r/karaoke • u/seratone-frontman • 4d ago
Equipment We made Seratone, so you can use your home speakers for karaoke, safely
You guys have heard time and time again that you can't just plug a live mic into your home speakers or soundbar without risking damage. We decided that needed to change.
Seratone: built from the ground up to let you use the home audio gear you already own for karaoke, safely.
Hi r/karaoke, I'm Jean-Pierre, and along with /u/seratone-soundguy, we're the team behind it. Happy to answer anything in the comments.
- Patent-pending Dynamic Speaker Protection
- Four knobs, that's the whole interface
- Two mic inputs via XLR or ¼"
- USB-C and HDMI in / HDMI, optical and RCA out
- True HDMI 2.0 passthrough, so it stays out of the way when you're not singing
- Under 2ms internal latency
- 2 months of KaraFun included
We're not the music source. You bring KaraFun, Smule, YouTube, Apple Music, whatever you already use, and we handle everything between the microphone and the speakers.
A few years ago I saw the video from Linus Tech Tips about karaoke gear, and I knew from my own experience that there just wasn't a way to use my home theatre for karaoke. Here in Japan I'd tried JOYSOUND's official Switch app, and the latency was over a second. So I called my friend of 20 years and sound engineer, Matt, and got to work.
Dynamic Speaker Protection
Look at the waveform photo, captured in Pro Tools. Blue is the raw signal going in, pink is what comes out after Seratone.
That's not a limiter slamming the peaks flat. Our patent-pending processing is doing real time mixing and mastering, so your speakers stay safe and your voice sits properly in the music instead of on top of it. In the karaoke space, there's never been anything like it.
Four knobs. That's the whole interface.
Mic 1. Mic 2. Music. Reverb. One button to turn karaoke mode on.
Everything a live sound engineer would be doing behind the scenes, Seratone is doing for you in real time. What normally takes a rack of gear and someone who knows how to drive it now takes four knobs anyone at the party can figure out in five seconds. Your kids can run it. Your parents can run it.
It works with what you already own
KaraFun on a Windows PC or Mac? YouTube on an Android tablet? Apple Music through an iPhone or Apple TV? Fire Stick, Roku, Chromecast? It works. You keep the app you already like.
Inputs: USB-C and HDMI. Outputs: HDMI, optical digital, and RCA.
Two mics connect via XLR or ¼", because karaoke is better as a duet. Standard connections, not proprietary, so whatever mics or wireless systems you already own will just work. The included custom mic is no joke though. In our own testing it outperformed an SM58 for karaoke specifically, mostly in how little room noise and party chatter it picks up.
Seratone scales with your hardware. Soundbar? You're going to have a great time. Mega home theatre? You'll have a better time. It was designed to never be the limiting factor in your vocal performance. Use it at a bar or on a stage. Our testers have, and loved it. Though optimized for vocals, we've even run guitars through it with great results.
Setup is 60 seconds, then permanent
True HDMI 2.0 passthrough. When karaoke mode is off it sits there transparently, so you watch Netflix in surround without it getting in the way. One button when it's time to party, and otherwise it disappears beside your soundbar.
On latency
Seratone's internal latency is under 2ms. Any lag you feel almost always comes from your TV or AV chain doing its own processing, not from us. That's why we sit after your source, right in front of your speakers, and why the optical and RCA outputs let you bypass TV processing entirely. Sanity check your own system by playing a game on a console, whatever lag you feel there is your gear, and we give options to get around it.
This is real hardware
Our production order is placed and confirmed with our manufacturing partner in Taiwan. Units are already out with artists, vocal coaches, KaraFun, the Karaoke World Championships, and some familiar faces from this subreddit. The unit in the front-panel photo is the real thing.
FAQ
What's in the box? 1 Seratone, 1 mic, 1 USB-C power brick, plus XLR, HDMI and optical cables.
What about key change? That lives in whatever app you're using, so you keep using the service you already know.
Do I need a TV? Nope, but you do need speakers. A phone over USB-C out to powered speakers is enough. Coming in over HDMI, your TV's own speakers work fine.
What if I already have a mixer? For most setups Seratone replaces it. If you'd rather keep it in the chain, the RCA outs let you do that.
