Karaoke Forums

MTU is the company that provides the Hoster software, right?

Is their hardware any good?

It's very tempting to order a system with everything already compatible, as opposed to putting something together myself. I looked at the Alienware laptops, but those seem like overkill for something this simple.

FYI - I am contemplating the switch to PC, as I am already very tired of dealing with the discs.

I know there are a lot of threads on this subject. Hehe, maybe it should have it's own forum.

it's nice, but I have a local friend that did hers with a regular laptop... she used a firewire connected ripper cd that recognized the code (one recommended by Hoster)...

if you don't want to go thru the trouble, then it's great.

If you're handy with computers, why pay the added expense?

Thanks.

I'm somewhat handy with computers, but I am going to have to buy a laptop anyway.

So, rather than buying all of the components and debugging it myself, it seems like a decent idea to just buy it all ready to go.

Can anyone refer me to a web site that has specific topics and detailed instruction on how to go about this whole conversion (from hard copy to PC)? What are the do's and don'ts based on people's experiences? For people who have done the switch already, what would you do differently if you had it to do all over again?

I'd hate to start a new thread here on it, because the subject has been approached already in a lot of threads, but the information is so fragmented it would take me weeks to decipher everything.

Or, maybe it's just a trial and error thing. I just don't want to make the error with the hardware investment.

I downloaded the Hoster manual. I think that's the direction I am going to go. I am just going to start reading up on it now.

Actually, here's another question as well.........

If I want to hold off for a few weeks on getting the laptop, could I do all of the CDG conversions to an external hard drive on my home PC, and then move everything to the laptop when I get it?

It sounds like that's the time consuming part, anyway.

I am reading this users manual (I haven't bought the software yet), and it mentions that there is a compressor/limiter feature in it. They mention listening to a song and then determining the settings.

Well, I'm not sure what they are smoking , but I really don't think everyone listens to thousands of songs in their library, and then sets the compression accordingly for each song. Well, or at least they don't do it AND work a 50 hour/week job, and do another 4-5 nights a week karaoke. Or, maybe they do..................

Can anyone who has used this software tell me what you have done? Do you even mess with it, or do you leave it disabled (the compression and normalization)? The whole concept of getting all of the songs to pretty much the same volume is cool, but not at the expense of listening to each one to check the levels. If that's the case, I'll still be riding the sliders on the mixer for that.

I am also converting over to a PC system but using one of those cube PCs. It is a lot cheaper but not so compact being you have to bring a flat screen monitor. Anyway it is the future doing karaoke with a PC. It is just much easier. You can get a demo of Hoster on their web site. It is a bit pricy at over $200. But it seems like excellent software. I also looked at PCDJ-KJ. This is also good and a little cheaper. It has the advantage of integrating with their software to make a nice mixing DJ rig for all your music needs. But a program that is cheap and works great is Sam and Dottys hoster. It is just $35 and has some neat features. It does not, as of yet, let you play a cdg directly as Hoster does. However you can rip a CDG quickly using audiograbber which is free and put it in a temp directory. PCDJ-KJ has a built in ripper which is similar to audiograbber. You can use WinCDG pro2 to also play directly from CDGs. And Winamp which is free has Karaoke plugin but will not directly play the CDG. There are a bunch of ways to move the files to your laptop. You could set up a network and transfer them that way. You could move them using a DVD writer (on desktop) and player on laptop. (DVD seems like a must for backup) An easy way, if you are computer savy, is to remove the hard drive from the laptop and get an adapter so you can move it into the desktop and just copy the music over there. It is about $10 this adapter on ebay. The PC karaoke system is the future. So far the biggest pain has been ripping and naming all the songs. But not having to handle disks at shows makes it worth it, and you can instantly switch to DJing or just filler music.

Tymzend, I just got through switching over to Hoster myself within the last couple of months so I might can be of help to you. I bought a Dell Inspiron 5100 laptop online for about a grand and it works great. Unless you just want the covenience of buying from MTU it's not worth the money. The software is great, it has a couple of small glitches in it but I believe they will be worked out. They use a KMA file instead of mp3+g and the difference is noticeable. I have not used the normalization feature yet as I don't really see the need.
Some suggestions.
You will need a compatible CD burner to use this software. Plextor burners is what they recommend and mine works very well. Buy an external one (or an internal one and an external 2.0 USB case like I did, it's cheaper and works fine) and you will be able to use it with your laptop and your home PC.
I use an external hard drive as well. Same deal as with the burner, it's an internal with an external case. Saved me some more money. If you do this then you can start downloading now onto it. I have about 12,000 songs in my library including duplicates and it took me well over a month to download them all. It is very time consuming but worth it. Also when you are done get another harddrive and make a backuo copy. The size of the hardrive will depend on your library. I use an 80 gig and it works fine.
When you start downloading cdg's, download the brand of disc you use the most last. the default for looking up songs by title uses the last one that you entered. i wish I had known this.
Some brands are hard to download due to copy protection, such as Sound Choice. But there are ways to work around this.

Hi

I have been using the Hoster sw for more then a year and can tell you, it's the best available on the market. OK, so it still has one or 2 glitches, but then again, who's perfect??

I never used the compression myself, didn't really see the need, and I always keep my hand on the mixer, so I will change the volume if and when needed.

Thanks all for your input.

I am starting the process of getting the gear I need for this.

I'll keep you posted if I have any more questions.

Thanks again!

Tymzend, one thing i forgot to add. Very very important. Whatever laptop that you use make sure that it has a "Radeon Dual Display Video Card". You will have to have this in order to hook up to a seperate monitor for your singers. Check out e-bay, you can save a ton of money there.
John

Will do.

Thanks!

Laptops seem the logical choice but laptops are too limited as to what one can add or use.I have a 2unit (modified)2gig in the bottom of my equipt rack I dj kj or combination of both and record digitally all on same computer. Just found the best hoster...


http://sax-n-dotty.co.uk

Ollie