Karaoke tiiiime!!! [Archive]

jazzyj

03-20-2012, 05:22 PM

Ok so I'm just doing some prelim research on karaoke equip.

So far what Im seeing is packages that include PAs mics n erythang. But I dont need all of that because I already have my main dj setup - PAs, mics, traktor s4, macbook pro.

To you karaoke djs out there... what do I need?

I realize I need a flat panel for the lyrics, the CDGs, library binders.

But what else? Ive heard of mixers that do something like auto-tune. Explain. Help? Moan. Groan. or whatever :)

A#1 DJ

03-20-2012, 06:42 PM

Interested to hear more about "auto tune" too :P

Virtual DJ works great for Karaoke too BTW. ;)

DJNR

03-20-2012, 06:55 PM

Make sure you get this one for the karaoke jukebox.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bo-Y_Vb0wsw

jazzyj

03-20-2012, 07:17 PM

ok so some prelim searches shows me that for about 6000 CD+G songs, from Chartbusters, will set me back $5000... o m g. Really? I guess thats a dollar per song or less but jeeeezus. Other options, or is that what Im lookin at?

Ntertainment

03-20-2012, 07:58 PM

You should check out chartbusters karaoke library it's more affordable and has more songs, they are not as prized as SC but it will get you started very nicely. http://www.chartbusterkaraoke.com/marchsuper

jazzyj

03-20-2012, 08:09 PM

Chartbusters is the price I just quoted.... ?

Ntertainment

03-20-2012, 08:41 PM

I think i would also invest in a limitor/compressor.

Ntertainment

03-20-2012, 08:43 PM

Well if that's the price you quoted you didn't follow my link then did you?? On their website, 6000 songs is $1749 and 12000+ is $3499 I happen to know that if you pay in full they can give you a better deal around 20% off.

I misread your first post and though tyou were speaking of the soundchoice Gem series, which used to be around $4500 but it looks like you can buy those 6000 songs for about $3000 right now, and i'm sure if you pay in full you can get a discount there too.

jazzyj

03-20-2012, 09:25 PM

yea i see the link you posted, awesome deal!!!! :) thank you!!

http://www.chartbusterkaraoke.com/chartbuster-6000-media-pro.html

That was what I looked at earlier.

RodneyL

03-21-2012, 07:19 AM

The last few KJ's I have seen live still use CD's... so I am virtually in the dark about this. I wish we had more KJ's here that could explain their setup step by step.

WingMan

03-21-2012, 11:03 AM

I haven't done a karaoke gig in the longest. But, I have gone fully digital with my setup. Started out with the bricks (elements) series from Sound Choice, and picked up more from there. Sound Choice definitely has the best recreations, but be ready to pay out the rear for them. Chartbusters and others will work just fine for most gigs.

I use MTU's Hoster product on my laptop. After purchasing the CDG's, I loaded each one into the MTU database. It also has the ability to catalog and create nice song books, which I take to a local print shop and have them double side print and bind. Also is great for setting up your singer lists, shows the next upcoming singers between each song, and has controls for tone, pitch, song speed, etc... Quick song lookup by both song listing ID, name, artist, genre. So much nicer than toting around libraries of CD's every where you go.

I keep my nice Mic's in their cases for Karaoke gigs, and use cheap wireless units that I don't give 2 shits about if a patron drops one or whatever else a drunkard may do. Limiters are definitely your friends in this zone. You'll have plenty of patron's that feel the need to grab the Mic and instantly scream into it. If you're not constantly monitoring your levels... You know the rest.

Ampedproductions

03-21-2012, 11:08 AM

I got a rsq? Kareoke machine in an auction while I was drunk at a charity event (not as a DJ lol)

It came with a neo+g disc that had like 1700 songs on it. Was gonna look into buying some more discs for that and getting it out there. It's rack mountable and maybe buy a cheap dual mic wireless set to toss in a spare 3 space rack I have.

