Karaoke Forums

I ve worked a lot of gigs in local bars and events and always with the "house" equipment.  I advised one place to purchase a laptop and go that route but I left because after getting the DJ portion of the show working, thats all they wanted to do.  

I need to purchase a good DJ/KJ system complete with everything including a huge list of karaoke songs.  I can get the regular songs myself.  Looking to spend up to or around 3-5 grand.  

I have used a cartridge; dvd; single cd; and also cavs system in the past.  I would prefer a system like cavs which i could use with a laptop but wondering if there is something out there that would work better.  I know all of you have a lot more experience in this so ... please help!  

Thank you.

You can get a good PA system that will work for dj/karaoke for about that cost, but unless you plan on going totally illegal - ie loaded ebay hard drive or copying discs not owining any originals - which they are starting to bust, then you aren't going to have a huge list of karaoke songs sorry to say.  You may be able to get a basic core set & some popular requests to get you going, but the music is where the money really goes to in karaoke.

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thanks, I was hoping to do all this legal. so I guess i may have to sacrafice some on the pa system.  I can always add songs ... but still wondering what some good systems might be. I know cavs has that new system for around 3 grand with about 10,000 songs already on it.     Is laptop the way to go with pcdj? i dont know anything about that system but read on lot on this site about.   Again, anything would help.

This subject has been beaten to death so I know from experience that you are going to get a lot of opinions.  That's all they are, opinions.  There is no one right answer to your question because every KJ has a different style and no software is perfect.  So this is only my two cents worth.

Don't use a laptop go rack mount.  You will be money ahead in the beginning and at the end and have many fewer headaches at the show.  This is at the cost of a little more set up and tear down.

Use a kiosk in addition to books.  In my experience the customers really like them and they cost nothing to update as opposed to reprinting the books whenever you get new disks.  Two kiosks will replace 20 books.  Make sure that the Kiosk software has some sort of lock-out feature so the customers can't get to the operating system of the remote machine or (Heaven forbid!) your main computer.  They will be networked after all.

Use software that keeps your rotation for you. Less headache for you and the singers can't accuse you of playing favorites.

Don't zip your files.  It slows the computer down and increases processor work load to gain about 30% (MP3+CDG) in hard drive space.  Hard drive space is cheap.  MP3 is already compressed so you don't gain much there and CDG uses bit level graphics (1 bit=1 Pixel) which makes it a little fragile.

Stay away from Windows Vista at the moment.  Karaoke software is written mostly by small companies or even drunken rogue programmers who may not have time to accomadate the mighty Microflacid and there are all sorts of reports coming in about the old software not working with the new operating system.

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Okay, who took my pants?

The CAVS units with music already on it are also getting nailed for legality purposes.  So you may not find them as much & the selections they had on them to begin with weren't of the best quality usually either usually SGB, NuTech, BMB/Nikkodo.  Many of the karaoke stores have dropped the loaded cavs & computer systems altogether due to grey legal aspects - there are still some you can find them at.

Laptop is up to you, I agree with exweed & do a rackmount or at least a desktop.  More upgradeable, if something goes out, you can pretty much fix/replace yourself.

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ok here is what i am talking about guys.. with prices... now, exact prices are not the issue but in the end you will see what i mean..

speakers .. 895.00 for two
subs         1100.00 for two
DJ(NOT KJ) 399.00
AMP           900.00
mic            300.00
cords          150.00
top load rac 285.00
stands (sp)  120.00
total  so far       -  4199.00  and that is without any type of player and that is just designed for the DJ portion.     This is what a local music shop said would be a really good system that i could use at any venue around this area for weddings or parties and such and not have to worry about upgrading anytime soon.  

