I thought it might be helpful to write a few notes on our experiences setting up those singers who are not confident with technology and how to make the process for them as smooth as possible. While most singers are able to setup themselves with Flock, we are finding that for some singers it works well for another person in the choir to do the setup on their behalf. This post explains how to help a singer on Flock remotely - whether that is for the initial setup or for subsequent troubleshooting.
As a quick reminder, below are the main guides for setting up Flock.
- Setup guide: https://community.flock.digital/t/how-to-install-and-setup-flock/65
- Windows ASIO4ALL setup: https://community.flock.digital/t/asio4all-windows-everything-you-need-to-know/51
- Troubleshooting: https://community.flock.digital/t/troubleshooting-guide/85
Below are the main steps to help a fellow singer remotely.
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Call the singer on their phone. It’s very useful to be able to speak to the other singer while you are configuring their computer. The important thing is that you call from your phone to their phone. It can be a regular phone call or you can speak by WhatsApp, Skype, Zoom, etc as long as the app is on their phone. If you call to the computer you will likely have two problems when you both connect to a Flock session: (a) you will get echo/feedback; (b) on Windows, ASIO4ALL needs exclusive access to the mic and headphones and running another voice app on the same computer at the same time as configuring ASIO4ALL will cause errors.
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Connect to their computer with Remote access software. This is so that you can login to the other person’s computer, see their screen, move their mouse and type on their keyboard. This is the software that enables you to do the setup and troubleshooting remotely. TeamViewer is one software tool that you can use to do this. Instructions are provided below.
- Download and install TeamViewer: https://www.teamviewer.com/en/download/
- Both you and the other singer open TeamViewer.
- The other singer tells you their ID and password. You can see an example of the ID and password in the picture below.
- Enter the other person’s ID in the Control Remote Computer section of your TeamViewer and click Connect. Then enter their password.
- After a few seconds you will see the other person’s screen in the TeamViewer window.
- In TeamViewer, turn off audio. The reason is to prevent echo/feedback when you’re both connected on Flock.
- On Windows, click the Communicate menu item and then disable Computer sound.
- On Mac, click the Audio/Video menu item and then disable Computer sound.
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Complete the setup or trouble-shooting on the other singer’s computer.
You should now be able to move the other person’s mouse, type on their keyboard and do the setup and troubleshooting needed. -
Connect to Flock and test that it works
- On your computer, use Flock in Leader mode: Ctrl-click on the Settings button; click the Switch to Leader button; Close Flock and then re-open it.
- Create a Room
- On the other singer’s computer, open Flock and Join the room that you just Created
- Mute your phone and take it off speaker. This is to eliminate echo/feedback while testing the Flock connection.
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Closing
- Disconnect the voice call.
- Close TeamViewer.
- Exit the Flock room.
- Return to Member mode in Flock: Ctrl-click on the Settings button; click the Switch to Member button; Close Flock and then re-open it.
