Loudtalks: Quick start guide
By Alexey Gavrilov on September 26, 2007After testing Loudtalks with several users (thanks guys!) I realized that we need to do a better job communicating how the software works and all cool features we have. This guide (based on version 0.9.0.24 0.9.0.26, updated) explains Loudtalks step-by-step.
Download and Installation
The download is less than a megabyte and would take ~20 seconds on DSL connection. Once you received the file, launch it and follow the wizard.
If previous version of Loudtalks is running during installation, it will be terminated automatically.
Create an account
If it’s the first time you install Loudtalks then you will be prompted to create the account. It’s really simple and we don’t ask many questions.
You need to specify your desired username, password and enter the password again to make sure that you didn’t misspell it. E-mail is optional but I recommend that you enter it. We won’t email you anything, however if you forget your password and didn’t enter your email during registration we won’t be able to help.
Click Finish and it will start logging in and bring you to the contacts screen.
Yeah, I know, it looks a bit lonely. It’s something, which we are working on right now. We’ll add some funny robots to let people try Loudtalks right at this point. For now, why don’t…
Invite some friends
No screenshots for this section. To use Loudtalks you have to talk to someone :) Send an email to some of your friends with the link to a download and your username.
Alternatively you can do a quick test with somebody from Loudtalks team (me is “alex”) or volunteers (”sharuk” or “irina” and feel free to post your username in comments in case you are willing to help).
Obviously this is a “limited time offer” as the number of users grows we’ll have to replace ourselves with robots (for either coding or testing with the users).
Add contacts
When you have someone to talk to on Loudtalks add him or her to your contacts. Use Tools > Add a contact menu.
Enter your friend’s username, click Next and Finish.
It’ll be the best to add at least two people as I did in this example. That way you could try group communication functions of Loudtalks too.
Now you are awaiting authorization from alex and marysmith. As soon as they go online, they will see a notice with an option to either confirm or decline your request. To fight the spam we don’t allow to talk to the people, who didn’t explicitly permitted you that. Here is how the contact authorization works.
When you click it a confirmation dialog appears.
Click Allow to add the user to your list and let him send you messages. Use Block with caution as currently there is no way to unblock the user.
Push to talk
When you have some contacts online it’s time to talk. Select the user in the list, click and hold a big green button with Loudtalks logo and say something. Release the mouse, when done. If the person is available, you’ll get a reply soon. If not you might want to guide your buddy (”Select me in the list”, “Click that fat button”, “Keep holding while”) until you are communicating. Note, that when you speaking to someone, you see a “red flow animation” next to his name. When receiving a message it changes to green flowing in the opposite direction.
Try pressing and holding F7 button instead of clicking. It will work as a push to talk button. Now close Loudtalks (it will minimize the program to the system tray). Press F7 — it’s still working! You can use it no matter what application you are running in the foreground without switching a focus.
A small notification appears to indicate, who is talking for incoming messages or recipient for outgoing.
If you don’t like the placement of the notification you can drag it around the screen as you wish. Loudtalks remembers the new position.
If you want to use a different key as your push to talk button, you can configure that in Options. You can also disable notifications there.
Lock talk
What if you don’t want to hold the button, while speaking?
Click on the right side of the green button marked with lock icon. That triggers “lock talk” mode. You can use Shift+F7 shorcut to accomplish the same. Hit F7 to stop, when you are done. Lock icon glows red to indicate that the mode is active.
Don’t overuse it. Short messages work the best.
If you want to interrupt somebody, you can. Just push F7 and speak back. We don’t allow many people to speak simultaneously (just like walkie talkie), which has some nice effects. You and your contacts can use your loudspeakers freely without any echo!
One to many
You can talk to several people at once too. Hold Ctrl button to select multiple contacts from your list and use F7, Ctrl+F7 or the green button to start talking.
You can create permanent group channels from your contacts. Use “Tools > Create a channel…” menu command to create a new channel from selected contacts. Then you can drag additional contacts to add them.
Double click on a channel to enter into the list. You can drag the contacts of the list to remove them from the channel. If you remove all contacts, the channel disappears automatically.
More on channels in 0.9.0.26 release notes.
Status modes
Normally all incoming messages are played back in real time. However, if you set the Away or the Busy status, the messages won’t be played back but stored instead. You can access them later, when you are available.
To listen to the messages, click on the Play icon next to the contact.
A Headphones mode has no special effect but shows to your contacts that you are either using headphones or otherwise ready to listen to the things privately.
Message replay
At any moment if you didn’t hear the latest message clearly you can press Shift+F7 to repeat it.
Customizing keyboard shortcuts
The best way to use Loudtalks is through keyboard shorcuts. Naturally you can configure them as you like. Use Tools > Options… menu to access the settings.
