Karaoke Forums

So I'm seriously considering Compuhost as my software of choice, but one thing is bothering me. I'm reading you need a USB key to use it. Now I've used USB keys in the past and some require you to have the USB key in USB port at all times when using the product.

I need to know if this is true, because all of my USB ports will be in use on my laptop when I'm running a show. This will be a big factor for me in purchasing this software. Does anyone know?

~Lazer

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"Baby, Just Because I Rock, Doesn't Mean I'm Made Of Stone."

Unfortunately you have to use the USB while the program is being ran... I know... it sux - I feel the same way.  ...and if you lose the USB dongle, then you have to buy the program again..  Before buying Compuhost, I wrote the manufacturer and asked them if there was an alternative solution.  Their reply was that they felt USB dongles are the best way to combat piracy.  I think otherwise... they should use online activation.  That works like a charm!  Hopefully they'll have a different solution in the future.

However, Compuhost is the BEST karaoke software in the market (In my opinion)

You can easily find USB hubs that extend the number of ports. They are dirt cheap.

I like the dongle approach in many ways, because it allows you to have as many backup computers or static setups as you want. I have three karaoke computers, only one of which is ever in use at a time. I am getting ready to have a fourth, and that will mean two of my computers won't have MTU Hoster and two will. But when I buy CompuHost, I can install it on all four and use all of them just by moving the dongle.

Also, some dongles have a USB hub built into them so you don't lose a port. I haven't bought CompuHost yet, so I don't know if theirs does.

Yes you need to put the USB dongle in the computer for it to work.

I also see the problem of limited numbers of USB ports.

I am seriously thinking about making a "box" to put a bunch of the small components in. Basically make it so I just have to connect the USB hub when setting up and leaving everything else connected as much as possible between shows.

(Ie the compuhost Key, external Hard drive, Sound Card).

If this works I may be able to reduce the number of connections that I have to make for each setup considerably (as well as manage the wire tangle better).

Well I'm thinking that there is a way to defeat the use of the USB key. I'm going to be working on that when I purchase compuhost.

I have the same type of setup here for our IVR system which requires a USB key, and I was able to fool the system into thinking that the USB key was always plugged in. If any of you have ever heard of a program called daemon tools it would work the same way. It would act as a "virtual drive" The trick is getting the raw info off the USB key. Might take some work, but I think it will be possible.

Thanks for the replies.

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"Baby, Just Because I Rock, Doesn't Mean I'm Made Of Stone."

The dongle sounds like a pain in the donkey to me.  My question would be, "Why Compuhost?"  It's pricey, it's a resource hog, so what sold you on it other than their advertising?  Or, was it just their advertising?  With so many hosters on the market good and bad there had to be one or two main features that compuhost had that others didn't.  What was it/they?

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Okay, who took my pants?

It has many more features than MTU Hoster, which I currently use. It has rotation management; maintains singer history; uses standard MP3 files; automatically builds library from disk without "importing"; has decent singer announcement queue; handles banners between songs; does filler music (which I don't use myself); and many other features.

The way the singer history is handled and the rotation queue is really what did it for me. I sing a lot and the thing I hear most other singers saying is why this guy can’t keep track of a simple rotation or when am I up. I don't want that to be said at my shows.

From what I see nothing pisses off singers more then being out of order and lost in a rotation somewhere. Maybe it is just the karaoke bars I frequent but the 10 - 12 different ones in my area all get the same complaints.

Believe it or not here the singers will tolerate a poorly sounding system, or a KJ that can't mix well. What makes them walk out and complain is a screwed up rotation and not knowing when they will be up next.

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"Baby, Just Because I Rock, Doesn't Mean I'm Made Of Stone."

yeah, I hear you... nothing irritates me more than seeing obvious rotation mismanagement.

I don't mind the insert method, but it does get on my nerves. What I can't stand is the bribe to bump me up, the endless duets, and the "here comes our house favorite" that sings five times to my ONE!

I couldn't agree more about the importence of a fair rotation.  That is the absolute number 1 must in a karaoke show IMO.  But most hosting software keeps your rotation and singer history.  Probably the most elaborate rotation control comes in autOKdj and that's freeware.  What I'm trying to understand is the reason for buying compuhost because I am about to re-release an updated version of my old hosting software.  I had a better mousetrap but the world did not beat a path to my door.  I don't want to make the same mistake twice.

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Okay, who took my pants?

I do like most of the features but 2 things I dont like and prob will never buy compuhost. The rotation and song panes should take up 80 % of the screen.  Also I like 2 players one for KJ one for DJ

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Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

I agree that Compuhost is a very good program, but it is (was) a resouce hog. The instruction book that comes with it tells you what needs to be disabled etc. All of my spyware and virus protection is off, plus all the things that Compuhost reccomends.
My show PC never touches the internet, and I've recently upgraded my memory to 1GB...2GB would be even better. I've yet to meet a person that is a Karaoke regular that is not impressed by it...the singer history and song search gets the most raves!