Sween

03-21-2012, 11:22 AM

Karaoke is against my principles... I can't imagine enduring a gig with karaoke.

Several years ago a group of us vowed that as soon as a DJ comes in to a bar we're at and sets up karaoke is the moment we leave. We make sure we let the management know WHY we're leaving... so he realizes that sometimes it helps business and sometimes it hurts business.

I hate karaoke with a passion. Nothing like listening to a bunch of people who can't sing try to sing along to a song that was crappy by the original artist in the first place. :puke:

jazzyj

03-21-2012, 11:53 AM

Karaoke is against my principles... We make sure we let the management know WHY we're leaving... so he realizes that sometimes it helps business and sometimes it hurts business.

Different strokes for different folks. I bet some people say the same thing about DJ's in general (in my hometown, live band vs. dj).

It came with a neo+g disc that had like 1700 songs on it.

I'm definitely no expert, but so far in my research, if that disc is not the original media that was sold by Chartbusters, or whomever, then it's not legal. And apparently these Karaoke music companies are actually pursuing KJ's because it's easier to prove the illegal-ness because the lyric videos have the company's logo on it. But from what I understand, if you have the original media you're good.

I guess technically not much difference than from regular DJ copyright laws, but it just seems more provable with the whole video+logo thing so they are actually taking people to court.

Ampedproductions

03-21-2012, 02:10 PM

It came with my machine. I hope it's legal.

jazzyj

03-21-2012, 02:21 PM

May be? just was throwing out a FYI :) Have you started using the machine yet?

Ampedproductions

03-21-2012, 02:48 PM

Just at home

Da Animal

03-21-2012, 03:50 PM

Different strokes for different folks. I bet some people say the same thing about DJ's in general (in my hometown, live band vs. dj).

This is what I run into alot- they want to pay a DJ like $75 for an entire night but will shell out $1000 for a shitty band that plays 2 hours. I gave up most of the bar scene for that reason, but karaoke (with earplugs) is helping fill some of the week nights. Everyone thinks they are the next American Idol after a couple of shots.

jazzyj

03-21-2012, 03:57 PM

This is what I run into alot- they want to pay a DJ like $75 for an entire night but will shell out $1000 for a shitty band that plays 2 hours. I gave up most of the bar scene for that reason, but karaoke (with earplugs) is helping fill some of the week nights. Everyone thinks they are the next American Idol after a couple of shots.

Yeah that's how it is in my hometown :( I have cousins in a band, and really good friends that are DJ's, so I feel for them both - I think both are good; course I like the DJ's music better. I think they should get near the same pricing because when I've been down there, they both draw in the same size crowds and back home nobody goes there just to listen - we're all drinkers! lol

sse

03-21-2012, 05:57 PM

jazzyj

03-21-2012, 06:22 PM

A karaoke guy here....
OK, stop what you are doing, and look at this.....
http://www.chartbusterkaraoke.com/kjmp.html
This is a BUY as you go system from CB, which for someone getting into Karaoke is a GREAT DEAL, and better than SoundChoices GEM series. You get the CB library, and buy CREDITS to unlock songs as people sing them. Once the song is UNLOCKED you don't have to pay to use it again.

You will have to use CompuHost for your software.

For Computer will will have to go the PC route, I think there is only one karaoke program for the MAC.

As for Mixers, any good Pro audio mixer will work (Mackie, Yamaha, Behringer) but stay away from stuff labled "For Karaoke/Karaoke mixer" (usualy vocopro), it is crap, and not worth anything.

A lot of the newer mixers have compressors built into them.
And you will probably need a good EQ to, a good 15band EQ should suffice.

BTW....DON'T use AUTO-TUNE, very annoying IMHO.

Shut. The. Front. Door. YOU WIN THE GOLDEN TICKET!!!! Man that is AWESOME!! Would hate to switch back to PC but oh well another DJ already told me to keep the karaoke on another computer anyways.

