- Stingray Music
- Stingray Digital Media Group

www.thekaraokechannel.com

Features

Online accessibility
Kit includes: 2 microphones, USB vocal mixer

System requirements

Microsoft Windows XP or Vista, Mac OS (v10.4 or later)
Web browser with Adobe Flash Player 9
USB port
External Computer speakers or headphones (1/8 audio plug)
Internet connection (high speed recommended)

Karaoke Channel Online is now offering the “Karaoke Kit” for aspiring singers and karaoke fans alike to belt out their favourite tunes right from the comfort of their own home. The new kit features a couple of microphones for those duets, a vocal mixer to make you sound better than you actually are, and volume control. This is the first karaoke system that was specially created to function online, and is one of the more affordable methods to enjoy high quality professional karaoke without breaking the bank, making your next party or get-together a blast. The Karaoke Kit retails for $99.95 and comes with a one year subscription to the Karaoke Channel Online library of over 5,000 songs. Alternatively, you can opt for the stand-alone unit which is going for $39.95, with subscriptions starting from $9.95 monthly.

To gain access to the site’s full catalog, users will have to become paid members. Membership fees cost around the aforementioned $10.00 a month, but there is a $100 a year membership available. Oddly enough there is a $15.00 24-hour membership available, but the site advertises that this is intended for “karaoke parties” so you could break the cost up between a big group of friends. There is also a free plan, but this only grants access to 100 of the site’s total songs.

For each song you have access to you can play back and record your songs through the site’s Flash-based media player. The site also includes community features that allow you to make friends and rate and view the most popular, and hopefully talented, singers who have taken the plunge for Karaoke Channel Online. I almost had more fun listening to the various singers’ attempts at stardom singing some of my favourite songs. While some are very good, others (the majority) are quite bad and this leads to an amusing time listening, and besides it’s all in good fun isn’t it?

Unfortunately, the site places a fairly heavy emphasis on becoming a paid member and its sharing functionality is based in a somewhat restrictive nature. It is understandable that users are asked to pay for the privilege of using these licensed karaoke songs, but the site also restricts you from listening to whole recordings performed by other users (you can only hear brief samples). This is especially frustrating when listening to the “Hall of Fame” songs, and only getting 30 second snippets. There also does not seem to be any way to share a song with a non-member. Karaoke communities are fun because you can strut your stuff to a wide audience but if you can’t link your friends, who probably are not members, to your performances the site tends to lose some of its value. There are plans to integrate more robust sharing in the near future, but until then it will have a tough time competing with other similar services.

The hardware included in the kit is pretty good quality. I found the microphones to have a solid and even feel, and they worked quite well for the price. Sure, they are not high quality or expensive microphones like the studios and recording artists use, but they do their job admirably. One thing of note: the headphones may cause a bit of feedback on your microphone but by spacing things out and keeping your volumes in check it should not be problem. The vocal mixer is also decent quality. I think users should sit down and play with the gizmo to get familiarized with its settings and quirks. The unit can clean up some of your vocal attempts while also influencing the certain sonic qualities of your singing. You can manipulate timing, syncing, and even use an echo feature. The echo function is fun to use especially on the longer ballad type songs; it also adds an interesting dimension to various songs. Overall it it can be pretty fun at times to hear the results of tweaking.

One of the first things I noticed while playing around with everything is that the music and vocal recordings sometimes get out of sync, especially when using a USB connection from the mixer to the computer. I think that they have some work to do in this regard. Also, because the site is all Flash driven, you can not use your back button; you have to re-load the page. If you want to browse songs you literally have to go back to the top and drill back down. During my time I also found that some options need to be double-clicked, where-as most are single click. This little problem may not seem like a big deal but over time this becomes tedious and can be frustrating when trying to navigate the songs. Overall, I think the site could use some fine tuning in the usability department.

On the other hand the lyrics screen for the game is displayed very well; the words for each song are clearly legible and easy to follow along too. The screen can be displayed in a smaller size with options allowing you to surround them with special effects, or you can it in a full screen, which is the best way. The timing ball for the verses can be seen without too much strain too, and it is easy to figure its meter after a few verses.

Something that I noticed was that for most of the songs I tried the music seemed to be done by some sort of cover band so you may be a bit surprised the first time you try to sing a song and the music doesn’t sound quite the way you expect it too. I actually listened to a few of my own CD’s to hear the differences in the songs mixes. For example, Van Halen songs sounded very good for the most part and the cover band is almost indistinguishable from the real thing, although I was disappointed to hear altered or deleted versions of Eddie Van Halen’s guitar solos. I’m not sure why the game uses licensed songs with cover bands doing the singing. If they are licensed why not use the real versions? While this doesn’t take away from the service, it is a quirk that I immediately noticed. Currently there are over 4300 songs on the site and I was able to find many of my favourite tunes. They are rapidly adding new songs as well so if you don’t see your favourite song on the site right away keep checking back to check for new updates. On a side note, don’t expect any independent bands on the site at this juncture either; however I would hope they consider releasing music for the genre in the future. One other feature I also hope to see is the ability to share your recorded song with others outside of their site; either through an embedded Flash player or a direct link into the website to your recording.

For me, I am not sure that the Karaoke Channel Online kit would be worth the money in order to get rid of the occasional karaoke bug, but I can see setting something like this up for a party as it is a great low-cost do-it-yourself option. The service is definitely perfect for social get togethers and for fans of karaoke alike. While I am not a huge Karaoke fan myself, the Karaoke Channel Online site and hardware kit provided quite a bit of fun that I had not counted on. At the very least I would suggest you go check out the free version as I am sure that a lot of you may be pleasantly surprised what the whole service has to offer and you may be swayed to pick up the kit and subscribe to the over 4300 songs.