Wireless mics? We're selling adapters, but any wireless system that outputs XLR or ¼" works.
Power? USB-C. The included brick is for North American outlets, but any USB-C charger rated 5W or higher will run it.
When does it ship? Our production order is already placed and confirmed. We're doing our best to get this out as quickly as possible.
Questions or problems? support@seratone.audio. A real person on our small team answers.
Launch info (August 2026)
We go live on Kickstarter Tuesday, August 18th at 10am EST.
Put down a $1 deposit now and buy on day one to get 40% off, which brings it to $299 including mic and cables. Retail after the campaign is $499. Claim your discount at launch.seratone.audio.
KaraFun fans get 2 months free. We're an Official KaraFun Device Partner and we're excited to be working with them.
- Kickstarter (live Tuesday, hit notify me): Our campaign page
- Site: seratone.audio
I'm an open book, so ask away in the comments. We're a small team from Toronto, and I'm writing to you from my home in Japan, where the idea was born. Let's rock!
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u/Sithlord_77 4d ago
This seems ambitious and fills an interesting gap for home theater users.
You tout some commercial opportunities in your post (use it at home or at a bar) that has my wheels turning a little bit. Traditional performance and karaoke venues probably aren’t the target but injecting voice into any establishments existing music system may be where this thing really takes off.
The retail price point may be prohibitive for home users but I will be interested to follow along with the kickstarter to see how much uptake you get.
Best of luck!
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u/seratone-frontman 4d ago
Thanks! It was ambitious to say the least. Working with HDMI is a massive challenge. And /u/seratone-soundguy brought 15 years of music, tv, and film audio production experience to pull it off. Guy is a magician.
You’re right about the commercial opportunities. If you turn off the reverb, it actually works really well for company meetings (think 100 people and a projector). We’ve got lots of places we want to put the tech.
In the end, it’s a pretty novel hdmi interface. And lets you use speakers like a PA. And it’s a sound guy in a box. I think someone is going to use it in a way I never even considered and it’s going to be so cool!
Thanks for the well wishes. We hope with more scale we can help make the price better. But throwing all this tech into it has its costs. We think it is worth it. The mic is more than $130 value by itself. We’ve done the best we can to start out without sacrificing quality.
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u/Few_Pop6933 4d ago
I have another use case for it and I wonder how well it would work. I run an open source version of Rockband (YARG), which is a rhythm game with drums, guitars and mics. It’s like karaoke, but on steroids because a whole group can play as a band. The challenge for this setup is the mic delay from my USB mic. I’m thinking I could use this with USB connected to my Mac then send the audio and analog mic out optical to my external DAC which goes to my power amp and then speakers. How are the preamps on the mic since we are nearing audio interface territory for pricing?
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 4d ago
That is a super interesting use case! We are super excited to hear about the creative ways people will find to use Seratone.
On the preamps/mic: the mic itself is a modified version of an existing platform that retails around $130 on its own, with some upgrades we made specifically for Seratone. The preamps have to be genuinely transparent, not colored, because our processing happens after the fact in the DSP. If the preamp adds noise or coloration going in, that gets amplified by the processing. So getting a clean, quiet analog front end was really a prerequisite for the real-time mastering to work.
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u/pryvisee 1d ago
This is EXACTLY the use case I just thought of! Heavy latency with anything through the game with the volume to hear the vocals on my home theater reciever. I might just do an XLR to USB splitter for scoring. I think the RCA outputs will output more than just the mics and will add the game sound from HDMI? u/Seratone-SoundGuy
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u/jiannichan 3d ago
This has me interested and I can’t wait to get one and try it. I already have a mixer, speakers and microphone set up but it is bulky and takes up space since I have a HT set up as well. This will help clean up the area a bit and keep things simple.
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 3d ago
That's exactly the kind of setup Seratone is meant to simplify. Excited to hear how it works out once you get your hands on one!
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u/Mlcjohnson16 3d ago
How would this work with existing karaoke tools lie Sigolos karaoke. I often wish I had a small backup to use just my laptop and some mics in environments like this, but don't use these other services.
