still seeking advice

[Part On!]

Hi All,
I really want to start off on the right foot. I'm willing to invest in the proper equiptment so that I put out the best sound possible. I went to a pc show yesterday, and, here are the specs on what I'm having built for the hoster program.
P43.0
1 G Ram
2 120 hard drives
2 52x cdrw
sbpl7.1
15" flat screen monitor

Is there a better sound card that I should get?
Am I better off with a power amp, or, power speakers?

My brother in law is a dj/kj, and he is using the old, barberic method of cd's. He's really putting a lot of effort into getting me up and running, but, he doesn't think that I will have enough outputs from the pc in order to link to the mic mixer. I'm also planning to use PCDJ for the music side of things. Any help that any of you could give me would really be appreciated.

[CochrellGary]

Party On,

Here is some food for thought. One of the most time consuming jobs when setting up at a gig is stringing cables and wires, at least for me it is. The PC you are having built sounds like a desk top model. Why not use a laptop computer? With a desktop computer you are going to have the CPU, keyboard, monitor, and mouse, all requiring a hook up. Do you really want to cart around these seperate components?

Powered speakers are heavy and require an additional power cord. Will power be conveniently available or will you have to string an extension cable? The speakers will probably sit on a speaker stand. How high can you lift a powered speaker by yourself?

The audio output from a computer, be it laptop or desktop, will be sufficient to drive a mixer.

The software you use for DJ music is really up to you, there is no one program that is better than any other. For everyone that responds to your post you will get a different answer. I like OtsDJ.

Just my 2 cents
Gary

[Part On!]

Hi Gary,

I very much appreciate your opinions, and, they are valid. When you have a few minutes, would you be kind enough to tell me step by step how you run your show? do you use a lap top? does it have enough hard drive room? can you have back up on it? I know this is a lot of information that I'm asking for, but, I really need the best advice possible......Thank for your help......

[kedmison]

I agree on the laptop. Powered speakers are heavy yes, however they do make crank stands. If you don't get the speakers up above the people in front you blast those siiting close and won't get the sound to those in the back. And if your amp goes out with passive speakers, your dead in the water. A powered speaker could go out and you still play on.

Kelly

[Part On!]

Thanks, Kelly. What kind of powered speakers do you reccommend? Are you male, or, female? the only reason I ask (I hope i don't sound sexist) is because I am curious if a woman is cranking up power speakers without a problem.

[DJYale]

A few options on the computer front would be to have the system built in to a rackmount case instead of a standard case.

As for laptop storage, you can always purchase an external drive enclosure and put whatever size you want in it for storage.

Using as an example, Pioneer 001 totals 18 songs for 68mb sampled at 128bps.

Using the above you can figure:

• 100 discs = roughly 6.8Gb drive space
• 500 discs = roughly 34Gb (9000 songs)
• 1000 discs = roughly 68Gb (18000 songs)

So, roughly 30000 songs to a 120Gb drive.

Again, these are just rough estimates, especially since not all discs have the same number of songs and such.



What I'm getting to is this. You can purchase an external enclosure for around $40 (taken at the time of writting from a well known online source), Put in say a 120gb drive for starters for around $90, then later on if you need to increase storage, just pop out the 120Gb and pop in say a 200.





And they also make enclosures that allows up to 4 drives in one USB enclosure which can be rack mounted.

[Part On!]

Thanks, these responses are all a great help......

[kedmison]

No, I'm male. 49 years that way. But as I get older I'm always looking for a way to make the job easier. Less strain on the back! I use mackie srm450 speakers with a 1501 sub. Mackie CFX-12 mixer. Shure 87A beta wirless mics. Dell 17" flat monitor for singer. MTU"S Prostar Laptop with Hoster. 8,000 songs, no duplicates. Been using Hoster now for about 2 years. 3 gigs a week. Hoster hasn't failed yet. (knock on wood)

Kelly

[quaizywabbit]

the nice thing about "desktop" models is that you can get inside the box and change or add components should they fail.