The ONLY thing I see bad about this... may be... you're screwed if you're in a venue without wi-fi right? Of course, may need to purchase a 3G adapter for the PC at that point anyhow. I bring this up only because I am in Kentucky, and yes believe it or not, lots of places STILL do NOT have wifi available - even tons of areas with only E or no cell service at all. But still.... it would just have to be a part of the contract with the club or bar or whatever. This is GENIUS!!

Bless you my child, bless you. You are today's bomb.com!

Ntertainment

03-21-2012, 09:07 PM

It came with my machine. I hope it's legal.

This is a legal copy of the disc, it's all midi format and serious singers won't sing on it. The renditions are horible, this is how most asian karaoke is done, I know a few koreans that have a unit similar to this in there house, but with around 50k of songs, it was hard to believe at first but it is legal, alot of the songs are in other languages though.

Ntertainment

03-21-2012, 09:08 PM

Shut. The. Front. Door. YOU WIN THE GOLDEN TICKET!!!! Man that is AWESOME!! Would hate to switch back to PC but oh well another DJ already told me to keep the karaoke on another computer anyways.

The ONLY thing I see bad about this... may be... you're screwed if you're in a venue without wi-fi right? Of course, may need to purchase a 3G adapter for the PC at that point anyhow. I bring this up only because I am in Kentucky, and yes believe it or not, lots of places STILL do NOT have wifi available - even tons of areas with only E or no cell service at all. But still.... it would just have to be a part of the contract with the club or bar or whatever. This is GENIUS!!

Bless you my child, bless you. You are today's bomb.com!

I really don't like this idea because then you can't print books, In order to print books you have to have a database of some kind and with out owning the songs how could you come up with one. I'm sure the price is much higher than buying the 12k of songs i pointed out and then you could print books and have a very respecatable legal collection.

Ampedproductions

03-21-2012, 09:47 PM

This is a legal copy of the disc, it's all midi format and serious singers won't sing on it. The renditions are horible, this is how most asian karaoke is done, I know a few koreans that have a unit similar to this in there house, but with around 50k of songs, it was hard to believe at first but it is legal, alot of the songs are in other languages though.

Huh?

Sounds fine to me, and 100% English.

http://www.rsqaudio.com/bbs/view.php?id=new&no=57

jazzyj

03-21-2012, 10:02 PM

VjQue

03-22-2012, 01:53 PM

sse

03-22-2012, 05:34 PM

Shut. The. Front. Door. YOU WIN THE GOLDEN TICKET!!!! Man that is AWESOME!! Would hate to switch back to PC but oh well another DJ already told me to keep the karaoke on another computer anyways.

The ONLY thing I see bad about this... may be... you're screwed if you're in a venue without wi-fi right? Of course, may need to purchase a 3G adapter for the PC at that point anyhow. I bring this up only because I am in Kentucky, and yes believe it or not, lots of places STILL do NOT have wifi available - even tons of areas with only E or no cell service at all. But still.... it would just have to be a part of the contract with the club or bar or whatever. This is GENIUS!!

Bless you my child, bless you. You are today's bomb.com!

NOPE, you don't need WIFI....You get a external Hard Drive from CB with all the songs on it. The only thing you would need wifi for is to purchase additional "credits" to unlock songs. Your can purchase the credits at home. As long as you go to a gig with 100 credits starting out you should be fine.

BTW....Just a FYI....
I track all songs sung at my shows. For aprox the last year, there were only 1889 unique song sung. Out of that 783 songs were sung 1 to 3 times. The remaining 1106 were sung 4 or more times.

sse

03-22-2012, 05:45 PM

I really don't like this idea because then you can't print books, In order to print books you have to have a database of some kind and with out owning the songs how could you come up with one. I'm sure the price is much higher than buying the 12k of songs i pointed out and then you could print books and have a very respecatable legal collection.
Not true....It comes with a listing of all the songs on the hard drive, that you can use to print books.

