I'm certain that I am not alone in the following scenario. After installing new ESI system for customers they realize the value of message on hold capabilities. They have the ability to record 3 different personal VM greetings, 2 different AA main greetings (actually 4 if you consider day and night) and numerous info mailbox recordings. They seem dissapointed when they learn the steps nessesary to have a quality MOH isn't as simple as having a telephone and the admin password. MOH must come from a 3rd source such as a live feed from a CD player or a local radio station. I have several customers that I have selected a piece of music into the customer recorded location and this works great but they still want the ability to record their own unique message and feed it into the system in place of music.

OK, in order to do this the right way and create a professional result I must do the following:

1 Record a wav file to my hard drive.
2 Send the wav file to the customer for approval.
3 Copy the final product to a transportable player such as a CD player or MP3 player.
4 Transport the player to customer location and copy the recording to the system.

I am in the early stages of Step 1 at this time and in need of quality recording software and any opinions others may have as far as microphones and such.

The end result I am hoping to achieve is a quality audio production I can proudly deliver to approximately 10 customers. The return on time invested in order to create 10 service calls is a big time loser so I also want to have the ability to take a written draft and record quality audio I can send to other ESI techs for their customers.

Your thoughts??

John

On Hold Plus offers MessageStudio software with their units. It may be worth looking into. All of the background music they supply that you overlay your recordings onto is licensed.

We also sell OHP units. The Message Studio software is pretty good, and allows the customer a lot of good flexibility to make their own recordings. The units that accept SD cards (and also connect via USB) have really improved the "user friendliness" of the product.

It would be nice if ESI offered something to make it easier for customers to take advantage of the on-board recordable MOH prompts. Being able to have it loop (not always start at the beginning) would probably be tough, but would make it much more useable. Also, more flexibility for MOH selection when tenant service is used is a BIG thing in my book, and needs to be improved upon.

John, have you looked at the On Hold Plus units? If not, you should get your hands on a OHP 6000 or better, and try it out.

I am currently evaluating recording software. Once I have the right mix of microphone and software I will move to phase 2 which will be the device to download wav file into prior to delivery to customer system. On Hold Plus has quality products no doubt however all of their offerings tend to send me in the direction of purchasing one of their products. It is the limitations of 3rd party availabilities I am looking to avoid. I want to be the 3rd party.

John

It would be nice to have a MOH prompt that the customer can record there own message , like the ACD prompts.

Several have mentioned products so have a look at Premier Technologies or Premtech.com. The usb or network product would solve the media transport issues. They now use mp3 so nothing is proprietary. As far as setting up your "studio" I wish you good luck.

What audio format does the ESI except is it just audio or will it take .wav or mp3 files

The ESI system takes MOH thru direct connection using 1/8 mono plug. After the connection you can play from the device one time into the system and it actually records it internally. That is basically the problem. Recording a decent quality verbal message to a transportable device then transporting to the location.

John

merritt-

ESI uses some proprietary format, which is almost some form of raw audio. I was able to open a prompt file in Goldwave, and behind much noise, I could make out what the prompt said.

In general, the entire prompt and music system is very limiting and frustrating. If I want to upgrade to new software, I then have to re-record EVERY custom prompt. ESI supports up to 99 branches in the AA. If a system used them all, that's at least 99 re-recordings. Then, there's the user directory and voicmail... ESI's biggest system could have at least 500 users, and another couple hundred general purpose mailboxes.... One thing standing in the way of progress for the upgrade, is my boss having a few dozen recorded calls and numerous voicemails in his mailbox. Downloading them from the system isn't even real-time, it's 1:3 (actual time:download time). The admin app has the capability to backup the prompts, but not voicemail... doesn't matter though, backed up prompts can't be loaded after a new OS.

Yes-- Use an MP3 player. People can record what they want on the PC using a variety of software products, a microphone, and voila.

Rob- you should have a close look at the feature set for the Comm Server line and the new system progammer. You will be pleasantly surprised.

Voila? Tell me more. I'll get what I can from Google but I'm interested!

Rob - To expand on what Brian said, with the new Communications Server line has what ESI calls "soft reset". With new software updates the OS is updated but much of the programing and the Prompts, VM, Caller Id, etc are "safe".

Should be the end of the "total" reprogrammed switch when updating system software.

any good mp3 player would work for you and there are several free software downloads to use I like Winamp or Itunes


the OHP 600 would do this also I use a SD/USB adapter just drag and drop files to SD card and then you plug it in to the OHP unit very easy to change MOH at any time

Well, that's great that the new ones will do that.. But we're likely to be sticking with our X-class for quite a while. The 600 was looking interesting, being able to link in standard SIP devices.. But not at the expense of an all new system except the cards.... Do the Gen2 boards work in the new line?

Yes, the "E2" cards will work in the Comm Server line with the appropriate carrier card adapter.

We use the Premier Technologies product. It's easy has high quality and the best part is that you can schedule updates to many units for a specific time via LAN. Like a nationwide promo or holiday specials

John, actually your solution is a lot simpler than doing this with other systems because the KSU will store the message internally. That means no traditional MOH player is needed.

The 1/8" plug is an audio input. As you know, all you have to do is dump the production into it once and you can take whatever you store it on away.

You can use just about any means to do this, from an analog tape player/recorder to an MP3 player. Frequency response is not even important so I wouldn't get too caught up in the digital thing except for creating and editing. Matter of fact many systems I encounter don't like any kind of bass on the MOH so you would be better off tailoring your production to the 200Hz to 8Khz telephone frequency range unless you see otherwise.

Audio software I recommend is Audiograbber as well as Audacity. Audio grabber is a ripper that will convert to MP3. Audicity is an editor/recorder. Both are freeware.

That said, I don't provide MOH productions and can't see spending time and gearing up to do it. I think something professionally recorded is much more professional and there are lots of outfits out there that will do it inexpensively.

-Hal

Now we are talking, I highly recommend the Audacity Software. Would anyone like a sample sent to them?

To all Esi dealers The great John Grider is doing some awesome recording get them while they are hot. Let me warn you now he is good. Get your while they last. Thanks John for all the great help you gave me on mine. :toast: