Karaoke Forums

One of the reasons I chose Hoster was the fact that you can play other singers' CDGs, they load right in while a song is playing...then disappear when the song has been sung. Keeping the singer screen open is great, too, to continually add to it. Search function is simple. I'm extremely happy with Hoster - all-in-one, simple to operate, no extra player. Shooting singer name display up between singers is great...but hardly stays up there long enough for people to read it as rotation moves quickly. You can also place it at the bottom of the singer's screen. They've hinted at a lot of new features coming so soon there won't be any reason to choose anything else! ....Go Ahead.  HIt me! I Dare Ya! Can't Hurt Steel!

k

Thank you Karen.  I've looked at Hoster and it looks like the better option to me.  Glad to hear someone out there agrees with me.

Hoster was my choice as well.

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

Only negative is that once you have imported using Hoster then you're stuck with it as the files are specifically formatted for hoster as a security feature. If down the road you discover a software that has features that the makers of hoster refuse to include in their software but might be essential to making your show  a better show, you would have to redo the work so that you can use your files with the new software. Granted MTU has software that now will aid you in this, it would have just been easier to use the same standard as other softwares out there.  
Don't get me wrong if it meets your needs,, and everyone has different needs, Hoster is one of the better softwares out there.  I just choose to use a different software because it has features that Hoster doesn't have and MTU has decided that it would take too much work to make it happen with Hoster.

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

I can't thing of anything which would remotely be essential for a better show that Hoster doesn't do already. It plays karaoke music and gives you a great singer list option. The hoster developers are pretty closed-mouth now about things they are working on, and justifiably so, but I believe their goal is very similar to mine, and they are very willing to compile suggestions from the users of the software as far as adding features.

There are conversion tools available now as well but I haven't had a need to do any format conversions. I suppose that could be a need in the future, but I don't know that right now.

Don't want to get into the Chevy vs. Dodge vs. Ford again - Hoster is what I use, I truly appreciate the simplicity of it, and I have a lot of faith in their development team to keep me up to date and current with any pending upcoming features.

k

For the backing tracks feature, I can't think of anything easier to use than Hoster - their automatic feature is great. I have done extended shows, hubby and I both singing alternately, and it'd be so great to be able to create a set list, let 'er rip, and just sing with minimal chat between. Sure beats CDGs!

k

Yeah they now have the Songverter program which will take any format including their own kma format & convert it to any other format.  Don't matter much to me, I prefer the kma format personally over the mp3 based.
What does your software have now that you needed.

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

I've been to three Hoster-ran shows that crashed while trying to import a singer's cdgs (mine, my buddy's, and a third person)... and the cdgs played fine. One was a burn, two were pressed cdgs.

Doesn't happen often, but sometimes Hoster shows can be affected this way.

You may be interested that Siglos Karaoke Professional final beta is out. More details can be found at http://www.powerkaraoke.com/karaoke-blog/2008/04/04/siglos-karaoke-professional-final-beta-1213/.

It has most of the features we wanted it to have:
- rotation or playlist view (you may use rotation management, but switch to playlist view to see the list songs)
- automatic mode with singer announcement
- scrolling reminders with promo message
- fill-in playlist
- silence skip
- singer's CD+G disc support
- support for video files
- smart import (MP3 tag aware)

and more. We will keep adding more features, but decided it is mature enough to go public.

We hope to release it next week if we do not run into anything big. The price will be $99 and (as with all our software) it is per user license, so if you own two computers you may install the software on both.

Singer history so I can get a singer that sings mostly the same stuff into the que faster.
Easy switch of songs without affecting the que.
filler player que that is separate from the karaoke que.
Kamakazi feature.
recording feauture
Autorotation
the list goes on.
the only thing it doesn't have that Hoster has is the ability to play off discs.  Not that I really need it as no one brings discs to my system.

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

Those hosts have not taken advantage of the free updates that MTU offers. A while back (1-2 years ago) they did a major code change and in the process had some conflicts with the Customer CDG Song import feature. It would lock up if a song was playing at the same time. They came out with a free update to fix it a few weeks after the bug was discovered. Some hosts just don't update their software.

_________________
FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

I use both Compuhost and MTU hoster

One of the features that I really like is the singer history files with Compuhost this is a feature MTU does not have at this time. Just put the singer in the rotation and then pull up the history, it remembers date, song number, and key it was last played in. Highlight it and click ok and it is in the rotation.  I have alot of regulars so I use this feature all night long and I love it!