I've found that when I use the "video" buttons (during an instrument break)when a song is playing (Babes love this!), that causes the resources to be drained considerably. Sometimes I get a warning to switch the codecs?! When I do that the computer goes back to the 90-100% operating mode on the performance meter. I guess I need to upgrade the video card next. It says something about being able to handlle DirectX 9.0, which I assume my video card is not capable of.

I just recently added the newest upgrade (7/07) that REALLY increased the performance of the program. I can run everything...KJ video screen, filler music, synthesizer, equalizer etc. and the computer operates in the 40-60% area. Compuhost really seems to be on the ball as far as operational problems that arise.  The dongle is not a problem w/me...I've got a lot of USB ports and I just insert it and forget it. The PC is in a computer cabinet that no one touches. A nice KJ booth!

Karyoker...Compuhost does have a DJ screen for filler, it works very well. You have options on the fade in/fade out of the music, you can insert music anywhere in the list and import filler from anywhere on your PC by using the "ADD" button.

My next project is to use the "RECORD" of the Compuhost to record my best singers song performances and use that for "Karaoke Filler". People love Karaoke filler when they can see the words on the screen and sing along from their seats at their own level. I've gotten to where I use the singer history for my advantage...eg; When I'm first setting up and want all of the better Karaoke w/vocals songs for leading off the show...I just type in "Vocals" the entire list comes up, one click and its there and ready to play. "Dance" brings up the better dance karaoke songs etc.

Compuhost is a great program and it keeps getting better! For the non-PC guru's I see no reason why not to have it. With all the options and video/audio buttons, record possibilities etc. It makes KJ'ing fun! I still don't know everything about it, but
I'm having a good time learning. There have been some bumps, but those are coming from the school of hard knocks.  

Compuhost rocks!  :dancin:

                                                                             bigjim56

Actually, the search is what I like least. Like MTU Hoster, it uses the brain-dead "exact match" methodology for search. Even worse with Compuhost, you have to tell it if you are searching in artist or title.

Every other program uses the more reasonable multiple keyword approach, where you can search for "brandy glass" and get Brandy by Looking Glass.

I would be happy to be proved wrong on that, by the way. In fact, ecstatic since I own Hoster and  plan on buying Compuhost.

Roxbox has the fastest search engine on the market  There is no artist title mode Three letters in the SAYT (search as you type) mode brings up every track with those three letters in that combination and order immediately artist or title. Four to Six letters has your song NOW!

One click and it is sorted by artist another click by title either ascending or descending.

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Join The Karaokle Singers Social Network. Upload Your Music!!

compu host is pretty good as a search engine.

You not only can get away with brandy + glass and get it to work as a single search you can also type in the make id "brandy glass sc" to show only the SC and not the SGB for example.

You can even shorten the query "bra gla" also only finds that song (on my song list of 5k). Although "br gl" finds about 6 others songs as well as the song in question.

Sure the search does not "fill in" but the results of the search are as far as I can tell effectively instant once I click search. (may not be if you have 50k songs though).

In many cases starting from the begining of a song or artist name may be misleading though, because one may absentmindedly type in the artist first name or last name first, or your song may have the "The" at the begining or end of the name. Without knowing the exact beginning of a song title/artist auto fill in will not work if you are wrong.

I am a horrible speller but usualy i can find groups of 3-4 letters that are in a song title, and that is often enough, especially if i am willing to select from 4-5 possible matches with the mouse. The only limitiation is that the letters must  be from the start of any word in the title/artist (not the middle of a word).

This is only true if you have selected the "Begins With" option. If you select the "Contains" option you can search for ANY letter combination, middle of the word or not!

I just performed a search "onde ou vis mm" and immediately found the Music Maestro(MM) version of "Wonder of You" by Elvis Presley" Can't get anymore flexible than that!

tbreen

I am glad I am shown to be wrong. I do searches like "cb strait expect" all the time in my custom-written hosting setup. (Which relies on Winamp, which is why I don't use it all the time, sigh.)

I just bought a USB hub and my dongle stays in that all the time. When I'm done with a show, I disconnect the USB hub with the dongle and it goes in a bag with my other cables. I was kind of concerned before I bought, but I love Compuhost and my singers are equally impressed with it.

So, why don't you use it all the time?  I know you can write a text search engine.  Personally, I'd like to see what you came up with.  What's wrong with winamp?  I think you are just being modest.

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Okay, who took my pants?

I am being realistic. I don't have the time or energy to invest in it to make it truly professional. To do so, I would have to program in C (or VB or C#, yuck). I am not up to that at my age and situation. I would definitely be amped to produce a Perl-based system that could run on Linux, and indeed have started just that. But the lack of a sound platform for Linux, and the kludgy mechanisms needed to integrate that with a Windows-based system means that there is only one person that can use the software -- me. I am not going to do all that work for just me; it is better to buy Compuhost.