New guy with many questions

[etechstan]

Hi, I'm getting ready to start a Christian based karaoke service and need a few tips. I've been a musician for a very long time so I have a finger on the sound system aspect. I need to know what software I will need to run CD-G and what a good USB sound card would be for my ACER laptop. I'll probably be running it through a 12 channel PA that I will also use for open mic and jam sessions. Where do I start?

[DanG2006]

First you start by demoing all the softwares to see what features you might want in a software.
I personally have chosen Compuhost with it's kiosk and KJ Media Pro hard drive. A ripper comes with Compuhost that is by far the second best one I have found. The best one is powerKaraoke's CD+G Burner.

The hardest thing you going to find is the music. Very few companies make christian karaoke. There is a large number of christian songs on the KJ Media Pro drive. Chartbuster is going to be your best bet on christian karaoke songs.
As for usb sound card I use to use a U-Control 202 from behringer which worked out well until I got the computer I now use. Not enough USB ports. I have heard good things about lexicon cards too.

[DanG2006]

There are several programs out there for hosting karaoke:
Compuhost - I have already described this one - will not play off discs but has internal video switcher if you want to hook an outside player to it.
MTU Hoster - uses a proprietory format for their songs. Will play off discs
Siglos Karaoke Professional - Only MP3+G based hosting program to allow playing off of discs
JustKaraoke a low cost solution that has many of the bells and whistles that it's more expensive counterparts has
Swift Elite dj style karaoke hosting solution
Karma - biggest drawback is that it is a cpu hog. otherwise good program.
Those are just the standalone programs that are out there
some winamp based software is
AutoKDJ - has the most features out of all the winamp based programs.
RoxBox - uses two instances of winamp to allow for filler music
Sax& dotty- one of the more basic programs out there.
Digital DJ - weird table based software that allows you to have the feel of running in a disc environment.

[mnementh]

Hi, I'm getting ready to start a Christian based karaoke service and need a few tips. I've been a musician for a very long time so I have a finger on the sound system aspect. I need to know what software I will need to run CD-G and what a good USB sound card would be for my ACER laptop. I'll probably be running it through a 12 channel PA that I will also use for open mic and jam sessions. Where do I start?

Hi etechstan,
Since you specifically mention CD+G, first up you'll need to find out if the CD/DVD drive in your laptop actually supports CD+G.

Ripping CD's in your laptop will have the same requirement.

As the video component of the CD+G track is interlaced within the audio tracks, it's basically "invisible" to non compatible drives and you will only get the audio and NOT the video.

As to playing discs in your laptop, very few, if any, PC software will allow use of CD's directly, so you will need to convert your CD+G discs to MP3+G files.

As DanG2006 has said, Power Karaoke CD+G Burner has a very good "ripper" but as before, in order to do the ripping, your drive MUST support CD+G.

If you download Nero's Infotoolz (Google it, it's free) and run it on your laptop, it will give lots of info on the drive, including it's compatibility with CD+G format.

Sandy.

[DanG2006]

Infotoolz is not always correct though. IT read my desktop's drive as not capable and I have been ripping with both PowerKaraoke and CDGRip fine. The only discs I have had issues with are mediacloq ones.