elindsey
JoeyKJ wrote :
...so implementing a plugin that would send the video output to the motherboard video drivers would be easier on most video cards and use less resources then going with a usb video card...
Again, the video that the plugin output would be the same as the main video mix from VirtualDJ (minus any effects you added after that plugin), and as such a hardware VGA splitter (mine were $5 on Amazon, including shipping) would be much more effective, easy to configure, and use less resources than any kind of software splitting solution (plugin).
I agree that it would be nice if VirtualDJ could come out with partial support for multiple video outputs, even if it's as a beta for full feature implementation.
Posted Tue 09 Apr 13 @ 9:38 am
elindsey
@Don: I notice that Essential Media allows itself to be controlled using VDJscript. The only way I've figured to accomplish this is through the use of variables. Do you have a better way?
Posted Tue 09 Apr 13 @ 9:46 am
rrutz9700
I'm blind, where dot you get the Karaoke plugin?
Posted Sun 26 May 13 @ 5:20 pm
elindsey
rrutz9700 wrote :
I'm blind, where dot you get the Karaoke plugin?
It comes installed with VirtualDJ, you find it under the Effects tab, in the Video Effects list.
Posted Sun 26 May 13 @ 5:27 pm
Support staff
Please note that it's available on the PC version only. If you are using a Mac, then it won't be present.
The plugin is for optional singer management only and is not required to actually play karaoke CDG files.
The plugin is for optional singer management only and is not required to actually play karaoke CDG files.
Posted Mon 27 May 13 @ 10:31 am
mmdjsau
I too look forward to the release of a more functional karaoke plugin that negates the need for my KJ's to have to use a competitor product just for karaoke shows. Please dont give up on this development elindsey. The feature list you have mentioned would solve all my needs bar one:
VDJ CANNOT read a CDG disc. Well it can but cannot pickup the graphics, only the audio. Does anyone have a solution to this problem? The reason I need it is that often dedicated karaoke singers will bring in their own CDG discs so unless I run with another product like siglos or micro studio I am unable to read the customers discs. Ripping them to hard drive is not an option since they just show up at our shows unplanned. So I need a more dynamic solution. Note I have a laptop that has a CD drive capable of reading CDG discs.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. A solution for this along with the new V2 plugin would mean I can ditch all other software and just use VDJ.
VDJ CANNOT read a CDG disc. Well it can but cannot pickup the graphics, only the audio. Does anyone have a solution to this problem? The reason I need it is that often dedicated karaoke singers will bring in their own CDG discs so unless I run with another product like siglos or micro studio I am unable to read the customers discs. Ripping them to hard drive is not an option since they just show up at our shows unplanned. So I need a more dynamic solution. Note I have a laptop that has a CD drive capable of reading CDG discs.
Any suggestions would be appreciated. A solution for this along with the new V2 plugin would mean I can ditch all other software and just use VDJ.
Posted Wed 05 Jun 13 @ 3:05 am
JoeyKJ
You already have a solution, use your micro studio software or Siglo, with the Micro you can play multiple tracks off a CD..
I doubt VDJ will get into the ripping or rendering karaoke tracks from a CD/DVD..
I doubt VDJ will get into the ripping or rendering karaoke tracks from a CD/DVD..
Posted Wed 05 Jun 13 @ 7:50 am
blckjck
JoeyKJ wrote :
You already have a solution, use your micro studio software or Siglo, with the Micro you can play multiple tracks off a CD..
I doubt VDJ will get into the ripping or rendering karaoke tracks from a CD/DVD..
I doubt VDJ will get into the ripping or rendering karaoke tracks from a CD/DVD..
I'm not so sure that this would be a big deal to impliment. It's just a codec. I could see a problem with people saying its not working when it's their drive that does not support it.
dynamicdjsau wrote :
Any suggestions would be appreciated. A solution for this along with the new V2 plugin would mean I can ditch all other software and just use VDJ.
I have a full rack setup with compressors and EQ, I also add a CDG player. Haveing a backup player even just for an audio source if the PC acts up, is a good idea anyway.
Posted Thu 06 Jun 13 @ 9:36 am
JoeyKJ
The Only solution would be a workaround one where you could rip the CD tracks needed into a Temporary folder in your desk top using Microstudio, open the folder and use the files in VDJ, then delete them from your drive when your finished.
Posted Sat 08 Jun 13 @ 7:19 am
elindsey
JoeyKJ wrote :
The Only solution would be a workaround one where you could rip the CD tracks needed into a Temporary folder in your desk top using Microstudio, open the folder and use the files in VDJ, then delete them from your drive when your finished.
