Karaoke Forums

I've answered enough criticism disguised as reasonable discourse today, but I'll leave you with a simple blanket answer for now. Yes, it can do all those things.

It is criticism but it isn't negative, angry or ugly. But I will say at this point that I am highly skeptical. Unless you are an extremely talented and unknown artificial intelligence developer that has completely under the radar met and surpassed the singularity event, then I just don't see how your system can perform some of those tasks at all or the ones that it can with any personality equaling that of a human.

We all find our own paths. You have yours and I have mine. I print books and others don't. Some run disc shows and I am computerized. Some use kiosks others do not. There is no one right way, only what works for you.

What works for me is to have a human in place to ask how someone's spouse and kids are doing because we haven't seen them in a while.

-Chris

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-Chris

Hey Guys,

While I've exited the karaoke business, there is a parallel on the trivia side. Buzztime automated trivia is a competitor for me, only because it takes away funds from a pool of dollars that could be going to me. Buzztime is something to do while you're eating or drinking at the bar. Our trivia is on-screen but with a live host reading the questions and scoring the answers. As for social interaction, I'm pretty sure we're better. Nobody gets 6-8 people in their car and drives to a bar to spend two hours playing Buzztime together.

Our entertainment is an event, much like karaoke, it is human-driven and happens at a specific time, many times with a regular crowd each week. I believe this automated karaoke system may be similar to automated trivia. Before buzztime was available, those players were watching TV, before TV was available, those players were staring at the wall.

I am not trying to diminish this gentleman's technical skills or vision for his product, there is a difference in events vs. readily available content. People go to bars to be around other people, otherwise, they'd be sitting at home drinking.

He has already proved it could work at 7 Bamboo and yes, that eventually ended but not until it ran many years and got voted the best area karaoke a few times along the way.

While I prefer the human touch and don't wish to be replaced, I can see this working on these younger crowds that we were all complaining about not clapping in a different thread. When they get together en masse, they ARE the party and they may not miss the presence of a host.

I find I have to work the hardest on slower nights/when first starting a show. Then it is time to try to figure out the people there and make it a good evening for them, think of songs to tempt them to sing, etc. When I have a full house and a long rotation then I just have to go with that energy and keep it moving. They think it was a great time because there was a crowd there. He is in an extremely populated area full of young tech type people who are into interacting with technology. All he needs is people in the bar and they will jump on that machine and make their own party. I can see it working within that segment of the population.

I'll always vote for having a human, myself, but I still don't see him failing with this.

Just for clarification... When I use the term "Crapioke," I mean it in its literal sense.... The show is CRAP!!! I am making NO IMPLICATION or CORRELATION that a CRAPPY SHOW means a PIRATE SHOW. If you took it to mean that, that was not my intention. One does NOT HAVE TO BE a Pirate to run a "Crapioke" show. The 2 items (Crapioke and Pirate Shows) are MUTUALLY EXCLUSIVE. Unfortunately, several people on this Forum have posted many generalized statements that imply the 2 items mean one and the same. MY DEFINITION of what "Crapioke" means is any of the following: The KJ sucks (runs a poor rotation, does not have things ready for the next singer, hogs the show by singing or talking too much, does not adjust sound for each singer, etc...), the Library Selection sucks (not enough songs to choose from, lousy brand availability, etc...), the sound system sucks (cheap "Radio Shack" system, too much feedback, etc...), etc...

Taking a break. It's been a frustrating day of losing a key to a cashbox, and feverishly rushing down to La Pinata to borg one of the two from there.


Thank you for the kind words and vote of confidence. I wish KJ culture was more like this, but we seem to spend way more time bashing anyone for being different.


