Karaoke Forums

Hi,

I wasn't able to find much on this here or anywhere, but forgive me if I missed something obvious.

I currently use an external sound unit (6-year old Roland UA-100) for my vocals.  I only use it for FX (reverb and limiter) and the simple mixer program.  I would really like to find a software mixer with reverb and limiter, and not have to lug the Roland around.

I'd need to be able to use the microphone input on my laptop's soundcard (ESS Maestro), and run a cable from the line out to the room amp.

It seems that something like this should be very easy to find, but I'm having no luck.  All I've been able to find is recording programs and mp3 mixing (crossfading) programs.

Could someone please point me in the right direction?

If you are willing to change your soundcard to this http://www.emu.com/products/welcome.asp?category=505
then you will get what you want.

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

Thanks for the quick response!

That 1616M unit looks like an evolved version of the Roland UA-100.

http://www.harmony-central.com/Events/SNAMM98/Roland/UA-100.html

I'm trying to eliminate the need for an external unit.  I was hoping just to find some simple software - is it the hardware that's limiting me here?

The alternative is to sing at home: get yourself a proper system and bring your friend to sing with you.
I have yet to find a good software based mixer that have no hardware component. If you do find one, tell me, I am also interested in such set up.

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

Jian,

Thanks, but I don't think my wife (or the neighbors) would go for that!  

If I find anything, I'll let you know.  :handshake:

Don't the Japanese have proper karaoke bar? I know that those private room (or rather cubical cos its so tinny) are very popular in Japan. They are also popular  in my country. But we have the normal western style karaoke bar too. If you go to those bar/pub then all you need to bring are your disc or maybe a flash drive. I always bring my owen discs whenever I go karaokeing.

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

There are plenty of those around, but I prefer karaoke boxes for a few reasons:

1) They're cheaper.  They usually have a nice low all-you-can-sing-and-drink price, whereas bars charge you per song and per drink.  They also don't have hosts, just the person behind the bar.  Everything's on a hard drive, so I've never even asked to sing my own stuff.

A few times, though, I was at a place that usually had live music (but none that night), had my gear with me, and hooked it up to the PA and gave a performance.  Didn't have to pay a thing for that.

2) Most bars that have karaoke have a terrible selection when it comes to English songs, and it seems like half of the titles are way out of my range (Aerosmith, Police, and so on).

3) I don't like having to wait my turn!  In a box, I can sing as much as I like, and I also have the option of pressing the "stop" button.  It gives me a chance to be a little more adventurous and sing songs I wouldn't normally try in front of others.