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Music Collab combines remote vocals with a shared backing track on one authoritative song timeline. Version 0.1.18 also brings the shared vAudioLink dock design, saved local setlists, YouTube audio-only fallback, managed OBS sources, and ordered shutdown from an active session.

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Role / Room / Configure / Live

The persistent workflow rail keeps both sides in the same four-stage model: The shared Live bar shows session state, elapsed time, room mode, relay latency, and the appropriate End or Leave action above the Music-specific participant, song, transport, scene, and queue controls.

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Use Music Collab when

  • Two remote vocalists perform against one backing song.
  • The host needs a combined output ready for an OBS scene.
  • Both peers must play from the same scheduled backing position.
  • The guest should join without an account.
  • The host wants to prepare and reuse a setlist across OBS sessions.

Host walkthrough

Create the room, prepare a saved setlist, and add the managed outputs.

Guest walkthrough

Join, choose the sent vocal, receive the backing, and follow the host.

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Saved setlists

Setlists are saved on the host computer and reopen when Music Collab starts. The host can add multiple YouTube links or local .opus and .ogg files and prepare them in the background. The host can also search and reorder the queue, rename a setlist, open a saved setlist, or use Save a copy. Prepared songs remain local until used. Only the active song is shared with the partner. The host can ready the next song automatically after the current one finishes, but playback never starts automatically.

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YouTube and audio-only fallback

Music Collab checks a YouTube video’s availability before adding it:
  • Video available means the backing and embedded video can be used.
  • Audio only means the extracted backing audio still prepares and synchronizes normally. vAudioLink Backing Video and Music View ↗ show the branded audio-only fallback.
  • An unavailable video is not added. If the availability check itself cannot finish, retry the check.
Local backing files currently use Ogg Opus with an .opus or .ogg extension.

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Managed OBS sources

On the host, Add Music Collab to scene creates the plugin-owned vAudioLink Music Collab group:
  • vAudioLink Output - the combined program mix.
  • vAudioLink Backing (monitor) - a monitor-only backing source.
  • vAudioLink Backing Video - the muted video, lyrics, or audio-only fallback.
On a guest, Add missing scene sources creates vAudioLink Backing (monitor) and vAudioLink Backing Video in the active scene, without the host’s combined vAudioLink Output source. Only sources marked as plugin-owned are managed by the dock. End session pauses them but leaves the group in the scene. Remove scene sources is the explicit delete action.
Do not capture the monitor-only backing through another program path. Combining vAudioLink Output with Desktop Audio or another copy of the backing can double the track.

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Hosted time

In hosted mode, the signed-in host uses the account’s hosted-time allowance; guests do not use their own allowance or need a plan. If the balance reaches zero during a room, that room can continue until the host ends it, but another hosted room cannot start until time is available. See Hosted time.

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Synchronization and shutdown

Music Collab aligns both performers to the backing song’s shared position and applies the synchronized output delay. It does not claim to eliminate conversational network latency between two open microphones. When OBS exits, Music Collab runs an ordered shutdown before OBS clears scene data. It disables capture callbacks, pauses its managed sources, stops timers and media workers, saves setlist state, closes the host room, disconnects the relay, and stops the local media service. An interrupted song preparation is returned to a retryable state the next time the setlist loads.

Fix Music Collab

Diagnose room creation, guest setup, saved setlists, audio-only fallback, transfer, playback, and managed sources.