Drew-b-do
I just typed a message and then realized I was not logged in, and when I tried to do that, my original post vanished. :(
I used AudioGrabber to rip a CD+G onto my hard drive. I'm trying to get the words to show up via VDJ. I can get the audio to play, but not the video/graphics/words. "Karaoke" is in the "EFFECT" dropdown, and the Singer name will show up when I click on the EFFECT button.
Using VDJ 7.0 Pro, an IBM ThinkPad T61 laptop, and a separate IBM ThinkVision desk monitor. The Singer name shows up on the desk monitor, and VDJ shows up on the laptop monitor, but the words don't show anywhere.
Please help.
I used AudioGrabber to rip a CD+G onto my hard drive. I'm trying to get the words to show up via VDJ. I can get the audio to play, but not the video/graphics/words. "Karaoke" is in the "EFFECT" dropdown, and the Singer name will show up when I click on the EFFECT button.
Using VDJ 7.0 Pro, an IBM ThinkPad T61 laptop, and a separate IBM ThinkVision desk monitor. The Singer name shows up on the desk monitor, and VDJ shows up on the laptop monitor, but the words don't show anywhere.
Please help.
Inviato Sun 07 Aug 11 @ 11:27 pm
A Man and His Music
If you look at this track in Windows, do you see 2 files with the same name, one that says mp3, and the other cdg?
Inviato Mon 08 Aug 11 @ 12:11 am
Drew-b-do
Yes, the folder where the music was copied from the CD has two tracks with the same name, one ".mp3" and the other ".cdg".
Inviato Mon 08 Aug 11 @ 6:28 pm
cguild
VDJ can read .zip files, just compress those two together and it will play. You should be able to rip them off the cd's in this format.
I've been working with karaoke on VDJ for about 6 months now and feel i have a pretty good understanding of issues and things that will arise, i.e... sometimes if you have a lot of files in one folder not all of them will show up in VDJ, you'll "lose" about 7 to every 1000. They'll be in your computer/harddrive, but they just don't show up in VDJ. So there's issues.... if you have questions feel free to message me. I can also hook you up with some other ripping software. and I've got a no typing required method for printing out books that I will post here later.
I've been working with karaoke on VDJ for about 6 months now and feel i have a pretty good understanding of issues and things that will arise, i.e... sometimes if you have a lot of files in one folder not all of them will show up in VDJ, you'll "lose" about 7 to every 1000. They'll be in your computer/harddrive, but they just don't show up in VDJ. So there's issues.... if you have questions feel free to message me. I can also hook you up with some other ripping software. and I've got a no typing required method for printing out books that I will post here later.
Inviato Tue 09 Aug 11 @ 11:52 am
Don Moir
Drew, losing your post is a general problem in many forums when you submit and your not logged in. I make a habit of of copying my text before I submit since I have been burned by this a few times.
Essential Media is not a general karaoke plugin but it plays CDG files and picks up the audio file and plays the mp3 if there is one. So it will play the CDG with or without audio. It also plays them with transparency so they can be overlaid on top of other displays.
It also can play a variety of movie types, SWF files, and has camera support.
You can give Essential Media a test run here:
http://www.virtualdj.com/forums/151671/VirtualDJ_Plugins/Essential_Media_beta.html
Essential Media is not a general karaoke plugin but it plays CDG files and picks up the audio file and plays the mp3 if there is one. So it will play the CDG with or without audio. It also plays them with transparency so they can be overlaid on top of other displays.
It also can play a variety of movie types, SWF files, and has camera support.
You can give Essential Media a test run here:
http://www.virtualdj.com/forums/151671/VirtualDJ_Plugins/Essential_Media_beta.html
Inviato Tue 09 Aug 11 @ 12:22 pm
Drew-b-do
VDJ can read .zip files, just compress those two together and it will play. You should be able to rip them off the cd's in this format.
