Disc Mfg And Series - Rate Them!

[danny_g]

Originally posted by gotrich
So far I have SGB, Star Disk, Chartbuster, Sound Choice, Karaoke Party, Top TUnes, Top Hits montly, sunfly, & Hot Line. I

LIKE
CHartbuster
SoiundChoice
Music Maestro
StarDisk
Top Hits Monthly
Top Tunes (bought onlt 1 Tobly keith disk but good sound)

OK
Karaoke Party

BAD
Sunfly
Hot Line


Can I suggest that when people dislike a brand tell us why Sound, lyrics, sweeping???? whats wrong with it? I bought the SGB 66 disk set and am happy.

Music Maestro good sound, lyrics are good from what I see, sweeping is a little off.

Sunfly and Hotline like I said before sound like a kids banging on fisher price bells!

NOTE: If anyone fins Angry american/coutesy red,white, and blue by toby keith that doesnt have a quick tempo let me know!

THANKS
Rich
Dr Karaoke

sgb set totally of some tunes ok or others- I hate their version of Remember Me by Journey as it in no way is like what I used to learn the song they even shortened the guitar solo part and blew the ending because of their stupid advertising at the end. At least Sound choice waits til the music stops on songs the vocals go to the end of the song- SGB edits the vocals to fit their ad in at the end.

[mlepine]

I only have one cdg of Sunfly which is Spandau Ballet & I must say it's excellent on the song "Gold" & "True"

I must have at least 20 cdg's of All Hits 2000 all of them have very bad sounds.

I don't think we can say one brand is good or bad, they're all capable of doing good or bad arrangements. I just find that Sound Choice are alone in their class when it comes to the quality or the arrangements & recording. Chartbuster are not always as good and they have to much output (gain) compare with the others.

Regards

[jahern]

Quote from Mlepine:

I don't think we can say one brand is good or bad, they're all capable of doing good or bad arrangements.

I don't want to disagree. However, I have to add my anti-testimonial.

Music Maestro consistently has a fake sound on all the discs that I have. Every now and then I have a song on MM that I don't have somewhere else so I keep the discs, but the brand sends shivers up my spine!!

[mlepine]

Originally Posted by jahern

Quote from Mlepine:

I don't think we can say one brand is good or bad, they're all capable of doing good or bad arrangements.

I don't want to disagree. However, I have to add my anti-testimonial.

Music Maestro consistently has a fake sound on all the discs that I have. Every now and then I have a song on MM that I don't have somewhere else so I keep the discs, but the brand sends shivers up my spine!!

Sorry Jahern but it's my turn to disagree with you!

Just bought 3 MM disk today, one of them is 6410 and I find it to be excellent! I don't think the arrangement is the issue on there new stuff but the quality of the recording. I extracted the music using wavelab and normalised it & the sound is much better. The same happen to me using Backstage, some were recorded at -6db so of course it doesn't sound right! The amount of time I get good feedback on my recording using what people call cheap brand, you wouldn't believe, let's not get confused with bad arrangements & bad recording

[SteveWalker]

MM used to be good for POP music because they used synths so much. However, MM would use a synth for guitar and other natural instruments in rock music and it sounded fake. I used to think MM was a MIDI house before they started doing karaoke but not sure. In any case, I have all the original MM CDG's and I would guess that 70% of the songs are unfortunately below average. I hear they have improved but to little, too late for me.

[SteveWalker]

Originally posted by jahern
Music Maestro consistently has a fake sound on all the discs that I have. Every now and then I have a song on MM that I don't have somewhere else so I keep the discs, but the brand sends shivers up my spine!! [/b]

I have all the original CDG's from 1995 and I totally agree about MM cheap sound. There stuff is likely a collection of MIDI arrangements which are all synthesized. They do have some songs that I want to keep but I often felt like dumping them all. Actually some songs are good and sound like "real" musicians in the studio.

My local karaoke store says that MM has changed and now have better sound but should I waste my money on MM new stuff? I just asked the store for a RAP cdg that's current and they suggested MM6380 which is 2 for 1 for $18. Anyone have this and is it ok or should I get the $25 SC8797?

