When silence helps and when it might mean a problem: reading a quiet Broker.

He speaks when something is worth saying, holds during cutscenes, dialogue and menus, and stops on PAUSE; the Broker Bar reads LISTENING in those cases. Other quiet has a cause you can fix: no session started, the overlay not enabled, Desktop Audio not captured, VOICE RECOVERING. How to tell them apart in 30 seconds.

Silence that is intended

From the questions page: silence is a decision. He holds during cutscenes, dialogue and menus, and when nothing is worth a line. The Broker Bar shows LISTENING in that case. From the offer page: he observes, remembers what happened in the session, and speaks when it is worth it; quiet periods can be normal.

The first moments. Give him a moment after START BROKER: he watches before he speaks. Bring the selected game to the front after starting.
PAUSE. The line he is speaking stops and he neither looks nor speaks until you press RESUME, which continues the same session with a fresh look. A paused session spends no Signal Time.
Talkativeness. Adjustable in the app; it changes how much you get, within the same decision to hold when nothing is worth a line.
What quiet costs. Nothing: a session that is open but in which nothing is being produced does not spend Signal Time. Quiet stretches are not charged just for being open.

Silence you cannot classify

There is no guaranteed cadence: how often he speaks depends on the game, the moment and the service. So a long quiet stretch while clear moments pass is a judgement call, not a verdict. It may be his decision that nothing was worth a line; it may be a miss. Nobody should tell you that every quiet interval is a personality choice, and this page does not.

Two instruments separate the cases. In your own session, the Broker Bar (toggle it with Ctrl + Shift + Alt + B, also over a fullscreen game) shows the current state: LISTENING, THINKING, SPEAKING or VOICE RECOVERING. LISTENING during a clear moment is a decision or a miss, and the evaluation sheet is where you record which you think it was. In a recording you cannot see the Bar, so judge silence by what was on screen.

Silence that points to a problem

Some quiet has a cause you can see and fix. Every line in this table is taken from the setup guide, the questions page or the app’s own OBS troubleshooting.

What you notice	What it usually means	What to do
The Bar reads VOICE RECOVERING	His voice is reconnecting while he keeps watching. A service state, not a judgement.	Wait. If the voice cannot reconnect, the session ends and says so; then START again.
No Bar at all, and no overlay over the game	Either the Bar is hidden, or the game is in exclusive fullscreen, which can hide every overlay. He may still be speaking.	Press Ctrl + Shift + Alt + B. For an exclusive-fullscreen game, borderless or windowed mode is the reliable alternative.
The session never started	The Play screen shows a plain reason whenever something is missing: no Signal Time (he will not start on a balance of zero), Allow game capture not ticked, a game the app cannot watch.	Read the reason on the Play screen; tick Allow game capture; check your balance; start the game first and pick the game window, not the launcher or store.
He speaks for you but the OBS Browser source is blank	The overlay is not enabled, the app is closed, or the source sits below the game.	Keep Signal Broker open and Enable OBS overlay on; check the source is visible and above your game; click Refresh cache of current page; copy the source again after a reset or reinstall.
Captions on stream, no voice in the recording	The overlay has no sound of its own; his voice reaches OBS only through Desktop Audio.	Enable OBS Desktop Audio for the Broker’s Windows output and check its meter before recording.
He went quiet after you changed headsets	He speaks through the Windows default output device; a mid-session device change is not followed.	Stop and start the session again.
He went quiet after you switched games	There is no in-session game switching.	STOP, choose the other game in the app, then START; the sequence takes a few seconds.

A 30-second check

01Read the Bar.
Ctrl + Shift + Alt + B. LISTENING means he is watching and holding; VOICE RECOVERING means wait; no Bar means hidden, or an exclusive-fullscreen game.
02Read the Play screen.
Session status, Signal Time, and a plain reason if something is missing. Paused is paused: press RESUME.
03Check what is in front.
The selected game window should be in front, in play rather than in a menu or a cutscene.
04If you stream, check OBS.
App open, overlay enabled, source above the game and visible, Desktop Audio meter moving when he speaks.
05Still nothing after a clear moment?
Note it on the sheet as a wrong silence, keep playing, and if the session itself has ended the app says so. Support covers the rest.

Judging silence in a recording

The recorded sessions include quiet stretches, and the developer’s notes say so. Judge them against the screen: a menu, a loading screen, a cutscene or a long stretch of nothing in particular is right silence; a clear moment passed unremarked is wrong silence; and because the Bar is not in the recording, VOICE RECOVERING cannot be told apart from a decision there. The evaluation method gives silence its own box for exactly that reason.

No guaranteed cadence: how often he speaks depends on the game, the moment and the service. Founder Alpha is early-access software; the commentary can be wrong, repeated or badly timed, and it is sold to customers in the United States only.

Limits

This page cannot tell you why a particular quiet stretch happened: it separates documented states from judgement calls and does not claim that every silence is intended.
No guaranteed cadence: how often he speaks depends on the game, the moment and the service.
He does not hear you and does not read chat; the app has no microphone input and no chat.
Founder Alpha is early-access software; the commentary can be wrong, repeated or badly timed, and it is sold to customers in the United States only.

Ready when you are.

READ THE SETUP GUIDE DOWNLOAD FOUNDER ALPHA

Founder Alpha is available to customers in the United States. Founder Alpha is early-access software. Signal Broker is an AI system. The Broker's words and voice are generated using AI. No person is speaking or writing what he says.