Karaoke Forums

Ok, what I don't like about Karma

1) It doesn't automatically raise of lower (normalize) the volume of the songs
2) It doesn't automatically remove silence from the beginning and end of the songs
3) It doesn't track show data and allow you to print reports of histories
4) It doesn't play a CD directly from Karma (not a game changer)

The truth is that none of the 4 things it doesn't do has any affect on me being able to run my show any better. Numbers 1 & 2 would be really nice but I use "Breakaway", which works great for normalizing, and Karma has a very good trimming feature that remembers where you removed the silence. Number 3 would be nice but I don't know how much I would gain from it, and number 4 is almost unneeded any more. However, I did have 8 people come in last week with their personal cd collection in hand.

The bottom line is Karma is easy, efficient, simple, and attractive.... every man's dream

Tracking history is really nice IMO for like my top 100 songs - I use it every month at least, sometimes a couple times a month, this would be a deal breaker for me now that I utilize it. I can sort those by artists to maybe focus on buying more of that artist or maybe print a menu of the top 100 and put in the front of the book as a shortcut for those looking, or maybe they'll avoid those songs knowing they get sung too much. I do other types of sorts as well, sometimes making games out of them. Especially with the singers lists.
It's funny when I get a noobie in and they think they are putting in some obscure hard rock song and ask me when the last time I heard that song was - often it's one of my more done songs them not knowing it's a very diverse crowd. They could just skim that list and say OH and maybe pick something else.

It's also nice to be able to print out singer history lists - I get that request ALL the time. It tells them their songs with artist, how many times they sung it, the date they sang it last among a few other columns I can select, but these are the main ones I print for them.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

You have some odd customer base. They ask for brand specific songs, they ask for history printouts, I mean really. They take their karaoke way to seriously up there. Here they do it for fun.

_________________
I am the ONLY SANE 1 HERE

Yee haw!!! Thanks for that! I never knew I could do that. I love learning new things. Now Karma has become even more awesome to me than it was previously!





I can move my mouse to the extended lyrics screen and nothing will happen. It doesn't make anything disappear on my system so no problems there. Anyway, about the problem I described, it only happens randomly. As soon as I enter the singer's name and press ENTER, my Karma screen minimizes itself. I don't know what causes this. Next time it happens, I'll try to see where the mouse cursor was located. I can't see how the position of the mouse would cause this, but I will report back.






Now here's what's funny. Every time we posted this problem to Bob, he responded the same as you. Why is that funny? Because you both gave an answer that wasn't even close to the problem. The problem we reported is "the singer's history." We want to delete it. We follow the steps to delete it, but as soon as we close and re-open Karma, the singer and their history is back. We are not asking how to remove a singer from the rotation list. I am puzzled how you and Bob both interpreted the problem that way. I'm not trying to be rude. Just really puzzled. If you can tell me if it is possible to delete the singer history and how to do it, I am all ears. Every time I do it the way it says to do it, the history comes back when I close and re-open Karma.





It's hard to remember now since it was so long ago. I think I could not see my task bar at the bottom anymore. That was very annoying. Maybe I'll update again to remember what was messed up on the screen and take screenshots of it too now that I have people interested in helping me. I can always revert back to the old version if we can't get the screen right. I remember just being frustrated with it and then reverting back and it went back to normal again. Once it was back to normal, I just never thought about it again.

And thanks for your help, RLC. I do appreciate it.

I hear the singer history request from more than just my customers - I have other kj's come in that get the same request from their singers and wonder if their software does it or not. Nothing odd about it, just because you don't get it, doesn't mean there is not a higher demand for it. There was a request on the Karma Facebook page for this very thing, but apparently it was deleted according to those that like their FB page.
Some simply want a printout because they often ask me to add songs to their history that they'd like to try and forget about or want to do songs that they haven't done in a while moving away from songs they may be repeating more than they'd like to. Again, just because you don't get the request for it, doesn't mean it's not out there. And maybe they ask for it because they know I can offer it! I advertise it every so often & you'd be surprised how many like to see their history.
Just like being able to play customer discs, I advertise it - so I get customers that bring in their own discs and they tell me that I'm one of the few places that still allow customer discs - most are strictly computer and don't even bring in a disc player. It's all marketing. If you offer it, they will take you up on it!

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Karma has this too, which is a great feature that I use all the time, btw.

Anyway, back to RLC... just to be clear. Not only do I want to delete the singer's history, which works well by going MENU > SINGERS > click on singer name > CLEAR HISTORY.. but I also want to delete that singer's name totally from the database. You should be able to do it by selecting the singer's name from MENU > SINGERS and then pressing the DELETE icon at the top of the page.

However, once you close and re-open Karma, they magically and mysteriously return. That is the problem that I (and several others) have reported to Bob. He told us to delete them from the rotation list.

To print the singer history? According to this thread it doesn't and was deleted when asked about it.
viewtopic.php?f=33&t=29848

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

I have tried this several times now as you described above "MENU > SINGERS and then pressing the DELETE icon at the top of the page" The singer is deleted. I close Karma, I re-open Karma and the singer that was deleted is no where to be found, they are still deleted from the singer database. Now I am running the latest version, maybe Bob did fix that issue.


That was the first thing I noticed and I also wanted my taskbar back, then I found out that
the "full screen toggle" under menu will change that back.

