Absolute Advantages

[jahern]

I've been using Keyrite ever since it came out. I did use the "w-" word to describe a bit of a shimmer in the sound. However these are some advantages that cannot be pooh poohed:

It is jerk proof: I had a KJ who was a bit of a jerk. He would actually heckle me when I asked him to change the key implying that if I, a baritone, would just relax, etc. etc. then I could sing the notes. (This advice came from a tenor) Sometimes I would actually process songs that the place already had so that I could bring it and have him play it without listening to his "advice".

It doesn't reset itself in the middle of a song because of a long pause. I have a machine that I am happy with in its key-changing ability, but some songs have pauses in them, especially Mariachi songs that I like to sing, and mine, and several other good machines tend to reset themselves after a few seconds of pause.

It has no problem changing the key of songs that are vocal reduced. I was excited to sing my first vocal reduced cdg at my favorite place and required a key change. The music practically disappeared except where I had "re-patched" in pieces of the original because noone was singing. That was embarrassing. My own key changing machine did fine, but apparantly there are some that use a different process that destroys a vocal reduced song. It's best not to be surprised. The next day, I took the same song processed by Keyrite and was entirely successful.

It's fast. I, admittedly don't have much to compare it with. I have downloaded demos of programs that will alter wave files, and it takes forever. If any of you have different experience I welcome your input here, but I have little doubt that any program that does a good job is probably not cheap.

It does retain a lot of the sound. I tried Goldwave, admittedly a less expensive product. I changed the key without changing the length and got a product that was basically absent the "shimmer". It took me forever to get it and when I compared the two it was obious that the Keyrite version had much more fidelity and rich sound.

Sometimes, I admit, I have traded this sound reduction for less shimmer. It reminds me of people who don't like WIDESCREEN because of the black strips at the top and bottom of the picture. You can argue the benefits until you are blue in the face, but sometimes people fixate on the black strips on the top and the bottom.

The bottom line is, Keyrite has been extremely useful for me.
If you have a cool KJ, a machine that doesn't change back during pauses or have problems with vocal reduced songs, and if you never want to sing "Pelea De Gallos" in your school's Cinco De Mayo festival, then you might never need Keyrite. BUT IT HAS BEEN DARN INDISPENSIBLE FOR ME.

I am overjoyed to hear that there may be some improvements

[nptrevino]

Hey guys. I too sing Mariachi. It seems that as I got older my voice is now lower about 1 1/2 steps. A song I used to sing in the key of D, I now sing in the key of B. Guess that happens with age. I have problems getting music because most singers sing higher then I do. But now with keyrite, I should have more choices.

I personnaly favor Karaoke music by the composer and singer the Late Jose Alfredo Jimenez. I just purchased one with songs composed and sung by Cuco Sanchez.

I have two Jose Alfredo. One called KAroakanta, Exitos de Jose Alfredo 1, most songs in my Key. Good songs, music, and arrangements. There is now a 2 but I can't seem to find it locally.

I also have Karaoke todos a cantar, Exitos de Jose Alfredo Jimenez vol.1. This one appears to have been done mostly with Keyboards but it works O.K. Sounds close to a mariachi and most people probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference. Most songs are in my key.

The third I just got and needed a lot of keychanging is Multi Karaoke, Cuco Sanches Y Jose Alfredo Jimenez. Good songs music and arrangments but all songs out of my key some as much as 2 1/2 steps. I used Keyrite 1400 to change them. They appear to sound pretty good on the audio CD-r I just created.

By the way, I live in San Antonio, TExas. Mariachi really goes over really good here and in all of South Texas.

[jahern]

Yeah, my first experience with Karaoke was singing "Que Te Vaya Bonito" at the school I worked for. I didn't even know who Jose Alfredo Jimenez was until one of the teachers there clued me in that he was quite the biggie in Mexican, mariachi music. I was a missionary in Colombia and the song had been sung by a Colombian artist, so I knew the song.

Another biggie is Vicente Fernandez, who is obviously a higher voice than Jose Alfredo, but thanks to Keyrite, I have done my share of "Chente" songs.

Anyway, AVF has at least two Discs of Mariachi that have real instruments. They have another Mariachi volume, but the instruments are synthesized.

You have the Multi-Karaoke disc. I'm disappointed that they haven't made one completely of Jose Alfredo.

I do have a Multi-Pistas disc of just his songs and I am enraged that some of them are not in the original keys, but what are you going to do? Luis Miguel sings "El Rey" and "Si Nos Dejan" and he sings very high.

There are quite a few discs that have Pistas that are perfect for using the KHPRO program to add graphics, and they have real instruments. Not sure if you have the KHPRO program, but it's perfect for your situation in conjunction with Keyrite!! There is probably more useable material in Spanish than in English. I don't know of that many English songs that have instrumentals but no graphics. In Spanish, there are a ton!!

Good luck in San Antonio