Now, some questions for you people who were just starting out.  Would you piece this out as I may; or would you look to a system all ready in a top load box set up and ready to go?      2.   Is this overboard cause I am just starting out and have not even added in the cost of a DJ player system or music yet?
3.  I REALLY want to do karaoke also and the design of this system is for a DJ only.  MORE cost is associated with  it getting ready for karaoke also.  Am I headed in the wrong direction?   (i know my initial gigs will be weddings before karaoke gigs)

any help PLEASE....thanks

WHat are the makes & models of all the equipment?  Music shops will often tell you something is better than it is.  1 amp for the sub & satellite is probably a little lacking, depending on the amp, but you may want to pick 2 amps up or at least have it future planning.  Some of those price quotes seems a little high depending on the makes/models.
I would put it all together, this way i'm getting what I want.
Overboard, no - that's one of the biggest problems of newbies is they skimp on equipment starting out.
There are dj/karaoke dual players available, may want to get 2 just to have a backup (good idea anyway).  The only other thing you'd need for karaoke is small live mixer - the dj mixers aren't cut out for karaoke live vocals - well that sound good.
If you know your inital gigs are going to be dj'ing weddings, then build your system for the dj while keeping karaoke in mind - so don't buy strictly dj speakers, get some that will be equally suited for live vocals as well - a couple of brands like Gemini, Cerwin Vega, American Audio are generally more geared for the dj side than say JBL, Peavey, Mackie, Yamaha, EV.

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The speakers were 600w ea Turbosound and matching 18" woofers.

The amp was a QSR  pox3602  

mixer I forgot to write down but I remember he said I would need a mpx100 reverb to add for around 200.00. so total with mixer was about 600.00

On the player, do you mean a dual deck system? (toprack) type?

my fear here is getting a little over my buget and where to make cuts.. I still am thinking I have to pay the two services to be able to play music......correct?

also, What do I do then about music........go buy cd's or ????? I need to save some cash for that.

I was thinking if I went laptop, I could go to a pay site and buy the music by song rather than an entire cd...


I am not trying to cut any corners for quality but will have to cut some cause it wouldnt be good to show up with all that nice equipment and only have 10 cds to play..

Ok assuming they are packaging the TXD121 (12" 2way) & TXD118 (18" sub) per side.  These are rated 600 watts program & connected together via the subs built in crossover would yield a 1200 program power rating at 4 ohms.  
The QSC PLX3602 is rated at 1250 per channel at 4 ohms so they actually matched you correctly on the amp and speakers as far as ratings go.   would probably still go with 2 separate amps personally because the sub is going draw the most power from the system & it will rob from your high end a bit, but this will be enough to get you going & still sound good.
Mixer I am assuming you are talking dj mixer?  The MPX100 is a Lexicon effects model which isn't made anymore, are you sure they weren't referring to the MX200 - which will work with the karaoke set-up as well.
Players, I was referring to the dual deck dj/karaoke cdg players.  
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i-NUM-CDN25G.html
Have heard decent to not so decent on this but, seems like it would fit the bill to start out, which is kind of why I said get 2, 1 for back up, just keep it in the rack or in a separate case which you can bring.  Always good to have a back up player of some sort.  Or if you go computerized then there are other options,
http://www.otsdj.com is absolutely beautiful as a dj player.  They have a karaoke module add on as well, but I haven't played with it so can't really comment, but the dj part is awesome!  You can download a demo to try & think you'll agree.
Karaoke music downloads - at least legal ones - aren't all that plentiful, there are a couple of places like Tricerasoft & even CAVS (although not even sure about theirs anymore either) & a couple of overseas sites, but the best way is still buy your cd's - if you use computer, then convert them over - this takes a little time, but worth it as you'll have the original, even though it's technically not legal, no one can question if you stole the music or just transferred it to your computer from your purchased disc.

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With your price estimates, all of the items items on the list have products in your range. However you probably will be shocked on the price of all of the cables you need. Double the price estimate for cables. That is what ended up creaping up on me from your (and my) first estimates. I think I am in about $300 on cables/connectors. (video cables, video splitters, mic cables, speaker cables, connectors etc).

