All Event and "Bar Night" Organizers Only!!

[Klubby]

I see what you mean, but we even have on the cards that soloists are welcome and we would jump in if they didn't want to stand there by themselves. This is also noted in our song list binders and I'm sure we'll be announcing it as well.

There are 3 on my staff so I plan on everything running smoothly. If someone turns in a card and that song has already been played, we will either let them play it (if it's been awhile and it's a slow night) or kindly ask them to choose something else. Everytime I have been to a karaoke night somewhere, there was no list of what had been played or what was coming up... It was up to the host to decide who was next and what songs were going to be performed and in what order. I think if it were more of a competitive gig, I would go with a running list.

The host will be congratulating and cheering on the departing band and calling up the next while the tech will be choosing the next song in the background while the slide show (and bg music) is playing. I do not expect (or want it to) it to last more than a minute or two between songs either.

I do like the idea of maybe having a separate list for those who don't necessarily want to specifically pick a song and other players, but would jump in at any time on their instrument of choice...just to be playing.

Great ideas everyone!

[Zoologico]

My two cents...

We will have cards (much like karaoke) that the ****s turn in and then we'll announce the next players to come up to the stage. While this is happening, the monitors will be playing a slideshow from a laptop I will have set-up for in between songs. This will have anything from the bar's logo and drink specials, upcoming events, etc. I will be selecting the next song and just as the loading screen is complete, I will pause the game until everyone is ready. Then flip the monitors back over to RB and away they go!

Slick, so it sounds like you are running a laptop on top of this and dual inputs into the audio and video from the laptop and the game system.
Interesting.

[LiquidKourage]

The nice thing about the songlist generator I linked was that there's an option to print out the most recent songs (songs you own that have been released in the last 2 months, I believe.) So basically, every month or so you could reprint the main songlist, and every week you just update the newest stuff if you want to save paper and time.

If there is enough interest, I can work on a digital interface system for allowing participants to sign up for Rock Band. I say "enough interest" because the system would require a multiple computer setup and a wireless connection. I use a similar setup for karaoke (too bad it doesn't transfer well to Rock Band!!) and it works wonderfully!

In the past, I've used one of my wireless karaoke mics for Rock Band, but that involved getting a splitter cable and USB adapter cable. I'm now looking into another solution I found online; basically, it's a multi-input converter box. I'm thinking of setting up a wireless handheld, a wireless headset (for Vox****s), and a modded cowbell.

[RockBandLosAngeles]

Wow, what the h*e*l*l* is going on with all these words bleeped out? I can't even understand the posts anymore, they bleeped our e*a*s*y* and m*e*d*i*um* in one of my posts!

As far as the songbooks, I have four with name of the song, band, year, type of music, band difficulty level and each instruments difficulty level. I re-do the list once a month, and just use a 'recently downloaded songs' list until I re-update the master list.

[Zoologico]

Would this be a workable system for our needs:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/ele/1088887234.html

[YRDaddy]

Would this be a workable system for our needs:

http://atlanta.craigslist.org/ele/1088887234.html

Looks pretty good. Take an I-pod or something with you to test it before you buy. I don't personally use a sub, just 2 15" and 1 12" 2 way PA speakers. I only paid about $500 total for my sound system w/o cables but the one in the photo seems bigger and better than what I have.

[GameRansoM]

Take an I-pod or something with you to test it before you buy.

My goodness! Gabe, is that you... promoting Apple products now?!?
Yeah, that does look like a pretty good sound system. Might actually be overkill for most places - the mixer, in particular. Heck, even the mixer DotA uses has far more features/inputs than I ever see us using.

And yeah, songbooks. We only have two that are passed around. Also have the front page showing "recently downloaded" songs, which are incorporated into the main lists every two weeks or so.

[Calendyr]

I tried that webpage to make songlist... The interface is great. I was able to add all I had in less than 30 mins. My problem is the printout.... it doesn't look professionnal at all and I can't see myself using something that puts my name at the top and a webpage address at the bottom. I will have to use Excel to have a decent result I think. Unless someone has found a way to export the list in some kind of text format?

For the mixer, how many sources do you guys think will be needed. I was thining 3. One for the PS3 (and rockband), one for the PA system and 1 for ambiant music while preparing the next song (CD/DVD/Computer).

[LiquidKourage]

I've seen a lot of karaoke songbook formats in my day, and I have to disagree. I feel the layout of the web printout is pretty good, to be honest. It's clean, simple, and displays difficulties in a clean format. It's not perfect by any means, but it could definitely be worse.

As far as mixer sources, you really only need about 4. One for the game console, one for background audio, one for a mic for the MC, and one for a modded RB mic. That way, you can mute the in-game vocals (with bad gain issues and delay, plus the horrible-at-loud-volumes-sounding OD "effects"). Ideally, you'll want 2 channels with XLR or 1/4" line inputs, one with RCA inputs (for the game console) and one with stereo 1/4" inputs (to plug in a music source). Cables that adapt from a headphone jack to stereo 1/4" are pretty reasonable.

[Calendyr]

My major issue with the song book is the top and bottom line on each page. I guess I could just cut it out, but doing it so that all pages are the same size would be difficult.

For the inputs. I was planning on turning all effects off in the extra (or was it options) menu. I don't need to ear stars or overdrive activation. I think doing so would remove the whammy bar effects as well, but that is not a major issue.

I think I will have to give a second look at that booklet and see if I can find a way to like it

Almost forgot For the input, conversion cables or plugs are reasonable in price so it's not much of an issue if the mixer doesn't have the exact formats I need. About the mic I don't know. You think it would be a problem to use the mic that comes with the game? We never had problems with it before... then again we play with the singer from the soundtrack at 100% (did I mention before we don't like to sing?)
If I go with a mic on a separate channel, why can't I use that mic for the DJ? I think I will visit a store specialized in lighting and sound and see what they can offer. I was hoping to get the mixer and mic pretty cheap at a place like Radio Shack or the equivalent called the Source here in Canada.