If you but credits, they are $1.50 each if you buy 100 or more.

If you have $3500 to buy the CB 12000+ digital library, that is a better deal. But I highly doubt you will ever use all 12000 songs. As I stated in a previous post, most ppl sing the same songs over and over, you could get away with 2000 songs if you cherry picked the right ones.

With my experience as a Karaoke host, IMHO.....the Chartbuster Karaoke KJ Media Pro HD is the better deal.

sse

03-22-2012, 05:50 PM

I have over 175,000 karaoke song that have different versions, like JVC, Sunfly ,etc karaoke. in the bar you have to have different version.

Karaoke singers know the difference and will ask you if you if you have that version.

I Just got my april updates.

I use KJams Pro for Mac

And were did you get those 175K songs?

95% of the singers don't care what version.

The other 5% want Chartbuster of SoundChoice

Ntertainment

03-22-2012, 07:48 PM

And were did you get those 175K songs?

95% of the singers don't care what version.

The other 5% want Chartbuster of SoundChoice

The other 5% want soundchoice if you have it and will except Chartbuster if they HAVE too!

jazzyj

03-22-2012, 08:01 PM

NOPE, you don't need WIFI....You get a external Hard Drive from CB with all the songs on it. The only thing you would need wifi for is to purchase additional "credits" to unlock songs. Your can purchase the credits at home. As long as you go to a gig with 100 credits starting out you should be fine.

BTW....Just a FYI....
I track all songs sung at my shows. For aprox the last year, there were only 1889 unique song sung. Out of that 783 songs were sung 1 to 3 times. The remaining 1106 were sung 4 or more times.

You may be my new best friend. :-)

Dave Daschofsky

03-23-2012, 02:43 AM

I started out with no music, just the karaoke locker built into PCDJ Karaoki. There's wifi where I run karaoke so when someone picks a song I just buy it right then. For the first few weeks I was buying a lot of tracks but now it's only 3-5 a week unless I get a bunch of new singers. I don't have a big library but it's all songs people have sung at least once and the selection at tricerasoft is pretty good even if they're expensive, the tips usually cover what I spend anyway. (Karaoki also has remote terminal software, I set up a little touch screen PC and singers can browse and search on it and even submit their request. And I don't need to print up any books)

RodneyL

03-23-2012, 07:11 AM

A karaoke guy here....
OK, stop what you are doing, and look at this.....
http://www.chartbusterkaraoke.com/kjmp.html
This is a BUY as you go system from CB, which for someone getting into Karaoke is a GREAT DEAL, and better than SoundChoices GEM series. You get the CB library, and buy CREDITS to unlock songs as people sing them. Once the song is UNLOCKED you don't have to pay to use it again.

You will have to use CompuHost for your software.

For Computer will will have to go the PC route, I think there is only one karaoke program for the MAC.

As for Mixers, any good Pro audio mixer will work (Mackie, Yamaha, Behringer) but stay away from stuff labled "For Karaoke/Karaoke mixer" (usualy vocopro), it is crap, and not worth anything.

A lot of the newer mixers have compressors built into them.
And you will probably need a good EQ to, a good 15band EQ should suffice.

BTW....DON'T use AUTO-TUNE, very annoying IMHO.

Thank you! I am considering starting KJ next year and this sounds like the way to start out with the music. +rep.

Edit: do you know if backups of the HDD can be made? I always want a backup in case of hardware failure. Would suck to have a KJ gig and the drive stop working.

jazzyj

03-23-2012, 07:21 AM

I definitely think the music library issue is now solved (thank you SSE!), now just need a mixer (thank you DJ Scotch!) and research online and in person the KJ flow :)

Dave Daschofsky

03-23-2012, 08:44 AM

Thank you! I am considering starting KJ next year and this sounds like the way to start out with the music. +rep.