If you do upgrade again you might like the new "singers history search feature"

_________________
Music speaks to the heart in ways words cannot express.

My bad. You're right. I misunderstood. I thought you were talking about "having" a singer's history. I missed the part about printing. I do use the singer's history at gigs all the time when singers come up to me and ask me about what songs they have sung, etc.

Thanks RLC! That means that Bob "did" fix it in the later versions. Nice to know.




I'm gonna give it a try. Thanks again, RLC!

Hey Guys, just thought I'd throw in my 2 cents! Virtual DJ8 has been released. It now has very nice full karaoke features and the best key changer I've ever heard. Add that to it's industry leading MP3 and MP4 mixing capabilities, and you have the best audio video entertainment software made. In our world, there is no DJ, or KJ, or VJ, you have to be good at all three to stay afloat here. With VDJ8, there won't be anymore wondering what to get next, because you'll have it all. I know and respect those of you who are die hard KJs, but your eggs are all in one basket with just a KJ program. And yes, it does cost $299, but you'll have the best, and won't have to wish you had the best anymore. It costs $150 bucks more, or $200 more, but you can have the best entertainment software made for that meager amount!! Sing It!!

I just upgraded and yes!!! That was it! Screen looks just fine now. Thanks so much RLC! I am also able to delete the singer's history with this new version as well. Woo hoo! So now I take back my nit pick things about Karma. There is nothing I don't like about this program!

Well, except that we can't print the singer's history. I just learned that one from Lonman. Thanks Lonman! Lol! Still not a dealbreaker for me though. There is way too much about this program that I love to abandon it because of that one little thing.

I use OTSDJ for my dj program (it does karaoke as well if I need), I don't actually want an all in one. I want a program for each that do exactly what I want. I don't see much in the way of karaoke on the Virtual DJ8 site as far as amenities it offers.

_________________
LIKE Lonman on Facebook - Lonman Productions Karaoke & my main site via my profile!

Same here, even though Karma will play filler music too, I prefer to use a separate program (VDJ) for that. I have a dj friend who doesn't know anything about running a karaoke show and he keeps telling me I should stop using Karma and use VDJ for karaoke especially now that it has a few more karaoke features.

I keep telling him "no thanks" and that if he ever decides to invest into becoming a karaoke host, then he can take his own advice and use VDJ to run his own shows.

Thing is, unless you're doing this regularly or on a full-time basis like many of us here are, it's really hard to understand why we choose the tools we choose. If I was just starting out, then sure... I could see why VDJ would be an option... but after having the experience that I have now, there is no way I would even consider VDJ as my hosting platform.

And I love VDJ as a djing program.

I just downloaded and looked for the following -

Does it have a reporting feature for telling me the songs that have been performed over a specified time frame? - Not that I can find.
Does it have a scroller to display information while singers on performing? - Not that I can find.
Does it have a Between Singers Display that tells the next few people up in the rotation? - Not that I can find.
Can it play ZIPped MP3+G Files? - ONLY if the files within the zipped file have the same root filename as the ZIP file. I know there are tools that can "fix" files so VDJ will play them, but why should I jump through those hoops of my existing karaoke software plays them just fine?

If it can't do ALL of those things, then it is not the best. Karma provides me everything except the reporting for 1/3 of the price.

Most KJ's I know have eggs in several baskets - One app for karaoke and one app for filler music (possibly other apps as well). This allows us to easily crossfade between the two sources on our mixers (which is one reason why we have mixers) without having to rely on a clunky mouse driven interface.

MOST karaoke hosts don't need all the DJ bells and whistles provided by VirtualDJ. In fact, if I have to teach my hosts how to use VirtualDJ, I would increase my software licensing and training costs significantly without any measurable ROI.

I like Virtual DJ. But there are a lot of things that would have to be changed for me to consider buying 8 VDJ licenses ($2400) to replace the 8 Karma licenses ($800) I have now.

What you are asking us to do is put all our eggs in one basket for a program that can't do what our existing multiple programs do for us for a significantly lower cost.

_________________
-Chris

As I've been traveling to the much cooler North for the summer. This thread have gone way off the deep end. Thanks to all that stayed on the subject. I've made my mind to go with Compuhost as none has any big or small real problems with it and it has all the fun stuff and the big stuff I will ever need. Once again thanks too all.

Good choice! IMO CompuHost is the best. I wouldn't use anything else.

_________________
Electro-Voice Evolve 50... Taking Sound To The Next Level.

As I look back and read all the replies on this thread, I see way more Karma users replying and giving you honest answers about really small nit-picky stuff, not deal breaking stuff. You have to respect the Karma users for being honest enough to tell you the truth. We just want you to be fully informed.

Is there a compuhost forum somewhere on the net? If you are looking for problems, that is usually the best place to find them. Maybe you should check that out before you make your final decision.

Anyway, congrats and I wish you the best of luck.

Although Compohost has a forum you can access through their support page they ask users if they have problems with the program to open a support ticket instead of using the forum for their fix.

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

Yes Chris, it does all that. And that's about.01% of it's abilities. Don't get your dander up boys, just letting ya know what's out there that will make your show better. But like the old saying goes, you can lead a horse to water, but?? Oh, by the way, this is a forum to help veterans and new comers. If you go to the Virtual DJ forums and try to flaunt your Karmas and Compuhosts, you just be the laughing stock of the forum because they are way yesteryear. Why is that so hard to understand? So for any of you newcomers that aren't bogged down with the past, look at VDJ!! It'll give you everything.