Some issues and solution requests

[mnementh]

Hi there,
my first post, so I think a short intro might be an idea.

Name is Sandy
Age is 66
Location in Scotland.
Retired Electronics Technician with a major Comms company.

Previous Karaoke programs include Winamp with various addons (terrible)
Sax'n Dotties (pretty bad as well)
Virtual DJ Pro (does the job but is silly expensive)
Various free programs supplied by Karaoke song providers.
Just Karaoke (Excellent for price and ability)
Karaosoft Karma (best of the lot but resource hungry)

I downloaded Virtual DJ studio and was surprised at how impressed I was with it.

However, I do have some, hopefully solveable, questions.

1) If there is a remaining song time remaining display, I can't find it, either for playlist or Karaoke songs in the request list.
2) Some MP3's simply won't play, either in playlist or lines. However, if I take the kbs down from 320 to 192kbs, all is OK.
3) No FLAC file capability.
4) My 66 year old eyes struggle to read the tiny font in the playlist.

For 4) above, I would cheerfully give up 3 or 4 channel lines to get a wider and hopefully easier to read playlist window.

The one thing that convinced me to try out VDJ Studio was the massive improvement in database logging.

I hope you can find some time to address my points above.

[mnementh]

Hi again,
OK galloping senility aside, I solved the time remaining problem for the playlist by simply trying obvious options.

Right click anywhere in the Playist Window and an option box pops up including time remaining.

Duh!!!

Sandy

[Fabio]

Hi Sandy:

Welcome to this board.

Ok, glad you figured that one out,  I was preparing screenshots for you for the "time remaining issue".

As for the mp3s not playing 320kbps, it could be an issue in the way they were encoded.  I've ran into the issue before but usually I run them through a re-encoder which normalizes the file and Virtual DJ Studio (VDJS) is able to play them.  I use a piece of software called Format Factory which not only converts audio, but also video plus other formats like documents, pictures....etc.  You can convert several files at the same time.  One word of warning is if you plan to download it, be very careful as you're installing it, specially before you click "next", because sometimes they ask if you want to install various other pieces of software which you may not want.  Make sure you click on "skip" or "no" when they ask to install (unless you really want that software), but it's mostly bloatware.

Regarding no FLAC support, that is correct...I'm not sure if the developer will be willing to add that.  One of the reasons VDJS is cheaper is because he rarely relies on 3rd party plugins/libraries.  He will usually write his own which keeps the software fast, less resource hungry, and he doesn't have to pay licensing fees or have to worry about whether a free plugin can later be converted to fee based plugin and has to worry about the legal ramifications of using it. Paying those licensing fees would bloat the price and the software itself. One example is the LAME MP3 encoder.  Most software out there uses this plugin but Justin (the developer of VDJS) has written his own.  On the bright side, you can use FORMAT FACTORY (as mentioned above) to convert all your FLAC files to mp3 format.

Regarding the FONT size, yes, I have problems with it as well.  Unfortunately, you can't do anything about it, I know Justin is planning an update at some point in the future and several of us users have made that a top request (larger/choice of fonts).  About the only thing that will make them bigger is to change the resolution on your screen, but I know in most cases that is not the ideal situation.  It isn't in mine.

Fabio

[mnementh]

Hi Fabio,
the very prompt reply is much appreciated.

FLAC is useful in this day and age as huge hard drives are pretty much the norm and to be honest, once pub patrons get their "beer ears" on, MP3's at 128kbs and FLAC wouldn't make a difference.

I have a couple of converters that I use regularly, namely Emicsoft Total Media Converter (ETMC) and Pavtube Video Converter (PVC).

I basically dedicate ETMC to audio conversion and PVC to video. Saves me changing settings all the time.

Back to time functions.

Karma is a seriously good Karaoke program that "can" play audio files but there are several issues with it.

First, it is processor hungry, so a fast PC or Laptop is needed.
Second, it "must" be connected to the WEB to install it
Third, it requires the Microsoft .NET framework to install

While I regard it as the best Karaoke software I've yet found, VDJ is by far easier to install and run on even a fairly basic machine. Kudos to the software writer.

Karma, however has a cumulative queue timer that totals the remaining songlist run time and lets me make known that "No more singers" can be added to the queue at the end of the function.

Is there a method to see, or impliment this?

Againh, thanks for the quick reply to my first post.

Sandy.

[Fabio]

Hi Sandy:

Lol, on the "beer ears"...

