Karaoke Forums

what do you guys think of this?  I don't know what I am going to eventually get, but I am going to get something in this price range.  I was also thinking about the Numark KMX01 Karaoke Dj Station, but that is going in a different direction, and I would also have to buy something else to make it rock.  I'm just looking to be on the hairry edge of being a professional, maybe do small stuff with friends mostly and then decide if I want to really get into it.  It seems like if I bought the Numark, I would have to spend a bunch more dollars to make it right, while the Gigmaster just needs a monitor, I think.  But I also know how to spin a little, and would like to be able to maybe DJ and not just KJ.  if I got the terms right.  Anyway, opinions, anybody have either of these?  Thanks - Jim

I have had several pieces of Vocopro equipment before I knew better. None of them lasted. Buy professional, or you will be replacing it. I find it is cheaper to buy quality the first time, then your investment will stay with you.

_________________
______________________________________
I'm Not Dead yet...... But every day Im getting Closer !

Jim, while I can't speak for others, my opinion is, if that was to be your starting out rig for doing gigs, you'll have out grown it by the time you leave your house. Only if you were doing a very small venue/coffee house, other wise, I think you'll find the system lacking and wishing you had gone for a small pa and player instead. With that setup, you're limited in many ways. Behringer, Kustom make several small portable systems.
If that particular system is within your budget, believe I understand and respect your decision. I would just take the time to do some more research and wait for more feedback from other members here. Regardless good luck to you on your new endeavor.

James
Maninblack

_________________
I serve no man and am loyal to only one God.

Being critical of a person's success in any respect speaks volumes about the lack of your own.

Love as though you've never been hurt, Dance as though no one's watching, Sing as though God Himself were listening.

I appreciate the feedback, I'd also like to here from someone who has actually used it; there was one review on Amazon concerning this machine, but one review is not enough info for me to just buy something, it could have been a BS review.  But if everyone says vocopro sucks, I guess I don't want any vocopro stuff.   Here is the review --->

3 of 4 people found the following review helpful:

Awesome machine, September 26, 2005
Reviewer: M. Madawi - See all my reviews
   
"I got the Gigmaster for smaller venues that didn't need a full on system. It has exceeded my expectations. It has all the bells and whistles and sounds awesome. The price was awesome too."

well, I've been looking thru this forum  site about vocopro and I don't think I want to even go  there.  thanks for all your feedback!  no vocopro for me.

What is your budget & then a maximum budget - we can recommend from there.

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

hmmmm, I guess I would like to spend about 500 bucks.  I like to keep it easy and compact though.  I don't want a bunch of crap to lug around right now, like 4 speakers and stands and all that yet.  in a perfect world I'd like something that sounds pretty good but is more compact.  I'd like a karaoke player and something small and compact that sounds decent for sound.  the gigmaster is a great PROTOTYPE for what I want, but I guess I should get components so if one part breaks I can easily replace it/upgrade.  my laptop is doing better than I thought with KARAFUN.  I guess having the capability to plug my laptop in via USB would be of major importance so I don't have to lug a bunch of disks/can easily find a song and bang it out.

something decent with USB support and decent sound is what I need I suppose.  can I get that with 500 bucks?  I don't mind used, but it seems like it would be hard to find something a little older with USB support.  I dunno, maybe get an external sound card with more plugins and run it off of my new laptop?  thanks for your help!  jim

$500? you must be joking.

BigDog's mic is $600. thats for one mic only.

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

Is this for a home karaoke?  $500 isn't going to get you much for pro shows.

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

yeah, I'm not sure I want to go big time yet.  I'd like to get something small and then maybe go pro eventually.  and I would never pay 600 dollars for a mic, no matter how big I got.  for karaoke that is.

see, I didn't try to fool anybody, I started this thread the same way....hairy edge of prof.  small stuff  with friends.  decide later.  stuff like that.  I don't want to spend thousands of dollars for something I'm not sure I want to do.  I like doing it, but kinda just want to do it for fun and do parties for people I know and maybe a referral for some small dollars.  see what I'm saying?  small and compact and DECENT is what I'm talking about.  I mean, people were satisfied with my really bad setup.  I'm not looking to do a big show like on "Duets".  I just want something that sounds OK, not all crackled up.  It doesn't have to be perfect.  Maybe this doesn't exist, but oh well, I tried.  Maybe I'll get tht MK-22 from RSQ as a starter.  is that any good?

