Troubleshooting

The usual snags, and the fix for each. If yours isn't here, ⚙ → Report a bug opens the bug tracker, or write to noods@cobander.com.

Windows says it "protected your PC"

That's SmartScreen not recognising a new installer. Click More info, then Run anyway. Once.
On a Mac, the first open says Apple can't check it: click Done, then System Settings → Privacy & Security, scroll down and click Open Anyway. (On macOS 14 and older, right-click Cobander → Open works too.) After that it opens normally.
Updates installed from inside Cobander don't ask again.

If you came from BandPad, open Cobander from the Start menu once. Same app, same band folder, same settings. The BandPad shortcut goes away.

Plug the interface in first, then ⚙ → Refresh next to Audio input, and pick it.
Windows: Settings → Privacy → Microphone → turn on "Let desktop apps access your microphone".
Mac: System Settings → Privacy & Security → Microphone → turn on Cobander, then restart it.
If the mic you saved is unplugged, Cobander falls back to the default mic and says so.
The tuner closes the mic when you click Done, so nothing stays held open.

Turn monitor off. Your interface already lets you hear yourself; Cobander was adding a late second copy.

⚙ → Record latency offset. Click Measure with the input pointed at the output (a cable from line out to an input, or a mic that can hear the speakers). It refuses if the input is silent.
For a take already recorded, right-click it → ⏱ Timing report → Nudge.

The input meter hit red. Turn the gain knob down on your interface, not in Cobander, and record again. Clipping can't be fixed afterwards.
USB mic or AirPods dropping out mid-take is caught and reported. Wired is steadier.

Someone else has it open for editing. You're read-only, but you can still add notes, needs, reactions, stars and lyric lines; they merge in for the editor within seconds.
Want to record? Click the 🔒 on a free track to unlock it for you. Record there; your take reaches the editor and they save it into the song.
Need the whole song? Try to edit and the holder sees you as ⏳ waiting. When they close it you get a Take over / edit nudge.
They left it open on a sleeping laptop? After it goes quiet for a minute or so the lock counts as stale and Take over in the banner works. Their unsaved changes stay on their computer until they come back.

A bandmate took the lock. Nothing of yours is lost: your unsaved changes stay in memory. Use Take the song back & save mine on top in the banner, which merges your changes over theirs and keeps any takes or tracks they added.

Everyone must point Cobander at the same folder, and that folder must be one the cloud app syncs on each computer. ⚙ shows which cloud it found; if it warns that the folder doesn't look synced, pick one inside Google Drive, OneDrive, iCloud Drive or Dropbox.
Share the folder from the cloud app itself (Drive "Share", OneDrive "Share", iCloud "Collaborate", Dropbox "Share"). Each bandmate then has it on their own computer.
Check the cloud app's icon: is it paused, signed out, or out of space?

The cloud is still downloading it. It appears when it arrives. Turn on "always keep on this device" / "available offline" for the band folder so this stops happening mid-song.
iCloud evicts files it thinks you don't need. Cobander asks iCloud for them back when it notices; a song that shows "iCloud is downloading this song" lists itself once it has landed.
Still missing? ⋯ → Deleted takes lists takes whose audio is in the folder but not on a track.

A sync hiccup handed Cobander an older save than the one you have. Click Keep mine (merge theirs in) unless you know better.

Open the song. It offers Recover the take; the audio was streaming to your computer every second.
If the window goes blank, Cobander restarts itself instead of staying stuck with the song locked.

Paste the whole key from the email. It looks like cob1.xxxx.xxxx: three pieces separated by dots. Spaces and line breaks are fine; a missing piece isn't.
The key is for the band folder you're in. Moved the band to a new folder? Paste it again there.
Still no? Reply to the email the key came in, or write to noods@cobander.com. If it can't be fixed within a few days you get a refund.

Somebody in this band folder has a license, and you don't yet — so you're a guest: play, record and practice in every song, but new songs come from bandmates with a key. A Roadie key ($10) is yours for good. See Free & licenses.

The new version is still syncing into the band folder from a bandmate's computer. Give it a minute and click Check again. Cobander also checks GitHub by itself.
An update that failed shows Try again. On a Mac, a failed self-update rolls back on its own.
Cobander won't update while you're recording. Stop the take first.

Phone and computer must be on the same Wi-Fi. Guest networks often block this.
Windows asks once to allow Cobander on private networks. If you said no, allow it in Windows Firewall settings.

It runs on your computer. The first run downloads the model (about 250 MB). ⚙ → Speech-to-text model picks a faster or more accurate one.
Lines you type yourself win: type them in the Lyrics tab first and From the vocals lines them up with the singing instead of listening for words — faster, and nothing to correct.
Words land a little early or late? ⏱ Tighten timing (Lyrics tab) moves every word onto where the singing starts and stops on the vocal takes. If they're still off in Practice, the sync chip nudges the words sooner or later on this computer (Bluetooth headphones are the usual reason).

⋯ → Lighten the folder… converts older WAV takes to FLAC (same audio, half the size) and clears audio nothing has used for 30 days. Clear parked takes… removes audio nothing in this song uses.

Pick it under ⚙ → MIDI input. The midi light at the top of Record blinks when it's talking to Cobander.