So, I have to copy the .cdg and the .mp3, then combine both of them into a .zip for every track? Yikes... that will take forever and a week... I have some 300-400 karaoke discs :(
So, I have to copy the .cdg and the .mp3, then combine both of them into a .zip for every track? Yikes... that will take forever and a week... I have some 300-400 karaoke discs :(
Inviato Tue 09 Aug 11 @ 9:17 pm
Drew-b-do
Don, I guess I'm confused... does your program work within VDJ or is it a stand alone product?
I bought VDJ because it was supposed to let me DJ, VJ or KJ all from one product, and I would not have to learn three different software packages. I love the DJ portion and have used it alot. I don't have any videos, and just recently got into karaoke.
Another KJ in my general area uses a different software and it has a remote terminal system, so he sets up a second laptop on a nearby table where other singers can find a song and put their name in. The software then sends it to his primary "DJ/KJ" laptop, where he plays the karaoke tracks from. I like this program, but I don't want to spend another $100, plus have to learn another software system.
I bought VDJ because it was supposed to let me DJ, VJ or KJ all from one product, and I would not have to learn three different software packages. I love the DJ portion and have used it alot. I don't have any videos, and just recently got into karaoke.
Another KJ in my general area uses a different software and it has a remote terminal system, so he sets up a second laptop on a nearby table where other singers can find a song and put their name in. The software then sends it to his primary "DJ/KJ" laptop, where he plays the karaoke tracks from. I like this program, but I don't want to spend another $100, plus have to learn another software system.
Inviato Tue 09 Aug 11 @ 9:24 pm
Don Moir
Hi Drew,
Essential Media works as a plugin within VDJ similiar to clipbank with additiional features.
At one point EM had a karaoke tab and was about halfway implemented when I decided to remove it from EM in favor of doing a separate plugin for karaoke.
EM will cost 50 dollars but with many features. Mostly its geared toward SWF and video playback but does CDG files quite well. It's easy to use and you don't need any codecs for CDG files. EM has native support for CDG. It's easy for you to try it.
Just download from the following link and don't worry about the codecs. It's still in beta so there is no installer for it yet. The zip file contains EssentialMedia.dll and just place that into the VDJ VideoEffects folder.
It allows 48 files to loaded at once. And you can save and load groups of 48 files or less at any time. So you could prepare a karaoke session pretty easy and save it and load it when ready. But it does not have search. history, and that sort of thing that is useful for karaoke. You can just drag your CDG files onto the movies tab into one of the square areas there, or you can right click and load them that way.
http://sms.pangolin.com/temp/EssentialMedia.zip
If you need help locating the VideoEffects directory let me know or anything else just ask. The installer is just not complete yet and it will automatically place the files in the right place for you.
Essential Media works as a plugin within VDJ similiar to clipbank with additiional features.
At one point EM had a karaoke tab and was about halfway implemented when I decided to remove it from EM in favor of doing a separate plugin for karaoke.
EM will cost 50 dollars but with many features. Mostly its geared toward SWF and video playback but does CDG files quite well. It's easy to use and you don't need any codecs for CDG files. EM has native support for CDG. It's easy for you to try it.
Just download from the following link and don't worry about the codecs. It's still in beta so there is no installer for it yet. The zip file contains EssentialMedia.dll and just place that into the VDJ VideoEffects folder.
It allows 48 files to loaded at once. And you can save and load groups of 48 files or less at any time. So you could prepare a karaoke session pretty easy and save it and load it when ready. But it does not have search. history, and that sort of thing that is useful for karaoke. You can just drag your CDG files onto the movies tab into one of the square areas there, or you can right click and load them that way.
http://sms.pangolin.com/temp/EssentialMedia.zip
If you need help locating the VideoEffects directory let me know or anything else just ask. The installer is just not complete yet and it will automatically place the files in the right place for you.
Inviato Tue 09 Aug 11 @ 10:08 pm
Support staff
Karaoke files DO NOT need to be zipped (Although this format is supported) - With today's large hard disks, zipping is not really necessary and on MacOS, due to the ZIP decoder library, this can cause problems if you have too many ZIP's in the same folder, causing no files to be displayed.
