Karaoke Forums

I know there alot of Karaoke company running a computer based show . I was wondering how many are still using discs like myself?

Computer all the way. I still have all my discs not only for proof of what I have on computer, but for emergency back up if needed. I do not download anything so everything I have in the computer, I have a disc to back it up. I don't 'save' any customer discs, I have a separate player for theirs.
So much easier using computer, quicker too for those companies that only used 1 player only as all songs are always cued up & if someone changes a song at the last minute, it takes 3-5 seconds to get the new song cued & playing.

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And not having to lug the discs with me. I have a bad knee that will never get better and currently 2 broken feet that I'm holding out hope for. The less I need to lug around the better.
I only have 3 download songs. Jonathon Coultrain songs that were specially requested. But I burned them to disc, just in case. The rest are all real life hard copies ripped into the computer.

I currently use discs. I do however, possess the required equipment and software to go digital at anytime. Anytime I get off my dead butt and rip the music to the computer that is. I just don't look forward to that tedious task.

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EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ

Once it's done it's worth it. Just set up the system in a place that you don't mind watching araound. When I did mine, i'd just load up the disc, add names/numbers if needed & let it rip. It would take about 5-10 minutes per disc & would just come back every so often. Sometimes sitting at the computer playing games on my laptop while it was going, other times, just doing regular work & changing out the disc every few minutes. Once it was done, doesn't need to be done again!

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Almost all this century.. I remember when you didnt admit it on this forum they are illegal!! Registered software is Cavs player encoder decoder, SaxnDotty, Roxbox. Kjpro and a couple of other book makers. Now use Latshaws.More money in CDR Win Folder Clone and others I cant even think of or forgot about.

I have gone thru 3 different MB in a rack unit and have put together over 20 DAWS including laptops. OS used Win98SE Win 2K Pro and XP. CPU from 625 to 3.2 meg.

Whats a disc???

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I'm still using discs. I bought a copy of compuhost, but I've started doing more gigs doing deps with bands again and only do 2 karaoke gigs a month now so I wonder if I'll ever use it at all now.
I will agree though, it is much better to use than discs, or it looks like it would have been anyway. The rotation, the display, the search... easier, better looking, faster, more efficient. No contest really.

started with discs back in the day when I was doing primarily private parties, etc. Now have compuhost and Hoster and find things I like about both softwares. Compuhost rules the roost for now. I cant even imagine being disc based only. Seems like so long ago. Last night was a prime example. I had at least 5 singers come up at the last minute to change their song and its very easily done with computer.
I also love the fact that these software programs repair damaged cd's when you rip them (if possible).

I'll buy your dongle for $50.

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KingBing Entertainment C'mon Up! I have a song for you!!! [font=MS Sans Serif][/font]

I've been hosting from computer for a few months now. Turns out that I can run a more efficient show. Singers know when they are coming up, it's easier to change songs at the last minute, slips don't get lost or shuffled (although I still like to get requests by slip, but they get entered right away) and I don't need an extra player for filler tunes. I thought that I used to run a pretty good show with disks, and I really didn't mind doing it that way, but it's easier to fade out with the computer. I figure I get two or three more songs in per night with the computer. I still carry a cdg player with me, plus 256 disks, just in case. My only issue is that my program is still crashing about once every night or two. I'm back up and running in about 30 seconds, but I feel like it is unprofessional. So I'm still working on figuring this one out.
The bottom line is that the people at my shows love the things I can do with the computer, plus they get more music in a night, so overall it has been a positive change.

Once per night? Has to be a computer compatibility/problem somewhere. I get a program shutdow maybe once every few months - fortunately it doesn't just stop the song, the error message stating "the program has developed an error & Windows needs to shut down" pops up on my screen but the song will at least finish out before I need to restart the program, I shut it down & restart the program and am back up in seconds - luckily it also keeps the playlist in tact as well, I compare it to a skipping disc problem that can occur fairly regularly.
Complete computer shut down happened a few times last year - almost nightly, had it diagnosed it as a bad motherboard and hard drive dying. Had both replaced & no problems since.

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the best thing about computer is that the computer wont skip, it will however invert colors but the song remains playing. Just everyone make sure the disc is good before storing to computer.

I went through a bit of hell with initial switch over to computer but I frankly would have a hard time going back to using CDGs. The extra labor involved with CDGs is extensive, aside from the obvious lugging of almost 1000 CDGs...the constant reaching and pulling.

Occasionally I'll have to do reloads (song will stop before it is done, or it isn't found when I do a search) but those are rare problems and easily fixable. Being able to switch a singer's song in about 5 seconds or so is very valuable. Having singer history is great for those who say, "oh, you choose for me tonight." I use a separate laptop on a separate fader loaded with bumper music (also use it for DJing so it's not like I had to create it just for karaoke bumper music) and it is on its own fader. Works well for us. When I DJ, I don't hook up the karaoke computer but have 2 lappies and a DVD player at my disposal for good syncs, song changes, etc.

I ran a very fast show with CDGs because I pulled each CDG as the slips came up - and it was pretty seamless but even more so with computer. I just find it less labor intensive....after the initial ripping process, which took at least six weeks plus.

I have been digital since 2003 but have had a system since 1993 so I do have disc based experience. Would I go back? No Way. I'll close my company completely before going back to discs.

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The Line Array Experiment is over. Nothing to see here. Move along.

True, but when you decide to do so, make sure to use the proper encoder like a Lame at 192k+

I wouldn't like it, but I could & would run discs on a regular basis again if the need called for it. The show must go on, I have talked with some that would say they'd actually cancel the show if their computer died & they had to run discs.

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Made the switch to the cpu about a month ago...there is still a few things I don't like about it, that's mostly dj related though. For Karaoke, the only issue I have is when someone gives me a slip and that song has been covered by someone else or there is a similar song named....I have to look it up to find which one they wanted in my book anyway. The one downfall of having my own catalog numbers for discs and organization. I still bring my discs and still use them if need be. There is also a few discs I don't have ripped yet...MrD

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[highlight=midnightblue]MrD - KJ/DJ Specialist
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& on myspace - larrynance[/highlight]

OK..., So what is this "Lame at 192k+" encoder?

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EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ

LAME is a high quality MP3 codec freely available on the web.

http://www.free-codecs.com/download/Lame_Encoder.htm

http://lame.sourceforge.net/

So should I use it to rip my CDGs instead of the ripping program that comes with my hosting program? (Compuhost). If so what are the advantages over the others?

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EveningStar Entertainment & Events
JR & Michele LaPorte
Peoria, AZ