Best Hosting Program as of 2013?

[DanG2006]

I'm trying to get away from Win Amp....

I would like singer history which most have now.

I hadn't considered the ability to write a song book from the program...

My song book consideration would be...it needs to do 3 columns.

So do you use a seperate song book program or can you do it from your hosting program.

Also how many have upgraded to Windows 7. Will your suggested program work with it?

Is anyone using a Mac to host?

Justkaraoke is able to work in windows 8. So is Compuhost. For songlist program I guess that Latshaw's Songbook Generator would work as it has the capabily of three columns. I'm not sure about Music Book Deluxe but I know that Fast tracks only offers two columns.
Music Book Deluxe is great if you need to rename your files to be uniform in bulk mode.

[mr.dj]

I'm trying to get away from Win Amp....

I would like singer history which most have now.

I hadn't considered the ability to write a song book from the program...

My song book consideration would be...it needs to do 3 columns.

So do you use a seperate song book program or can you do it from your hosting program.

Also how many have upgraded to Windows 7. Will your suggested program work with it?

Is anyone using a Mac to host?

As I stated in previous post I use Hoster and it runs on Windows 7 & 8, you can run it on a Mac computer through Boot Camp as a few users already do, also it has it's own built in songbook software that can be customised with as many columns as you like.
Once you have the songs imported it will create the songbook through the database.

Most of these programs have demo downloads to let you sample them, although you would not be able to run a show with the demo it would give you a good idea of what suits you best.

[DanG2006]

I'm going to echo Mr DJ on the fact that it's best to demo the programs than to just choose one. I believe if not for the Media pro and the fact that the downloads that tricerasoft is offering isn't licensed in the US, I would be using JustKaraoke myself. It offers the best way of entering the database with the most flexible naming conventions you can have.

[CORVETTE]

Virtual DJ is DJ software that plays karaoke files. It is not hosting software and does not have important features like singer history, venue history, singer rotation, next singer display, etc.. A professional KJ wouldn't think of using it for hosting karaoke shows.

Interesting comments but from Reading BigDogs many previous posts, he like myself is the host so many of the above functions are not required by a decent host/compare. Singer history can be easily covered by creating a virtual folder of the singers songs, venue history is not really of relevance to me. Singer rotation - a decent host does this by himself & if people are putting in slips for songs this is pretty simple anyway. Next singer display- handy I suppose. Maybe I am old fashioned but I normally just announce this over the mic. You say a professional KJ wouldnt use it. I have been doing 4 karaokes a week on av now for over 20 years & in the last six months have gone over from disc to computer use & using virtual DJ is a very simple transition as you use the PC as you would have discs, ie 2 decks. This may not be for everyone, as I like Big Dog do not play filler music in between songs (although VDJ would make this very simple).

[wiseguy]

Good karaoke hosting software has a the singer history feature. This stores the singer's name along with the songs they have sung, when they sang them them, where they sang them, and the key control setting they used. Let's see you do all that with Virtual DJ. Singer history is one of the main things that make a KJ appear more professional. It allows you to offer professional service to your singers.

Singer rotation on hosting software simply stores the name of the singers with a list of the songs they have requested. I still use request slips but the info is entered into the singer rotation which I can manipulate easily without fumbling through the forms all night. This is another example of appearing (and being) professional.

Next singer display is another feature that is a courtesy to the singers and also makes the KJ appear more professional. It does not substitute for calling up the next singer over the mic.

I too have been a professional KJ for over 20 years. Many of those years were on a disc system. One of my main reasons for switching to a computer based system was because of the professional features offered by hosting software. If I wanted to appear like I was still using discs I would go with a program like Virtual DJ.

[Bigdog]

Singer History...

Right now I'm saving singers song slips....people do like it when I hand them their old slips...but It's becoming a pain for me because I have the slips for about 800 different singers in the last 5 years...carrying them around and storing them is a pain..

So having an onboard history would be nice...however....then everyone has to come to me and ask me to pull up their history so they can make a song decision...Which interfers with me running my show and attending to the mixer...I want a history on the computer but I like the song slip thing too because...I use their song slips to keep my rotation in order....with just a computer history...I still have to make a slip with their name on it to maintain my rotation..

This will also keep the traffic down around my table....If someone has a question I can answer it pretty fast...if I have 25 singers in a line waiting to see their history....I need a traffic cop...

So I'm torn over the whole issue of paper or green..(on the computer)

Who's up next.....I will not run that across my screen for several reasons....I inject new singers into the rotation as they come in...So if the screen says Bob's Next and I get 10 new singers just walking in...Bob might not be next and now I have a problem...

I'll never do the who's next screen trailer...