That isn't a solution, that IS a workaround. I agree with the rest of the forum users that have contributed to this part of the conversation; it should be a trivial matter to implement the reading of the +G data from a CD+G disc. My understanding is that that essentially is what the .CDG file is with an MP3+G--the raw data from the disc. So presumably they already have a codec for it written into VirtualDJ. The plugin will be able to address many of the issues needed to make VirtualDJ the best hosting program on the market, but unfortunately it can't add that functionality. The ability to play a track with its lyrics from a disc on the fly is something I feel many people would expect from professional grade karaoke software.
As another possible workaround, I suppose if I could find out how it's done, I could incorporate ripping a CD+G track to MP3+G right into the plugin. That may be a more reliable mechanism than relying on the CD-ROM drive on the fly.
Posted Sat 08 Jun 13 @ 12:50 pm
mmdjsau
Any update on your new karaoke 2 plugin elindsay? Really keen to try this out. I have looked at the Virtual Karaoke skin by sharkeyboy and whilst this is a good effort it is still a bit clumsy in relation to managing the singers list as it uses the Field 1 attribute from the file info which of course permanently attaches a name to this field unless you go through and remove the names after a show (painful!!!).
I have had a look at PCDJ Karaoki, siglos, compuhost and Karma and whilst they are obviously fully functional karaoke softwares they just dont have the flexibility of VDJ. For one thing NONE of them support midi so using a controller like RMX makes it nothing more than a sound card and if my DJs have a quiet night karaoke wise its great to just launch into normal DJ mode and start mixing without having to run multiple applications on the laptop.
I really hope you are close to getting this launched because I for one will grab onto it straight away.
Could you please give us a status update.
I have had a look at PCDJ Karaoki, siglos, compuhost and Karma and whilst they are obviously fully functional karaoke softwares they just dont have the flexibility of VDJ. For one thing NONE of them support midi so using a controller like RMX makes it nothing more than a sound card and if my DJs have a quiet night karaoke wise its great to just launch into normal DJ mode and start mixing without having to run multiple applications on the laptop.
I really hope you are close to getting this launched because I for one will grab onto it straight away.
Could you please give us a status update.
Posted Wed 12 Jun 13 @ 6:56 am
elindsey
dynamicdjsau wrote :
Could you please give us a status update.
I have spent many many hours of development time and plenty more remain, but my biggest issue right now is time management. I am a full time student at university, general manager of two nightclubs, and my girlfriend and I run our own karaoke business. Needless to say, this project of mine doesn't always take priority.
Additionally, it is important to me to develop this software without taking any shortcuts; I want to achieve the same performance and stability as you enjoy with VirtualDJ natively. This makes programming the plugin more like programming a full standalone application from scratch but it will be worth it in the end.
I have so many things to so, but it would be lovely if I could have a private alpha version for me to test running by the time Fall semester starts, some time in August.
Posted Wed 12 Jun 13 @ 12:02 pm
Don Moir
Also keep an eye on Essential Karaoke.
It has a way to go yet as well in the area of singer management, up next text, adjusting display speed, and some other karaoke features.
Currently you can create a playlist file that contains the singer name, the song, the time, etc. This can be saved or loaded at anytime and last one up is remembered during activate and deactivate.
The playlist is currently organized as actual karaoke tracks and intermission tracks. EK supports images, audio only, videos, and CDG files. CDG files are automatically flagged as karaoke tracks and all others are flagged as intermission tracks initially. These can be changed to karaoke or intermission tracks at anytime. The intent for intermission tracks are to play between singers and are optional.
For CDG files, the background is automatically removed and can be replaced with a background video or image file. Anything in the playlist can have a background video including audio only files.
An estimate of the time to play or time that it was played is displayed.
You can chose to display it in the VDJ video window or optionally 2 other windows or any combination of.
I will need to update the user interface as I continue and it is a beta but gradually will get there.
Some future options will include ability to automatically skip the initial company logos in CDG files and support for LRC files.
It has a way to go yet as well in the area of singer management, up next text, adjusting display speed, and some other karaoke features.
Currently you can create a playlist file that contains the singer name, the song, the time, etc. This can be saved or loaded at anytime and last one up is remembered during activate and deactivate.
