Karaoke Forums

Hello, I hope someone can help me set up a professsional karaoke system on a Pc. Firstly, i can build the Pc myself, I can copy my disks to hard drive and play as mp3, I have swift elite and win cdg pro to play them with - im just not sure what else i need to look at as regards to Video cards/sound cards and outputs (going to play from Pc to mixing desk and sound system) What sort of hardware would be required to give a good sound this way, and what sort of cables and leads are required to connect up the PC and mixing desk and mics? Any help and advice appreciated, or even gratefully accept the mention of the blindingly obvious details that i have totally overlooked ( as usual)

thanks if anyone can help

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jeez, cant think of nuthin to say right now!

In order to go have a good PC hosting setup, I would suggest the following:

Windows 2000 (XP is a bit iffy)
Hoster software from MTU
Any reasonable soundcard, SoundBlaster is always a good choice
ATI Radeon graphics card with 128MB supporting dual-display to show Hoster´s on the computer monitor and the karaoke lyrics on a TV
1024MB memory
Plextor CDR

Cables depend on connections to/from PC&mixer
Never be scimpy on cables, cheap cables=noise generators

This is my idea, and works for me.

Thanks allstar, this is a start, good advice too cos i was thinking of using xp, though im a big fan of 2000 and had less trouble with it as O/S, just thought it was time to move on...

Don't really like the prices of the mtu stuff though, can build a setup myself much cheaper and better as regards PC hardware, just not very sure about the sound/graphics setup, i guess the mics will connect straight to mixer, like the pc so all i need is audio/video out from PC- im not really sure though about the dual graphics.

I can use either swift elite or win cdg, prefer win cdg myself for its ease of use but perhaps its not good enough quality?

I would prefer using win cdg and one screen to start with, before moving on to something more complex, maybe i need the complex to get a good system?

thanks

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jeez, cant think of nuthin to say right now!

Changing from Win2K to WinXp is not moving on


i guess the mics will connect straight to mixer, like the pc so all i need is audio/video out from PC- im not really sure though about the dual graphics.[/quote]
Mics into mixer. Soundcard output into mixer.
I agree on the pricing issue for the hardware. I build my own machine for way WAY less. Duel graphics so you AND the singer can see what's going on. It's a must, no question about that. I have a 14"LCD for myself, and a little colour TV for the stage. Soundcard, as I said, a good SoundBlaster will do the trick.



Not knowing " swift elite or win cdg" I cannot judge. But if you want to run a show, you need the right tools. Buying the Hoster software is a small price to pay for quality.

FYI - we still run a number of production systems on Windows NT 4.0. 'Moving on' for the sake of moving on isn't the smartest idea in the world... too bad many companies insist on doing exactly that though.

For the hosting you just need software you're comfortable with. Many people use Sax and Dottie's which is a glorified version of WinAmp. Stick with that you're comfortable with to start with and then move on to better tools so you know the limitations of your current setup and what to ask for in the next software package. I'd invite friends over for a 'test run' of the software before you do a show though. You're likely to find what workds for you goofing around doesnt' work with a high turnover show.

As for the hardware.
1. Soundcard - Many of us recommend using the SoundBlaster Auxigy external sound card. Why? It works VERY well and makes the connections easy to find and work with (instead of digging behind a computer). Keep in mind that any decent sound card will work just fine for this - including an old SoundBlaster 16 ISA sound card.

2. Video - You will want 2 outputs. I recommend either a dual VGA output with a VGA->Compsite Video/S-Video adapter (about $70 at CompUSA) or a VGA+S-Video output. Do you really want to interupt the current singer while you're cueing the next song? It's hard enough to sing for some people who need to watch the words, but having a cursor buzzing around the screen selecting the next song while the words are scrunched onto the screen with your 'workspace'? And waiting for the next singer to be called and then loading between isn't likely going to be fast enough when you're doing a professional show. Trust me, 2 workspaces is the way to go. Consider an ATI All-In-Wonder card if price is an issue. You don't need a $500 high-end Radeon card because you're just painting block graphics on the screen not playing Doom3.

3. Displays - I recommend using a 'high-speed' display for the singer. Either a TV, regular Monitor or a high-speed LCD. Why? Put your fastest song on to play and see if the graphics 'smear' on the LCD or don't refresh fast enough. When someone's doing Baby Got Back and the words are flying by it's a pain to hear them complain about not seeing the words. Check your proposed set up before the show.

Other than that it's all standard hardware. More memory is better and be sure to have a back up hard drive in case your primary one fails - and I don't mean just the Karaoke files - a full back up of the OS you can boot from and run your show if the primary drive fails. FYI - IDE/ATA/SATA drives are NOT designed for heavy use. SCSI drives are. That's why SCSI cost so much more. I'm not saying that SCSI doesn't fail or that IDE/ATA/SATA drives fail constantly - only that they are more prone to failure than SCSI drives (laptop drives are the exception - they are designed for mobility, low power usage, and are usually mounted in a suspension of some kind). BTW, It's cheaper to use 2 IDE drives (one as a full backup) than to migrate to SCSI.