I personally walk up to each singer that is next and hand them the microphone before they sing. This does several things...I get an eyeball and personal contact on the next singer to make sure they are ready and not unavailable...Which happens very often. So Since I know who the singer is after them...I can make an instant correction and Skip Bob...for one song, go to the next singer and then catch Bob on the next song. My show never stops....I'm not yelling for BOB over the microphone....so some idiot can yell BOB'S POOPING...

Everyone knows who to get the microphone from or who to hand it to when they are done.... Slam bam next...no dead air....

It also puts me into the crowd every few minutes....making me appear to be very interactive...and I can hear the sound system and make any ajustments from being in front of the speakers hearing exactly what the crowd hears......I set up behind the speakers to protect what's left of my hearing..

All of these things make me look more professional than everyone...IMO

[wiseguy]

Singer History...

Right now I'm saving singers song slips....people do like it when I hand them their old slips...but It's becoming a pain for me because I have the slips for about 800 different singers in the last 5 years...carrying them around and storing them is a pain..

So having an onboard history would be nice...however....then everyone has to come to me and ask me to pull up their history so they can make a song decision...Which interfers with me running my show and attending to the mixer...I want a history on the computer but I like the song slip thing too because...I use their song slips to keep my rotation in order....with just a computer history...I still have to make a slip with their name on it to maintain my rotation..

This will also keep the traffic down around my table....If someone has a question I can answer it pretty fast...if I have 25 singers in a line waiting to see their history....I need a traffic cop...

So I'm torn over the whole issue of paper or green..(on the computer)

Who's up next.....I will not run that across my screen for several reasons....I inject new singers into the rotation as they come in...So if the screen says Bob's Next and I get 10 new singers just walking in...Bob might not be next and now I have a problem...

I'll never do the who's next screen trailer...

I personally walk up to each singer that is next and hand them the microphone before they sing. This does several things...I get an eyeball and personal contact on the next singer to make sure they are ready and not unavailable...Which happens very often. So Since I know who the singer is after them...I can make an instant correction and Skip Bob...for one song, go to the next singer and then catch Bob on the next song. My show never stops....I'm not yelling for BOB over the microphone....so some idiot can yell BOB'S POOPING...

Everyone knows who to get the microphone from or who to hand it to when they are done.... Slam bam next...no dead air....

It also puts me into the crowd every few minutes....making me appear to be very interactive...and I can hear the sound system and make any ajustments from being in front of the speakers hearing exactly what the crowd hears......I set up behind the speakers to protect what's left of my hearing..

All of these things make me look more professional than everyone...IMO

How often do 25 singers come up and ask to see the request slips of theirs you have saved. That's how often it happens with the singer history also. Most singers remember their songs and know what they want to sing.

If a singer comes in that you haven't seen in a few months, and they can't remember a song they sang at your show back then, how long will it take you to dig through your saved song requests and give them that information? With my singer history I can bring that up in 5 seconds.

As far as using request forms to maintain rotation goes... you can do that just as easily with the software rotation feature. You can move singers up and down, change the order of their songs, and anything else you can do with the request slips but without them cluttering up your work area.

The next singer feature is purely a courtesy feature for the singers. If you must change the lineup while a singer is singing then you won't want to use it.

The bottom line is that hosting software gives us features we never had with a disc system and you should take advantage of them.

[djBe]

Do any of the hosting programs mentioned in this thread have TEMPO CONTROL?

It seems that every show in my area running from laptop does not offer this very simple and useful feature. I get that what-do-u-mean look and then the you-mean-pitch-control-? response.

meanwhile, my ancient external-hard-drive-to-a-cavs player system has an awesome tempo control. I use it all the time to rescue singers falling behind, speed songs that are dragging, or just tailor a song to a singers personal taste. My cavs player will even speed up the tempo of a CDG, so my entire collection (except VCDS) has tempo control.

Just curious...

[DanG2006]

Compuhost has it.

[mr.dj]

Hoster has it.

[mnementh]

So does Karma

[wiseguy]

Now... how many of you use the tempo control?

[mr.dj]

Now... how many of you use the tempo control?

Very rarely in my case. I think I could count how many times I've been asked to alter the tempo on one hand.
I have used it to practice songs at home that are too fast for me to keep up with but then realize those songs aren't for me

[djBe]

oh geez i am the odd man out yet again hahah...i use tempo control religiously, fight for your right to party and rebel yell are two songs in particular my singers appreciate bring up the tempo on....viva la difference, KJs!

[mnementh]

Now... how many of you use the tempo control?

I find that older singers tend to sing slow songs and even then "remember" the song as much slower than it actually is, so I've used it quite a bit.

Lets me get to the bar for a pint while they're progressing veeeeery slooooowly.

Sandy