Early karaoke machine
(Photo credit: Wikipedia)
The 'Karaoke' is a very popular form of entertainment. The Karaoke allows the singer to sing along with the favorite recorded soundtracks. The origin of the word 'Karaoke' is from Japan which means 'empty orchestra' or 'virtual orchestra'. Now a day Karaoke machines are widely used as an alternative playback device in films and even in computers and mobile phones.
Overview of Karaoke Machine
A Karaoke Machine is built-in with a karaoke player, amplifier, speakers, and often a TV monitor. The karaoke player is generally a CD or DVD player that comes with the various added function of graphics output. The Karaoke Player allows playing 'Karaoke' which further is needed to get connected to other karaoke equipment such as a TV monitor, sound system, etc. in order to function. The Karaoke Players generally come in two types i.e. portable and component style.
The portable Karaoke Player is basically an all-in-one system which is very easy to operate. The portable Karaoke systems which are great home entertainer are mainly used at home parties and at small entertainment venues. These systems generally consist of a CD player, a microphone, a pitch and echo controller and external speakers with built-in amplifiers.
Other than the portable Karaoke Machine these players also come in component style. The Component Karaoke systems are similar in size and function to that of portable systems but have several additional features. The component players are basically multi-disc systems. These systems have several microphone inputs with separate volume controls for each microphone. The component Karaoke systems do not have any speaker or amplifier. Therefore these systems are usually connected to either home or any professional sound systems.
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The Technology behind the Karaoke Machine
A standard Karaoke generally consists of an audio input and an audio output and act as an audio mixer. In a Karaoke Machine, regular songs can be fed into the machine and the voice of the original singer can be suppressed. Sometimes karaoke machine uses a special type of compact disc which has graphics capability and this disc is popularly known as CD+G disc. The CD+G players are generally used to display the lyrics and pictures on the screen along with the music, while both audio and video are displayed in the other formats of karaoke. With the help of different technologies, the karaoke machines are capable of changing electronically the pitch of the music. This technology helps the amateur singers to sing along with any music source most appropriate to their vocal ranges.