Published on
January 10, 2009 in
Karaoke Software.
Tags: djing, free software, karaoke, Karaoke Software, karaokenight, kj, kj as vj, linux, Mashups, setup, vj.
One of my visions is to see somebody DJ a karaoke night off turntables, mixing and scratching with synced video. It’s possible, I looked it up! The simplest way is with Serato Scratch and a $1500 Rane mixer. Ouch. But some clubs have these, so if I ever get a karaoke night at a clubby club… hmm…
Then there’s a $100 solution that doesn’t require any special hardware… Ms. Pinky / Max MSP.
Then there’s the free software / linux route: xwax. Which you can also use with Puredata using this thing. I fully expect to be in the company of tons of linux VJ nerds when I get to brazil. Maybe they can help me set it up. Woo!
xwax
I bought a cheap USB sound card (the Behringer U Control) so that I could queue songs in Ableton while another song was playing (a basic move when you’re DJing). The trick is to use it at the same time as your internal output, using ASIO4ALL for Windows or Aggregate Device Editor for Mac.
Audio interfaces with more than one output are way more expensive, so this is the cheap way. .
ASIO4ALL in Windows worked awesome. But on Mac in it kept crapping out after a few minutes. I’d get a hideous crackling sound out of the audio interface.
The solution: set your internal soundcard as the “Clock” (whatever that means) and go into the Sound Preference Pane and set the Aggregate Device as your audio output. The second part is important.
Also, I noticed that setting your internal line-in as an input in Ableton helped, or at least it reset the problem when it occured. And once I fixed it, I still noticed temporary distortionwhen other applications (like Firefox, iTunes, Mail) were active.
General observation: It shocks me, when Mac is the platform of choice for so many audio professionals, that this shit is so janky. Seriously.
Published on
January 9, 2009 in
Uncategorized.
Tags: ableton, abletonkj, danceparty, karaoke, kj, kj as vj, mashup, megamix, mixes, providence, ri, show, video.
The first official karaokecrime.com show happened in Providence last Thursday at Matthewson Street. The Dance Troupe raised a ton of money for their tour, and the danceparty jam session was Awesome.
I’m posting the karaoke megamix exactly as I ran it last night. Ableton crapped out on me yesterday before the show, so I didn’t even have time to mix it. But whatever, I’m posting as is while I’m excited. My favorite part is the “Go DJ” verse over “Love is Gone”.
Makes me teary.
Still lookin for a good way to post 10 minute plus videos that are fair-use heavy. In the meantime: Karaoke Megamix 1
(almost none of this stuff is necessary) photo by…
Running a karaoke night is cheap and easy. Here’s all you need:
- Laptop
- Songs
- Karaoke Software
- Songbooks
- Microphones and a PA
- Old computer monitor
5 & 6 barely count. You can get clunky 17″ monitors for free on craigslist or freecycle. Most venues have a PA w/ mics. Got friends who play in a band? They can help scrounge something together.
So that leaves us with a laptop, songs, karaoke software, and songbooks. I made simple guides to cover each step. Spend a little time now, and next week you’ll have a working karaoke setup.
If anything seems confusing, just find a computery friend to help. They’ll know how to do all of this stuff.
- What you need for a karaoke laptop
- How to download Karaoke songs
- The best free karaoke software for Mac, Windows, and Linux
- How to make karaoke songbooks
Next up… tips on running a karaoke night!
Why do I need a laptop?
To do a karaoke night you need a two-screen setup (one for your playlist, one for the lyrics). This is really easy to do on laptops, just plug in an old 17″ monitor or a projector. Many laptops will even let you plug into a TV. On desktops it’s more complicated.
Can it be a really old laptop?
Yes. A really old (say, 6 year-old) Windows laptop will work fine. An old Mac laptop will be more annoying, but probably workable.
Do I need anything else?
You’ll want between 20 and 50 gigs free for karaoke (10 minimum) so if you don’t have that space, you have two options:
1) Get an external USB hard drive. A portable one that works off USB power is best (like $70). If you have an old laptop without USB 2.0, get a USB 2.0 PC card. ($20).
2) Upgrade your laptop’s hard drive. If you have $100 and a computer-savvy friend, this is a much better option (more reasons here). On Macbooks (and new Macbook Pro’s) it’s really easy… other computers, a toss up.
Once you have your laptop, it’s time to download some karaoke music and install a karaoke player.
Sometimes you’ll get a big karaoke collection with a pre-made songbook. This is definitely the easiest way to get started.
But once you start downloading more songs, you’ll need a way to make your own books. Here are two quick guides to making songbooks.
On Windows, your book will be somewhat ugly and wasteful of paper without further fiddling. But this is definitely the best way to start.
The quick and dirty way to make a karaoke song book on Windows or Linux
The easiest way to make a karaoke song book on a Mac
Song books are important, but making them can be a pain in the neck. Here’s the simplest way to make a karaoke songbook on Windows, using either PyKaraoke or Winamp.
If you’re starting from scratch, PyKaraoke will be the simplest: just add your music, and go to File -> Print Song List.
If you’re using Winamp, just import your music (unzip all .zip files first), sort by Artist or Title, drag into a playlist, select all, and hit Ctrl-Alt-G. This will open up a browser window with your playlist rendered as HTML. Print it.
If that was hard to follow, keep reading for step by step instructions…
If you’re using a Mac, see this post: The easiest way to make a karaoke song book on a Mac
Continue reading ‘The quick and dirty way to make a karaoke song book on Windows or Linux’
I’m all about saving paper, and it’s easier to read karaoke books that just list the artist’s name once in bold, followed by the song.
Just posted to this excel users forum…
Hopefully we’ll learn something!
Song books are important, but making them can be a pain in the neck. Here’s the simplest way to make a karaoke songbook on a Mac using kJams:
Cnce you’re music’s in kJams, hide all columns except the ones you want, select all your songs, copy/paste them into TextEdit, and use find and replace to turn the tabs into hyphens.
If that sounds like a mouthful, read more for step by step instructions…
For Windows, see this post: The easiest way to make a karaoke song book on Windows (or Linux).
Continue reading ‘The easiest way to make a karaoke song book on a Mac’
What do people think about the site so far. Here are my questions, some of which are hard to answer without a wider range of content and participation;
- How can I better emphasize the concepts involved (like: karaoke mashups, ultimatekaraokenapster, ableton karaoke megamixes, karaoke art?)
- Related, what can I do on the design level to make people feel like they’re stepping into a world?
- Should I rock a background, or a better header image? Ideas?
- What community tools should I be tapping and how should I present them?
Most importantly, what can I do to make this feel like me? Or at least, my karaoke persona?