The playlist is currently organized as actual karaoke tracks and intermission tracks. EK supports images, audio only, videos, and CDG files. CDG files are automatically flagged as karaoke tracks and all others are flagged as intermission tracks initially. These can be changed to karaoke or intermission tracks at anytime. The intent for intermission tracks are to play between singers and are optional.
For CDG files, the background is automatically removed and can be replaced with a background video or image file. Anything in the playlist can have a background video including audio only files.
An estimate of the time to play or time that it was played is displayed.
You can chose to display it in the VDJ video window or optionally 2 other windows or any combination of.
I will need to update the user interface as I continue and it is a beta but gradually will get there.
Some future options will include ability to automatically skip the initial company logos in CDG files and support for LRC files.
Posted Wed 12 Jun 13 @ 3:49 pm
djcoach.faf
Although I have been DJ’ing a while, I am new to the karaoke business and need some help getting started. I got the opportunity to purchase a library from a guy who was selling out and I jumped on it. I was having problems with system crashes for a while, but I think vdj tech-support has helped me work through that.
I now have issues with song searches and how to make a song book/list for my customers. First, do I need to analyze all 50K songs in the library before I can search for songs? I think there are list maker that index your library so that all the titles show up the same way (not crazy like mine). Last I noticed different post talking about different software solutions, should I be looking at other software all together? PCDJ’s DEX 2 was recommended.
A few times I have done gigs where there was a not so good Karaoke DJ there. I covered them by starting my set early and rocking the house. I have a good reputation and do not want to be one of those not so good KJ’s.
I now have issues with song searches and how to make a song book/list for my customers. First, do I need to analyze all 50K songs in the library before I can search for songs? I think there are list maker that index your library so that all the titles show up the same way (not crazy like mine). Last I noticed different post talking about different software solutions, should I be looking at other software all together? PCDJ’s DEX 2 was recommended.
A few times I have done gigs where there was a not so good Karaoke DJ there. I covered them by starting my set early and rocking the house. I have a good reputation and do not want to be one of those not so good KJ’s.
Posted Fri 21 Jun 13 @ 6:02 pm
elindsey
djcoach.faf wrote :
Although I have been DJ’ing a while, I am new to the karaoke business and need some help getting started. I got the opportunity to purchase a library from a guy who was selling out and I jumped on it. I was having problems with system crashes for a while, but I think vdj tech-support has helped me work through that.
I now have issues with song searches and how to make a song book/list for my customers. First, do I need to analyze all 50K songs in the library before I can search for songs? I think there are list maker that index your library so that all the titles show up the same way (not crazy like mine). Last I noticed different post talking about different software solutions, should I be looking at other software all together? PCDJ’s DEX 2 was recommended.
A few times I have done gigs where there was a not so good Karaoke DJ there. I covered them by starting my set early and rocking the house. I have a good reputation and do not want to be one of those not so good KJ’s.
I now have issues with song searches and how to make a song book/list for my customers. First, do I need to analyze all 50K songs in the library before I can search for songs? I think there are list maker that index your library so that all the titles show up the same way (not crazy like mine). Last I noticed different post talking about different software solutions, should I be looking at other software all together? PCDJ’s DEX 2 was recommended.
A few times I have done gigs where there was a not so good Karaoke DJ there. I covered them by starting my set early and rocking the house. I have a good reputation and do not want to be one of those not so good KJ’s.
Let me first address your questions, so that those are out of the way:
System crashes are almost unheard of for me during a live performance. I run minimum 5 shows a week 52 weeks a year, with very complex hardware setups (both on the audio side and the video side). The last time I had a crash was over a year and a half ago. VirtualDJ itself is very stable and if you are having frequent crashes, I would be surprised if the source of the problem was VirtualDJ.
You do not need to ANALYZE all of your songs to have them appear in search, you just need to right click on the folder in the browser in VirtualDJ and choose 'Add to Search DB.' Analyzing the songs DOES give you the benefit of letting VirtualDJ try and pick out the BPM and key of the song, but those aren't necessary to run a show and they will be filled in as you use your tracks anyways (which is good: it lets you know which tracks you've used before, and you can leave yourself notes in the Comments field of the track if it was a bad version so that you know to pick a different version in the future).
