Karaoke Forums

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Right on Bird. Now instead of spending time typing in the songs and singers and trying to read shaky handwriting and running down people (where oh where might they be?) who turned in a slip I can't read or submitted a song that's not in my book (they didn't even check the book, maybe because it's too dark, or their vision is not 20 20 or maybe they just couldn't be bothered) and making updates on top of updates on top of updates in my book until finally printing out all 6 books which takes just a liiiiiiiiiitle time and money,,,,, I can que songs, set up the singers, make sure they are ready, tweak the eq for them and then I can,,,,,, wait,,,,,,, MINGLE!

Just talked myself into liking my new kiosk even more!!! Reminds me of when my Dad 40 years ago though air conditioning was for wusses and everyone needed to do it just like their parents did and theirs before them,,,,, tough it out! Use a fan bucko!

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

I agree with both of you. Not only doesn't the use of a Kiosk mean, that I'm less of an entertainer. It actually allows me to be more of an entertainer.

This reminds me of NASA looking for a writing implement that could work in extreme cold and heat, in zero gravity, and a myriad of other requirements for space work and willing to spend a million dollars on such a device. Then someone hands them a pencil. Technology is good but it is not the be all end all. Really how long does it take to put a slip in a pile or pull out a disc? Most here make it sound like it takes minutes upon minutes when if fact it's a few seconds (if you're organized).

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You can be strange but not a stranger

when you first set up the kiosk into operation you get choices of what it displays. chose the karaoke/ video one and it should work.

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

timberlea wrote:

This reminds me of NASA looking for a writing implement that could work in extreme cold and heat, in zero gravity, and a myriad of other requirements for space work and willing to spend a million dollars on such a device. Then someone hands them a pencil. Technology is good but it is not the be all end all. Really how long does it take to put a slip in a pile or pull out a disc? Most here make it sound like it takes minutes upon minutes when if fact it's a few seconds (if you're organized).

It's not just organization, but throughput as well. Running a disc system for 4 hours will let you get about 50 songs done (or maybe a few more if there are lots of short songs) because no matter how fast you are manually, the computer is faster to find the track and begin playing.

Oh I disagree for the speed, only advantage computer has over discs is the last minute change - which usually don't take more than 30 seconds to find new disc & hit play, otherwise I used to run just as fast with discs - keeping two players running and cued to eliminate splash screens or long intros & faded out long endings (which I still do). Used to avg 55-60 songs depending on length with discs, which is what I still avg today with computers within 4 hours.
The slower shows were ones that only had one player with lots of downtime in between songs - or those that would pull the next song after the current song was stopped, no readying the next songs - allowed all intros & outros to play out no matter the length. I have seen more than my share of these types of shows in the past. The computer did dramatically speed up these types of shows.

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Bingo Lonnie.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

My point exactly..... you don't use TWO computers do you?

Nope.

But in order to match what can do with one computer used to take 2 players... and you were still screwed on the last minute changes even with two disc players.

Well not for karaoke, I do run two computers at my show - just 1 is dedicatated to the DJ side.


Again I agree with the last minute changes, however it really didn't take any time out, again MAYBE 30-40 seconds to pull the new disc & load/play (always used jewel cases in numerical order, no books to flip - very easy to find, and in most cases didn't need to look up the number as they were regular songs - you get to know what songs are on which discs). It didn't happen often in a night enough to really worry about it though.

How many computer users play in automatic mode (provided your software is capable of it), in which all endings would play out ie Comfortably Numb, Free Bird, Hotel Cali. I believe a couple here have stated they used a fully automatic software. I still treat the computer as a player & fade out long endings & manually start the next song as the people are walking up.

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

And I do that as well with the fading of long endings.

But, getting back to singer histories, SongFinder does keep a history of who-sang-what and it's a simple matter to create a pivot table in Excel to see it any which way from Sunday.

For example:
#1. You can group all your singers by name and see what songs they sing from what brand or,
#2. Easily count the number of times each title has been sung:
"230 = Before He Cheats"
"127 = I Got You Babe"
etc....

#3. You can further break it down (literally in seconds), to how many times each song was sung BY BRAND...

#4. You can make a master list that shows every singer, the songs they sing AND off of which brand...

Because this history is kept by date, you can use whatever files you want to create the report.

