Karaoke Forums

I read over the different threads on likes and dislikes in software, and while I agree that Sound Choice is probably the best (of the companies still producing), I don't understand why so many are down on DK.

When I started, the DK Encore 1 & 2 set were the first disks I bought. Later I added the original 1-99 set. I have every DK disk ever produced, because I think they did the best music reproduction ever. I have many singers who request DK. I know there is the vocal following flute thingy or what ever it is, but you can't here it when the singer is singing...unless they are way out of time.  :D

There are a lot of songs on DK, that you still can't get on Sound Choice, while they may be available on other brands, the music quality is usually not near as good.

Sure, for newer stuff, you have to go with a different brand, but I'm just wondering why so many people don't like DK?

I like many of the songs(I've got the millennium set)....sometimes the melody is kinda loud, and if you're not totally on with every note, it throws you off a bit.......I definetly like to sing many songs from the DK collection.....

It also depends on what you cut your teeth on.  I was raised with Pioneer laserdiscs - to me these are some of the best renditions.  I know others that was raised on DK, to them, those are the best renditions.  Others love SC only - as they are the best to them.
I never had a problem for DK, they aren't that bad, I find that they do have several songs that were recorded in the wrong key - DK (John Kornblum) stated that this was done intentionally on certain songs to make them more karaoke friendly.  Also they are often edited much more than others but leave long songs alone (wierd).

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I'm assuming DK= Dangerous Karaoke?  I actually like this brand for the most part.  Some songs on DK are better thatn SC and CB and vice versa.  It all depends on the song.  Of course, there are "bad" vesoins on any manufacturer including *gasp* sound choice!  Personally, I think Party Tyme has some really good renditions as well!

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Lonman,

I remember the old Pioneer's. They were great. The selection was somewhat limited tho. I bought one Pioneer CDG when I first started, and it was okay, I'm not sure it was the same as the old laser disks. The volume on that disk was also very low compared to other disks I had.

There are a few songs on DK that are in different keys, but if you know that, you can change it to where it should be. Most singers that like DK, know the songs and will tell you to change the key. I only have run across that a few times in many years. For core rock & roll, 60's through 80's and a lot of good country + a ton of really good Beatles songs, I don't think the DK's can be beat. Personally, most of the songs that repeat on Sound Choice are not as good on SC. I love Sound Choice and usually only buy SC for new disks (unless they don't have the song), but I consider DK the core of my system...even tho it's only about 2000 songs...I've never really counted.

Just my opinion.

Someone correct me if I am wrong but I believe that DK is different that Dangerous Karaoke.  Didn't SC buy DK???

I love DK versions, I always sing those when they are available.  Many times SC has too many back up vocals for my taste.. But then if I have a choice and there is no DK available then I will always go with SC...

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I "grew up" on DK as well. The DK we are referring to is not the "Dangerous" set which is great- but all too brief. The DK we mean is short for some long Japanese name. Part of the reson they are no longer around is that they were putting out songs they did not have the rights to and were sued.

However, as far as lowering- THANK GOODNESS!!!! I don't think there is any way I could think of doing Peter Cetera on any other Manu.

I still defy people to find a better version of "Brown Eyed Girl", "Mack the Knife", or "Wild, Wild West".

Ahh.....the good old days!

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Dangerous is often referred to as DG.

DK was it's own aminal! heheheh

It's just that annoying flute melody. Many Pioneer had it as well, but not all of them.

THe man's right about the lawsuit. Heck, I got stopped on purchasing individual discs off EBAY... discs that had the Bee Gees songs on them. The Bee Gees management literally was hiring folks to scour the online sites for items for sale like that. They claimed that the original copyright permission was never given. So they were able to block the sale.

I ended up TRADING with the seller "off ebay" to get them. NYAHHHHHH!

The DK I'm referring to is Daiichi Kosho...ah, I am showing my age.

I had to wait until I got home to look at one of my disks to get the name of the company. we never called them anything but DK Karaoke. I think the numbers for the original 1-99 set are DKK1 through DKK99, at least thats the way they come up in Songbook Creator.

I'm so glad to see that there are still fans out there.

I have many singers at my regular shows that request or ask me if a particular song is the DK version. I hear that much more than ones asking if it's Sound Choice.

I never knew that they had copyright problems. I had heard that they couldn't compete because of production costs...that and they hadn't produced a new disk for a number of years. I know that the original set had some songs that weren't signed off on, that's why they quit producing it. They took most of the originals and put them on the other sets in pieces. Made it more expensive, and still a few songs from the original set were missing.

If find that the majority of the DK songs are the closest to the originals, and that includes background singer and orchestration...

BTW, the Mack The Knife is the bomb! That's one of the songs I've done for years...even in competition...back in the old days.

I have the 1-99 set and for the most part I really like it. I also have the full set of Pioneer CDG's which is almost identical to the original laser discs with regards to music. I feel that they are the closest to the original artist as you can get.