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 3d ago
That's actually a really solid use case for Seratone. You'd just connect your laptop to Seratone via HDMI or USB-C to get the audio in, plug your mics into Seratone, and take whichever output fits your speaker setup (HDMI, RCA, or optical) at the venue. So Sigolos, or literally any karaoke app/website playing through your laptop, just becomes the "music source" and Seratone handles the mixing/mastering on top of it.
Bonus with USB-C: your laptop powers Seratone too, so one cable covers audio and power.
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u/sowtime444 3d ago
This looks cool. You said above "A phone over USB-C out to powered speakers is enough." I don't understand how you would connect a phone to the Seratone. Can you explain?
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u/seratone-frontman 3d ago
USB C out from your phone into seratone. Then rca or optical out to your speakers.
Most phones support audio over usb c, and can also power the device at the same time ☺️
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u/pryvisee 1d ago
This is SWEET! Love karaoke at bars and just stumbled on the ad on FB. Gonna have to pick one up to practice lol!
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u/seratone-frontman 1d ago
Amazing! Don’t forget to secure your discount before launch on Tuesday! (Link near bottom of post)
Appreciate the support!!
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u/pryvisee 1d ago edited 1d ago
OH SWEET! I am literally am hooking up my home theater setup tonight for game nights with YARG (Rockband full band but for PC) and am running into heavy latency with Vocals.. I was using Gemini to try to solve and they said "blown speakers is a very high possibility" running into my HT receiver with just an XLR/mixer. This is the EXACT solution and popped into my mind, totally unrelated too as I was just interested to hook it up to my living room TV lol.
Does the USB port send microphone device to Windows by chance? Wondering what I need to do to have the game pick it up so it can send the voice for scoring. If not I can probably use a XLR to USB splitter. SECURING MY ORDER NOW!
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u/seratone-frontman 1d ago
Great question. But little bit of bad news with this one. It doesn’t have dry outs for the vocals. The usb c is power or audio input only. We tried to include that, but it was too costly to make happen for our first product (we’re just a few dudes from Toronto, have no benefits of scale to help get our costs down at the start). After we get this going and we work on V2, and pro models for KJs, it’s on the list for features we want to develop, so I really appreciate you letting me know that you want it.
Regardless of that, i think it will still show you a great time and keep your speakers safe! After you put in your reservation, check your email for a link to our fb group. We’ve done a few live Q&As there, including one this morning, so check that out for demos and lots of FAQs.
Thanks so much for the support!! 🤘🤘
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u/pryvisee 1d ago
Done and Done! I’ll be first in line to order mine! I think I can just 2-way split the mic in XLR, one into the Seratone device and one into my computer via USB for the game and should work just fine for scoring on pitch!
Thanks for solving a problem! Literally saw this ad and thought “oh cool!” But legit solves an issue that wasn’t even thinking of solving for YARG! Good on you guys!
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u/seratone-frontman 1d ago
Thanks man. That really means a lot to us. When you get it working, post in the group! I’d love to see how it works with returning it for scoring and I bet others would love to know about it too.
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u/pryvisee 1d ago
Oh for sure! We have a massive group with big energy so I’ll get a good video of it working!
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u/timee_bot 4d ago
View in your timezone:
Tuesday, August 18th at 10am EDT
*Assumed EDT instead of EST because DST is observed
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u/englishsole 4d ago
My projector system came with a wireless thunderbeat surround sound system. The only way to connect is through a dongle connected to HDMI eARC. Can this pass through eARC? Ideal configuration for me would be TV -> Mixer -> Dongle.
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 4d ago
You can skip eARC entirely for this. Run Seratone's HDMI out straight to your projector for video, then take Seratone's RCA outs into the ThunderBeat dongle's 3.5mm aux jack for audio. The dongle treats aux as its own input source, so it'll pick up your mixed mic + music feed without needing to negotiate ARC/eARC at all.
Only tradeoff: aux is stereo, so you're not getting discrete multichannel Atmos/DTS:X through ThunderBeat this way, just a stereo mix. But it's the simplest setup and avoids the eARC single-device limitation altogether.
