I'm Just Curious...

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Do You Use A Computer To Host Karaoke?

  • Yes, I use a laptop computer

    Votes: 8 100.0%

  • Yes, I use a rackmount computer

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Yes, I use a computer that's not what you said

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I'm totally disk-based

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Ummm... what?

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    8
K

kayleigh

New DJ
Jan 26, 2007
504
0
57
Rochester, MN
southmnkaraoke.jkdesigns4u.com
How many karaoke hosts here are (primarily) PC-based. (I can think of two others here besides me.)

If you're PC-based, I'm curious about why you made the move to a computer for karaoke and what you run "under the hood." If you have no clue, it just works, that's cool.

If you feel like posting, maybe just add whether you have a back-up system and what it is - discs/player, another hard drive, another computer....

I don't want to trigger a discussion about the legal use. If you're not comfortable answering, it's totally cool. I'm just interested about what others are doing out there in the professional karaoke world.
 
I'll start...

I'm a mobile Karaoke host; I have no regular gigs right now. I built my own computer. (I'm a total geek.) I use an XPC (a small cube). I hated the thought of losing disks, having them damaged, or having them stolen. I also hate hauling disks around. :) Here's my system:
- XPC Cube system
- 2.4GHz Intel CPU
- (1) 80GB Hard Drive (Windows XP SP2), (1) 250GB (music/mp3+g karaoke)
- 2GB memory
- Plextor 716 CD/DVD-ROM Drive
- ATI 7000-series video card, 256MB memory (dual-VGA/S-Video-out)
- 300GB external USB2 Hard Drive (backup)
- USB PS2 keyboard
- USB travel mouse
- USB light (to see what I'm doing :))

All my karaoke songs are MP3+G, 192K rate. I have all original disks or invoices for paid legal downloads. I use a dual-LCD set-up and WinAmp with PhySysteme's MP3+G and CDG plugins and Olli Parviainen's PaceMaker plugin.
 
It depends on type of show. Small karaoke only shows where I don't have access to multiple TV's get a laptop show.

Bigger shows where I have access to multiple TV's get my desktop so that I can mix music videos and karaoke.
 
I did basically the same thing as kayleigh and I'm pretty much in the same boat with regular gigs... I do however have some weddings comming up.. that's a plus.

My system is:

Midtower Case laid on its side to fit in my rack... soon to be replaced with a 3U rack mount case.
UL-8 939 Motherboard with a 4000+ x64 cpu
512MB Ram... soon to be upgraded to 2GB
NVidia AGP Video with 128MB Ram Dual Monitor support with VGA, S-Video or DVI Outputs
2 Harddrives 1 80GB system drive and 1 320GB Music/Video Drive
1 Plextor CD/DVD Burner
1 EMU 1820m PCI sound card and Breakout Box
1 17" LCD

Software:
Opsys: XP-Pro
Karaoke Soft: Winamp plus AutOKdj
DJ Soft: Ots DJ Boombox

I riped my mp3's to 320 and then converted them to the Ots DJ format for better tagging ability. I riped my CDGs to 320 as well then zip them with zero compression.

This is all backed up to an external HD for use with my backup laptop system and standard mixer. And should the backup die I still have all my discs and a standard 3-Tray CDG player.
 
I use 5 computers. There's the KJ machine, 1 playlist screen made from an old laptop, another playlist screen made from an old tablet pc, the video encoding box and the ticket entry terminal.

My bosses just told me I can build a booth. By geek standards, it's going to be way cool. You'll love it K. I'm going to be adding more computers soon.

I have an old dual PII scsi raid5 server doing nothing in my garage. A customer just donated a shrink wrapped copy of NTserver 2003. The raid has 5 9g disks, giving me a raid5 array of around 40 gigs. More than enough for our karaoke. I'll be stuffing this in some hidden away place and use it as network storage.

I'll also use remote installation services to create an installer that will rebuild my KJ machine with all the drivers and karaoke in case the current KJ machine dies.

The new booth is going to have some new work PC's in it. I'll be dedicating one machine to running Virtual Vinyl, and a new machine dedicated to running the lights.

There's going to be a lot more LCD monitors too. We just got one of those Numark 3 LCD screen things for monitoring composite video. We'll be adding a new Dell LCD screen for the new Virtual Vinyl/light station.

Heh, I love being an in house KJ... Get to build up this space-age looking mission command DJ booth. :)
 
wow,,, you kids and your toys!!! Good thing that still make discs for us old guys! :chuckthedj:
 
Chuck The DJ said:
wow,,, you kids and your toys!!! Good thing that still make discs for us old guys! :chuckthedj:
Click to expand...

I'd hardly call them toys... but never the less I get your tougne in cheek comment....

Believe me I'd pit my EMU's sound quality up against any mixer of simular quality and price point of 399.00 it's that good. I'll gaurantee you'll find the EMU is far more versatle compared to a standard mixer.
 
HiDefDJ said:
Oh, we still use discs but they only see the light of day once.

We rip am and forget about them. lol
Click to expand...

Yup that's about as much sunlight as mine see as well.... unless it's midnight and i'm sitting at my computer in my underware ripping cdg's and welllllll.... nevermind the what else... hehehe.
 
Someone I've been helping just gave me a year-old Gateway laptop with a SEVERELY damaged LED. I just got a new one for a song on eBay... Looks like it may become my backup with an external hard drive. :sqcool: *Tappity-tappity-tap-tap*

It's a good thing I know how to take a laptop down to its nuts-and-bolts. :)
 
Yeah laptop screens are fairly easy to replace as long usually a simple ribbon cable not much more than plastic with a circuit imprinted in it.... get the right size lcd screen as long as the connections are the same and your set... We have a local used computer shop that takes old laptops and parts them out...
 
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