Auto Host hosts the playback: it keeps playable tracks moving without a Play click on every song. It is off by default. It does not MC, pause between songs, or wait for a missing singer. Use it for a smoke or a whole night — you are not hosting at the same time. You still own the gig (the account and this session).
Turn it on (or off)
Two controls, one setting:
- Gig Settings (gear on the gig toolbar) — Auto Host switch.
- Gig header Auto Host — same field, next to Start Session / End Gig. You can flip it before start, while live, or on a break. On a phone, the compact control is a bot icon; confirm Turn Auto Host on? (Turn on Auto Host) or Turn Auto Host off? (Turn off Auto Host).
Stepping away is Auto Host on. Turn it off when you are hosting again. No More Requests closes new singer requests without ending the gig. There is no separate pause chip. End Gig (confirm End this gig?) drops the night off Live and stops Auto Host advancing.
Auto Host is this visit only — by design. Reloading the gig page (phone or laptop) turns it off on every host screen for that gig. Turn it on again after a refresh if you still want the robot. It is not saved as a standing gig setting.
What happens when you turn it on
Turning Auto Host on does the night-start work, in this order:
- The player opens on this screen (Toggle Player), so you can see now-playing and time. Audio still only plays on the computer with the karaoke folder.
- Folder check (on that playback computer) — Karaoke Name checks the karaoke folder, and the BGM folder if Background Music is enabled. If either is missing or unreadable, that computer shows Load Karaoke Folder (then the BGM folder prompt if needed). A screen with no readable karaoke folder of its own does not get those prompts while another machine has a fresh mount attestation (recorded when that gig page loads, good for 12 hours) — including when you turn Auto Host off, and including after that remote start succeeds. If nobody has attested, this screen is standalone and Auto Host works like a single computer. When you turn Auto Host on from a phone, the playback computer shows Remote control requested; click OK on that computer (the browser will not start audio from a phone tap).
- Background music — if BGM is enabled and a folder is usable, Karaoke Name starts it on the playback computer.
- The singer in Active Queue — the first playable Active song loads and plays (ZIP, or MP3+CDG). If someone is already singing and audio is running, that track is left alone.
- Everyone else waiting — playable Request Pool slips are moved into Active in the Request Pool order you have set, so singers get ETAs. The default view is Fair: one song per eligible singer, same as Queue a round (New singers on hold and singers already in Active stay in the pool). Time / Last Sung / Custom use that list order. Auto Host keeps doing this while it is on — not only when Active is empty.
Ad hoc rows without karaoke files are skipped. If the karaoke (or BGM) folder is missing or unreadable at any point — including after kickoff — the playback computer shows the same Load Karaoke Folder remount as Play Track.
If you turn Auto Host on before Start Session, it waits for the gig’s scheduled start time, starts the session then, and begins playback. Hiding the player with Toggle Player turns Auto Host off (the engine unmounts); turn it on again if you still want it.
What happens when a song ends
The gig must be live (session started). A track ending always runs Mark as Played on the current singing row. If Auto Host is on, Karaoke Name then plays the next playable request (it must start, not only load):
- First remaining Active Queue song that has karaoke files, in Active order.
- Else the next playable Request Pool slip in the same Fair / pool order as above — that song is promoted into Active and played.
While Auto Host is on it also keeps feeding Active from the selected pool so ETAs stay current as new requests arrive. If Active is empty and karaoke is not playing, that peel is started as well — not only given an ETA. A leftover paused file in the player does not count as playing.
If nobody is marked singing when the track ends, Auto Host does not start a song from song-end alone — turn Auto Host on (or Play yourself) to kick off a quiet room. A new playable request into that empty idle Active is the exception above.
Auto Host does not check whether the singer is at the mic.
Fair and the Request Pool
Auto Host follows the Request Pool view you already set (Fair by default). It is not a separate chooser: the Suggested highlight does not pick a different song than that order. If you change that view from a phone remoting the playback computer, the change lands on that computer.
Queue a round and Admit to this round stay manual when Auto Host is off. With Auto Host on, Fair uses that same eligibility to keep feeding Active. For a hosted KJ night where you want to pick every peel yourself, leave Auto Host off: Running the queue.
Needs the karaoke folder
Auto Host uses the same Play path as Play Track. The playback machine needs The Rig and a mounted karaoke folder. During Rig beta, an active Controller subscription includes Rig. Plans: The Controller and The Rig.
Turning Auto Host on is the moment to fix folders on the playback computer. That machine prompts to load or re-select karaoke (and BGM, if Background Music is enabled) if they are missing or unreadable. The same remount appears later if the folder drops — Auto Host does not skip it. Another host screen with no readable folder does not get those prompts while this computer has a fresh mount attestation (gig page load, 12 hours), and turning Auto Host off does not ask it to mount. If nobody has attested, Auto Host on this screen is standalone.
A phone (or any other host screen with no song folder) can still toggle Auto Host — it is a live session switch, and that screen’s player opens so you can see title and track time and control playback (play/pause, stop, seek, skip) plus house settings (key, DSP, visuals, screen, overlays, BGM volume). The playback computer shows Remote control requested; click OK there so the browser can allow audio and folder access. Lyrics (CDG), the real waveform picture, and visuals stay on the playback computer; the phone does not mirror them. Play Track from that other screen also runs there (same OK on the playback computer the first time this visit). Keep the playback gig page open so it can play. How-to: Songbook and player folders.
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