VirtualDJ has absolutely no concept of song books. The reason your songs are probably showing up funny is because VirtualDJ tries to extract information from the ID3 tag of the file, and failing that, it makes its best guess based on the file name. Many karaoke files are in ZIP format (which is fine because VirtualDJ automatically extracts the files it needs as necessary), but the MP3 files contained either do not have ID3 tags or the tags are incorrect. In this case, VirtualDJ makes its best guess based on the name of the file, which is often a bad guess if your file is named like typical karaoke files. If all your files are named Artist - Title.mp3 then you'd be fine, but if your files are like mine, then they probably adhere mostly to the pseudo-standard of karaoke naming: Disc-Trk - Artist - Title.mp3. VirtualDJ does not recognize that pattern so it takes Disc-Trk and makes it the artist, and Artist - Title and makes it the title. You can fix this information by hand by right-clicking the file and going to File Infos and so on, but it's a pain. There's not an easy solution here that I am aware of, although among all the other things I am working on right now is a utility to update the ID3 tags for karaoke files so that VirtualDJ displays them properly. This still doesn't solve your problem of not having a song book, which is probably best addressed by finding software specifically for that purpose. Often times you can just check all the discs you have and the software will produce a song book with those tracks for you.
Now that I have (hopefully) answered your questions, let me tell you a little bit about being a KJ with VirtualDJ. The main advantage to be had is that VirtualDJ (and perhaps also PCDJ although I'm not familiar with the particular software you mentioned) is full, professional DJ software. That means it is geared towards the audio professional that knows what they're doing. Its ASIO support means you get multi channel, low latency, high quality sound output which can easily be amplified (assuming good quality source material, of course). Multiple decks means your transitions between singers and/or songs can be much smoother. The fact that it loads and displays the waveform before actually playing the song means if you're on your game you can spot problems with the track before they actually play through the loudspeakers. Most of the appeal of a karaoke show is going to come from your attitude and your ability to "bring the party," so to speak. VirtualDJ does not automatically make you an awesome KJ, but it does empower you to be one. It provides the features you need to step it up to the next level, so to speak.
I'm sure Don Moir can tell you more about Essential Karaoke, which if my research is correct comes bundled with Essential Media, which is a plugin for VirtualDJ.
A bit of Googling about the other software mentioned will tell you whether it is a standalone product, or a plugin designed for use WITH VirtualDJ. The biggest lacking features in VirtualDJ as far as karaoke go have been discussed in this thread--just go back to Page 1 and read through to see what people are looking for, what is already implemented, and what I plan on releasing with my plugin. The biggest drawback is lack of automation (singer history is not stored, and key change doesn't happen automatically although you can do it yourself, to name a few examples).
Let me know if I can provide you any further information, hopefully this book has been enlightening. ;-)
Posted Fri 21 Jun 13 @ 8:24 pm
elindsey
For those looking for status updates about Karaoke Plugin 2.0, I have good news to report. I have made significant (albeit slow and tedious) progress over the past several weeks! Once I iron a few more kinks out, I should have something that I can actually test myself at my shows to make sure everything is rock solid and works as conveniently as expected. Stay tuned (i.e., monitor this topic using the bell and envelope icon at the top of the page) for updates about a beta, hopefully soon! I'm really excited, and I'll release more info when I get a chance to type it all up... :-)
Posted Fri 21 Jun 13 @ 8:33 pm
djsherz
Great stuff! Keep up the good work mate...
Posted Mon 01 Jul 13 @ 9:53 am
mmdjsau
Great to hear you are progressing with this eagerly awaited update elindsey. If you need some beta testers I am sure that others like me would be keen to help and provide you some feedback.
Posted Mon 01 Jul 13 @ 6:08 pm
Ikaraoke
ESSENTIAL KARAOAKE is not ready. It has been a project in progress for at least two years, I know of. Although I have great respect for it's developer and other products they make, this project has been started, scrubbed and restarted. In my opinion they are working on fantasy features first and it has bogged down the project. I was hoping they would just get a basic working plugin on the market and modify from there. But they keep working on super-advanced features that I am sure very few hosts will use or care about, like multi-screen output. I wish them well and hope for great product to eventually emerge. But right now I have set my eyes and hopes for a better plugin from VDJ8 soon to be released as I was told at the Canadian DJ Show.
Posted Fri 05 Jul 13 @ 12:22 pm
tayla
It has been a great effort from elindsey to sacrifice his own time for other VDJ users and I hope on the unveiling of his plugin it will be a great success with a lot if not all of the features requested combined into it. However I have my hopes built on the release of a new karaoke plugin coming from within VDJ itself, we have the guy now at VDJ who developed for PCDJ there own purpose built plugin that worked flawlessley with their software, like everything else, these things are not developed overnight which means all we got to do is be patient.
Posted Fri 05 Jul 13 @ 1:37 pm
