Laptop karaoke

alkalinesi · Post by **alkalinesi** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 1:13 am

ok guys im officially pissed. went out today to guitar center bought the 15" jbl's and numark djio, the guy said it should use it to help with some speaker noise. but of course the setups not working. does anybody have any suggestions? numark is running out of desktop through usb then the rsq mixing amp is running from the numark and speakers out of amp. i thought the setup would work but clearly not, any suggestions? oh and the inputs for my amp only read tuner/mp3/cd/dvd. does it need to have something else for it to work?

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 2:56 am

Get a behringer u-control sound card and bypass the numark. Numark's are cheap anyway. And the Behringer should handle the speaker noise as well. No need for an outside mixer. and as to your amp. Plug in to the CD or DVD jacks and use that setting on your amp when you use it.

This is how I get sound out of my laptop:
http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/pr ... sku=702540

It plugs into a usb port and then I send it to my mixer (I use separate components) via RCA connections. It will connect to your mixer/amplifier the same way.

alkalinesi · Post by **alkalinesi** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:06 am

OK thanks Dan, but just curious. the thing you linked is pretty much the same thing as the numark right? i mean they do the same job? im just worrried ill get that and it still wont work.

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Sat Jul 31, 2010 3:20 am

Basically yes. It's pretty much a plug it in and forget. All the Behringer does is send your sound from one source (your computer) to a receiver (your Amp). I've used mine for two years now.

alkalinesi · Post by **alkalinesi** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:29 pm

ok dan so i tried the numark and the behringer and nothing, any suggestions? do i have to go in my computer and mess with stuff?

alkalinesi · Post by **alkalinesi** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 2:40 pm

nevermind I got it. thanks dan, now ill return the numark

DanG2006 · Post by **DanG2006** » Tue Aug 03, 2010 8:47 pm

alkalinesi wrote:nevermind I got it. thanks dan, now ill return the numark

Your welcome. Glad to help.

stormy · Post by **stormy** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 5:04 pm

Hey guys and dolls been awhile since i was last here but you are who i always come to with questions...OK here goes. I'm getting older and don't want to carry all this hugh equipment. so we are going to go laptop,. smaller speakers and cordless mics. I have about $3000. to invest and i'ld like to get your opinions on programs and dell vs. apple or whatever else is out there. thanks for your insight and input.

mnementh · Post by **mnementh** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:02 pm

Hi Stormy,
if by "Dell vs. Apple", you mean PC vs. MAC, then there IS NO choice. It's PC, every time as I doubt there is much in the way of KJ software that will run on MAC.

For a laptop, check the specification and look for most memory and CPU speed (dual core CPU preferred) for your buck.

Also try and get a laptop with TV out, to save having to get a PC to TV converter.

For speakers, it really is going to depend on the volume of the venue you're trying to fill. However, I would suggest "Active" speakers with amps built in. THat way, you can increase the number of speakers to suit your venue. Even use AV senders rather than cables to connect them up.

This would also let you use a simpler mixer rather than a mixer/amp.

Good quality cordless mikes are readily available on Ebay. Go for UHF, rather than VHF.

As for software, if you're on a budget, Justkaraoke would be the one but my personal choice is Karma from Latshaw Systems.

In my humble opinion, it is simply the best thing I've ever seen or used for Karaoke Hosting.

However, if you're going to buy a new laptop, be careful that your choice of software will run on the Operating System installed or better yet, rip the supplied OS off the machine and install XP SP3.

Hope this helps,
Sandy

stormy · Post by **stormy** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 6:22 pm

Thanks Sandy, I had no idea on the pc vs mac. I've run vga from the beginning and it works great. your recommendations on the rest tho let me know i'm on the right track. thanks again.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Mon Aug 30, 2010 8:39 pm

Get the best sound and video cards you can afford.

tayfunistanbul · Post by **tayfunistanbul** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 9:04 am

hi, I want to do karaoke with laptop. my simple brain tells me that laptop has mic input, audio output, software to play karaoke, downloaded karaoke songs and my laptop is okay with dual or extended display

but I see that you people buying lots of stuff. it means I am wrong. but where ? my laptop is dell inspiron 6400 gaming laptop you can say, strong video and audio.coud you help me where I am wrong ? thank you.

mnementh · Post by **mnementh** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 2:58 pm

tayfunistanbul wrote:hi, I want to do karaoke with laptop. my simple brain tells me that laptop has mic input, audio output, software to play karaoke, downloaded karaoke songs and my laptop is okay with dual or extended display but I see that you people buying lots of stuff. it means I am wrong. but where ? my laptop is dell inspiron 6400 gaming laptop you can say, strong video and audio.coud you help me where I am wrong ? thank you.

Hi there.
It's not that people are buying things for the sake of it but because it's needed.

Your laptop, being a gamers machine will almost certainly be powerful enough to run Karaoke with no issues.

However, what you can't do (unless someone wants to tell me different) is to simply stick a microphone into the laptop and use the audio out as your source.

I haven't been able to find a program that will let me do this and believe me, I've looked. It would be excellent to have the mixer software in the laptop and do everything from there but I haven't been able to figure out how.

Even if your sound card is Duplex, it seems there's no easy way to actually use this facility for Karaoke.

Therefore, your laptop is your audio SOURCE only, i.e. Karaoke and background music.

You take your microphone(s) and audio soucre (laptop audio out) to a mixer or mixer amp and from there to your loudspeakers.

What you want to spend or not spend is up to you!

Best of luck,
Sandy

tayfunistanbul · Post by **tayfunistanbul** » Thu Dec 30, 2010 4:16 pm

heart breaking but helpful answer, thank you.

Bigdog · Post by **Bigdog** » Fri Dec 31, 2010 1:04 am

Hi Tay,

most of us here are professional karaoke hosts.

the equipment we use is geared for professional shows in bars.

We typically use PA systems to run our shows.

http://pro-audio.musiciansfriend.com/li ... d-packages

This will give you a start.

We plug our laptops into the mixer. Along with our microphones.

The mixer plugs into an amplifier and the amplifier feeds the speakers.
I kept it simple but it is a little more complicated than that.