However, in the interest of keeping setups and teardowns quick and easy, I'd agree with the laptop scenario.

As for speakers: I have been thoroughly impressed with the Bose PS1.
It is self powered, requires no stands, and breaks down small enough to fit in the trunk of a car. The cool thing about them is that no matter where you are in the room, you hear the same thing, no phase cancellation. It has 4 input channels, so connecting to a mixer isn't a problem.

Up to Two sub-woofer units can be attached to the main unit( one is fine for most karaoke purposes)

My best advice is to go to your nearest Guitar Center and check them out.
Cost-wise they are equivelent to a set of powered jbl eons, with stands, and covers. Best of all, you get 60 days to try after you buy, so you can always return them and get something else if they're not for you.Bose's online forum has quite a few Karaoke related users with just this kind of setup, plus tips and tricks to adapt from the "traditional" stereo mode of thinking.....

[quaizywabbit]

ooops!

Its actually called the "Bose Personal Amplification System" Or "PAS" for short.

the factory tryout period is 45 days. Sorry i was goin from the top of my head on that last post.

[Part On!]

I have a Guitar Center 15 minutes away from my house, I will go there. You really got me thinking with what you said about the ability to go inside a desktop to fix it, I Have no experience with lap tops. Maybe I should just get the CPU with the handle on top, and the flat screen. Thanks for your time...

[quaizywabbit]

there are pro's and con's for every choice you make....whether you're trading off convenience for cost, or a multitude of other things.

a laptop is small. portable, and lightweight. Whereas a desktop version is bulkier, needs a mouse/keyboard, etc...

The desktop will allow for off the shelf components(usually much cheaper than those for a laptop) and usually will allow for upgrading (to a point)

Most Laptops have some upgradeable components(such as HD, Ram, etc..)
but these components are more expensive and are usable only in that class of laptop.

MTU's Shuttle is a very nice compromise between both worlds...

[Chilichili1]

I use all powered speakers, jbl 15s, EV sxa100s, mackies, and JBL G2s they all work well, but without a doubt I would recomend the JBL G2s.
I have just started using Hoster and am very impressed. I decided on a desktop instead of a laptop because they are easier to maintain. I am in the process of building a cabinet to house the computer, monitor, keyboard ect. to avoid the lengthy set-up time. I'll let you know how that works out.

Originally Posted by quaizywabbit

the nice thing about "desktop" models is that you can get inside the box and change or add components should they fail.

However, in the interest of keeping setups and teardowns quick and easy, I'd agree with the laptop scenario.

As for speakers: I have been thoroughly impressed with the Bose PS1.
It is self powered, requires no stands, and breaks down small enough to fit in the trunk of a car. The cool thing about them is that no matter where you are in the room, you hear the same thing, no phase cancellation. It has 4 input channels, so connecting to a mixer isn't a problem.

Up to Two sub-woofer units can be attached to the main unit( one is fine for most karaoke purposes)

My best advice is to go to your nearest Guitar Center and check them out.
Cost-wise they are equivelent to a set of powered jbl eons, with stands, and covers. Best of all, you get 60 days to try after you buy, so you can always return them and get something else if they're not for you.Bose's online forum has quite a few Karaoke related users with just this kind of setup, plus tips and tricks to adapt from the "traditional" stereo mode of thinking.....

[flipper]

MTU Portable PC or Rackmount PC are perfect choices!

I have one system with a Toshiba Laptop and one system with the MTU Portable PC. The first few times I set the Portable PC up it took longer but after 5-6 times I could hardly tell the difference (maybe 1min longer)

One thing to keep in mind....if you do buy a laptop and you intend to import your customers songs from their personal discs, you will need an external CD Drive this requires 2 more cords to hook up on a laptop not to mention the cost of the external drive. The Portable PC and The Rackmount units come with MTU certified internal drives which require no additional hookup. The importing time is about 40% faster than with my laptop and external plextor.

MTU uses top quality components. As stated earlier in this post, the components are easier and less expensive to replace than laptops.

