Kara-Party.com

In the welcome post I promised to help you get setup with karaoke at home, and we are going to do just that in this post.

The goals with this post are:

• Get you singing quickly
• On the cheap
• Minimize any special hardware requirements that most people won't have lying around

Introducing Kara-Party.com

A karaoke service we offer, named Kara-Party.com, has an underlying charter of the minimum requirements being as little as: a modern browser and internet connectivity.

This leverages some Experience Karaoke technology to help have the karaoke experience (queuing and playing of songs) to be handled by software and eliminates most of the overhead that a Karaoke Jockey (KJ) does for you (or you do yourself).

Because the theme of this post is "quick and cheap", we will forgo using a microphone and just focus on "A Cappella". Usually this means singing without instruments and music (harmonizing with your voices), but in this scenario I am going to use it to mean singing without a microphone. You will still have music via your laptop or TV, just your voice & singing will be all yours to project.

Getting Started

Navigate to http://kara-party.com using a modern browser.

Notice the 2 buttons in the center. The button on the left, Join an Existing Karaoke Party, is for having your browser join an existing party that you are attending so that you can queue songs to sing. The button on the right, Host Your Own Karaoke Party, is used to sign-in as a host and start your own party.

Typically a single location (house, bar, etc.) is what defines a party. A single karaoke host logs in, starts a new party - which gets a unique Party Code that can be provided to other attendees at the same location. Attendees can then navigate to http://kara-party.com, enter the Party Code on the device of their choosing (tablet, laptop, phone, etc.) and "join the party" to allow queuing of songs.

All songs queued within a party will play at that location - this is an important detail to keep in mind. If you share the party code outside of the location, they will be allowed to queue songs but obviously they are not present to sing when it does play.

Click the green button to sign-in and host a party.

Karaoke Host

Once you have signed in as a karaoke host, if this is a new account you will immediately be able to get your feet wet and try it out.

 

The main parts of the home page are:

Song Queue

This area lists all songs that have been queued. Note that this view does not accurately show what order the songs will play in. The actual order is determined dynamically based on who has sung recently and number of songs in the queue.

Performers

This is a basic list of the performers and number of songs they have queued.

Party Code

As mentioned above, this is the code to join devices to your party to allow queuing of songs. It is not uncommon to join a couple of laptops as "karaoke stations". Additionally, performers can use their phone for managing their user.

Launch Karaoke Player

Clicking this button opens a new browser window that will play the songs that are in the queue. This is where the lyrics to songs will be shown, so it is a main part of the karaoke party once everything has been setup. This window can be moved to a second display or simply remain on your current display - it really depends on your setup.

Queue Some Songs!

Clicking this button opens a new tab to the main application that will allow you to create performers and queue songs. This is particularly useful if you only have a single computer - you use this tab to queue songs and the player window to play the songs.
This also happens to be the page that attendees are directed to if they enter your Party Code in their device to join (they cannot access the host controls from their device).

Performers

Performers (including the host) use the main application for queuing songs. This is a rich interface allowing easy search, viewing newly added songs, and various other aspects needed for a compelling karaoke party.

Mobile Interface

Karaoke Player

Once all of the setup is done and you are ready to start singing, queue some songs and they will start playing on the karaoke player window that you launched.

Song Introduction

Song Playing

Joining an Existing Party

As mentioned briefly above, multiple devices can "join a party" and be used as additional stations for searching and queuing songs. This includes desktop computers, laptops, tablets, and phones.

Each device navigates to http://kara-party.com and enters the Party Code that can be found on the karaoke host page. The host shares the Party Code with attendees that want to join a device.

Join an Existing Party

Summing Up

Ok, if you have made it this far - I commend you. Sometimes it saves time in the long run to read through all of the details before jumping in.

Let's assess where we're at. You learned...

• about the kara-party.com service that will allow you to get your karaoke fix easily
• how to log in as a karaoke host to start your own party
• how to join additional devices (via Party Code) to the party for additional "karaoke stations"
• how attendees can use the Party Code (that you provide to them) if they want to use their own device

Here is the link to the Kara-Party.com help pages if you need.

In my next post, I will introduce an affordable, easy-to-use device that will improve your sound and get a microphone in your hand. Stay tuned!

-Chuck

P.S. If you want a free trial of kara-party.com use the promo code FREE14