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Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Karaoke disc copying software and CD burners.
Fred_Mertz
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Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

I have a desktop computer running Window 10 Pro. Except for monitor, speakers, keyboard, and mouse, the electronics, drives, and power supply are housed in a standard tower case. This case has bays for several 5.25-inch drives and two 3.5-inch drives. I want to install a Plextor drive (perhaps PLEXTOR Duplication Grade DVD / CD SATA Burner Drive PX-891SAF - OEM ) in one bay and install the software needed to duplicate existing 5.25-inch karaoke disks (CD+G) and create karaoke CDs by recording karaoke tracks stored on my computer's drives on blank CDs in the Plextor drive.

Where can I buy the hardware and software needed to duplicate and make karaoke CDs? I've made a couple attempts to get the hardware and software I need but have failed. Strangely, the people I've contacted about buying the hardware and software I need don't seem to know much about it, especially regarding compatibility with my computer system.

I also need to know what is needed to label CDs and how to do the labeling. Further, if I replace my existing CD/DVD drive with a Plextor will it also play standard (non CD+G) CDs and DVDs?

Occasionally, I've encountered karaoke hosts who have some of the songs by the artists and with the arrangements I like. When the exact song I want isn't available from the host, I want to use songs from my CDs so there are no surprises while I'm singing.


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wiseguy
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by wiseguy »

There is no longer a need to purchase an expensive Plextor burner in order to burn CD+G discs. Modern CD+G burning software works with most modern CD/DVD burners. Your computer is almost certainly going to use an SATA type drive. An example of a great drive for burning CD+G discs is the Sony Optiarc 5280S-CB-PLUS. Along with CD+G discs, this drive will also work with standard CDs and DVD discs.

The best software for burning CD+G discs is Power CD+G Burner. This program will let you easily make copies of CD+G discs. It will also allow you to create custom compilation CD+G discs from multiple CD+G discs and/or MP3+G karaoke files. You can even set the key change setting for each song before burning it to a CD.

Here are a few tutorials that will help you.
Create a Duplicate Copy of a CD+G Disc
Create a Custom Compilation CD+G Disc
Create a CD+G Disc from MP3+G Files
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Fred_Mertz
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

Wow! Awesome!! I'm very fortunate to have encountered you. Thank you very much for the information. I have a Samsung CD/DVD drive, which I've rarely used. I'll need to determine exactly what Samsung drive I have, but I believe it's a SATA drive. In any case, I now know how to go about getting the karaoke setup I want. Before your post, I was definitely on the wrong path.

PS
I already have the Power CD+G Player Pro software, which I've used for years.
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Fred_Mertz
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

OK, Wiseguy! I downloaded and installed the trial copy of Power CD+G Burner and started fumbling. I first tried to read a couple CDs that I've been unable to read on my computer using my Samsung drive, which is a SATA I confirmed this morning. No surprise, I guess, those CDs still couldn't be read. Then, I used a commercially made karaoke CD that I have been able to read and play. Using that disk, I was able to read it and burn the first minute of a selected track. The burned track played perfectly using my Power CD+G Player Pro software. So, I guess I'm off and running. I'll buy the Power CD+G Burner software in the next hour and see how things go from there.

Do you have any idea why clean karaoke CDs that appear to be physically perfect won't read and play on my computer? Retrieving the tracks on those CDs would be great. Those CDs were duplicates of a couple CDs I lost recently along with several others that have working copies. The lost-CD problem is the event that motivated me to discover how to make and copy karaoke CDs.

If I can't restore the tracks that won't read and play, I may need to replace those tracks. I've tried a couple online UK sources, but they're not allowed to sell in the US currently. I was able to get some tracks from another UK source, but those tracks mostly didn't seem to sound like the songs I wanted, which may be due to the "in the likeness" issue. If you know of a good and reasonably priced source for karaoke tracks, I'd greatly appreciate knowing those sources.

I still need to investigate tracks I ripped long ago using some ripping software. KaraFun will play those tracks, but a quick look this morning seemed to indicated each song was composed to two tracks -- one for the audio and one for graphics. So, I don't yet get what's going on with those ripped tracks. Please confirm that the right stuff for a karaoke track is just one file.
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wiseguy
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by wiseguy »

If you are able to read a commercial karaoke CD+G disc, and burn songs to a CD, then your drive is CD+G compatible. This means the problem lies with the discs that won't play. What software was used to duplicate those discs?

Karaoke songs that consist of two files each, one .cdg and one.mp3, are known as MP3+G files. This is the industry standard computer karaoke file format. They are the compressed version of karaoke CD+G disc song tracks similar to how MP3 files are compressed versions of standard CD song tracks. Most often these two files are zipped together into a single file to make them easier to manage. That's where the term "karaoke zip files" come from. Many karaoke software players will play MP3+G files in both the native two file and the zipped format. MP3+G files can be used to create CD+G discs that will play in karaoke machines.

I understand your frustration with trying to locate karaoke songs. The fact is that the majority of karaoke songs that have been released cannot be purchased anywhere. Many that can be purchased cannot be purchased in the US. The only way you can locate these songs is to find them in private collections. I suggest that you take a look at the MP3+G Download Guide.
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Fred_Mertz
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

Re: "Karaoke songs that consist of two files each, one .cdg and one.mp3, are known as MP3+G files. This is the industry standard computer karaoke file format. They are the compressed version of karaoke CD+G disc song tracks similar to how MP3 files are compressed versions of standard CD song tracks. Most often these two files are zipped together into a single file to make them easier to manage. That's where the term "karaoke zip files" come from. Many karaoke software players will play MP3+G files in both the native two file and the zipped format. MP3+G files can be used to create CD+G discs that will play in karaoke machines."