Here's some actual data from some customer's machines of ONLY those songs that were requested 20 time OR MORE at a location twice a week over about a year's time. Lonnie's numbers would be much higher because he runs every night. The first number is the number of times it was sung:
20 = I'll Never Fall In Love Again
20 = Coal Miner's Daughter
20 = Fever
20 = For Once In My Life
20 = These Boots Are Made For Walkin'
21 = I Want You Bad (And That Ain't Good)
21 = Margaritaville
21 = Make The World Go Away
21 = How Can You Mend A Broken Heart
21 = Don't Stop Believin'
22 = My Way (Live)
22 = Save The Last Dance For Me
22 = American Trilogy
22 = She Believes In Me
22 = Walkin' After Midnight
22 = Brown Eyed Girl
22 = Break It To Me Gently
23 = Unchained Melody
23 = Welcome To My World
23 = I've Got You Under My Skin
24 = Fly Me To The Moon
24 = In Dreams
24 = Can't Smile Without You
24 = You Don't Know Me
25 = It's Only Make Believe
25 = Quando Quando Quando (Tell Me When)
25 = Before He Cheats
25 = What A Wonderful World
26 = Cracklin' Rosie
26 = It Matters To Me
26 = Black Velvet
26 = Wonder Of You, The
26 = Georgia On My Mind
27 = Under The Boardwalk
27 = Sold (The Grundy County Auction Incident)
29 = Stay
29 = New York, New York
29 = Don't Be Cruel
29 = Hello Again
29 = Dance, The
30 = Everybody Loves Somebody
31 = Neon Moon
31 = Kiss And Say Goodbye
32 = Superstar
32 = At This Moment
34 = Turn The Page
36 = After The Lovin'
36 = My Way
37 = Can't Help Falling In Love
37 = Crazy
38 = I Got You Babe
39 = Misty
40 = All The Way
41 = Picture
44 = For The Good Times
46 = Always On My Mind
48 = Crying
49 = Sweet Caroline
52 = My Girl

You can tell that by just the titles, this is a location with an older group of patrons. All the history is there, it all depends on what you want to do with it.

Nah, just have them write on a slip. It's a lot easier than going to another screen looking it up. They want to sing it, they can put it on a slip. The more I hear of computers the more of a waste of time they are. Just the time needed to rip over 2,000 discs isn't worth it, then singer histories, etc.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

They want to sing it, they can plug it in a computer.
And you don't get singer history in a book, so why all the complaints about it?

, yeah I was just going to say. I think I can count on one hand the times the majority of those songs were sung in the last year. A few do stand out as fairly regular.

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

Computers are just as bad as playing from those new-fangled compact discs. Cassette tapes, that's a real man's karaoke!
And who needs a microphone and amplifier when a megaphone works just as well. A candle and a magnifying glass is all the lighting I've ever needed. And what's the point of a singer slip on paper when a slab of granite and a chisel will last longer for singer history?

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KNOW THYSELF

I'd actually like a small megaphone for certain songs.

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

"Who the hell wants to hear actors talk?" --H.M. Warner, Warner Brothers, 1927

"I think there is a world market for maybe five computers." -- IBM chairman Thomas Watson, 1943

"There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home."
-- Ken Olson, founder, chairman & president of DEC, 1977

"640k ought to be enough for anybody." -- Bill Gates, 1981

"But what ... is it good for?"
--Engineer at the Advanced Computing Systems Division of IBM, 1968, commenting on the microchip.

"The wireless music box has no imaginable commercial value. Who would pay for a message sent to nobody in particular?" --David Sarnoff's associates in response to his urgings for investment in the radio in the 1920s.

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Birdofsong

[singing]
Winchester Cathedral.... you're bringin' me down....
[/singing]

Gentlemen, you are forgetting the original and most important reason to use a kiosk, so that you (the host) can get stinking drunk and still do your job. Just push "Play." When you only have to call a name over the PA and click a very large button every three minutes or so, it leaves you all sorts of time to get into trouble. There is no "Right" way to run a karaoke show QED.

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Okay, who took my pants?

Or how about what many of us said when cell phones first came out?
"Why would I carry around a phone with me so that now people can call me and bother me at any time? I LIKE being away from the phone! Makes NO sense!"

I haven't drank on the job in quite a while, and never to the point of drunk when I did. Not a reason for me.

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