More to follow
I’ll be extending this guide as we are adding features and improving the product. You can help by sending your feedback and suggestions or commenting in this blog.
where i can make a call????
Comment by blackshield — October 7, 2007 @ 1:17 pm
i’m assuming this requires a mic of some type - but i don’t see any configuration options for anything really.. also is this full duplex or can only 1 person talk at a time? very little tech. details available.. inquiring minds want to know..
Comment by bob — October 19, 2007 @ 2:46 am
Yes, you need a microphone and as long as it’s setup with Windows it should work without additional configuration. If you have more than one audio device, you can select it in Options.
Only one person can speak at a time.
Comment by admin — October 22, 2007 @ 9:28 am
[...] is free, you can download it from http://loudtalks.com/download/. Visit the Quick Start Guide for a step-by-step guide on how to setup and use Loudtalks. addthis_url = [...]
Pingback by Loudtalks - Voice Communication in Walkie-Talkie Style — October 25, 2007 @ 5:24 pm
[...] Loudtalks: Website - Download - Quick start guide [...]
Pingback by » Walkie talk with friends using LoudTalks — October 25, 2007 @ 9:27 pm
how many user can this hold?
Comment by Angie — October 29, 2007 @ 8:29 am
With high speed internet connection (like DSL) it should 5..7 simultaneous recipients.
Comment by admin — October 29, 2007 @ 1:55 pm
У меня не было много времени, чтобы испытать это. Но — это нечто! У меня также создалось впичатление, что звук идет в оба конца одновременно (как в телефоне), хотя Вы говорите, что это - рация. Я буду изучать эту штуку дальше, а пока - огромное спасибо! Выглядит, как п…ц Скайпу.
Comment by mackeev — October 31, 2007 @ 2:53 pm
Sorry for “впичатление” (я проверял spellchecker). Just one more comment: please keep it SMALL! Think twice before adding any new feature. Work on bugs and service improvement. You’re doing a great job!
Comment by mackeev — October 31, 2007 @ 2:55 pm
Как заставить работать если ходим в сеть через прокси-сервер, какие порты для него расшарить кто подскажет
Comment by Kolobok123 — November 1, 2007 @ 4:57 pm
why my username can’t verify??
Comment by asrul — November 4, 2007 @ 10:29 pm
понравилось, спасибо
Comment by Shoom — November 7, 2007 @ 11:17 am
Через прокси пока не работает. Следите за обновлениями.
Comment by Alexey Gavrilov — November 7, 2007 @ 11:33 am
I read the whole thing and it doesnt say if the person I’m talking to will hear it live or if it is more like a voice message.
I mean, what sense does it make if I’m deep in some work and suddenly someone is talking to me, that would be the same as interrupting me with a call? Huh? I dont get it.
Comment by Julian — November 9, 2007 @ 3:33 am
Julian, actually it offers both options.
1) It’s live, when your status is Available
2) It’s stored for manual playback, when your status is either Busy or Away (and this is probably the mode, you’ll prefer when you are deep in some work)
Comment by admin — November 9, 2007 @ 6:46 pm
Can hold more than 7 simultaneous recipients if they are only listening? I want to use this tool in a small organization with 15 recipients .
Thank you in advance.
Comment by ALEXIS — December 3, 2007 @ 9:14 pm
Hi Alexis,
It should work with 15 recipients too if the sender has a bandwidth of 300+ kbit/s and a modern PC. We are working to remove that limitation.
Alex
Comment by Alexey Gavrilov — December 3, 2007 @ 9:16 pm
How parameters need stup for working trougth proxy? Open № port or port-maping etc…
Comment by Slavius — December 4, 2007 @ 12:49 pm
‘Can’t locate authentication server. Please try again later’….
what does that means? i been ‘try later’ for many days.
Comment by saiful azlin — December 6, 2007 @ 7:14 am
Saiful, the error if recurring means that connection to Loudtalks server cannot be established most likely due to firewall restrictions. First try the latest release of Loudtalks (0.9.0.32). If it gives you the same error you might need to consult your system administrator.
Comment by admin — December 6, 2007 @ 4:16 pm
i am not able to make an account. it rejects all my attempts and says, not verified. try again later. what should i do
Comment by shaby — December 7, 2007 @ 3:46 pm
Which the minimal speed of internet connection is enough to normal work of the LoudTalks ?
Comment by Bogdan — December 12, 2007 @ 10:39 am
НЕ ВХОДИТ В ОНЛАЙН У МЕНЯ И ВСЕХ ЗНАКОМЫХ! ИНЕТ У ВСЕХ РАЗНЫЙ. 3 ЧЕЛОВЕКА. БУДЕТ СВЯЗЬ? СПАСИБО!
