Sync-o’-Lantern Get the app

Help

Support

Answers to common questions, tips for a great projection, and a direct line to the people who make Sync-o’-Lantern.

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Questions, problems, ideas and press are all welcome. Tell us your phone model and what happened, and attach a screenshot if you can.

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Getting started

Which songs can I use?

Any audio file stored on your phone that the phone can play: MP3, M4A (AAC), WAV, FLAC and more. In the Song section, tap Choose and pick it from your files.

No song on your phone yet? Download our free demo song and try the app with it.

Songs inside streaming apps such as Spotify or Apple Music can’t be opened, because those apps don’t make their songs available as files. Please use only music you have the rights to.

How do I get the faces onto real pumpkins?

Connect your phone to a projector and start a Live show. The faces play full screen, in sync with the song. Or tap Make video, then play the video from a laptop, a media player or a USB stick in the projector.

Line the pumpkins up to match the faces on the screen. Smooth pumpkins, real or artificial, in a dark spot show the faces best.

Do I need a projector?

No. You can watch the live show on the phone or on a TV, and you can make a video to share with friends. A projector is what turns real pumpkins into singers.

How many pumpkins can sing, and how do they share the song?

One to six. Pumpkins are numbered from the left, starting at #1. Choose a singer mode:

  • Auto: solo lines take turns; lines sung by several voices are sung by every pumpkin.
  • Turns: pumpkins take turns, handing over only between sentences.
  • Together: every pumpkin sings every line.
  • Solo: pumpkin #1 sings while the others sway to the music.
How long does it take to prepare a song?

The first time you use a song, the app listens to all of it and separates the singer’s voice from the music. On a phone this takes roughly 10 to 40 seconds for a six-minute song, depending on the phone. Making a whole video takes a few minutes. Keep the app open while it works.

How does Sing live (karaoke) work?

Tap Sing live with the microphone, allow microphone access, and sing. The pumpkins lip-sync to you in real time. You can add a backing track: the song you chose, another audio file, or a MIDI karaoke file (.mid or .kar).

  • If the pumpkins react to room noise, or miss quiet singing, move the sensitivity slider.
  • Headphones work best. Otherwise keep the speaker away from the microphone and leave echo cancelling on, so the pumpkins hear only you.
  • Your voice is never recorded. See the privacy policy.

Projection tips

  • Use a cableConnect the projector with a cable. Wireless casting (AirPlay, Chromecast, Miracast) delays the picture by 0.1 to 0.3 seconds, so the lips look late.
  • Watch out for BluetoothBluetooth speakers and headsets add their own delay. A wired speaker keeps the sound and the lips together.
  • Count from the leftPumpkin #1 is the leftmost face, in the app and in lyrics files. Arrange your pumpkins to match.
  • Keep it darkOnly the faces are lit and the rest of the picture is black, so nothing spills onto the wall. The darker the spot, the brighter the faces.
  • Aim with a free previewRun a short preview to point the projector and size the faces before the big night.
  • Plug in the phoneThe screen stays on during a live show. For a long evening, keep the phone on its charger.

Lyrics files and directives

A lyrics file is optional. Without one, the app hears who sings when. With a timed .lrc file, each line’s timestamp decides when it is sung, and you can decide who sings it by writing a directive between asterisks:

DirectiveMeaning
*2*Only pumpkin #2 sings. Pumpkins are numbered from the left, starting at 1.
*A*All pumpkins sing together.
*M*All pumpkins stay silent. Use it for instrumental breaks.

A directive holds until the next one. Put it at the start of a line, or on a line of its own to apply from the next line:

[00:12.00]*1* First verse, sung by the leftmost pumpkin
[00:16.50]still the leftmost one
[00:21.00]*3* Now the third pumpkin answers
*A*
[00:26.00]Chorus, everybody together
[00:40.00]*M*

With a lyrics file, the app takes it at its word: mouths move on every line until a *M*, so mark the instrumental breaks.

Troubleshooting

The mouths move when nobody is singing, or stay shut when someone is

The app separates the voice from the music before it listens, but some recordings can fool it: heavy vocal effects, very loud backing vocals, or instruments that sound like a voice. For exact control, add a lyrics file and mark the breaks with *M*.

The lips look a little late

This is almost always wireless casting or a Bluetooth speaker. Connect the projector and the speaker with cables. See the projection tips.

The app can’t open my song

Make sure the song is a file on the phone, not a track inside a streaming app, and in a format the phone can play. If it still won’t open, convert it to MP3 or M4A and try again.

A video stopped before it finished

Keep the app open, with the screen on, while a video is being made. Phones, iPhones especially, don’t let apps draw video in the background.

The microphone doesn’t work in Sing live

Check that Sync-o’-Lantern is allowed to use the microphone:

  • iPhone: Settings › Sync-o’-Lantern › Microphone.
  • Android: Settings › Apps › Sync-o’-Lantern › Permissions › Microphone. The exact names vary by phone.

Purchases

What does the full version add?

Whole songs instead of short previews, no watermark, and 1080p video. It’s a one-time purchase, not a subscription. See pricing.

I bought the full version, but the app is still locked

Open the unlock screen and tap Restore an earlier purchase. Make sure the phone is signed in to the same Apple ID or Google account you bought it with. This also unlocks a new phone, or the app after a reinstall, at no extra cost.

My payment is pending

Some payment methods take a while to clear. The full version unlocks by itself as soon as the store confirms the payment.

How do I get a refund?

Apple and Google handle payments, so they handle refunds too:

If something isn’t working, email us first. We may be able to fix it.

Reporting a problem

Email support@minorhiccup.com with:

  • your phone model and its iOS or Android version;
  • the app version (shown on the app’s page in the App Store or Google Play);
  • the kind of song file (MP3, M4A, WAV…) and whether you used a lyrics file;
  • what you expected, and what happened instead;
  • a screenshot or a short screen recording, if you can.

Please don’t send us the song itself unless we ask. We don’t need it to help most of the time.