Here's a full list of awards:

Metro Best karaoke

2001 http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro ... -0142.html
2002 http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro ... -0241.html
2003 http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro ... -0339.html
2004 http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro ... -0439.html
2005 http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro ... html#seven
2006 http://www.metroactive.com/metro/09.20. ... -0638.html
2007 http://www.metroactive.com/metro/09.26. ... -0739.html
2008 http://www.metroactive.com/metro/09.17. ... -0838.html
2009 http://www.metroactive.com/metro/09.23. ... aders.html
2010 http://www.metroactive.com/best-of-sili ... picks.html

2011 and 2012 as well, but I haven't gotten around to digging the link. 12 years in a row total.

Metro Best Karaoke Host (award only given in 2002)
http://www.metroactive.com/papers/metro ... -0241.html

The Wave Best karaoke (magazine is gone, all that remains is the web archive)
2004 http://web.archive.org/web/200705121204 ... hoice_bars
2005 http://web.archive.org/web/201208240100 ... hoice_bars
2006 http://web.archive.org/web/201208240100 ... name=rc_nm
2007 http://web.archive.org/web/201208240100 ... name=rc_nm
2008 http://web.archive.org/web/201208240100 ... name=rc_nm
2009 http://web.archive.org/web/201208240100 ... name=rc_nm

Press:

Mercury news, time to be a star http://www.mercurynews.com/news/ci_5394289
New York Times, Don't Touch that Mouse: http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/01/techn ... mouse.html?

Books:
Raina Lee, Hit me with your best shot (mentioned as the most high tech karaoke setup ever seen) http://www.amazon.com/Hit-Your-Best-Sho ... B0035G030I

I was the first in the area to start using PC based karaoke, so I got a jump on everyone else.
7 Bamboo ended because the owners treated me like crap and got greedy. They never trusted anyone, accused everyone of stealing from them, deducted withholdings from our paychecks but never gave us W2's, and the kicker was they tried to steal my software. I caught them in the act of trying to break into my system, and heard the entire plan (over webcam) of how they would just copy my software and buy new equipment. Nope.

In those 12 years, they went to Japan 5 times. Closed the place down for 2 weeks each time (because they trusted no one to run it while they were away) and bought themselves new cars. One of those lexus SUV's and a Honda. I made them ALOT of money. They didn't go to Japan this year



Wait, so you mean computers talk too much and hog the show? Or they're unable to keep things moving? Tricerasoft is a lousy selection?

I can't go into the complete technical details of how my system adjusts the sound, but it's certainly way more efficient and accurate than I ever could have been (within 10ms of a singer starting, it already knows the key/octave they sing in, and will look at it depending on what the sound system bit rate it set at, in my case, 48000 times a second)

And I thought I already explained I'm not using Radio Shack stuff. If I typed it in bold and caps would that help improve the readability a bit?

I like you just for the fact you work at MS chris. I'll just say this, there's a lot you can learn about patrons when they "Log in using facebook" and when they give various permissions on their android devices.

Where did I say anything about computers, and what does Tricerasoft have to do with a KJ having a lousy selection of music (as mentioned in my definition of "Crapioke")? What does that have to do with YOU????


Did I say ANYTHING about your show or system?????? Why are you trying to put words in my mouth? Where did I say you are using "Radio Shack" equipment (that you felt you needed to repeat that)? Show me EXACTLY where I said your show is a "Crapioke" show. YOU are the one who associated my use of the term "Crapioke" with that of it being a Pirate Show... thus the posting of MY DEFINITION of what "Crapioke" is.

I asked you some questions, but I didn't say anything negative about you or your show. The ONLY POSSIBLE negative thing I might have said regarding your newest venture, is that I was stuck (or in other words, hung up) about having to pay to sing... and that's on me, not you.

I thought you were insinuating it on this post when you said.



After that though I explained the quality of my system and you didn't bother to point out my lack of reading comprehension then. Why now? Why wait a few pages and many posts afterwards to do so?

Edit: BBcode.

Huh???? it was only 1 page later, after only 8 posts (7 hours later) that I responded. Please forgive me for being asleep between the hours of 7:30 AM to 5 PM, and then not logging on to the Forum until I got to work (2 hours later) to respond.

