Introduction • vi
Version 2.0, February, 2007
A Note From The Founder/CEO of Telos
It’s been a tradition since Telos’ very first product, the
Telos 10 digital phone system, that I share a few words
with you at the beginning of each manual. So here goes.
In radio broadcast studios we’re still picking up the
pieces that have fallen out from the digital audio revo-
lution. We’re not using cart machines anymore because
PCs are so clearly a better way to store and play audio.
We’re replacing our analog mixing consoles with digi-
tal ones and routing audio digitally. But we’re still us-
ing decades-old analog or primitive digital methods to
connect our gear. Livewire has been developed by Telos
to provide a modern PC and computer network-oriented
way to connect and distribute professional audio around
a broadcast studio facility.
Your question may be, “Why Telos? Don’t you guys
make phone stuff?” Yes, we certainly do. But we’ve al-
ways been attracted to new and better ways
to make things happen in radio facilities. And
we’ve always looked for opportunities to make
networks of all kinds work for broadcasters.
When DSP was first possible, we used it to fix
the ages-old phone hybrid problem. It was the
first use of DSP in radio broadcasting. When
ISDN and MP3 first happened, we saw the
possibility to make a truly useful codec. We were the
first to license and use MP3 and the first to incorporate
ISDN into a codec. We were active in the early days of
internet audio, and the first to use MP3 on the internet.
Inventing and adapting new technologies for broadcast
is what we’ve always been about. And we’ve always
been marrying audio with networks. It’s been our pas-
sion right from the start. In our genes, if you will. As a
pioneer in broadcast digital audio and DSP, we’ve grown
an R&D team with a lot of creative guys who are open-
eyed to new ideas. So it’s actually quite natural that we
would be playing marriage broker to computer networks
and studio audio.
What you get from this is nearly as hot as a couple
on their wedding night: On one RJ-45, two-way multiple
audio channels, sophisticated control and data capabil-
ity, and built-in computer compatibility. You can use
Livewire as a simple sound card replacement – an audio
interface connecting to a PC with an RJ-45 cable. But
add an Ethernet switch and more interfaces to build a
system with as many inputs and outputs as you want.
Audio may be routed directly from interface to inter-
face or to other PCs, so you now have an audio routing
system that does everything a traditional “mainframe”
audio router does – but at a lot lower cost and with a lot
more capability. Add real-time mixing/processing en-
gines and control surfaces and you have a modern studio
facility with many advantages over the old ways of doing
things. OK, maybe this is not as thrilling as a wedding
night – perhaps kissing your first lover is a better anal-
ogy. (By the way, and way off-topic, did you know that
the person you were kissing was 72.8% water?)
While we’re on the subject of history… you’ve prob-
ably been soldering XLRs for a long time, so you feel a
bit, shall we say, “attached” to them. We understand. But
no problem – you’ll be needing them for microphones
for a long while, so your withdrawal symptoms won’t be
serious. But your facility already has plenty
of Ethernet and plenty of computers, so you
probably already know your way around an
RJ-45 as well. It’s really not that strange to
imagine live audio flowing over computer net-
works, and there’s little question that you are
going to be seeing a lot of it in the coming
years.
The 20th century was remarkable for its tremendous
innovation in machines of all kinds: power generators,
heating and air conditioning, cars, airplanes, factory au-
tomation, radio, TV, computers. At the dawn of the 21st,
it’s clear that the ongoing digitization and networking of
text, audio, and images will be a main technology story
for decades to come, and an exciting ride for those of us
fortunate to be in the thick of it.
Speaking of years, it has been a lot of them since I
wrote the Zephyr manual intro, and even more since the
Telos 10 – 20 years now. Amazing thing is, with all the
change around us, I’m still here and Telos is still growing
in new ways. As, no doubt, are you and your stations.
Steve Church