As for Cavs, I think many of the more knowledgeable karaoke singers have seen bad examples of shows using such systems, and would have lower expectation from a cavs based setup (even if you have legal high quality songs on your cavs system). If there are a lot of karaoke places in your area and you want to attract the best singers, stay clear of cavs.

Not that the system is not technically good, but a lot of bad shows have used them. This is in addition to the many legal issues dogging that system.

Not always, often if you buy an entire custom package in the store (not internet) they will throw in most of the cords you need - at least the line level cords if not the speaker cables as well.

Agree with the cavs assessment.

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"I was thinking if I went laptop, I could go to a pay site and buy the music by song rather than an entire cd... "

Shop around on ebay, you can often find a high quality SC (sound choice) or similar CD with the song you want on it that may only be double the price of buying the songs one at a time.

Most single song purchase is in the $2-$4 range. Discount CDs even from good manus, with desired songs are sometimes found for around $5-15 if you spend some time to look. Sure you may not get your first choice songs but, your audience is unlikely to want the exact same songs you want. A 500 song list with only your personal choices is not going to be anywhere as appealing as a 1000 song list that may have a slightly broader music choice.

Eventually it is worth it to buy single songs to fight duplicate creep and get songs from discontinued disks but there are few reasons to do so at the start.

Usually similar songs are put on the same mixes, and such mixes will suit your general theme but not your more narrow personal taste. You will do better getting a loyal singing crowd with a bigger list, not only YOUR favorites.

ok, Dr:   what type system do you run. Are you burning these into your laptop and if so what type player, and is the song book easy to manage.

I am concerned about song book being user and manager friendly.  Most of the places ive worked or even sang at have a song book that looks like crap.  Beer soaked pages or missing pages .. However, those that are hard to find songs on are those who add new songs.  ie purchase monthly disks to add to the song book.
These are usually in a speperate book and bunched together in no order or how they appear on the CD.. You could have a 100 pages with 25 pages have a Kenny Chesney song on each one.  I know it falls on the person to update it....however, I think they dont do to being management UNFRIENDLY.

Well for me, I am running with compuhost (for now).

I have ripped all my cds into the computer myself one at a time (350 or so)  and I am doing another right now. It works pretty good for 80% but on 20% the names of songs are not in the freedb database and they have to be typed in (a pain).

Usually in such cases what I do is find an internet store that is selling the disk and cut and paste the artist/song info in from the website because I really hate to type.

Once they are ripped and the files are in the hard drive in the format artist-song-disk-track i then export the catalog to an excel file and manipulate that to make my songbooks.

I spend a lot of time at work working with excel so it is not too difficult for me. Beyond that, keeping them clean and up to date is just a matter of printing new copies. Alphabetizing and editing band/song names is easy in excel.  Sorting by song or by artist is also easy.


I have a few of my karaoke regulars point out obvious errors in spelling etc to correct for the next versions.

I explained some of the things I do with excel in a post recently on the technical board in this site.

Also if I wish to change a bunch of songs that have problems with the band names such as first name, last name instead of last, first it is relatively easy to change the names by splitting up the file names by spaces reassemblying the names in corrected order and doing a batch rename on the files in DOS.

Not sure if it is as easy as using some of the software out there for making books, but it works for me. Also changes are easy in excel especially if you use it every day like me for work.

Invest in the heavyweight plastic sleeves that you load from the top - they'll tolerate being wiped down if someone gets sloppy with a drink, and the pages stay clean and intact for a good long time. You can also put a nice cover sheet in with all your info on it - like where your shows are, how to contact you, website, myspace, etc.  People appreciate that.

The newest music isn't going to make or break a show, and to be honest I have found in the 15 years i've been doing karaoke, that usually the brand new stuff - especially in the rock/pop catagory, MAY get sung the first couple weeks then be your biggest dust collector once the 'flavor of the week' feel is gone.  Go by your customer requests & you'll be better off in the long run - if the Kenny Chesney is what is being heavily requested then you get it!

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