Edit: do you know if backups of the HDD can be made? I always want a backup in case of hardware failure. Would suck to have a KJ gig and the drive stop working.

Not sure how it works with chartbusters but when I buy tracks through tricerasoft I get an email with a link I can use to redownload each song.

sse

03-23-2012, 05:33 PM

Thank you! I am considering starting KJ next year and this sounds like the way to start out with the music. +rep.

Edit: do you know if backups of the HDD can be made? I always want a backup in case of hardware failure. Would suck to have a KJ gig and the drive stop working.

I think from, what I have read, is you get a hard-drive from CB with all the music, and CB recommends that you copy all that data to another drive and use the copy at shows, keeping the original safe location.

I would send a email or call CB to make sure.

Drewbdo

04-26-2012, 01:34 PM

I just read on another DJ forum that Chartbusters is closing their doors / being purchased by another company / changing names... whatever they are calling it.

Not sure if the new company will honor the "legal status" of current Chartbusters customers, or if they will want people to pay for "re-licensing" from the new company.

jazzyj

04-26-2012, 01:38 PM

Yeah just went there... says it is "NOW DigitraxKaraoke.com"... go to the new site... "Coming Soon"... wow... so if you had bought credits and have the hard drive, I guess that is working? I don't know... wow.

DJ Scotch

04-26-2012, 01:38 PM

I definitely think the music library issue is now solved (thank you SSE!), now just need a mixer (thank you DJ Scotch!) and research online and in person the KJ flow :)

:tup:

Ntertainment

04-26-2012, 09:02 PM

Chartbuster has had the worst website for a long time now, hopefully this digitracks will make it easier to buy songs online!

DJ Boom Bap

04-27-2012, 12:19 AM

I didn't read all of the posts, but here is what I do.

Story: I DJ @ a place that offers karaoke, but it is ******, not a karaoke night. So any given night, I can have 5 -10 punk azz mofos ruining a good time.

I exclusively use Triserasoft.com. I download every track as I need it. I buy credit packs that work out to $1.40 per song and I don't have to waste shit tons of money on a starter pack that has more non-usable songs than usable. It has been going fine......the quality isn't as good as some, but f it. You also NEED to have internet access at all times to do this.

I spent a good 5 hours making a Karaoke book from someone else's (I had to delete hundred's of Dupes) file online. It is up to date as of maybe November '10. If you'd like to go this route, PM me and I can send you the file.

Just an FYI, my book cost me about $80 to make, I only have one right now (I too hate karaoke), and consider it ******.

sse

04-27-2012, 05:36 PM

Chartbuster has had the worst website for a long time now, hopefully this digitracks will make it easier to buy songs online!

From my understanding....CB got sued for providing CAVS music for their karaoke players, but never got licensing to make some karaoke songs that they sold to CAVS. So Cavs got sued by original copyright holders and lost. In turn CAVS sued CB, and won around a $400,000 settlement. SO CB is closing the doors.

But I think digitracks is just CB under a new name, but I could be wrong.

DJ Boom Bap

04-27-2012, 09:19 PM

FYI, if you get KJams, you can stream thousands of Chart Buster tracks for $20 a month.......can be a good deal.

Ntertainment

04-28-2012, 07:12 PM

Sse

All the needless sueing in this country is ruining it. Frivolous lawsuits need to end! But having a company take the fall instead of a person is a good idea.

DJ Boom Bap

04-28-2012, 11:52 PM

FYI!

Triserasoft is lagging hardcore tonight........(damn I HATE karaoke), but its taking a super long time DLing songs tonight, meaning that it wont even start the download instantly, but it happens eventually....

jazzyj

06-01-2012, 12:20 PM

I just completed the beta testing for Digitrax (had purchased Chart Busters). It looks as though they are going to an entirely cloud based model - which will require wifi. Whereas Chart Busters had the option of having a drive which you could unlock songs with pre-purchased credits. But now... no such luck. Sad sad :(