It does not score singers, and it is not a karaoke disc catalog.
Live Feedback is the guest room. The DJ turns it on from the music library and picks one mode: DJ or Karaoke.
DJ mode is a party. Guests can see what is playing, what already played, and what is coming up. They can like songs and send messages. The video screen can show the picture and the request QR. It does not show the karaoke words.
Karaoke mode is the singer’s room. The same phone page is still there. Choosing Karaoke opens the video screen with the words, the upcoming singers, and the QR. Switching back to DJ mode takes the words and that upcoming table off the screen. The picture of a music video stays.
The DJ shows a QR code. It can sit on the video screen, and it can be opened or printed from Live Feedback. The line above the code is editable. The usual line is “scan qr to request”.
The code opens the guest page for that room, at 3.powerboxdj.com and the room’s number. The first visit asks for the guest’s name. If the DJ set an event name, that name is on the same screen. The phone remembers the guest after that.
The guest page is a set of tabs the DJ can rename, reorder, and turn off:
A short note from the DJ can sit on the page for everyone.
On the Request tab the guest asks for a song. The name they already gave is sent with it. The DJ chooses what that tab offers:
The DJ can still allow a title that is not in that list. A pick from the list lands on that exact file. A typed title is matched later, on the DJ’s computer.
The request shows up in Live Feedback with the guest’s name, the song, and the votes. Guests can like or unlike a request when the DJ turns those votes on.
The DJ can mark a request Played or Not Allowed. Those two marks strike the song through. Any other mark is a comment, up to 80 characters. They can delete it, or clear the mark.
The DJ can cap how many songs one guest may have waiting: unlimited, or 1 to 10. Extra songs past that cap are dropped. If guest cancel is on, a guest can take their own song back and it leaves the list.
Live Feedback shows each request next to the library song that matches it. Results uses the same columns and live brushes as the library. If the guest picked from the list, that exact file is the match. If they typed, PowerBox DJ searches the library. Filters on Results keep a do-not-play list out of the match.
In Karaoke mode the DJ double-clicks the request or the match. PowerBox DJ adds that song to the playlist. The Guest column on that row is the guest’s name and nothing else. The request leaves the request list. If the library has no match, the request stays.
While the room is in Karaoke mode, the playlist shows Guest and Song. Guest is the name of the person who requested the song. Song is the song. Guest is not a column in the music library, and it is not stored in the database. Leaving Karaoke mode hides Guest.
Play that row. The video screen shows the words for the song that is playing. The upcoming table is the rest of that playlist: Guest and Song. The QR sits under the table. A song nobody requested has an empty Guest cell. An empty upcoming list does not leave a header with no rows.
The Songs tab on the phone can show the current song, what already played, and those upcoming playlist songs. Party likes and votes stay on the phone. They are not on the karaoke screen.
Video output is the presenter window, the one dragged onto the TV or projector. Karaoke mode opens that screen. The DJ can also turn it on from Live Feedback.
The layouts are Reset, Basic, Simple, DJ, Karaoke, Playlist, and Full. They choose what else is on the screen: song info, art, the playlist, the picture, the old lyric box. The karaoke word stack is separate. It appears only while the room is in Karaoke mode. A Playlist layout or a DJ layout can still show a music video. They do not turn the words on.
In Karaoke mode the screen is arranged like this:
In DJ mode that table is hidden. The QR can remain, with the same caption.
Karaoke does not put a printed lyric sheet on a timer and hope. It listens to the vocal.
For a song in Karaoke mode, and for any music video, PowerBox DJ splits the audio into exactly two parts: vocals, and everything else. A saved 4-stem or 6-stem split is not reused for that job. The split is Demucs. The DJ’s stem choice can stay on 2, 4, or 6. The number they see shows 2 while this fast split is running.
The first time Karaoke needs that split, PowerBox DJ asks: “Switch to 2 stems for fast Karaoke preparation?” Three choices:
Closing the question without OK asks again next song.
Live words start only after that vocal file is on disk. The full mix is not transcribed. Whisper writes the words from the vocal, then lines them up to the sung times. If the song already has lyrics, those words are aligned to the vocal instead of being spread evenly across the track. A MIDI karaoke file (.kar, .mid, .midi) already has the times in the file, so it skips the split and the model.
On the deck, the same words scroll in a large strip under the wave. The sung word stays in the middle. A zoom slider on that strip sets the pace. A lower zoom shows more of the words still to come. The screen and the deck use the same times. The screen shows lines. The deck shows the moving strip. There is not a second karaoke strip on the deck.
When the current song’s split and its live words are finished, Karaoke prepares the next playlist song the same way. Only two songs are ever ready: the one playing, and the one next. A third is not started. Turning Karaoke off cancels that preparation. If the next row changes, the old preparation is dropped.
Words already stored on the file open in Info. The lyrics slicer cuts a slice you play by hand, including from the words. A singer who cannot reach the original uses key shift without a tempo change. Stems can mute the recorded vocal and leave the band.
A karaoke night and a wedding are two events. The karaoke list does not become the ceremony list.
A video on the playlist plays like a song. The deck plays its audio. The screen shows the picture with the sound muted, locked to the deck, plus the lead. The words are prepared from the vocal the same way as an audio song. The picture shows in DJ mode too. The word stack still waits for Karaoke mode.
Before the split, the audio is pulled out of the video once and cached. The picture on the screen is the video file itself, kept in time with the deck.
File is the file’s name with its extension. FileName is the name without the extension. Videos also have Play. Play shows a check when this system can open that video. mp4, m4v, mov, wmv, asf, avi, mpg, mpeg, and 3gp get the check. mkv, webm, flv, and the disc and broadcast containers do not. A video without the check can still be listed. The player on this PC will not open it.
Guests can send a text or a voice note from the Messages tab. Those are not the karaoke queue. The DJ approves a text before it can be played onto the video screen, as its own guest ticker. A voice note can be played in the booth. Likes and votes stay on the guest page and off the karaoke screen.