Blending DJ music and karaoke

[tymzend]

OK, for those nights that are a little slow, and the rotation is short, what methods do any of you use to blend in DJ music as filler between karaoke songs?

Am I best just to cue up a CD in my RSQ player and run it into another channel on the mixer, or can I do it all with the PC, without interfering with Hoster?

[tiggallen]

you can do it either way but if u do it off your computer you gonna need a sound card with to outputs so you can assign on to hoster and one to which ever prog. you dj from

[S. Parks]

I use Hoster and Windows Media player side by side with no ill effects. soon Hoster is supposed to support WMA files, and we'll be able to load up tracks in Hoster (I think) and just do it all from one program. I'm not sure how hoster will interface with the WMA data base if at all, but back to your question, the two programs play well together on my system. As for the sound card thing, you can get away with it on a normal sound card by just minumizing the program not in use. You can toggle between the two app's without any sound loss that I have noticed. hope this helps.

[tymzend]

I was looking at more of a blend. With a single sound card, I obviously wouldn't be able to leave WMP playing music while trying to use Hoster. With the dual sound card, I would be able to do that.

Maybe for now, I'd be best just queuing up a CD and letting it play in my player.

Thanks folks.

[Wallymeister]

JJ,
If you just want filler I would just use WMP(Windows Media Player). If you have all your DJ stuff on your computer this is the way to go. If not I would cue up a CD in player and do it that way. Just open both Hoster and WMP and alternate back and forth between the two. Just dont be playing both at the same time.

You can use WMP with a CD also if you want but if you want to play 3 songs on 3 discs, you'll have unload and reload dead space time.

Check it out!
Hope this helps
Wally

[George]

If you don't mind a bit of work up front, and want the end result to be all in one program, simply import your .wav files from disc to the hard drive as CDG's(not audio) with Microstudio. They then can be burned back to a disc as cdg's and imported into Hoster and saved as kma's. Use Unknown Brand and give them id's that won't interfere with the regular cdg tracks. You can then work them into the playlist as you desire, saving work at the show.

George

[jsmith]

tymzend, are you using a laptop?

[Nitecat]

George.....don't they show up in your song books, if you do that? Nitecat Karaoke

[CochrellGary]

I use ITunes with Hoster. ITunes has it's own volume control. I can fade out ITunes when I have started a karaoke track. You can also just leave ITunes running, with the volume turned down, and when the karaoke track has finished just bring up the volume on ITunes. It works great for bumper (filler) music and DJ tunes. The ITunes library is seperate from the karaoke library. Both programs run simultaniously and use the same sound card.

Gary

[S. Parks]

Yes itunes works great too, I use it when there's songs that I can get anywhere else. Windows media player (version 10) has it's own volume control well and can be faded in and out without effect to Hoster. Both programs have there own search engine, so if you don't want to mix your WMA's with your KMA's, and have them show up in your book, then you can just install them in either program and use their very efficient seach engine. I'm curious to know how the next release of Hoster will address these issues, looking up existing WMA's etc. I wonder if we'll have the option to tell it what folder to look in, and build a WMA data base based on what it finds there, then also have Hosters seach cpabilities. Anyone know and want to weigh in on this one? Actually I have ran all three programs simultaneaously without any negative effect to any of the programs, all from one sound card. Come to think of it, it would be really cool if Hoster had it's own volume fader in the program. (Just thinking out loud)!

[gduns - with the Lord]

windows media player has a volume control on the bottom of the screen. You can leave a song playing on media player when you start your karaoke file, and it will keep playing with only one sound card. then fade it out with the volume control on media player. I have been using it for a year. I have bpm studio that uses a different sound card. and it is good for strictly dj, but for a mix media player works great.

[tymzend]

I am not using a laptop. I use the MTU portable PC.

Was hoping to be able to do the blending on my mixer, as it's easier that trying to do 3 things at once (for me anyway), thanking the singer, expanding the WMP window, finding the volume slider with the mouse, inviting up the next singer, etc.

