suck.. but i've found many of them to be just fine.

Don't forget that Supercore was not a manu. Those tracks are from a few different manufacurers.

Sound Choice is generally considered one of, if not THE BEST as far as overall music quality.

DK tracks are usually very good, and not all have the pan flute melody thing.

PH, TH, Zoom, Chartbuster (for country) and Sunfly are usually pretty good, too.

MM I've found to be only decent for "oldies", Elvis, Sinatra, and such. Even then, I'd only use them if it was my only option.

SGB has a few good tracks, but mostly bad. And you'd better be ready for a volume and EQ change.

SD sucks.

AH has some good ones, but usually these are ones that have some of the ACTUAL original music parts. I don't know how they got away with that.

And don't forget Pioneer. Their lasers and CDGs are also very good, if you can find them.

Agree with all this. CB/Zoom/PH are usually a bit better than Sunfly/Legends, IMHO. And Chartbuster and Sound Choice are about equal in country, with SC excelling on guitar-based songs and CB being the choice for pedal steel, fiddle, and heavy rhythm guitar lines.


Musically, I far prefer SGB to MM.


Amen.


A lot of the oldies in Supercore are Pioneer.

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

Agreed. Sound Choice is the standard by which all others are measured IMO. Of course they have there share of dogs, but on average they are the top dog of quality. Chartbuster is a very close second. Excellent country tracks.

I like Chartbuster a lot, but I also like SBI Karaoke. Their sound quality is quite good, and they update frequently.

http://sbikaraoke.com/site/

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Good music, good friends, howling good times!

I still prefer the original (backing track)

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

i hate to say it.....had someone give me party tyme super hits 10 and it blew me away. i think they have taken a page from Zoom and Sunfly and come out with some good quality stuff in the last few years, and this disc is from 2007! where did that come from?
i will usually be the first to poo-poo a "lesser" name manu or equipment, but i just had to mention these. got a few more produced after 2007 and still sounding good. not my first choice, but i would gladly play them over SGB, MM, or BS if given the option.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

I agree with you about the quality of Party-tyme tracks. I haven't heard a bad one yet, nice full instrumentations, you can tell alot of effort goes into their renditions.An example that i can give is the song "Home" by Daughtry which in my opinion is much better than the major companies versions, and the price is fair for their Discs. I think that their company could be a major competitor in this business if thay had better marketing, because the quality is there.

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Man Must Know His Limitations -Clint Eastwood

Agree on the Partytime - I have picked up a few over the years and quality wise I can't complain.

We have always had some Party Tyme in our library as we used to buy them at the box stores when we were singers. I like them but they can be LOUD, especially on the chorus. But in general I like them.

I like MM's version of the 50's oldies & the Velvet Elvis edition. They're nice addition to my collection not released by other manus.

I don't like the load time wherein it was already loaded & running but the music is somewhat delayed for a good 30 to 40 seconds before I hear it. Either that or music on some starts right away as soon as it's cued. Other than that, I agree that some have pretty good arrangements. Nevertheless, my MM songs get replaced whenever new versions of the songs from other manus are released. SGB, Backstage, Lost Classics, Sound Images excluded. I will leave my MM listings alone if any of these manus release similar titles.

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To be fortunate enough to derive an income from a source as fulfilling as karaoke music has got to be as close to heaven as we can get here on earth!

MM has it's forte, yet it's far & in between of the standard. I have a couple country discs that aren't bad at all, however EVERY ROCK disc I have has needed to be replaced. Even a couple RAP discs that a couple people gave me (that still aren't listed due unsingability) are the worst i've ever heard.

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

The MM rap and hip-hop stuff is beyond atrocious. Unsusable, in my opinion.