As for your reading comprehension... I wrote this: You described your system as a PAY TO SING, and I said that people will (more than likely) choose to go elsewhere (where they don't have to spend extra money to sing), and that could include going to a "Crapioke" show.

I keep reading and re-reading the line you just showed me, and I just can't see how you would see that as me saying your show is crap. Just looking at that line alone, it says that people have chosen to go to a crappy show instead of a good show just so they don't have to spend extra money. If anything, on it's own merits, that statement is implying that you run a good show, and people have chosen to go elsewhere ("Crapioke" show), just so they don't have to pay to sing. If you thought I was implying that I said your show was "Crapioke", then you were mistaken. I think that maybe you became over-sensitized because of the posts you reacted to from both Joe and Chris.

Well....get ready to like me less. After 16 years at MS, I am done. My last day is November 22nd.

-Chris

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-Chris

I hope you are not getting shot in the head!

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-- Mark

I'm a Canadian and even I know that was in very poor taste.

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You can be strange but not a stranger

he has a habbit of that

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Chris, a great post, and I have sent the same to Toqer since his very first day ( Actually a few days before, when he was still nervous, in hopes of passing on hints) at 7Bamboo.

While his system may or may not be successful, Toqer has never shown any interest in the human interaction of karaoke. Nothing is going to change that.

Best we can do is wish him well and hope for the best.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

everyone has their niche, Toqer has his in the hostless market.
i think he would do well in places like college sports bars where no one cares about rotation and the like, perhaps even better than a hosted show would do.
ever thought about airport bars? the traffic and people looking to kill time between delayed flights, not ot mention the asian traffic in and out of the major airports would most likely get a kick out of something they would see at home.

was just thinking about that.

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Paradigm Karaoke, The New Standard.......Shift Happens

Hi Paradigm,

Anyone that's used my software says hands down it has the best, most flexible rotation. Airport would work good if there was more international content available. (We're unicode now, yay!) Basically that means we can translate the UI into any language we want.

This isn't about human/vs machine. There's just things machines do better. I haven't met many KJ's that are fluent in multiple languages, yet a system with a UI translated into multiple ones, that I can believe.

I have to admit, the software makes me wish I was still hosting. I would LOVE the chance to use it in a live venue.

I may have to get an android tablet just to see if I can get the OSC stuff to work properly.


No luck on touchosc with my ipad.


hmmm i wonder if there is an OSC for dummies *ponder*

WOW. I am one who puts down negative personalizations at all times. However, you have earned an exception. That is the stupidest reply I have ever seen, because you know full well that your system can do absolutely NONE of those things. ONLY a human can. WHY would you post that??? Some sort of defense mechanism? You KNOW it's not only untrue, but that no one could believe that statement, and made yourself look foolish in the process.

I'm sorry, but though I try to wish the best for all, you make it extremely difficult to root for you...

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."

7Bamboo was not a typical U.S. venue by any stretch of the imagination.

Could it work? Well, most hosts- including myself- would rather it didn't of course. But that wasn't the issue.

The issue is simply that Toqer has no experience in either standard U.S. venues and their many variations, and the fact- after reading his posts- that there are HUGE holes in his business knowledge in general. I have owned, built and sold several successful (non-karaoke) businesses in my time, offered advice in the nicest way possible, and have read enough from Toqer to realize that learning is of no interest to him, though he might accidentally do so in the near future.

You have to understand that he is ( to my years of knowledge posting back and forth) kind of closed minded.

Example: Before his long break, the last I heard he was trying to get a colleague fired ( in other words, lose her livlihood and ability to support herself) not because he wanted her hours, but ONLY because she was a luddite who was disc based ( with her own regulars that preferred HER) and refused to do things his way.

I assume he was successful in taking away her livlihood as he was there for quite awhile afterward. Good job.

Also, I would add that while Toqer was correct in saying that the club was dead before he got there, the "dead time" was a short time between a good host filled with a bad one, from whom he took over.

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"No Contests, No Divas, Just A Good Time!"

" Disc based and loving it..."