I can't claim to know the difference between the two, other than FLAC being a lossless format.  I will say that VDJS has built in "enhanced sound" capabilities which upsamples audio to 48khz (see screenshot).  Most windows programs will only playback at 44.1khz.  Try playing a converted FLAC file on VDJS and the original FLAC file on another program and you'd be hard pressed to tell the difference.  Use a good headset to listen to both.

I have tried Karma before but as you mentioned it has issues as well as it doesn't work the way I'd want it to work for my purposes.  I do use some of their other products because no one else makes them.  I Have used KJ File manager to normalize the file names on my karaoke songs.  I no longer use it because once my files were in order I didn't need it anymore, I just had to make sure any new added songs are formatted in the same way.  A couple of times a year I do use Song List Generator to create updated paper books.  Also I frequently use their icroons.com site to lookup new songs. 

Regarding your question about the cumulative timer, it does not have such a function, but this mostly is an issue between functionality and practicality. See my second screenshot with the queue with my name as the last person on the queue.   For one VDJS has the option for an online songbook so people can request songs from their smartphones.  This makes it highly tough to prevent people from signing up though their phones even if you queue is full.  I've made announcements that I'm no longer taking requests and people still ignore that and still send in their requests.  Also,  per my screenshot I can estimate that my song will take about half hour before it gets to mine just based on the premise that I can get a new singer roughly every 5 minutes regarless of their song unless their song is an 8 minute November Rain or War Pigs (as examples).  Basically having it add up the time for you as Karma does is still just a rough estimate because you have to announce the next singer after the previous one has finished and by the time they walk over and maybe chit chat with you or fidget with their wallet to throw a tip on your tip jar maybe even call one of their firends to come over and sing with them the machine calculation is already off after two or three singers. Also, quite frequently someone just abandons their song and they don't even tell you and it could be several people, no now you have space for those people who wanted to add a song but you've rejected because your machine has told you there is no room to add them.  Here in California bars are required to stop selling alcohol at 2am and kick everybody off.  However, the majority of bars make last call at 1:30am and call the bar closed at 1:45am.  It gives the patrons a few minutes to finish their drinks before 2am.  I have to estimate that about 1:40 the last singer will be called and he/she will complete their song at about 1:45am (give or take).  per my previous comment I can get a new singer every 5 minutes (give or take).  I actually don't think about it in 5 minute increments.  I think of it in 15 minute increments, so it basically means that I can get three singers every 15 minutes, or 6 singers every half hour.  This means that at 1am if I have 9 singers on the queue I know I'm set for the night and I technically can't take more singers for the queue. However, some of those 9 singer might have gotten too drunk and have left the building or they've changed their mind and no longer want to sing.  So I can't turn people down, but I tell them that there's a high probability that they won't get to sing if all those 9 people are still at the bar. They usually accept it and I add them to the queue.  Quite frequently they actually get to sing since some of the people might have left.  They usually appreciate it and most times they'll leave a larger tip if they actually get to sing.  As you can see a program feature that tells me I can't get more people on the queue would just get in the way for me and I suspect most KJs.  Also, that online songbook feature is a most have for me. Most people love it and request come directly to VDJS, you don't have to run a 3rd party program.  Also they don't need a specific app as it works with both android and iphones. All they have to do is get to your website which you can publish as a permanent message at the top or bottom of the screen. Also singers/patrons can view via their place on the queue via that website.  They can see what everyone is singing and their place in the queue.  Lastly, it also checks the queue and informs them if the song they are trying to submit is already on the queue because someone else submitted it.  It won't allow them to resubmit it. 

You can checkout my own  fabiosongs.com which redirects to the real site (https://fabio.mydjsongbook.com/).  Each new KJ gets their own individual site, your for example might be https://sandy.mydjsongbook.com.  If you check my site when I'm hosting, you can see the queue as well as you can see the song currently being sung (you can actually follow the lyrics too via the site -there's no music however as you're expected to be at the bar to hear it.).  You can check the site now but it's best to see it when I'm hosting.  I'm usually hosting Friday - Sunday starting at 10pm (Pacific Standard time) until 1:45am.

-Fabio

[mnementh]

Hi Fabio,
once again thanks are due for your detailed explanation above.

I have now shown VDJS to a few of my fellow KJ/DJ's and sadly, the comments are universal.

"Great program, shame about the Playlist".

Just a thought but earlier versions of the software had only TWO tabs above the search display window, while later ones have FOUR.

How possible would it be to transfer the Playlist file window down to this much larger box and provide a "Playlist" Tab?

Leave the controls, etc where they are but would this not allow for a much larger font for the file names?

Any thoughts?

Sandy.