Filler tunes feature is really handy as well. You can adjust auto fade in/out timing and it will automatically do the task for you.

Right now it has the edge over hoster in my shows.

Hey, I'm a die hard Hoster Fan!  But I prefer Compuhost for my personal shows. My rental system (I rent to other KJ's) and my other systems run Hoster exclusively. They are the easiest for the novice to use. Compuhost takes a little getting used to after running Hoster....  as it is feature rich.

One thing I wish Compuhost would do is allow for a larger font on the interface screen. Only the guys and gals over 50 can relate to this but it is a little small.

_________________
FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Aren't / weren't you a beta tester for Hoster?  If you currently are, why would you promote anothers product?

_________________
[shadow=deepskyblue]I'm impressed, I've never met such a small mind inside such a big head before.[/shadow]

And those of us who did ran into the current bug which prevents Hoster from working properly. There is a workaround, but it still stops the show while you delete some files.

I'm a programmer who writes software that goes through beta test. I don't expect that kind of loyalty from someone who is doing me a favor by testing my software....

[quote="Flipper @ Fri Apr 04, 2008 8:02 pm
Those hosts have not taken advantage of the free updates that MTU offers..[/quote]

I have the latest version of Hoster and the ability to pop in other people's CDGs is really important to me. We have a lot of singers who carry their own. The only inconvience with this feature is that you can't START a singer from your system if a CDG is uploading; so, you start the singer first, then upload the CDG while the other singer is singing. Minor inconvenience though. Not even a blink while I'm doing that, so obviously whatever was causing that crash problem is gone.

It is really important for people to upgrade as those become available...goes without saying for almost everything.

k

Computers are supposed to make our lives easier, instead of doing the same thing with computers as we did with discs, that's why using something geared towards hosting is preferred!

I'm assuming by that comment you mean we shouldn't HAVE to load someone's CDG for them to play it? I have found that even if I have the very same CDG, people will prefer to sing off their own CDG. I am guilty - take my own CDGs to shows when I am a guest because I don't like SGB and Legends...Tonight got stuck singing a horrible version of a heart song because I didn't take my sound choice version.

BTW, nice couple running the show but book was very complicated  (too many sections, both artist & song in each binder)...but they did have slips and pencils in each. No central location for the books, either, had to go and snag one off someone's table.  Speakers appeared to be under-powered, or they didn't have the settings right on the board (15-inch passive Behringer speakers)...too much high (especially with shrill female voices), and no nice, full bottom end base sound at all. Too much time between singers because they use a CAVS with super CDGs... A lot of SBG and Legends...very little S/C. Not a lot of new stuff. They did play bumper (filler) music. She was definitely faster at bringing up singers but used that horrible 'dj' sounding voice. They were both decent singers and when one was hosting, the other was in the rotation...but they had a big rotation. Big mistake to put youself in with that many people.

Good to see other shows...makes me appreciate what we do!

K

I agree that visiting other shows makes you appreciate your own worth. I've done that my whole karaoke career... and I keep an open mind that maybe someone else has a better way of doing something, a good idea here and there.

One of the guys in my area (he's relocated since this event) was doing "karaoke scouting" where you earned different merit badges for your accomplishments at the show.

So many duets - a badge
so many songs - another badge

I never listened that much to tha particulars, but I was impressed with his ingenuity. (Especially since I'm an old Eagle Scout! !) Not something I'd want to do at my show, but he had regulars that LOVED it, wore their badge sashes proudly and one gal even brought a small sewing kit and would put their new badge that they'd earned that night after the "awards ceremony" was over, and they really got into it.

As I said, I really wasn't into it, but really appreciated what the guy did for his show!

Having been a former Beta tester has nothing to do with my opinion of Compuhost.

I prefer it for my personal show, but use MTU for all my other shows and rental units. It's just a better fit for the one personal show, and the private gigs I do.

I still promote and use MTU products and think they have the most stable product and easiest to use for the Novice and Advanced user. I just prefer some of Compuhosts features for my personal gigs. When MTU adds those features to their program I will probably use it. The two features are Singers history, and filler tunes.

MTU has and will continue to have an excellent product!

_________________
FlipSide Karaoke
Scott