Steve

[kedmison]

Steve,

Can't say about the rap stuff, I personally don't try to buy much of it. And I am pretty much a SC fan myself, however I have many 50's & 60's versions of songs on MM that are actually better than SC's. They sound more like the original version. Every company out there has it minus and plus. Except for SGB and I have to honestly say I have yet to find any pluses with them.


Kelly

[Garry A. Leslie]

Hello Kelly,
This arguement about the good and bad disc manufactureer's has been on going for some years now, in these forums.
I am sure that some companies have improved and some deteriorated.
Some of the very bad ones have even disappeared.
It's obvious from this thread that different views are held and which might differ from others.
As for SGB the very best version of Sinatra's "Fly me to the Moon"
is on this label together with some really good Show Standards.
I think we are all into very different material to sing ourselves as opposed to what we have to have to please our customers.and what some people wouldn't be interested in appears on labels we also despise. They might even be good.
It might be worth starting a thread actually finding out what contributors sing themselves, what their styles are and which labels actually produce the best sounds for their own singing..
Also which original CD's have produced the best vocal reduction in Vogone for their own use.
Regards from across the pond.
Garry

[Garry A. Leslie]

Incidentally I also meant to say I have found Music Maestro the most disappointing especially taking into account their cost
Regards from across the pond.
Garry

[gotrich]

I have only been a KJ for 3-6 months now so all my stuff is new. I thought SGB pack sounded as good as my Chartbuster pack. chartbuster has more volume though. Only difference is chartbuster is much better on screen the males are blue femals pink they hav the 4 dots for timing before the next line of words...they do a better job on those things. I also noticed that some of the SGB is shortened but the (does it sound like the cd or radio) they are close. Maybe I got lucky??? LOL

Rich
Dr Karaoke
NW Indiana

[kedmison]

Most of my collection is Sound Choice, Chartbusters and then Music Maestro. A few others mixed in. I don't carry dupes in my Hoster. I only keep one version of each song. What I do though is always try to keep the version that I feel most replicates the original. I realize everyone has their favorites. And I didn't mean to "rain" on anyone who has SGB, I just don't feel their quality to be all that great. Price has never been a real factor for me for I buy 99% of my music off of ebay. Some new, some used. (All original though) I myself sing a lot of 50's and 60's. And though I find a lot of SC to be great, there are many of MM that are so close to the orignal music and style that SC doesn't hold a candle. A couple that come to mind are, Louie Louie, Unchanied Melody, these sound great on Music Maestro but the SC version just doesn't cut it.

Just some thoughts.

Kelly

[gotrich]

Most of my Music Maestro is oldies of the ones you mention. I bought the music maestro gold pack and its been good to me. After readin this post I took my Chartbuster essential and my music maestro. I found cd's that had the same song. I could hear a difference but it was so slight that if I didnt lesten to then naext to each other I would have never noticed. Chartbuster was slightly richer but like I said..not a big difference. Music maestro gold pack, chartbuster essentials, and sweet georiga brown 66 disk pack are some of my biggest packs..I want the DK millenum, and the rest of the essential packs I dont have. DOes anyone recomend any Must have packs?

[bdayton]

1. Sound Choice - Hands down in the quality of rendition department. I have known them to mess up a few but for the most part, they are right on. The down-side is that they are VERY expensive and the company seems to be just a bit pig-headed about how they don' like computers and such. :(

DK - Most renditions were almost as good as Sound Choice but I never liked that guide flute, (or what ever it was called). Sometimes it even got louder than the singer. Too bad they went out of business. :(

Pop Hits - I'd use them if a Sound Choice version isn't available.

Pocket Songs - Some of the worst rendition I have ever heard. I sometimes wonder if these guys even bothered to listen to the original recording before trying to make a re-creation. Admitidly, I only purchased one disk but, that one disk was so bad, I never tried any others.

All Hits - Again, I'd use them if a Sound Choice version isn't available.

