How it works

Every phone, computer and browser on a show connects to one ON Comms server — ours in the cloud, or yours at the venue. Here is the whole path your voice takes, and what each part of it costs.

ONCommsA cloud site, or ONComms Server at thevenueForwards, never mixesAES-256-GCMCrew phonesiPhone and Android, on 4G, 5G orWi-FiDirector and producersAny browser, or the Mac andWindows clientApple WatchA push-to-talk key on the wrist,through the iPhoneVision mixerBlackmagic ATEM, vMix, or TSL UMDfrom the truckSound desk or DanteA line in and out, each way withits own gainStream DeckAny key, through BitfocusCompanion
  1. Crew phonesiPhone and Android, on 4G, 5G or Wi-FiTalkback both ways; camera tally from ON Comms
  2. Director and producersAny browser, or the Mac and Windows clientTalkback both ways
  3. Apple WatchA push-to-talk key on the wrist, through the iPhonePush-to-talk keys into ON Comms
  4. ON CommsA cloud site, or ON Comms Server at the venueForwards, never mixes; AES-256-GCM
  5. Vision mixerBlackmagic ATEM, vMix, or TSL UMD from the truckCamera tally into ON Comms
  6. Sound desk or DanteA line in and out, each way with its own gainTalkback both ways
  7. Stream DeckAny key, through Bitfocus CompanionPush-to-talk keys into ON Comms
TalkbackCamera tallyPush-to-talk keysThe Apple Watch talks through the iPhone it is paired with; everything else connects to ON Comms itself.

The path of one word

Three legs, in order. The figures are the budget ON Comms is designed to; Latency sets out each one, and what you can tune.

  1. Into the phoneThe microphone is captured once, cleaned up — echo cancelling, noise suppression — and encoded as Opus in 20 ms frames.30–50 ms
  2. Across the networkStraight to the server over UDP, and straight out again to everyone listening. The server forwards each packet without decoding or mixing it. Each radio leg of 4G takes 30–50 ms; a venue network, under a millisecond.1–5 ms in the server
  3. Out of the speakerA receive buffer smooths out the network’s unevenness — about 20 ms on a steady venue network, up to 150 ms on a rough 4G link — then the audio is decoded and played.10–20 ms to play

Why a key is instant

Nobody waits for a line to be set up: it already is.

  • Every line is ready before you press. Each person sends one muted track for every line they can talk on, from the moment they join. Pressing a key un-mutes it — nothing is negotiated, so the line opens under your finger.
  • Hold, or lock. Hold a key to talk, and let go to stop. Double-tap to lock it open; tap again to close it.
  • A quiet line costs almost nothing. A line nobody is talking on sends about 3 kbit/s, so being on four lines costs a phone very little until someone talks.
  • A lost packet is rebuilt, not waited for. Every packet also carries the frame before it, so one that goes missing is filled in from the next.

Lines, groups and who hears what

A group is one show, with its own lines. Everything about who hears what is set in Admin, in a browser.

  • Talk, listen or nothing, per person and per line — changed live, and on everyone’s panel in a second or two, with nobody rejoining.
  • Priority lines duck every other line while someone talks on them: by 6, 12 or 20 dB, or to silence. Each person can choose their own.
  • Private calls go to one person and nobody else, with a reply key that flashes until it is answered.
  • Key banks that each person arranges for their own screen.

Getting through any network

Audio goes over UDP to one port. What happens when a network will not allow that depends on where ON Comms runs.

  • On a cloud site, audio goes over UDP where it can, over TCP where UDP is blocked, and through a relay (TURN) where a network allows no direct path at all — by itself, with nothing to set.
  • On ON Comms Server, everything uses one port, TCP and UDP: 26670 unless you choose another. Open it only if crew join from outside the venue network.
  • On every panel, the delay and the cipher its own connection is using are shown, live.

See it on your own show.

We’ll walk your engineers through ON Comms on a call — your gallery, your network, your questions.

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