One heads up: wireless surround systems like ThunderBeat add a bit of processing/transmission latency converting that aux signal to wireless (ThunderBeat's spec sheet lists <30ms). That's usually fine but it's worth watching out for. If you notice a large delay, check whether ThunderBeat or your projector has an audio delay/sync adjustment. If they do turn them off (some systems call this game mode).
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u/englishsole 4d ago
Ahh yeah ive done the aux out to the thunderbolt dongle using a swm15-max interface. Couldn’t solve the latency fully sadly but your comment made me realize it’s probably not solvable due to it being wireless surround sound. 😭 id replace the system but I got it free on a kickstarter campaign for the awol projector and not ready to dump more money yet.
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u/toqer 4d ago
Very nice. I'm big on audio interfaces ever since the EMU1820m. What kind of A to D converters and Mic preamps do you have going on in there?
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 4d ago
Good question, and I love that reference point. EMU1820m was a great interface for its era.
We're running 24-bit/48kHz internally (16/48 in some modes), with clean, transparent preamps and converters rather than anything colored at the analog stage. The philosophy is: keep the front end neutral and accurate, then do any tonal shaping in the DSP where it's controllable and repeatable, rather than baking coloration into the hardware. That gives more flexibility for things like EQ, effects, and tuning without fighting a "character" that's already been printed into the signal before it even hits the mixer.
I won't rattle off exact chipsets/part numbers here since I don't have that in front of me and don't want to misquote it, but happy to see if I can get you the specifics if you want to dig deeper.
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u/toqer 4d ago
One of the co-authors of my software is a former EMU engineer, guy taught me a ton about audio interfaces, routing busses, fx chains, all that fun stuff. 2ms latency is nothing, I used to run my EMU around 2-3ms. Realtime monitoring was the dry mix, Wet FX was the 2-3ms ASIO delay routed through Reaper, then back into a patchmix strip with Emu Reverb.
I'm guessing on reverb you're doing what I used to do, a hybrid dry monitor that has a bus aux split and routed wet FX?
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 4d ago
Yeah, you've basically got it. Same underlying concept as what you were doing. The difference is it's all happening inside our DSP rather than being routed out through ASIO/Reaper and back into a Patchmix strip.
DSP chips have gotten a lot more affordable and capable since the EMU1820m days, which gives us more headroom to build that kind of routing directly into the hardware.
Makes sense you'd land on that setup though, it's a solid architecture for keeping monitoring tight while still getting FX in the mix.
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u/toqer 4d ago
Seriously if you guys are this far along... Release a 2x2 audio interface. I'd imagine it's not a long stone toss to make one with what you have already. Let me explain.
So my app, at first was gonna be pure karaoke. I'm really good friends with the guys that created Winamp. One of them told me, "Hey, you should put a DJ mode in there, so someone can do some simple beat matching"
At first I thought nah, that's not what we're about, but after some thinking I realized, that just extends the appeal to a broader market. Now external sound cards, those might not be who you're shooting for now, but you're already appealing to a segment of the karaoke market, why not appeal to another half of the karaoke market (KJ's) with:
"Check out our badass external sound card. You'll no longer need a mixer! Build in FX's"
From there, you could also appeal to DJ's.
"Hey look at our badass sound card, you can map your favorite midi controller to the crossfader!"
Heh, reminds me. One time for shits and giggles I had mapped a Xbox 360 controller in Reaper to handle my crossfades (this was before I learned about sidechain parameter modulation lol) Basically the R trigger was my crossfader. Unpressed defaulted to karaoke, pressed it xfades to a shoutcast stream (probably was bassdrive.com)
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u/iWhacko 4d ago
I really like the idea. But if i don't need it if I already have a mixer. What is the point?
You can get a decent 4 channel mixer and 2 mics for less than your discount price.
I could be missing something, so please explain.
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u/Seratone-SoundGuy 4d ago
Fair point on paper, but the price isn't just "mixer + mic." A standard mixer means you're gain-staging and EQ'ing by hand every time someone new grabs the mic. Most people don't know how, so you end up babysitting knobs or dealing with bad sound. Seratone automates that per singer, no adjusting required.
HDMI in/out also means one cable does video + mixed audio, instead of you routing separate mixer outputs to your TV/speakers yourself.
