Karaoke Forums

I have been a disc run business for the last 10 yrs..and it seems I might not have a choice..not sure im going to like this change but we will see. I think I will be buying compuhost in the up coming weeks...keep me in you prayers during this change...
any advice??? to make this easier???

Rip at the best quality 320 to an external drive so you can use the music on a backup computer if needed. Patience, ripping your discs is going to be time consuming, but worth it once done.
Have a backup computer ready - crashed during shows do occasionally happen.

I would use PowerKaraoke over the Compuhost (Invicion) ripper - better graphics.

On board sound of laptops are pretty basic, they will sound ok. A USB interface like the Lexicon Alpha will make an ok sound into a nice crisp clear night & day difference in sound over the stock sound output.
Breakaway Audio Engine is another thing to run with CH, it will take the music and level out the volume between manus in real time. It will also add a little punch to the bass & crispen up the high end.

If you can rip on a separate computer, you can be playing with the CH software getting to know it. It will be a learning process - make sure you get to know it before you try doing a show with it, run mock shows at home. There may be features you don't think you'll ever want, but once you get to know them you may find them to be quite an asset. Once you learn and get fluid with the software, you won't ever want to use a disc again!

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

To me the biggest pain was ripping cdg's. I am friends with another KJ here that I helped go pc based and whit I did for him was give him a copy of any mp3-g's that matched what he had on disk. That saved him a lot of time and frustration.

As far a software, I like Karma better the compuhost but HAD to dish out the $200 for compuhost in order to use the KJ Media HD.

Thats why I a little po'd with Chartbuster. I just started using Media Pro in January and only received the January updates. So I put out almost $400 for 12 songs.......so far.

GeminiMale40,

Use the hosting program you like best....as far as ripping goes I agree with others who have said they like different programs for ripping. We used the ripping program that came with MTU Hoster and had far better luck than the Compuhost ripper. It does take time but it is worth it and defiantly rip at highest quality you can...it maybe slower but you will be glad you did.

Blessings
Athena

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Why should he be defiant???? And who or what should he defy????

Why are we ripping on the CDGRip from CH? I've never had problems with it.

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

I've always had some kind of graphic error with CDGRip. Plus it seems to have problems with the last track on some discs with a data track on the end.

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

mtu.com's microstudio rips the best out of all of them!
believe me i've used them all....

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It's all good!

As disc based user who went kicking and screaming into the 21st century I also chose compuhost. Most of the advice I would give is common knowledge, but the one thing I didn't do and still struggle to find a clear way of making sure I always do it correctly is naming the discs properly SF174-1-artist-song... My mishaped discs still have the correct artist and song, but quite often the track number is the actual disc number, It doesn't affect the show or cause any actual havoc but it really bugs me for no other reason than it's wrong.

If possible rip discs on more than one computer so you can do 2/3 at a time and ask a partner to help. It took me 4 months almost 24/7 to rip mine. A huge headache for me but from the customers point of view worth it in the end.

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'A genius is one who can do anything except make a living'. Joey Adams.

By far the biggest pain is file naming. Sooo many tracks have mistakes, from minor to flat out wrong. Databases are often wrong as well. Nothing bugs me more than putting in a Chatbuster ESP+ Country disc to rip and wrong artist/track data comes up, or none at all. Take the time to get them correct the first time. I have spent many, many hours getting our library straight. I usually reference KJ Pro Database for most accurate track info
www.kjpro.com/browse

While a second show computer would certainly be nice to have for a backup you can always rely on your CDG player to get you through the night in a pinch if need be until you can add a second computer.

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-Kona

I have the same issue with CDGRip choking on the final track of a disc (usually track 15 on an SC Spotlight disc) If I drop to the lowest speed I can sometimes get it to rip properly. More frequently though I just ditch that track.

-Chris

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-Chris

I HATE SPELL CHECK...the word I was trying to use was definitely...not defiantly...Thanks again Cueball. Since so many people have expressed irritation at me being a horrid speller I have been running everything with a spell checker and it is almost as bad as the predictive auto complete on my cell phone

Blessings
Athena

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"Integrity is choosing your thoughts, words and actions based on your principles and values rather than for your personal gain."
Unknown
"if a man has integrity, nothing else matters, If a man has no integrity, nothing else matters."
Lee McGuffey

Then I suggest that you order "Naturally Speaking" by Dragonware. If you've ever seen the commercials for it on television, it works just as good as you see on television.

Yep just one more program to teach kids you don't even have to know how to write to get on computer. Computers are making people stupid I swear to God!

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

That's partly why I like Hoster, you can have the orginal file named in almost any fashion & it will bring it into it's database properly.

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

I Like Siglos for hosting, but try them all on demo and see what fits your style best.
And i have been using Audiograbber for ripping (nothing else works on Linux) without a single graphic issue. Power CDG burner would be my next in line.
as for naming, absolutely, make sure you pick a method you like and use it on every single song without fail. i like DKG01-01 - Madonna (DK) - Like A Virgin - A-1 being Disk#-Track - Artist (Manu Abrev) - Title - Location (Binder A, Disk 1)
whatever you choose, be consistent, and it will work out fine.
i like using MP3 gain on all tracks. it is non destructive (it can be reversed with no ill effects) and will level the volumes between manus without altering the files.
Rip at a nice slow speed, clean your discs, and you will never have to do it again.
Ditto on the external sound card, Lexicon is great, i like Native Instruments Audio2DJ, but just about anything will be better than the stock sound card.
Finally....patience. if you do it right the first time, you will be extremely happy and not have to re-do anything.

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

Strangely enough I actually had problems ripping at too slow speeds. Once I raised it to 4x or 8x have not had any problems. I never use max or slowest.

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-Kona

....Well, I've been all over the map with rip speed settings. I finally just set mine at 1x and dealt with it. During my HUNDREDS of HOURS I have tried them all but in the beginning I went by the manual. Recently I just figured I would deal with 1x (knowing that graphic errors would almost cease to exist in the final product) but also that the music would be cleaner (although some people say that rip speed doesn't affect the music). I don't know?

....So what problems were you having with slower speed settings?

Which ripper? I rip at 12x with never a glitch. But using Hoster.

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

I use power CD+G burner from powerkaroke,com. It only gives options to burn at 1x, 4x, 8x, and max. I don't know what max burn speed is so I don't use it. Now that I think of it, I may have had trouble with artifacts when burning backups at 1x versus ripping. I have been using 8x for ripping a while now and haven't made any backups to disc since hosting with computer.

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-Kona