WOLF·IE
WOLF·IE
Intercom Engine

Party lines, IFB and a phone line — anywhere with a signal

Wolf·ie is a fully functional 256-port, Dante-integrated intercom with 12 phone lines. There are 4 groups, which can operate independently or tie together with shared PLs and feeds. There are 4 fully mix-minus PLs per group, and each PL can have 1 phone line and/or 1 Dante trunk. Every source routed to a PL is mix-minus.

There are 3 feeds, 2 inbound and 1 outbound, which tracks with the hardware limitations of an iOS device. Those 3 separate feeds can be interfaced directly over XLR via a Wolf·ie AIO box; more on this later.

All of this can be operated from the palm of your hand: route sources directly to and from the plant over Dante, in a hurricane or at a convention, powered the same way you already power your device.

With a budget of 32 seats (user devices), one route can be heard by many users and controlled independently, for their ear, on their device.

Elevated Tech users can hold more responsibility for feeds on their own device in the field, or the server can be operated remotely for a seamless, hands-off delivery of IFBs and PLs to anyone who logs in with their personal UID.

Anywhere in the world with a cellular or Wi-Fi connection, and it integrates with existing frames such as Riedel, Clear-Com or RTS via Dante Trunks.

  • Cellular
  • Private LTE
  • Starlink
  • Wi-Fi
  • Wired
256Channel audio matrix
12Phone lines
n−1Mix-minus on every line
DanteTrunks to Riedel · Clear-Com · RTS
2× IFB1× Hot MicIn each group
NY ⇄ LDNFirst transatlantic low-latency PL exchange

What it is

A phone line that behaves like a beltpack

Getting a phone caller properly into a broadcast intercom has always been awkward. A reporter on a mobile, a guest at a remote site, a producer who isn't on comms: the usual answers are a phone taped to a mixer, a spare channel on a comms box, or somebody minding it. They work, but none of them make the caller a real member of the party line.

What Wolf·ie does

Every source lands on a software matrix as the same kind of thing: a crew member's phone, a caller on a phone line, or a Dante Trunk to an existing frame. Once a phone line is just another port, putting a caller on a party line is simply setting a crosspoint.

  • Party lines: listen, latch and hold-to-talk from an app on the crew's own iPhone.
  • IFB feeds: two feeds, placed in the left ear, the right ear or both.
  • Dial out: call a correspondent or guest and drop them straight onto a party line.
  • Dante Trunks: integrates with existing frames such as Riedel, Clear-Com or RTS, so their panels join the same party lines.

Why it sounds right

Every contributor hears the line minus themselves (mix-minus), including the phone caller. That's what stops a caller hearing their own voice come back down a cellular leg a second later, the worst sound you can put on air.

  • No VPN, no config: crew install the app, enrol with an invite and they're on.
  • Nothing to dial in to: no bridge numbers, no conference host.
  • Silence announces itself: if audio drops, the app says so rather than looking fine.

A line that would serve one person now serves the whole group.

How it works

One rack, every kind of connection

A single server runs the matrix, the phone engine and the routing. Everything folds down to crosspoints inside it: crew phones reach it over the internet, phone lines arrive from a phone system, and existing frames such as Riedel, Clear-Com or RTS integrate via Dante Trunks.

FIELD ANY CONNECTION THE RACK THE OUTSIDE WORLD iPhone app Party line keys, talk, listen, IFB, dial CREW'S OWN PHONE AIO patch node IFB in each ear + a hot mic, on XLR PLUGS INTO THE PHONE Web clients Control room and admin console ANY BROWSER Cellular Private LTE Starlink Wi-Fi Wired ENCRYPTED WEBRTC Wolf·ie server ONE MAC MINI · 2RU RACK THE MATRIX 256 channels · every source is a port PARTY LINES SHARED LINES IFB FEEDS MIX-MINUS n−1 Wolf SIP Our own phone engine: a line is a port Dante Audio device and clock for the whole plant Phone callers Correspondents, guests, producers: any phone VIA A PHONE SYSTEM Existing frames Riedel · Clear-Com · RTS panels join the same party lines VIA DANTE TRUNKS SIP 4-WIRE Every contributor (crew seat, phone caller, Dante Trunk) hears the party line minus themselves.
Green · ListeningTap to latch a line open until it's tapped off.
Red · TalkingPress and hold. Key, banner and haptic all at once.
Yellow · Shared lineA party line shared across every group.
Orange · DegradedThe connection is up but not healthy, and it says so.

