I've been a big karaoke fan since the early 90's and have even had opportunities to sing in Japan and in several European countries.
None of that is relevant, but it's fun to share and provides a little background.
Here's some slightly more relevant background.
Since 2004, I've had my own karaoke system that I've used as entertainment at the three parties per year that I host at my home.
I typically entertain around 100 guests, of which a couple dozen sing.
I have an older copy of Micro Studio and an obsolete copy of Hoster that I've used only on rare occasions for minor tasks.
My player is a VocoPro Bravo coupled with an Onkyo Tx 830 receiver and two pair of great old-fashioned 3-way and 4-way speakers.
So I'm playing one CDG at a time, and more recently burning my own from downloaded Karaoke Version files.
I use Fastracks V2 to print song books and have about 5000 titles.
I'm a Mechanical Engineer who writes software for embedded applications.
Presently working on drive-by-wire control of hydrostatic transmissions for off-road vehicles. (Construction, agriculture, forestry...)
I previously worked on factory automation, using servo-control. (Robotics)
Finally, to get to the point... (Well, you guys suggested lots of detail.)
I'd like to (finally) rip all my disks into my PC and run the show from a laptop or desktop.
I've looked around the web and read some things on your forum and others.
My first thought was to add two satellite touch screens that people could use to browse my library and sign up with no KJ assistance.
I'd like the rotation to run itself.
Then I found some options for singers to use their own cell phones, but this seems to require some form of subscription.
I wonder whether there's any way I could short-circuit that with some kind of direct, local connection.
My home desktop PC is overdue for replacement (still XP) and I think it can find an extended life as part of this system.
Many of the concerns that would be significant for professional use don't apply to me.
I don't think I'd have much trouble with dirty touch screens or juvenile pranks or vandalism.
In addition, it would be great to be able to add the many free internet songs to the options that my singer have.
Can you guys offer any suggestions?
Thanks,
Reid (aka NorseMN)
P.S. When my Onkyo receiver malfunctioned, I tried a couple of different modern options and found them horribly deficient.
Fortunately, I was able to find a place that still repairs old equipment and got the Onkyo fixed.
It seems that modern sound equipment design all assumes a separately powered woofer and has no power to drive full range speakers.
Fancy home karaoke system
