Karaoke Studio

[Doc]

Continue discussion from there:
http://famicomworld.proboards58.com/index.cgi?board=famicom&action=display&thread=1140632149

to here.

[Doc]

Check the Auctions board, everyone.

[JC]

Feather's got one up, and that got me wondering. There was no cart packaged with the Karaoke System? And so, that means the songs are in the system?

And how do the "top hits" games work on it that were released later on?

[vealchop]

Man this is like the 4th time I'm gonna try for this thing...not getting my hopes up! 

[JC]

Yeah, it's tough when the only one being sold on eBay is featherpluck's. Collectors flock to his auctions.

Anyone got any answers to my questions?

[featherplucknfilms]

I've never seen the cart for the "top hits"  but there are only two possibilities. Either the "Top Hits" didn't use the microphone and instead you had to use the 2nd player microphone. Or the cartridge have to go  between the Studio and the Famicom with an in and output like a convertor. Someday I'd like to get one to see but there always too expensive for me.

[vealchop]

won it! finally!!! 

[DevIancE]

Heheh...  congrats.

[Doc]

won it! finally!!! 

You are one lucky son of a bitch...that's still a huge dream want of mine.

[jpx72]

Hey guys, just using this old topic about this special piece of hardware, because I want to buy one.
Can anyone please definitely tell me if the unit can be used without the extra cartridges? Are there some songs stored inside or it is useless without the cartridges?
The information on the web is not helping...
Thank you!!

[P]

From what I understood the cartridge has a main ROM with the default songs and the two add-on ROM carts (Karaoke Studio Senyou Cassette: Top Hit 20 Volume 1 and 2) are just adding new songs to the list (in addition to the ones in the main ROM).

Running the ROM images in an emulator suggests as much. "Karaoke Studio (Japan).nes" is just the 128 kB main ROM which contains the stock song list and the two Senyou Cassette ROM images contains the 128 kB main ROM plus the respective add-on ROM (also 128 kB) with the extra songs (they are therefore 256 kB instead of 128 kB). The list of songs becomes longer when you run either of them in an emulator (and the extra songs are different in each of the two) like if they where plugged in to the main karaoke cartridge.

There are some technical info over at Enri's (scroll down to "カラオケスタジオの回路図"), it also suggests a main ROM and add-on ROMs.

Nesdev forums may also have some info if searching. I remember PCB pictures of it was uploaded there to document it.

[UglyJoe]

There was a Famidaily video about it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K98TSXDzugM

15 built-in songs; the add-on carts add 20 songs each (and are stupid expensive...).

[jpx72]

Thanks guys for the elaborate answers! For my needs is really not important to have all the songs, I just wanted a working product so I will get myself the main unit without the cartridges, that should be affordable.
...to be honest I always wanted to try karaoke, and having a premiere on a famicom will be awesome (though I hope there will be the Jingle bells song on the main unit, cause I cannot do any of the japanese ones )

[P]

Oh real karaoke is super fun!! One of the best things you can do if you go to Japan for sure! Just don't get too drunk before you sing or it will sound bad (at least the next day when you hear recordings of yourself kindly eternalized by your friends' mobile cameras).
I wish the karaoke box was a more common thing outside Asia. In Europe karaoke is still mostly found in bars and restaurants.

I don't know how fun a Famicom karaoke toy would be, but it is nice to be able to get some practice at home when alone. Some people rent a karaoke box session alone just to practice.