FYI - If you use RAID I'd still have a backup drive. I've seen cascading failures more than once.

I use wincdg pro out live and find it works great, and is very easy to use, I would imagine that would be fine

It was not easy for me either to get started using my computers to run my karaoke business. The best advice I can give is to go to your local music shop. They have the quality connectors that you need to go from your computer to a mixing board....I do this also, but don't skimp on the cable. It is easy to go from the computer to the mixer. I use an 1/8 jack to 1/4 at this time. I am playing in stereo so the cable that I bought splits the sound into the mixer. The most important thing I have found is to ensure that your video card supports dual monitor output. The easiest way that I have found is one that supports S video out. I do this through an RF modulator so that I can split the graphics onto multiple TV's, I have found that the people sitting out in the audience like to be able to see the words also. I have not had any problems with the graphics keeping up with the music, but suppose it could happen. I also run XP.... me personally, I have not found it difficult or experienced any major operating flaws. I am running both laptops and desks tops and everything seems fine. Hope this helps a little.....just a side note from personal experience. Make sure you turn off all sounds on your computer or when you search or move from program to program you will get that annoying "bing" sound. If I can help more, let me know.

Hi everyone, thanks for all the advice, its certainly given me a lot of information that will be very useful. I will get started on the setup ASAP and get into testing to see what happens

Thanks, this was fantastic.........

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jeez, cant think of nuthin to say right now!

we just use winamp as our player, and don't use any hosting software.

we did convert over to winxp though. I was having too many video issues with 2000pro. with xp, it worked like a charm. Since it's a stand alone machine, it never hooks up to the net as we have up to SP1 on install disc.

Wincdg works fine, but I tell you, I just love the simplicity of enquing thru winamp!

Has anyone tried direct x karaoke and what are your thoughts on it. I was using sax and dottys zip player but I came across this direct x karaoke when I was re-installing windows xp pro and had to re-download mp3+gtools. Any pros or cons. Heck maybe its been around for awhile and I just never noticed it.

On two of the systems I set up we started with cavs pe player and when we updated to the sp player found out it ws too much of a resource hog couldnt record on the same drive with the background graphics going I switched over to s&d which I still use on my system but the other one uses Winamp exclusively. I'll use it at times if do sing a song I cue my song in winamp and have a mp3 next in list to play fill right away.. So I sort of switch back and forth, I like s&d though to export the data base into excel or access... Id want a registered verson just for that...

I did one gig ouside in the dark and it would have been impossible with cd's
This way beats the heck out of the old ways

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Really hard to beat MTU Hoster Software. I have been using hoster for just about a year now. It makes the hosting job a pleasure! The price for the software was originally $450 and that is what I paid back then. The price is currently $179 and is still worth the $450 that I paid. They have great online support.

Most of the hardware recommendations here will work for hoster. I prefer 128mb ATI 9800 Video Card and Sound Blaster Audigy Sound Card for my setup. I have 2 separate Gig Units, a Toshiba Laptop, and my second system is the MTU Portable PC.

MTU's Portable PC is Bulletproof and is by far the best turnkey system on the market (my opinion) it runs super cool, uses only top of the line hardware, and is well worth the extra money. If you start pricing all the (Quality) components separately and then add in the certified MTU plextor burner and Hoster software it is not a bad value. I could save about $200 if I purchased the components separately and did it myself but figured my time was worth something.

Which ever way you go. Computer Karaoke is worth it!

I would never go back to Disc's

Flipper

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Ditto on the Hoster. I am also using Hoster by MTU, and actually I think they have a cupon code on there right now where you can get it for $50.00 off or $129.00. The reason is they aretrying to come out with a version that will play mp3's and VCD's also.

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

dittto Dr. D! Don't forget the mp3+cdg file format and zip files in version 3

I will say one thing about you hoster fanatics... you ARE loyal.

I don't want to spend my time typing people's names in, moving them around in rotation if you have to, etc.

Winamp will allow you to queue stuff in, and I can run my pcdj red for my regular mix music. I was really hoping that they would just make a plugin for pcdg-red, and that would be all you'd need for it. I don't care for their new player... I'm too used to the professional quality of "red".

Oh well, whatever works best for y'all!

Matt

Stop by one of my shows sometime and take a look. If you have not seen hoster in a while you may be suprised at the speed at which you can load 15 to 20 singers even with typing their name. I can do about 15 in less than 2 minutes. It sure free's up my time to do other stuff.

Anyway you have way too much time and effort invested to look elsewhere for your software needs. Like you said "What ever works best for y'all"

We all tend to promote what we use. Who's to say one is better than the other.

I've been trying to get out to see you at Queen of Hearts but kinda hard to do when I run the same hours on Saturdays as you.

Flipper

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FlipSide Karaoke
Scott

Matt have you tried the KJ plugin for PCDJ Red? I downloaded the demo for red & lloved it...I pointed to a mp3 folder and it was random playing like crazy... Cant afford the KJ plugin but curious how it works...

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