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Recomended software for Karaoke

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badblood70

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Hey guys, I partnered up my DJ company with a guy that does Karaoke. He has tons of CD's and I want to go digital like I have my DJ equipment. What would you guys recommend for a player that will do both Karaoke and regular music. I use Virtual DJ now and love it. Also what would you recommend for conversion software. I would like to keep the total under $300-$400.
 
badblood70 said:
Hey guys, I partnered up my DJ company with a guy that does Karaoke. He has tons of CD's and I want to go digital like I have my DJ equipment. What would you guys recommend for a player that will do both Karaoke and regular music. I use Virtual DJ now and love it. Also what would you recommend for conversion software. I would like to keep the total under $300-$400.
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As for software for playback there are several options:

VDJ: you already have can do a rudementary at best job of running a karaoke show but leaves a lot of the show management to you the KJ.

Winamp + Plugin's such as AutOKdj (Free), Sax & Dottie's ShowPresenter ($60-80) and Roxbox ($70-90).

Swift Eliete (sp?) from Tricerasoft ($60-90)

PCDJ KJPro (AKA Karma) ($99)- This what I'm currently using.... you can load both your karaoke library and DJ library.... it really is a dedicated Karaoke hoster but you can play your DJ music too... just don't expect it to be good at the DJ part. VDJ it is not, but is very good at running a karaoke show with music filler.

I'll be honest with you. When it comes to running a karaoke show off your computer the best thing you can do is use a program dedicated to karaoke... none of the major names in DJ software (ie VDJ, OTSAV... etc.) are very good at karaoke show management. Don't get me wrong they are all great DJ programs but then DJ'n is what they were designed for in the first place.

As for ripping there are free ripper's like Audiograbber. But, I've found so far that Power CDG Burner from www.powerkaraoke.com to be hands down the best at it. Fewer graphical glitches in the ripped files.... I still use Audiograbber for those occational discs that just seem to want to be a PITA.... (namely Chartbuster and Sound Choice) but, those are becoming fewer and fewer.... Not much can't be ripped by Power CDG Burner.... and it's only $39.00.... best $39 I spent on software for converting CDG discs. Best of all it works on almost any CD-Rom drive... even ones that don't indicate the capability to read karaoke discs.

Hope this helps.... if you need any tips on ripping your files let me know.
 
I'll second Power CDG Burner for ripping the discs. It works excellent.

I would add Compuhost to the list for a program to run the show with though. It is very powerful and easy to use although it is more expensive.

The best thing to do is try the demos and see which program does what you want and is most comfortable to you.
 
Compuhost is generally considered to be the best based on the MANY positive comments by people who are using it. Based on what I've read it is very stable and does pretty much anything you can imagine and more, it's $179.

Video Hoster from MTU is also very popular, I've used it quite a bit and while it's a very good program it isn't the most refined software IMO. It uses a proprietary file format and that's something I find to be a negative, however it will play mp3+g, wma+g and ZIP files too. The key change works fine and the sound quality is good. One nice feature is that it has the song book software built in. This is something you will pay anywhere from $25 to $100 for separately. It's not as full featured as Latshaw's song book program and if you're serious about making really good books Latshaw is the way to go. Video Hoster is $229 and that allows you to install it on to 2 computers. It also has the ripping program included and they claim it will rip even scratched discs perfectly.

If you want to get a program that will get you going and don't want to spend a lot of money up front Just Karaoke from Tricerasoft is $25 and I've seen it in action, it works just fine. It's simple to operate too. Does it compare to the other Pro Karaoke hosting programs? No, but for $25 it gets the job done.

There are lots more, Roxbox, Sax and Dotty and a few more. If you want the best and most professional program Compuhost is probably the way to go. Try the demo of all of these programs or what ever you have time for to see what you like best.
 
I forgot to mention Siglos Professional from PowerKaraoke. From what I've read it's got a lot of features and works well, $99.
 
Ditto on Power CDG Burner. Best ripper, hands down. I was ripping discs ages ago, when you had to go through several steps and a few different programs. Power CDG Burner does it all in one go, and if your disc is listed in the online database, it will even name them correctly for you.
For hosting, I Use AutoKDJ and stand by it as a great product, especially for the price (Free!).
 
I've been doing karaoke for many years and have used several programs. I started out with CAVS, but I didn't like the management and proprietary software format. I eventually discovered sax-n-dotty, and it was a great improvement.

Perhaps the best program I've used so far is RoxBox. For the money, it's full of great features, including their own Rip-n-Zip program, their own songbook, and I love the ability to switch back and forth from karaoke library to DJ library. However, the faders are... shall we say primitive? The software is definitely outdated in its look and feel. It does have a singer history feature (you can look up the songs they've sang in the past), and you can create play lists.

Currently, I've been trying to get along with PCDJ Karaoke. This software has some nice features but I've found it to be less reliable than RoxBox. I've had PCDJ crash on mew a few times in the middle of a show, where all of a sudden the graphics stop displaying. I do like the look and feel of this program, but I haven't figured out how to create play lists... I'm thinking they aren't part of the program.

All in all... you've gotten some GREAT suggestions from everyone. Luckily, most of these software programs aren't going to break the bank. It's going to come down to you trying out a few, and choosing a program that suits your style as a karaoke host/DJ.

Good luck!

Carlos
 
Thanks for all the great recommendations. I bought the power cd+g software, but havn't had a chance to use it yet.

What are your thoughts on the Virtual DJ Studio.

It seemed to have the basics of both of what I need. And the way I mix it should work ok, I think.

I have 2 sound cards so I do the mixing at the board. It makes it more flexible, 2 mikes, 2 computer inputs, 2 cd inputs, and 1 mp3 player input on the board.
 
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