Comment by RAJJA — December 13, 2007 @ 3:08 am
The portable version stores the password (hashed) on the local machine, which enables the application to connect without properly requiring from the user to give in the password and that, in my perspective, raises the problem of impersonification as the user’s data is stored in documents and settings folder (evenfor the portable version, for which one would assume it won’t get out of the executable’s directory - think of libraries, school labs, etc. with many users having the same windows user account).
Comment by Waiting — December 15, 2007 @ 4:24 pm
Are you sure that you are running it from removable device?
The thing is that we are using universal executable, which automatically detects, when it runs from the removable device (ie USB flash drive) and switches to portable mode then. If you run it from HDD, then it uses user’s appdata folder.
Comment by Alexey Gavrilov — December 15, 2007 @ 4:25 pm
I stand corrected partly. Running it from a removable drive it doesn’t mess with the C drive?
Yet still I wonder why isn’t there an option to have it ask for a password everytime I try to connect instead of storing it?
Comment by Waiting — December 17, 2007 @ 1:08 pm
Hi,
When you get the free time, would it be possible to expose some of the core services as Web API. I was thinking if the core Loudtalk services could be wrapped using some quick code to create nifty apps for an old iPaq 5450 I have. This would really give people with a Handheld device and a Home WiFi connectivity to use it when mobile.
Walking around with a laptop aint that easy. Please do see if this can be done.
Best Wishes & Regards,
Vishnoo
Comment by Vishnoo Rath — January 20, 2008 @ 10:07 pm
Какие требования у программы к системе?
требуются .Net сомпоненты?
обязательна НТ система или на 9х тож пойдет?
как у неё с работой при выходе через эзернет (не теряет ли как скайп часть пакетов из-за повременной раздачи потока юзерам локалки) ?
Comment by bred — January 23, 2008 @ 4:19 pm
Hi,
I am looking into your product to support a client of mine who is
looking for a p2p voice communications solution to accompany their
existing system deployment. Their system deployment consists of PC
workstations running Windows XP running a specific application on
their own network and they would like to add a voice communications
component to it. The features they are most interested in is 1:1
voice and also broadcast 1:many/all stations on the network. This
would be for a general announcements to specific sections or the
entire team.
Currently their deployments have between 20 and 100 stations (PC
terminals w/touchscreen monitors) however in the next year & 1/2 they
have plans for 300 station deployments.
Can you provide details if your application can handle this,
specifically the broadcast to ~100 to 300 users at once? They are all on the same LAN & we can install a separate server if needed. I would like to give them a first round recommendation Friday morning & would appreciate your feedback before then.
I appreciate your time in responding. Should you want to discuss, I may be reached at +1 617 285-2130.
Thanks
Len
Comment by Len — January 30, 2008 @ 11:56 pm
What are technical (not business) points behind this ?
Why is it better that Skype P2P netwoork ?
Why is it better than SIP server-mode (1:many or behind-NAT) and serverless (1:1, no NAT, ZeronConf or UPnP discovery) mode ?
Why is it bettter than Jabber voice/video (Google Talk for example) ?
Comment by Arioch — February 3, 2008 @ 10:06 pm
@Arioch:
The point of Loudtalks is not that the network technology is so cool, but that the application is so useful.
Comment by Alexey Gavrilov — February 4, 2008 @ 11:54 am
M
Comment by PAYET — February 4, 2008 @ 8:43 pm
I have downloaded loudtalks on my i-Mac however not sure how to proceed as no installation wizard screen come out when I click the .exe file, please assist if you have any experience on how to install it on Mac machine. Thanks.
Comment by adda — March 5, 2008 @ 2:52 pm
@adda:
We don’t support Mac OS X yet so the only way to run it is through Windows virtualization software like Parallels (http://www.parallels.com/en/products/desktop/).
Comment by Alexey Gavrilov — March 5, 2008 @ 2:56 pm
I cannot hear the roger beeps when I start transmitting
Comment by DrNitemare — March 20, 2008 @ 1:01 pm
i have downloaded loudtalk it is very good audio. it may be posible to add vidio to this site of loudtalk if posible. just a thought from me .
yours truely
mr harold foot
m3opw.
Comment by haroldfoot — April 3, 2008 @ 1:17 pm
There are a lot of people here. I’ll join you guys. Believe it or not, many people fail in commenting stuff. I’m just trying to say a simple thing – before commenting something, think twice!
Comment by sohbet — April 11, 2008 @ 10:12 am
Hi, what is the maximum number of people per conference?
Thank you
Comment by Khairul — April 15, 2008 @ 6:32 pm