The app

What a tech sees

Screens from the iPhone app talking to the real rack. Nothing here is a mock-up, and no control ever moves when you press it, so keys can be found by feel in a truck bay.

Party lines
Party lines screen with four keys; PL 01 latched to listen in green, a shared line with a yellow bezel
Four keys. Tap to listen, hold to talk. The yellow bezel marks a line shared with other groups.
Talking
PL 01 held to talk: the key turns red and a banner reads Talking PL 01
Holding PL 01: the key goes red and the banner names the line.
Feeds
Feeds screen with IFB A on the left ear and IFB B on the right
Two IFBs, one in each ear, each naming where its audio comes from.
Dial
Dial screen with a phone line free, a number entry field, dial and hang up buttons
A real phone call, straight onto a party line with mix-minus intact.
Levels
Levels sheet with mic gain, listen trim per party line and feed levels
Every level in one place, with no zero on the faders: a silent line that still looks live is the worst failure.

Phone numbers and internal feed names are blurred.

Hardware

Printed boxes, one look

Designed in OpenSCAD and 3D-printed: rounded corners, a flush two-colour logo inlay and a gasket line at the lid seam.

AIO patch node

111.8 × 68 × 43.4 mmBuilt · bench-proven
The Wolf-ie AIO box held in one hand, front face showing L OUT, R OUT and MIC IN XLR connectors
Front: L out, R out, mic in.
The AIO box lid with the Wolf-ie inlay logo and a leather strap
Lid inlay and leather strap.
The power end of the AIO box with a USB-C barrel
Power end and gasket line.
L OUT R OUT MIC IN
  • A breakout, not a beltpack. A USB audio card under the lid breaks out to three panel XLRs: headphone left and right out, and a mic in.
  • Plugs into a phone, iPad or laptop. That's what unlocks a separate IFB in each ear plus a live microphone.
  • Proven by ear. Left/right separation confirmed on the bench.
  • One cable. Wired Ethernet proven; power over Ethernet on the bench.

2RU rack unit

482.6 × 88.1 mm faceLayout agreed
WOLF · IE INTERCOM ENGINE · 2RU POWER READY
  • Houses the whole plant. The server, the phone system and the network switch in two tiers behind one front panel.
  • One mains feed. Rear inlet, front master switch, internal outlet strip.
  • Split for the printer. A full 19″ face won't fit the print bed, so the panel tiles in two with an internal spine and alignment pins.
  • Status Wolf. A front-panel wolf that glows teal while the server is up and reachable, and turns amber if the heartbeat stops.

The story

Named after a husky from Queens

Wolf·ie is named after Wolfie, the husky this website belongs to. The howling-wolf mark came from him too: it started as a sketch Ultan put on a handmade leather harness, and it just stuck, as did the name. It later picked up a backronym:

Wireless Operational Link Frame & Intercom Engine

It was built by Ultan Molloy, a broadcast field engineer in New York with over two decades in sound, communications and RF, to fix a problem he'd worked around for years. It was designed and specified by him and built with AI coding assistance, which is how one person could take it from idea to working system in months. The phone engine at its heart, Wolf SIP, was written from scratch, because every off-the-shelf softphone gives you a call, and the matrix needed a port.

  • Summer 2026First party line: phones, a phone line and a frame in the same conversation.
  • Aug 2026The AIO box is built and proves a separate IFB in each ear.
  • Sep 2026Native iPhone app approved for outside testing.
  • 6 Sep 2026New York to London: an engineer in London on his own phone, talking on a party line across the Atlantic. It sounded great.