Karaoke Forums

I already have a DVD player and an amplifier. Now I am looking for a good karaoke mixer.

I see these two are on-sale at ebay.

SYM-600 KARAOKE MIXER MACHINE SYSTEM KARAOKE     $127
AUDIO 2000'S AKJ7615 KJ/DJ KARAOKE MIXER MACHINE     $136


Does anyone know which one is better? Or any other good suggestions?

Thanks very much!

Cai

Wouldn't choose either of those honestly.

http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/ ... sku=630166

Better mixer, better effects & better sound.

You didn't mention speakers, is this for home use?

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

tks for ur reply..

Yes, it is for home entertainment, like small karaoke party with friends.  The speakers are connected to the amplifier already.

I just checked the mixer u mentioned above, can I use it for karaoke purpose? Because the input microphone jacks on it seems different than my MIC?

Yes it can be used for karaoke & will give you better sound & versatility over the 2 you linked.  Only downfall is no key changer.

On the speakers, are you using home stereo speakers?  This is not recommended & as they are not designed for karaoke (live vocal) reproduction, they will work, but chances are are going to sound muffled & distorted - especially if the volume goes up a little & you have a greater chance of blowing your speakers out.  Is the amp a home receiver type amp?  Again, not recommended, it will work, but you will probably not be happy with the overall sound & a greater possibility of blowing it.

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

Are you sure you have an amplifier, or do you have a home theater receiver (pre-amp) with home theater speakers attached? There is a big difference!!

If you have a home theater receiver, you really shouldn't attached a mixer to it, as they are not exactly compatable components. One is a consumer-grade product and one is a professional sound reinforcement component. Hooking the two together would be like hooking rabbit ears up to your hi-def TV. Sure, you will get a signal, but you are feeding a signal in that the rest of the chain isn't designed to reproduce!!

Give a but more description on your equipment, and what you are trying to accomplish with this upgrade, and we'll be able to give better suggestions!!

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

oh, yes, u r right..

it is a home theater receiver (RCA brand) attached with 5.1 home theater speakers.

I have karaoke DVD disks that i want play in the DVD player, which is connected to the RCA  Receiver.

So, I think i need to find a karaoke mixer, connect the DVD player's audio output to the mixer's audio input 1st, plug the microphone into the mixer, finally connect the mixer's audio output to the receiver's audio input,  then i can sing karaoke, is it right ?

thanks for any suggestions...

Yes you are correct, HOWEVER, you run a greater risk of blowing up all your equipment, mainly the speakers & possibly the receiver.  You are going to experience muddy vocals to start with which makes you adjust the eqs to try to compensate, then you turn up everything because it starts to sound ok & ***POOF*** the speakers are in the corner smoking.  They aren't designed to reproduce live vocals.  You would be better off investing in a small PA system designated strictly for karaoke & let the home theater do what it was designed for.

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

A very educational thread indeed! Just what I need to clarify many of my confusions.

Lonman, (and of course any one here ),  can you recommend a good mixer that DOES come with key changer? I do want a "professional sound reinforcement component" but key changer is also a must

Thanks,

The key changer is normally found on the player and not normally part of a mixer. The more important feature that one should look for is, if the mixer have built-in effect for the vocal ( some say echo).

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

But my musics are played from computer, maybe I should look for some software that provide key changer function?

BTW, is there difference between "Echo" and "Reverb"?

Thanks,

Yes, you should be looking for player software with a key changer option, which should be pretty inexpensive ($50 at the most).

To answer your other question, reverb is a type of echo, so they are the same thing, just reverb is a defined type of echo.

A reverberation is a special type of echo that was originally defined as the type of echo classical performers would hear when performing in large concert halls. It is basically an echo with a short delay period, and more specifically such a short delay period that the individual echos can't be picked out. When you are talking about reverb as an effect, it is simulating the reveberations.

The benefit of reverb is that when it is applied to vocals (or any source instrument), the reverb effect will kinda wash out small mistakes in pitch, making the overall sound better (unless, of course, you are on pitch throughout in the first place). It is basically going to take a note that was slightly off pitch and turn it into a quickly decaying echo sound instead of the actual source sound, which is continuous. Does that make sense? Instead of having 1 second of a continuous off-key note, you are going to have 12 echoed units of 1/12 of a second of the off key note all layered on top of each other, which summed together kinda "rounds the edges" and makes it sound slightly less off-key.

While reverberation is a type of echo, when you are talking about an echo effect, you are generally referring to an effect that created discernable echos that you can pick out, so it is just like reverb with a longer delay time between the echos. Again, though, this is an artificial effect and not a true echo.

Echo wouldn't be used continuously to effect vocals like reverb would, but would rather be used only when you actually want to hear an echo. You could likely do the same with reverb if you just wanted to have that unique sound.

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

Your hosting program will have a key changer. If you use winamp there is a key changer plugin  that you can download.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

TopherM: Couldn't be explained better, especially for an absolute layman like me, ! Thanks!

Jian: Now that I know that the key CAN be changed through hosting soft, but it might take more efforts  to find one that works for me;-) I don't use CD+G (never played that format), or worse off I don't use any formats that most of guys in this forum use.

I don't know exactly how to refer the format that I use: basically each music track is ripped from Karaoke DVD or VCD, compressed to mpeg4 (?) or VCD quality, each file is about 40+MB (120+MB for DVD quality), the songs are encrypted by the software provider and can't be played by any other player, you must pay for downloading.

This format is much more popular in east Asia. With accompanying MTV video for each song, it's more entertaining IMHO. By the way, does CD+G contain MTV video? or is it just lyrics displayed on a plain background?

I know that format, I use them but from the CD. They are referred to as video format, and when rip to HDD they are normally compressed as mpeg or avi.

For player winamp can do the job and so will Power Karaoke and many other hosting program. And all have key changer, just that some are better than the other.

_________________
I can neither confirm nor deny ever having or knowing anything about nothing.... mrscott

  A good used mixer would suffice. Sometimes you can get the Gemini KM 707 Mixer/Pre-amp for around $50-$70. It has 3 mic inputs, echo, reverb, 2 phono, 6 line inputs, seperate controls for mics and lines, PLUS, it has a key changer also. I have 4 of them, I like them so much. Also, even though Gemini  no longer makes them, they still stand by their products. Just thought I'd throw that out there.

                                   Donny "B"

_________________
It's a wonderful life!!

bingo ! here's decent one DOES come with a key changer, too bad it's discontinued... anything else that is current?

Again, if you are using computer, chances are the program you have already has a key changer or you can get a plug in for next to nothing.  Why does the mixer HAVE to have a key changer?

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

Basically my song library is encrypted by the software provider, tracks can only be managed (and played) by the particular software. Here's a link to a demo media file (encrypted mpeg-4 format, Chinese song), from their site:

http://www.oukay.com/Download/101572.okv

Also I might be wrong, but I always thought a hardware mixer performs better than a software, also chances are that I could use a remote control.

Also my hope is that the VOD software developer would include this feature in their updated version, 'cuz now  I know that similar VOD software has this function. Can't simply switch to other software as my investment on the song library would be  unrecoverable.

A shameful show-off of my first avatar, !

err..? no go?