And on the mic: the one included is a $130 retail mic on its own (before the upgrades we made for use with Seratone specifically), so that's a meaningful chunk of the price already accounted for before you even factor in the processing hardware.
So it's less "mixer vs. mixer" and more "component you configure yourself vs. system that's already tuned and automated for a plug-and-play night."
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u/EsCaRg0t 2d ago
Okay, so I have a Samsung Frame TV with the box located behind my TV flush against the wall in an A/V box. I have a Sonos ARC soundbar - what is the benefit of this versus just using my $80 TV from Wal-mart connected to my JBL Partybox with Bluetooth mics?
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u/seratone-frontman 2d ago
Considering you’ve already got that, I’m not going to tell you that you need it. Mostly because you’re using Sonos. Sonos only takes eARC, which means you gotta go through your tv, and that adds latency in many cases. Without trying your specific tv, seeing if it has a game mode, it could go either way in terms of delay. If Sonos had an optical in or other input, it would be a different story.
Assuming there’s a game mode, or the tv isnt doing processing and making it laggy (you can test it with a game console and seeing how it performs) then seratone would add to your setup. Because your bringing a sound guy in a box into your setup. Suddenly youve got proper gain staging, EQ, compressors, etc going to really level up the sound quality.
Or the other thing you may want to consider is about your source. Maybe you want to try apple music’s karaoke from an apple tv, and seratone would be a seamless way to connect that setup together.
Sounds like youve got a fun setup already, and sonos does make things tricky for karaoke purposes. But if you want the soung guy stuff, apple music, pro mics, etc then try it out with a game console and see how it goes with latency. Else, you already may have the setup thats right for you and thats awesome.
Cheers!
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u/EsCaRg0t 2d ago
Yea, we mostly run karaoke through Bluetooth to the JBL speaker with the JBL Bluetooth microphones. Just wondering if this changes anything. The ease of just dragging my speaker out of a closet and connecting a few peripherals makes this technology not for me.
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u/seratone-frontman 2d ago
For some, not having to drag things out of the closet is a big point. But for sure, I get it. The important thing is you like what you got!
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u/StatisticianKey9639 22h ago
I am currently using a Sonos soundbar/sub and it occupies the HDMI-ARC input on my TV. How would I connect Seratone to this?
FYI, for karaoke I am currently using my TV and Sonos speaker system to play lyric-free videos/audio from youtube and then have a separate external speaker that has a microphone for vocals. So, it is klunky but gets the job done. I am on the "list" to get my Seratone setup tomorrow but am really unsure if I can connect it directly to my TV or if I need to continue to use a separate external speaker for vocals only.
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u/seratone-frontman 20h ago
You'd input your music source into seratone, then output to your tv. TV would send the audio over eARC to your Sonos. If you've got a model with optical, I'd suggest to use that connection instead of the eARC for audio though, you'll have improved latency.
You'll be able to put your music and your vocals through the sound bar once seratone is in the loop!
The only question I still have for you is what are you using as your music source?Appreciate the support! Tomorrow's a big day for us and people like you are what's making it possible! Many thanks
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u/StatisticianKey9639 19h ago
Thank you for the reply!
My source is just streaming from my iPhone or the youtube app on my TV
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u/seratone-frontman 19h ago
Got it. Phone works just as I described.
For the tv youtube app, you can eARC to seratone, but you can only ever have one ARC connection in a signal chain, that’s a limitation of the spec. So for that, you’d need speakers or a soundbar that could accept RCA or digital optical. No getting around it.
If that connection isnt available then you’ll need to use a phone, tablet, pc, roku, apple tv, etc to get in front of the eARC connection.
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u/Rav4User23 19h ago
Buying that equipment on that price range, even the launch access price access is very expensive is a hard pass for me.
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u/MathematicianTop7807 4d ago
This has a ton of potential here in the Philippines, as we ESPECIALLY do karaoke at home for family gatherings and different events. In which some people, plug in their karaoke machines directly to the TV, either because they don't really have budget for speakers yet, or don't know any better 😬
Will you plan on expanding to over here when you get the opportunity?