When I add my third system I will purchase one of these units again. I'm so impressed with the performance and sound that I get from them. My customers absolutely rave about the difference. I'm going on my 4th month with the Portable PC and they are still talking about it.

One thing is for sure....you are best off to purchase a computer that will be used for Karaoke Only...and that it only has the programs that are absolutely necessary to run your business and show. I have Hoster w/MTU Suite, OtsDJ, Windows Media Player, MS Excel, MS Word. I do not use the system for the internet unless I go online to upgrade. This will keep your problems to a minimum.

Good luck with your system purchase!

Hope this helps a bit!

Flipper

[Part On!]

Thanks, Flipper. Your advice did more than help a bit, it helped me to make up my mind. Instead of building my own pc, I will buy the portable pc. It looks like it's light weight, and I will keep it dedicated to only kj/dj. Thanks for your help...

[admin]

Originally Posted by flipper

One thing to keep in mind....if you do buy a laptop and you intend to import your customers songs from their personal discs, you will need an external CD Drive this requires 2 more cords to hook up on a laptop not to mention the cost of the external drive. The Portable PC and The Rackmount units come with MTU certified internal drives which require no additional hookup. The importing time is about 40% faster than with my laptop and external plextor.

MTU uses top quality components. As stated earlier in this post, the components are easier and less expensive to replace than laptops.

One thing is for sure....you are best off to purchase a computer that will be used for Karaoke Only...and that it only has the programs that are absolutely necessary to run your business and show. I have Hoster w/MTU Suite, OtsDJ, Windows Media Player, MS Excel, MS Word. I do not use the system for the internet unless I go online to upgrade. This will keep your problems to a minimum.
Flipper

Thanks for the MTU plug!

I would also recommend you add ZoneAlarm Pro software to your computer. This is a very nice firewall and Anti-Spam in one. One customer attached his computer through AOL, you know, the "we take care of you" claims, and instantly had a virus!!!!

We are now working on live updating your Import Database over the Internet. This will be a feature you want to use, and it requires Internet connection. So, we will be making recommendations, and probably adding ZoneAlarm Pro to our standard computers to make it that much easier.

Everyone will need to be on-line by the end of next year. We simply can't afford the support demands to continue Floppy-Disc registration, and CDROM is not feasible. Our installation by the end of 2005 will require the computer to be on-line. It is the way of the world today.

BTW: I just posted the Thread for Hoster 3.0 Beta-5, which we hope is the final test, expecting to release next week. It is VERY feature RICH!!!

[jdavia]

Everyone will need to be on-line by the end of next year. We simply can't afford the support demands to continue Floppy-Disc registration, and CDROM is not feasible. Our installation by the end of 2005 will require the computer to be on-line. It is the way of the world today.

To be sure I understand what I think I read from the above.
Our installation by the end of 2005 will require the computer to be on-line.
I think you are talking about the installation of the program only, or do you mean we have to be on line to be recognized that we are registered in order to use the program as well. Can you make that real clear.
The post following yours has me confused,
http://forum.mtu.com/showpost.php?p=34583&postcount=23
Where it is mentioned that we can't operate without an internet connection.
If that is so, and no connection is available, we'd be better of not to upgrade. So that statement doesn't seem to be right!!! Please clear this thought.

[mikedomi]

he is saying that if you want to reinstall or install your up grade or hoster
the unit that you are using for hoster is going to have to be on line to do the
install or the up date

the way it is now the hoster unit does not have to be on line
you just have to have a floppy you can take to the internet
and take that over to the hoster unit and finsh the install with that

i hope this helps you under stand
(installation of the program only)

[jdavia]

Thar's what seems right to me. It's why I questioned to be certain.
Thanks

[flipper]

C. Staley -

I was referring to importing your customers song from their personal discs that they bring to your show to sing. There is a feature in Hoster that allows you to import the song for them and place them in the rotation. Once they sing the song it automatically dumps it from your Hard Drive.

So if this is a feature that someone wants to use they will need an internal or external HD