VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[Don G.]

I noticed this listing on eBay and thought that some here might be interested. I picked up an older model (TMP-636) a couple of years ago and I just tested it again and it seems to do the trick. I don't do a great deal of phone patch stuff, so I couldn't justify buying a Gentner or even a Symetrix TI-101. On those rare occasions I need to, I'll admit that I often just use a telephone headset to hear the director, but this does work both ways and at the very least it enables me to play audio back down the line for the producer to hear. (There's also the added benefit - legalities notwithstanding - of being able to record both sides of your telephone conversation with the cable company, credit card company, telemarketers, ex-spouse, ex-spouse's lawyer...)

Anyway, I have mine patched into my mixer so I can route the phone as needed by either patching it pre-fader if I just want to hear the director or just panning it opposite the clean mic if I want to record the director as well, for later reference.

Here's the eBay listing.
I can't vouch for the vendor, but his feedback looks good.

And here's a .pdf of the 2 page manual, such as it is.

This is the earlier model I have, but the one on eBay is virtually identical from what I can tell.

Just thought it might be worth the $15.99 as an experiment for some of you, if nothing else.

[Dave]

Thanks for posting this Don...looks like a good gadget to have on hand...and the price is certainly right!
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[Joniv]

I've been thinking about phone patches, but my mic is USB, and I've not seen one that would work with it.
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Joni Lambert
www.jonilambert.com

[TheVoiceOfBob]

Does anyone here have experience using digital phone service with phone patches? I use Vonage for my home and I'm concerned about the quality, especially with dynamic bandwidth changes .
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The Voice of Bob

[MuseVox]

It's late and I'm technologically frustrated, so archive diving I went.

Vonage and phone patch comments, anyone?

~Sarah

[Frank F]

OK, let's see how simple we can make this.

Vonage and a phone-patch? Since Vonage is VOIP, first you will need braodband internet. Then with the Vonage router in place, you will need to find a way to tap the audio from the phone to get it in to the computer. Due to the way Vonage is designed this can be difficult. however, I believe Vonage is trying to set up a recording side, which may or may not be in place as of this post. But it will be remote (away from your PC and you would download the file from the internet).

Then there is Skype: (for best quality, you will need broadband interent)

Skype to Skype calling - better than phone quality, (GIPS audio codec)

Skype to phone - a little less than standard phone quality, due to the conversion of audio codecs. (iLBC audio codec)

Record Skype calls - MX Skype (www.skyperec.com), Pretty May (http://www.prettymay.net/), Pamela Call Recorder (www.pamela-systems.com/ ), Skylook (http://www.skylook.biz/), etc.

Now you will need to have the ability to hear and send the audio through your sound card, hear specifically on headphones - no speakers. Most of these recording softwares record to a special file.

MX Skype actaully records to a file with the ability to have incoming audio on one track (mono) and outgoing audio on another track (mono) and combines these into one stereo track. When editing, seperate the tracks to Left and Right in the multitrack time line and you have seperated audio.

The above is the 'up' side. The downside? Unless you are recording your side of the audio into your DAW (Digital Audio Workstation) you cannot playback anything to your client unless you stop the call.

Playback down the phoneline can also be tricky with Skype. It can be done, but there are definate problems with it.

Hope that helps, or at least confuses you more...

Toodles

F2
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

[Jeffrey Kafer]

[jeffk13057]

iSpeek...iSpeek...iSpeek...iSpeek...

[Frank F]

Thanks gang... the thoughts help.

F2
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Be thankful for the bad things in life. They opened your eyes to the good things you weren't paying attention to before. email: thevoice@usa.com

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