What you need  are:

Mic
player
power mixer
speaker

Here is a power mixer in your price range, but finding a set of speaker to match th power output is hard.

power mixer EUROPOWER PMH518M ,  189.99 USD
http://www.behringer.com/PMH518M/index.cfm?lang=ENG

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

very cool, thanks jian.  do you think for now that my laptop would suffice for the cdg player?  what are the problems with doing this?  I don't mind springing for a decent external sound card, if that would help (100 bucks maybe?).  maybe I will get the mixer and use home speakers UNTIL I buy something better.  I already have nice Polk Audio speakers.  I've been using KARAFUN on my laptop and it is pretty cool.  it is a freeware download and works surprisingly well.  if I do real gigs I'd have to purchase the full version.  don't automatically knock it because it is freeware, I've heard other people on this site talk about its usefullness, that's how I got the idea.  let me know what you think if these components I am talking about will work together.

laptop w/KARAFUN = cdg player (w or w/out soundcard? - help me here)
europowermixer = power/output control
polk audio home speakers for now
I already have 2 cheap mics

I guess my biggest question is use of a sound card and how that incorporates into all of this.  thanks so much!  jim

I have gone digital on the both Karaoke and DJ music and for your budget, sound card will put a big dent in to it. The set up you have is just ok if you want to use for home system. However, if you want to do this for a gig, it just won't do.

First of all, minimum sound card for a laptop will set you back about $100. That is for something like soundblaster. It will cost you more if you want a sound card that sounds better, like Indigo. That's what I have.

Secondly, you didn't mention any amp to drive your speakers. If you are planning to use those Polk speakers, not really recommended for professional use, you will need some kind of receiver to drive them. That would cost you at least $200-$300. A decent amp to drive a decent set of PA speakers would set you back about $700-$800 range for both if you want to use them for gigs. Set of PA speakers would set you back about $300-$500 range.

If that mixer is a powered mixer, you will probably blow your Polk speakers, not really recommended. You are better off getting a decent powered speaker/mixer/amp set, like Fender Passport for about $400 to $850 range. With the Fender, all you will need is your laptop and mics.

Again, mics are very important if you are thinking about doing gigs. I would spend at least $100 and get a pair of decent mics.

So, close to your budget, my recommendation is get a low end Fender Passport, decent sound card and pair of mics for about $600 and use your laptop as your player. You will be so much happier than using the configuration you were talking about. Your sound will be much better.

Of course, if you are looking at using it for anything more than a small venue, you will need to upgrade. If you want to start sounding better, you will need to upgrade. But I think that would be better than what you are planning.

_________________

Seize the day and SING!!!

Alright, at least get something like this
http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i- ... d-317.html

It will be a little better than running through your home stereo - now it still isn't something you could go gigging with, but it's better than that little VP unit you were looking at.  
Yes you can use your laptop for a player - you may need to get a cdg compatable player for it (external USB will work fine provided it can read/burn cdg's), some of the other guys can help you with free player software & rippers for your laptop.  
Music is going to be the biggest expense out of all, start out with something like the Supercore pack http://www.karaoke.com/cgi-bin/WebObjec ... &key=44043  Which is on sale right now BTW.  This will give you a pretty good little selection of decent quality music.  
Now get a couple mics like http://www.americanmusical.com/item--i- ... 06_70.html .

This will all be in your budget & better than what you were suggesting earlier.

