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No, Telex

Still the wrong Telex. I think he meant Telex

Thanks. I bought a Telex H-851 because it was the only one recommended with 6 stars by Dragon Naturally Speaking, voice recognition software. The Dragon recommendation seemed important, since they want their software to work as well as possible.

First off, let me preface this by saying that i have worked building large-scale theater shows, and as a lighting designer for 7 years. I have worked on shows including the Lion King, Cher, Phanton of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Tim McGraw, the Pan American Games, as well as numerous regional and touring theater shows and outdoor festivals.

Quite literally the only thing these shows have in common is the need for clear, reliable crew communications. During setup/strike (installation/teardown), crews usually have portable radios (Motorola Walkie-talkies generally), so everyone can keep in touch without shouting or running around looking for each other. Essential for big shows, unnecessary but nice for small one. However, for all shows, only "Clearcom" communications are used.

Clearcom is a brand-name of wired "party-line" communications sets. It's used generically for other brand systems, like Telex, HME, etc. It's the same thing you see camera operators on TV shoots wearing. Everyone has a headset and beltpac, and can talk to one another on a common "channel". Everything is hard-wired, and everything works, all the time, every time. The systems is used for calling show cues, as well as any other necessary communication during showtime.

However, the "wired" issue becomes a problem for some people. While audio and lighting techs can often stay put (they sit behind a board), stagehand/stage managers have to be mobile, often on stage. Usually they need to be able to communicate in a high-noise environment, and it must work reliably.

The only way to do this is via a wireless clearcom system. Telex, HME, and Clearcom are the big three, and all of their systems are inter-operable. I personally like HME's RadioComm, but all systems have their own benefits. Simply put, these systems are expensive but necessary. For a school situation, you can probably get away with 2 wireless stations, and 4 wired. But you can't cheap out on this. You need great headsets, and equally good beltpacs to go with them. When you're midshow, and you can't hear your cue, you'll know why.

I hope this helps. I realize that you were looking for a cheap way around the problem, but there isn't one. You'll find that with 95% of things in theater, cheaping-out never works. You buy a crappy light, or sound equipment, or cleacom, and life sux but things go on. You cheap out on rigging or construction, and people die. It's as simple as that.

-Michael Roy

First off, let me preface this by saying that i have worked building large-scale theater shows, and as a lighting designer for 7 years. I have worked on shows including the Lion King, Cher, Phanton of the Opera, Miss Saigon, Tim McGraw, the Pan American Games, as well as numerous regional and touring theater shows and outdoor festivals.

Quite literally the only thing these shows have in common is the need for clear, reliable crew communications. During setup/strike (installation/teardown), crews usually have portable radios (Motorola Walkie-talkies generally), so everyone can keep in touch without shouting or running around looking for each other. Essential for big shows, unnecessary but nice for small one. However, for all shows, only "Clearcom" communications are used.

Clearcom is a brand-name of wired "party-line" communications sets. It's used generically for other brand systems, like Telex, HME, etc. It's the same thing you see camera operators on TV shoots wearing. Everyone has a headset and beltpac, and can talk to one another on a common "channel". Everything is hard-wired, and everything works, all the time, every time. The systems is used for calling show cues, as well as any other necessary communication during showtime.

However, the "wired" issue becomes a problem for some people. While audio and lighting techs can often stay put (they sit behind a board), stagehand/stage managers have to be mobile, often on stage. Usually they need to be able to communicate in a high-noise environment, and it must work reliably.

The only way to do this is via a wireless clearcom system. Telex, HME, and Clearcom are the big three, and all of their systems are inter-operable. I personally like HME's RadioComm, but all systems have their own benefits. Simply put, these systems are expensive but necessary. For a school situation, you can probably get away with 2 wireless stations, and 4 wired. But you can't cheap out on this. You need great headsets, and equally good beltpacs to go with them. When you're midshow, and you can't hear your cue, you'll know why.

I hope this helps. I realize that you were looking for a cheap way around the problem, but there isn't one. You'll find that with 95% of things in theater, cheaping-out never works. You buy a crappy light, or sound equipment, or cleacom, and life sux but things go on. You cheap out on rigging or construction, and people die. It's as simple as that.

-Michael Roy

For Mac users, the Griffin Powerwave has the following features:
RCA input and outputs, 1/8" inputs and outputs, built in USB hub and DSP, digital audio amplifier.

Wintel folks will want to check out the Telex device. Edirol UA-1A (44.1 kHz only), Edirol UA-3, GriffiniMic, Opcode DAT-/SonicPort (optical), Onkyo MSE-U33(HB), Onkyo SE-U55 and Roland-ED UA-30.

How many of these have drivers for Linux is anybody's guess.

I purchased something similar from telex a couple of weeks ago in order to get a second sound out from my laptop--I bet the quality is better on the creative one though--although the telex one sounds pretty decent considering how cheap it was.

Telex makes a PCI card system called the "EDAT Zing" that allows you to digitize audio cassettes at highspeed (up to 8x) directly to WAV files. It's expensive (between $2400-$4000), but when you consider just how much time it can save, it's well worth it. Short of that, I concur with a previous poster that college interns are the next best thing to overseas sweatshop labor.

Telex makes the t-1400 and the t-1900