Still looks like for my preference, it would be best to install another sound card, and run the seperate output to the other channel on my mixer, and go from there.

[gduns - with the Lord]

I also use a laptop. But I don't run fullscreen on hoster & media player. you can shrink the windows, and keep the mediaplayer below the hoster. and after you start the karaoke song, go to the bottom of the screen and slide the volume down as the hoster song comes up.

Hoster & media player both use the default sound card. you will have to go to a higher end dj program to use a separate card like BPM studio. But then BPM studio wants to take the full screen. To me this is too much trouble.


just my thoughts........

[jsmith]

I use a laptop with a dual output sound card ( Echo Indigo ). I use VirtualDJ to play "filler" music with. Hoster gets one output and VDJ gets the other. Each output is run to a different channel on the mixer allowing me to manually fade between the two. What you will need, besides another sound card, is a program to play your filler music that will allow you to assign it to a certain sound card.

[big daddy]

I use laptop with Echo Indigo Dj sound card and BPM Studio Pro along side of Hoster. Out of Echo sound card channel 3/4 into one channel of mixer and out of laptop sound card into another channel and have Channel 1/2 of Echo saund card for my headphones. We ussually do about 60% Karaoke and 40% DJ.
BIG DADDY

[bjswaim]

jsmith or big daddy,
I am currently running OtsDJ along with Hoster and am considering getting Echo Indigo DJ so I can run each on a different channel of my mixer. OtsDJ is able to assign to any sound card you have. Since you are running both softwares I'm assuming you can assign Hoster to which ever sound card you wish. Can you guide me through the steps of assigning Hoster to a specific sound card or channel of the Echo Indigo DJ. Can I run my dj program out of one channel of the Echo Indigo DJ and Hoster out of the other channel of the Echo Indigo DJ? Thanking you in advance for your help and knowledge.

[jsmith]

You don't need to assign Hoster. It will automatically use the default, which will be channel 1/2 and you can use channel 3/4 for OtsDJ. You will really like this sound card setup. I have considered getting OtsDJ. Can you give me a rundown on some of the better features?

[big daddy]

I use the control panel sounds setting to use my internal sound card as default. that is what Hoster will use, then I set up BPM to use the Echo Indigo DJ 3/4 for player output and 1/2 for monitor output. I like to use the volume control on Echo 1/2 for my headphones. Always scares me to use the internal sound card and volume for headphones have had confilct problems it it is not set to default and you try to raise or lower the volume. So I leave it on high and let Hoster use it. I also made sure I had at least a 16 bit sound card built into the computer.
BIG DADDY

[bjswaim]

Thanks guys for the input on Echo Indigo DJ. It looks like this is a good way to go. Jsmith, the features I like most about OtsDj are two-fold. It has an amazing mix point technology. It is built in. It automatically mixes one song into another and it does an amazing job. You can also change the mix point manually for specific songs so they begin and end at a different point. I have used this specifically on songs I have from live performances, getting rid of the audience noise before and after the song. The other thing I like is that I can categorize each song into as many categories I wish. If I have a country song that is good also for country dance, I can create a category for "country" one for "country dances" and also, if I want, create a category for "two-step" and then when I'm doing a country dj gig I can enter songs from the country category or if they are wanting dances or a specific dance, then I don't have to "remember" what song is good for which dance, etc. And, I do these categories for all my genres. It makes it real easy to pick songs while you're at the gig. Also, the next release of OtsDj will have beat mix technology which will be great for those dance club scenarios.

[nitelife]

So many good DJ programs out there: tried windows media player, but found it slow and clumsy.Although it did play videos as well.
Ended up using two separate programs for DJ...and video.
Best players I have found to date???? Use BPM proffesional for the DJ part. A bit pricey, but well worth it. Check out their web page to look it over...a simple web search will bring you right to it.
For videos , I use the CORE media player. A free player available on the web that has windows player beat hands down for video.
Yes I Use Hoster For Karaoke: and would never use anything else. No problem using all three programs together...just keeping the current program in use " on top " of the others while in use. No problem switching programs as needed, and no cross-over interference.