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

you guys are great!  thanks so much for scale down for my ghetto-style-oake.  I'll look into all those suggestions and get back to this thread.  jim

Think of the investment this way: If you do intend on trying to get a steady professional gig in the future, you could demand $125-175 a night as long as you have a good system and good music. I have been doing karaoke for two years and have about $6000 invested in my system and about $3500 invested in music. Is that a shocking sticker price for you?? Well it shouldn't be, because in that same timeframe I have made about $40,000 working two nights a week for 5 1/2 hours a night. That's $30,500 profit in two years working 11 hours a week. This is also my second system. My intial investment was about $3,000, and that made bought me an AVERAGE system and below-average song selection. BUT it got me in the door and gave me the cash flow to quickly upgrade my stuff, and the second I did I moved on to a bigger, better bar making $50 more a night. I now host for about 200-250 happy patrons, including about 100 smokin, slightly intoxicated chicas nightly, a good number of which seem to love that KJ guy in the authority position!!

It took me about 4-5 months when I first started out to really get the hang of professional sound mixing, and I am naturally a good personality who gets along with many differant types of people and can smooze a crowd like no other, so those things are now second nature to me and I really can spend most of my time at my shows now enjoying myself, having a few drinks, and meeting new people. $35 an hour to drink and meet girls. I can not think of a better part-time SELF-EMPLOYMENT that has more overall benefits than karaoke (is there such a thing as male fluffers for classy lesbian porn??). And it is all because I invested enough to make myself stand out among all of the cheapy rigs around town. I have PROFESSIONAL sound, run a PROFESSIONAL show, and get paid PROFESSIONAL bank as a result.

SO, if your aspirations are really to eventually host a karaoke show in a bar, take out a loan and get some professional equipment and it will more than pay for itself fairly quickly. Or, you can spend the $500, get a gig at the local hole in the wall making $50 a night, and get to smooze with the lowest of the low clientale each week, some of which will have all of their teeth, until your heart's content.

That's the karaoke game that's out there, which part do you want to play??

_________________
C Mc
KJ, FL

Well I wasn't going to say it  but it's true!

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

I totally understand where you are coming from.  My only thing is, take a look at these scenarios

1.  I buy 6k$ worth of karaoke stuff now and decide I don't want to do it.  Out 2k or so assuming I can re-sell it all.  Not Happy

1a.  I buy 6k$ worth of karaoke stuff and love it, but realize I really wanted the GI Joe with the kung-fu grip, not the GI Joe with the UZI burp gun.  So I spend 3k more and have what I want now but spent too much doing it.  Happy but spent too much $$$ to get here.

2.  I buy 1000$ (okay guys, maybe 500 was too small, you got me going in your direction) worth of stuff that is smaller, more compact, easy to haul around, and I end-up doin small gigs, make a couple thousand bucks, have good stuff for homestyle parties, don't have to lug a bunch of heavy stuff.  Happy, I already make a darn good living working just 6 months a year (90k), I am a contracted radiation protection tech.  No chicas though, hmmmmm.

3.  I do #2 for a while and say "man, I like this karaoke thing and want to do more".  Now, I have a backup system or a system I can leave at home for fun(components), I KNOW what I want to buy because I have experience now and have said to myself  "man, I wish I had the kung-fu grip, I think I'll go buy it".  And now, since it is 1-3 years later, I buy NEWER and Better stuff.  And since karaoke stuff seems to be on the fringe of being way more computerized (more USB support, better component recognition maybe?), I will gett stuff that will be more compatable and maybe work better.  For the same $$$

my idea is start out smaller but with stuff that is decent, not great or even above average, then when I know what is up, I'll become a straight up G and get me REAL show on, dig?  being a KJ sounds good to me, and I may do it.  I have a few problems with being a KJ right now, like I hate cigarette smoke.  I'm still feeling this out a bit.  you guys have really got me thinking though.  But, I'd just like to do a few crappy venues with some below average equipment so people don't expect to much and get my "karaoke legs" under me.

tell me where my thinking is messed up, the above SOUNDS like a good plan to me, but I have been wrong PLENTY of times.

I still haven't researched all your ideas yet, but thanks for them.  I like the fender passport idea just on first glance but I will look into all of them tonite.  Thank you.   Jim

oh yeah...did I tell you I can't sing very well?  :no:  I just REALLY like karaoke and have a retarded personality, which I was hoping would get me by.....