The pan flute is somewhat annoying in some songs but the customers really like them.

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Scott

Flipper

How many disks are in that Pioneer set?

Let's see. The Pioneer cdg's I believe have 57 pcdg's in their original set. Then they have the "Country" series which I believe consist of discs pcdg 201 - 220. Then they have the "Standards" series starting  at pcdg 301 - ?. Don't know for sure because I was never able to get the complete set. They are NOT the same recording as the Laser discs, (lasers were MUCH better) and some of the songs on laser weren't released on their cdg's. NOW....the DK's I have (1 - 99, and 801 & 802) and for the most part, ( except for that "flutey thingy ) almost everyone still prefers them to sing to at my show. The Dangerous Karaoke discs  (there's only 11 in the complete set....I have THREE sets ) not to be confused with the DK karaoke that was the initial subject of this post, have some FANTASTIC renditions of some hard to find songs, plus on a few, you'd think the original band was playing ie. "I'm your Captain/Closer to Home by Grand Funk, AND..." I wanna be around" by Tony Bennett...just to name a couple. Like Lonman, I was "weaned" on pioneer lasers and just like American Express...".NEVER...leave home without it" !!!!


                                         Donny "B"

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Donny B,

Your missing a bunch of DK's

1-99 original
1100 series 15 disks
2000 series Encore 35 disks
3000 series Millenium 115 disks includes the Encores

I've never seen the 800's

My understanding of the DK deal was this -- they had used the actual recordings from the songs in many cases.  The loud pan flute was to cover the vestigial vocals. Then they were busted.

( I don't know that this is true, it is just what I heard.)

My friend *swears* that ABBA "Dancing Queen" is the original track even on my DK3079 copy.

The 1100, 2000, and 3000 series contain many songs on the 1-99 disks, as they were remade to use karaoke musicians. I have all of the four-digit ones -- the 1-99 stopped being available long before I started doing karaoke. The DK1100/2000/3000 series have  been on sale over time at karaoke.com, and I got most of them for less than $5.00 per disk. I consider them the cornerstone of my collection, which only has a limited amount (30 disks) of SoundChoice and Chartbuster. (I am not a professional KJ, I would buy the SoundChoice foundation if I were.)

Hmmm,

I'm not to sure about your expalination of what happened to DK.

I was told by a buddy who is a karaoke retailer, that the cost to do the recordings was just too high. They used to make sure they had the actual instruments used by the musicians in the original recordings, like if it was an old Beatles song, they had the Ric, the Beatle Bass, the Vox amps. They always hired the best studio musicians. The production costs to do this were so high, that the disk cost was not competitive. It also required much more time to assemble the equipment and musicians.

I know that they had a few (very few) songs on the original set that had copyright problems. They settled this out of court (as I remember) and removed the songs from the subsequent disk sets. That is why the original 1-99 set was taken out of production, and was replaced by Encore 1 and 2 and Millenium. The 1100 series was disks that had some new songs and individual star disks for Neil Diamond and Billy Joel.

The fact that the songs are so close to the original, may cause some to believe that they stole the originals, but my information says that is not the case, they were just that good at matching the sound. BTW, I have heard that story before.

The flute sound, according to DK back in the day, was to "assist" the singer in following the song. I find for the most part that it really can't be heard once the singer sings. There are a few that have a little louder track, but for the most part, they are pretty quiet.

That's what I remember...maybe right...maybe wrong...I'm too old to really be sure, and you can't find anything anymore on the web about them, so I'm sticking with it.  :D

I also have some regulars who INSIST on the DK versions of songs.

They are not bad and as many say one of the originals out there

Actually the cdg's were the same music as the Pioneer laserdiscs - there were actually 2 sets of laserdiscs produced.  An original set that most people are aware of, then when they re-released in multiplex format, they re-recorded several songs & that set is what the cdg's are based on.



Dangerous discs (not DK) are very under rated by many kj's for some reason, I prefer several versions over alot of the 'top' brands - their lyrics aren't always right, but the music generally is.

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No it's not true, but as described above, they did use real musicians & instruments.



The 1100/2000/3000 Applause series/Premier series/Encore series (all 3 sets eventually got combined creating the Millenium Set) are based on the original 99 discs minus the tracks they lost licensing to.  Song Factory eventually acquired the rights to the DK set & they are now producing them along with their own discs as well - unfortunately, their own discs aren't nearly as good.

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Lonman,

I didn't know that Song Factory was putting out DK's

Can you explain this? How do you know which disks are DK and which are Sound Factory?

Not sure how you'd be able to tell really.  I bought some 'DK' Applause series discs from karaoke.com a couple years back & when I got them they had Song Factory packaging & labeling.  It even had Song Factory opening screens, but it was definitely the DK version & swipes.

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