Karaoke Forums

So, I am doing my regular Wednesday night show, and all of a sudden, I hear, "crackle, crunch, crackle" then no music. The damn Lexicon Alpha passed away. Lovely, huh?? SOOOOOOOO, here I am, no music, restarted the computer, nothing. I tried hooking directly into my Zed 12FX, via the USB.........Nada. Tried a different USB port. Nada. Thankfully, I had a headphone to RCA wire. That worked. I don't get why the ZED wouldn't hook up. My Zed 10 FX hooks right up. Well, I got another Alpha on the way. I forgot how BAD the headphone port was. The music just wasn't the same without the alpha.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Maybe not the same, but the important thing is that there was indeed music.
While on most nights having extra cables and equipment handy doesn't seem worth the trouble to bring it along, it only takes a single night to prove that it is.

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KNOW THYSELF

Yep backups don't have to be great, they just have to limp you through the night.
I'm wondering if it wasn't a USB failure in general (even a different port which may be tied into the other one) since the A & H wouldn't work either.

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

Exactly. In the summer, neighbors thought I was being frivolous when I bought a $500 generator and transfer switch that I parked on my deck and covered. Recently, we were without power for 6 days due to a nasty wind storm.

Most of the neighborhood had to drain their pipes, throw away their food and live elsewhere during that time because they had no power for heat and refrigeration. They couldn't buy or even rent a generator during this time if their lives depended on it.

I walked out to the deck, removed the cover, flipped the switch and pulled the cord and the generator hummed to life. While it was certainly inconvenient, it was just a few bucks in gasoline each day for me to continue on like nothing happened because I had power to the entire house.

My neighbors lost and spent more money scrambling than I did on prevention.

It truly was the "ounce of prevention" thing....

No, my Tracball still worked. I use the M570 Tracball. It has the little dongle. It was working fine. I am going to test the computer later. I will test the alpha on another computer, just to be sure.

Ok, upon further tests, it seems that the USB on the left side of my laptop seems to have died, too. Both on the right are working fine. I had plugged the Alpha into the right side, and it still didn't work.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Trackballs rule! I use the grandaddy of trackballs the Kensington Expert Mouse Pro 64213.

Fortunately I have never had a situation that required a severe backup plan..... but I do bring spare parts and gear with me to every show. I have in years long gone, had to completely reboot and restart, and I have had to limp a little (such as poor video quality) on a couple of occasions.

Smoothe, I am glad you were able to keep going.

I have NEVER had a problem that I didn't end up fixing. I may freak out a bit, but I always solve the problem.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

A lot of buttons on the Kennsington.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Damn. The Alpha is still working. It was the USB that died. Bought another one, for nothing. Oh well, always good to have extras.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

I use 5 of them all the time. The bottom 2 are standard right click, left click. The upper left button (red) stops/fades the song in play, and the upper right button (green) is a "restart" of the song in play button. The top center button (yellow) is the "Next Singer" (NS).

The smaller buttons across the top are set up for "Clear Search" (escape), "Insert New Singer", etc. Every button can be programmed to do almost anything! It is the smoothest trackball ever.

Sometimes trouble shooting equipment can be a pain in the back side. I have found out through experience that you don't throw away any equipment unless you have checked it out completely, and found out what the problem is by eliminating all of the possible reasons for the malfunction. Of course if it happens during a show it is always good to have a back up system you can go to. My rack still has a simple CDG player if all else fails. I must say I have been very lucky with my HD players and they have never failed me in 15 years. Now that I'm retired I have been playing around with a PC laptop, I don't know if I will ever be ready to actually use one for a show, who knows?

Yeah once you said the A&H wouldn't work either gave a red flag it's probably NOT the Alpha.
Hope you get it all fixed up.
Yes backups are always good!!

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

Can't find this item new. lots @ ebay used.
compatibility: mac, pc xp & vista. (Win10?) Drivers still available for download?

I'd like to buy the newer version, Slimblade Trackball but my concern - only 4 buttons to click.
https://www.kensington.com/us/us/4493/k ... -trackball

'need to contact kensington support if this has the same functionality as your pro64213 with 10 buttons. I'm hopeful.

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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!

The problem that I have now is that the powered USB port is the one that broke. I could use that one to power the Alpha, an external drive and my VGA converter box. The other two ports can't do that. I guess it is time to save up for a new laptop.

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

i did have one side USB ports go bad once. they are both on a separate card and not mounted directly to the main mobo. $5 replacement part from ebay and about 20 minutes to exchange it in the computer.
may not be the same on yours, but worth a shot to at least look inside.

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

Chances are the data portion of your USB port is still working fine, but the power isn't being supplied. First, check to make sure nothing has changed or been shut off in your power settings. If everything is normal, yet there is no power, you could probably get by with an external powered USB hub for a lot less than replacing your laptop.
Here's one for less than $20:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Sabrent-HB-U ... r/45074514

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KNOW THYSELF

I use these USB adapters to dramatically reduce stress on the computers ports.

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00UM ... UTF8&psc=1

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017V ... UTF8&psc=1

These adapters are available in right and left, and up and down.

No. It LITERALLY broke. The black piece of plastic broke right out. But I AM going to get that powered USB hub. Thanks!!

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I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Hi Brian, I just noticed this reply from you. The Expert Pro Trackball is completely usable in XP compatibility mode on Win7 OS. I would suspect that it would work in 8.1 and 10 also. Kensington stopped supporting it in XP, but I have had zero problems with Win7.

I have 2 used ones and they are very sturdy, well built, trackballs with the smoothest rolling ball you have ever used.