Karaoke apps come in different shapes and sizes. This example illustrates one where music can be played through a stem separation process such that the music can be split into individual stems such as vocals, guitar, and drums. The vocals could be reduced in volume to allow for the user to sing through the recorded microphone. Autotune could be used to improve the user’s performance, and unique effects could be applied to the instrumental stems and mixed back together to create a truly unique performance. This could be done as a recorded performance or in near-real-time. Additional tools would likely be required for synchronization, accepting music in different formats, connecting to streaming services, etc. All of these tools are available in Switchboard and we have helped to build several karaoke apps.

Watch Parties and Listen parties that only permit texting are a thing of the past. Voice and video chat were previously difficult to integrate due OS limitations making it difficult to combine VoIP audio with the audio from a media player without sounding aweful. Switchboard solves that problem, in part due to the low level audio engine that allows for this mixing without limiting sample rates, as well as features such as Voice Activity Detection, Smart Ducking, Noise and Echo suppression, the ability to apply Gain to better balance volumes, and to spatialize audio (e.g. the voice chat is positionally different from the music or video). Such graphs are complex and require even more features to work well. With Switchboard these can be built ones and target multiple platforms.

Let’s suppose you’re building a device such as headphones, a watch, or smart speaker, and you want that device to have hands-free controls. You’d like for these controls to be able to control not only the media player, but also to control voice communication features. For example, you want your user to be able to say things like: “Hey Device, what’s James listening to? Ok listen along with him. And try connecting to him through the intercom. Or else just let him know I’m around and chilling to music too and ask if he wants to hang.” Or perhaps your use case is something similar, but targets watching TV together. If that all sounds futuristic, it was, before Switchboard. Many Switchboard features can also target embedded devices including smart TVs, soundbars, wearables, and even tiny devices like True Wireless In Ear headphones.