Source-Connect Now: THE alternative to Skype and ISDN
By Andy Zimmermann, voice over artist
How do you organise a recording session with voice over artists who cannot come to your studio in person? For a long time ISDN was the last word in the matter, and there are still a number of studios, and the odd voice over artist, who own an expensive ISDN set-up.
In recent years, software solutions from Source Elements and ipDTL have come onto the market with the aim of gradually replacing those costly ISDN units with network-based web services. The big problem with these solutions was, and still is, that the person at the other end has to own the identical software for the audio stream to work.
A year and a half ago I read about Source-Connect Now and tried the tool out straight away. The idea is simple and brilliant:
High-quality, low-latency audio livestreaming between Chrome browsers.
So both ends no longer need to be equipped with the same software for streaming to work. Google’s free Chrome browser and a free Source Elements account are the only requirements for an audio stream. Unlike conventional audio connections over the internet, Source Elements uses the Opus audio codec, which is built around low latency and, at 128 kbps mono, already sounds better than an ISDN solution. It even makes it possible for musicians to play together live over the internet.
In the browser you can record your own signal as a wave file. With a software sound card offered by the manufacturer as ‘Source-Nexus Free’, the incoming audio signal can be recorded as well.
I have already used Source-Connect Now instead of Skype for several international clients. That way a sound studio in Germany and the end client in Switzerland were both able to listen in live during the recording.
Until the end of 2015 the service is in beta and can be used free of charge at any quality setting. After that, various subscriptions will be offered for qualities above 128 kbps. Here is an interview about Source-Connect Now with the manufacturer:
If you still need to connect to an ISDN studio but have no ISDN equipment yourself, take a look at the solution from ISDN To-Go. This bridging service connects a web user directly to a conventional ISDN studio. It saves you an expensive and antiquated ISDN installation while still allowing you to offer an ISDN session.
How good it is to live in a time when technology makes so many things simpler.