Sweet Georgia Brown - I'll buy these again, only under duress. Most of the renditions are poor quality and the way they scramble their songs on different CD's sent my blood pressure over the top. You want to add a SGB CD to your song-book? You better verify EVERY SINGLE SONG..... And make sure the artist is correct..... Especially on their "Set's".

Music Meistro - The first time a tried "Come Sail Away" by "Styx", I got totally disoriented when I went into the second verse and the music jumped into the refrain!! This wasn't just the radio version as opposed to the album version, they just flat dropped the whole second verse. I was so ratteled that I couldn't even finish the song. :(

Karaoke Classics - Not too bad but, their rendition of "Macarthur Park" by "Richard Harris" is missing the second verse too.

Chart Buster - Again, I'd use them if a Sound Choice version isn't available.

JMHO

[louieoke2]

Question to any who will reply. I have the 63 disc NuTech set I bought used... is there any documentation listing the tracks that contain vocals? I really like some of the tracks, but I have been burned by putting singers up and then BAMM - the vocals kick in. So, everytime I find one of these vocal tracks, I delete it from my songbook. They keep popping up however. If anyone has information on how to identify these without listening to every track on the 63 cd set, I would most certianly appreciate your input. BTW, I think the same is true of Backstage...

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by louieoke2

Question to any who will reply. I have the 63 disc NuTech set I bought used... is there any documentation listing the tracks that contain vocals? I really like some of the tracks, but I have been burned by putting singers up and then BAMM - the vocals kick in. So, everytime I find one of these vocal tracks, I delete it from my songbook. They keep popping up however. If anyone has information on how to identify these without listening to every track on the 63 cd set, I would most certianly appreciate your input. BTW, I think the same is true of Backstage...

For about $99 you could add a vcopro 1u mixer that has a multiplex button so you don't have to eliminate songs off your list even if all you are using it for is to play 63 discs worth of multiplex it is worth the expense in my opinion to have my mixer have the ability to deal with multiplex discs. If you picked up the original nutech dsics the ones with the vocals on them also came with non multilexed discs.

[admin]

Originally Posted by louieoke2

... I have the 63 disc NuTech set I bought used... is there any documentation listing the tracks that contain vocals? I really like some of the tracks, but I have been burned by putting singers up and then BAMM - the vocals kick in.... BTW, I think the same is true of Backstage...

Hoster 2.216 allows you to mute a vocal track while playing and the non-muted track plays out both left - right channels. Should release next week if all goes well.

[gotrich]

I have donr some searching diggin and looking and I look for the most realistic sounding disk I have found that the disk are best in this order

1 Legends
2 DK
3 RCA
4 Sound Images
5 pioneer
6 KJ tools
7 chartbuster
8 sound choice
9 music maestro
10 sweet G brown
11 top hits montly
12 top tunes
13 star disk
14 all star
15 karaoke bay

seems 1-8 are really good 1-6 awesome 9 & 10 good 11 ok 12 and down I dont even buy anymore cause I want the best!
i listen to demos of Backstage and the others and they are awful dinging and so fake! JUst my oppinion

[danny_g]

Originally Posted by gotrich

I have donr some searching diggin and looking and I look for the most realistic sounding disk I have found that the disk are best in this order

1 Legends
2 DK
3 RCA
4 Sound Images
5 pioneer
6 KJ tools
7 chartbuster
8 sound choice
9 music maestro
10 sweet G brown
11 top hits montly
12 top tunes
13 star disk
14 all star
15 karaoke bay

seems 1-8 are really good 1-6 awesome 9 & 10 good 11 ok 12 and down I dont even buy anymore cause I want the best!
i listen to demos of Backstage and the others and they are awful dinging and so fake! JUst my oppinion

On the Top Tunes check out the Creed stuff as they are the closest to creed you will find.

[SteveWalker]

danny_g,

Oh sure! You gotta be kidding

[gduns - with the Lord]

Pop HIts Monthly Flashback 1-15 Is the best set of oldies I have ever heard.