NOTE: Most KJ's usually organise their collection by disk number (E.g: /Karaoke/Sunfly/SF123, /Karaoke/Sunfly/SF124, etc.) so this is not usually a problem.
If the files are not showing, please check the following:
(1) The karaoke files are in MP3+G format (.mp3 file + .cdg file.) VirtualDJ does not support .kar MIDI files, .bin files or playing Karaoke directly from the original CD+G discs. If you have original CDG discs, you will need to 'rip' them to MP3+G format, or purchase karaoke already in MP3+G format directly from on-line karaoke vendors such as Sound Choice.
(2) The files have been named correctly - The .ZIP file (If zipped) and the .MP3 and .CDG files contained within it must all have the same name, e.g:
ABBA - Dancing Queen (SF123-01).zip
|- ABBA - Dancing Queen (SF123-01).mp3
`- ABBA - Dancing Queen (SF123-01).cdg
(3) If zipped, the .ZIP file is not corrupted or is using non-standard compression. Some older karaoke ripping software produces corrupted .ZIP files that VirtualDJ cannot read. If you have trouble loading a .ZIP, simply extract its contents and then rezip it again using the .ZIP support built-into Windows XP and above (Right-click -> Send to compressed folder) or MacOS (CMD + click -> Create archive)
(4) You have added the files to your VirtualDJ database. To do this, use the VirtualDJ browser to browse to the folder where they are located, right-click on it and choose Add to search DB
(5) You have not disabled the display of karaoke files - Click on the eye icon to the far-right of the browser search bar and ensure that karaoke is ticked.
NOTE: Most KJ's usually organise their collection by disk number (E.g: /Karaoke/Sunfly/SF123, /Karaoke/Sunfly/SF124, etc.) so this is not usually a problem.
If the files are not showing, please check the following:
(1) The karaoke files are in MP3+G format (.mp3 file + .cdg file.) VirtualDJ does not support .kar MIDI files, .bin files or playing Karaoke directly from the original CD+G discs. If you have original CDG discs, you will need to 'rip' them to MP3+G format, or purchase karaoke already in MP3+G format directly from on-line karaoke vendors such as Sound Choice.
(2) The files have been named correctly - The .ZIP file (If zipped) and the .MP3 and .CDG files contained within it must all have the same name, e.g:
ABBA - Dancing Queen (SF123-01).zip
|- ABBA - Dancing Queen (SF123-01).mp3
`- ABBA - Dancing Queen (SF123-01).cdg
(3) If zipped, the .ZIP file is not corrupted or is using non-standard compression. Some older karaoke ripping software produces corrupted .ZIP files that VirtualDJ cannot read. If you have trouble loading a .ZIP, simply extract its contents and then rezip it again using the .ZIP support built-into Windows XP and above (Right-click -> Send to compressed folder) or MacOS (CMD + click -> Create archive)
(4) You have added the files to your VirtualDJ database. To do this, use the VirtualDJ browser to browse to the folder where they are located, right-click on it and choose Add to search DB
(5) You have not disabled the display of karaoke files - Click on the eye icon to the far-right of the browser search bar and ensure that karaoke is ticked.
Inviato Wed 10 Aug 11 @ 4:56 am
cguild
Thanks for the bit of tech info, I was wondering why some weren't showing up.
In my opinion it's pointless to keep the disc number around when I have a program with a great searchable database, but that's just me.
**But you don't have to rip all the files individually, a program like Power CDG ripper can rip the cd and the output file will be in zip format, so no, not as much work as you're thinking, and if that was the case, i'd still be working on 10+ years of karaoke cds. Renaming the files sucks though.
In my opinion it's pointless to keep the disc number around when I have a program with a great searchable database, but that's just me.
**But you don't have to rip all the files individually, a program like Power CDG ripper can rip the cd and the output file will be in zip format, so no, not as much work as you're thinking, and if that was the case, i'd still be working on 10+ years of karaoke cds. Renaming the files sucks though.
Inviato Sat 13 Aug 11 @ 1:40 am