Yes, I have .cdg and .mp3 files (one set per song) that were ripped from karaoke CDs, but I haven't been able to burn them to a CD to form one song track. I tried re-Zipping those files and got a .zip file, but that wouldn't burn either. KaraFun understands the two-file format. What I don't seem to get is this. If KaraFun can live with the two-file format, why won't the burning software allow the files to be burned to a CD? I keep getting invalid format errors. The literature seems to say the burning software can handle the two-file and one-file format.

If I can't get tracks on my computer to burn onto a CD and can't replace certain songs by buying them from a source, I think I'm screwed insofar as retrieving my lost tracks are concerned.
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mr.dj
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by mr.dj »

mp3+g files or zip files you can simply copy and paste from one disc to another or direct to a computer folder, the normal term burning relates to regular CDs or CD+G
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DanG2006
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by DanG2006 »

Fred_Mertz wrote: Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:34 pm Re: "Karaoke songs that consist of two files each, one .cdg and one.mp3, are known as MP3+G files. This is the industry standard computer karaoke file format. They are the compressed version of karaoke CD+G disc song tracks similar to how MP3 files are compressed versions of standard CD song tracks. Most often these two files are zipped together into a single file to make them easier to manage. That's where the term "karaoke zip files" come from. Many karaoke software players will play MP3+G files in both the native two file and the zipped format. MP3+G files can be used to create CD+G discs that will play in karaoke machines."

Yes, I have .cdg and .mp3 files (one set per song) that were ripped from karaoke CDs, but I haven't been able to burn them to a CD to form one song track. I tried re-Zipping those files and got a .zip file, but that wouldn't burn either. KaraFun understands the two-file format. What I don't seem to get is this. If KaraFun can live with the two-file format, why won't the burning software allow the files to be burned to a CD? I keep getting invalid format errors. The literature seems to say the burning software can handle the two-file and one-file format.

If I can't get tracks on my computer to burn onto a CD and can't replace certain songs by buying them from a source, I think I'm screwed insofar as retrieving my lost tracks are concerned.
mr.dj wrote: Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:42 pm mp3+g files or zip files you can simply copy and paste from one disc to another or direct to a computer folder, the normal term burning relates to regular CDs or CD+G
The program can convert the two files into a .bin file which was the format that Goldenhawk use to rip to. Once converted you should be able to burn the files.
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wiseguy
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by wiseguy »

Power CD+G Burner will definitely create CD+G discs from MP3+G files both zipped and in the two file format. I don't see why this is so hard to understand. When you are burning them from the two file format you will select the .cdg file from the file pair to add to the burn list. The .cdg and its matching .mp3 will be encoded together "on the fly" during the burn process. I even posted a link to a step by step Create a CD+G Disc from MP3+G Files tutorial. Did you bother to read it?

Forget Karafun, that's crap software. If you can play the MP3+G file pairs with Power CD+G Player Pro you can burn a CD+G disc from them with Power CD+G Burner 2.
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wiseguy
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by wiseguy »

mr.dj wrote: Sun Jul 30, 2017 5:42 pm mp3+g files or zip files you can simply copy and paste from one disc to another or direct to a computer folder, the normal term burning relates to regular CDs or CD+G
Yes, you can copy MP3+G and zip files and burn them onto a CD as data but, of course, they won't be CD+G discs. Burning (this term is used because a laser is utilized) is the process of writing information to a recordable CD or DVD and applies to copied data as well.
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wiseguy
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by wiseguy »

DanG2006 wrote: Sun Jul 30, 2017 6:29 pm The program can convert the two files into a .bin file which was the format that Goldenhawk use to rip to. Once converted you should be able to burn the files.
The days of using multiple applications and searching for just the right burner to create CD+G discs are ancient history. Modern software like Mocrostudio and Power CD+G Burner do the entire job from a single application and work with most modern CD/DVD burners.
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Fred_Mertz
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

RE: "The .cdg and its matching .mp3 will be encoded together "on the fly" during the burn process. I even posted a link to a step by step Create a CD+G Disc from MP3+G Files tutorial. Did you bother to read it?"

Yes, I read the step-by-step instructions. However, selecting the .cdg file didn't work because of an invalid audio file. Perhaps the problem here, besides my inexperience, is all the nnnnn.cdg files have a white K in a red circle in front of each file. That circle K may mean KaraFun has modified the file to be compatible with its software, which prevents the file from working properly with the burning software.

There's an outside chance I may have copied the ripped files to one thumb drive or more before KaraFun arrived. I'll try to read all those drives when I get a chance. Right now, I've got to take care of a few things I let slide today while struggling with this karaoke problem. Again, thanks for your help and patience.
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Fred_Mertz
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

Re: "DanG2006 wrote: ↑
Sun Jul 30, 2017 1:29 pm
The program can convert the two files into a .bin file which was the format that Goldenhawk use to rip to. Once converted you should be able to burn the files. "

I converted two .cdg files into .bin files but didn't burn them. However, I played them on my Power CD+G Player Pro program, and they sounded horrible. So, I doubt burning them will improve the sound.
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wiseguy
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by wiseguy »

Like I said, KaraFun is crap software. Have you tried to play the KaraFun created files with Power CD+G Player Pro? If they won't play with that program then they are not true MP3+G files. What did you mean by nnnnn.cdg files? Could you send me a song file pair created with KaraFun as attachments to your next message?
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Fred_Mertz
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Re: Karaoke Hardware and Software Wanted

Post by Fred_Mertz »

OK, Wiseguy, regarding "If you can play the MP3+G file pairs with Power CD+G Player Pro you can burn a CD+G disc from them with Power CD+G Burner 2."

My Power CD+G Player Pro will play the MP3+G file pairs (with the circle K in front of each file) properly. Perhaps the problem is I'm still working with the trial Power CD+G Burner 2 software.
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