You've heard it. You've probably sat there for twenty minutes, phone pressed to your ear, listening to that ethereal, synth-driven groove while waiting for a support tech to reset your password. It’s a strange piece of music. It’s upbeat but somehow lonely. It’s nostalgic, even if you weren't alive in the late eighties. Most people just call it the Cisco call waiting music, but it actually has a name, a composer, and a cult following that rivals some indie rock bands.
The track is called "Opus Number One."
It wasn’t written by a corporate AI or a team of marketing experts in a boardroom. It was recorded on a 4-track tape recorder in 1989 by a 16-year-old computer nerd and his friend in a garage in California. Honestly, the fact that a lo-fi garage recording became the default soundtrack for the global corporate world is one of the weirdest accidents in tech history.
Why Does Opus Number One Sound Like That?
To understand why Cisco call waiting music sounds the way it does, you have to look at the limitations of telephone lines. Phones are terrible at transmitting high-fidelity sound. They cut off the low bass and the high treble, leaving a narrow band of frequencies that usually favor the human voice. This is called "narrowband" audio.
Most music sounds like absolute garbage over a phone line because the compression crushes the dynamics. But Tim Carleton, the teenager who composed Opus Number One, and his friend Darrick Deel, inadvertently created a masterpiece of frequency management. The song relies on simple, bright synthesizer patches that cut through the muddy audio quality of a standard PSTN (Public Switched Telephone Network) line.
It’s basically the perfect "hold" song because it doesn't try to be a symphony. It’s built on a steady, driving drum machine beat and a melodic synth line that stays right in the "sweet spot" of what a telephone speaker can handle. When Darrick Deel later went to work for Cisco as a software engineer, he remembered that old track he and Tim had recorded years prior. He suggested they use it as the default hold music for Cisco’s new IP phone systems. The rest is history.
The Technical Magic of 8kHz
When you’re listening to music on a Cisco phone, you aren’t hearing a high-def MP3. You’re hearing a G.711 codec stream, or maybe G.729 if the bandwidth is tight. These codecs sample audio at 8,000 times per second.
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- Standard music (CD quality) is 44,100 samples per second.
- Cisco hold music is 8,000.
That’s a massive drop in data. If you played a modern Taylor Swift song through that, the percussion would sound like static. But "Opus Number One" uses clean sine and square waves from vintage synths—specifically the Roland D-50 and the Yamaha DX7. Those sounds are "pure" in a mathematical sense. They don't have the complex harmonic distortion that makes other songs sound "crunchy" over a phone.
The Cultural Obsession with Hold Music
It’s weirdly popular. People have made ten-hour loops of it on YouTube. There are heavy metal covers, EDM remixes, and even a subreddit dedicated to identifying hold music.
Why? Because for a lot of people, this music represents a specific type of corporate purgatory. It’s the sound of being "in between." You aren't working, but you aren't free. You're just... waiting. Because Cisco call waiting music is so ubiquitous—installed on millions of Cisco Unified Communications Manager (CUCM) systems worldwide—it has become a shared trauma and a shared comfort for an entire generation of office workers.
I remember talking to a network admin who told me he tried to change the hold music to a generic jazz track once. The employees revolted. They actually missed the synth-pop. It’s like a security blanket. If you hear the "Opus," you know the system is working. If there’s silence, you’ve been disconnected. That fear of silence makes the music essential.
How to Change the Music (If You Must)
If you are an admin and you’re sick of Tim Carleton’s masterpiece, you can technically change it. But it’s a pain. In Cisco Unified Communications Manager, you have to navigate to the "Media Resources" tab and then "Music On Hold Audio File Management."
You can't just upload any file. The system is picky. It generally wants a .wav file, but it has to be formatted specifically:
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- CCITT u-Law or A-Law.
- 8.000 kHz.
- 8-bit Mono.
If you try to upload a 44.1kHz stereo file, the Cisco system will try to transcode it, and it will probably sound like a robot screaming into a tin can. If you really want a custom track, you’re better off using a professional service that specializes in "Audio Branding" or "MOH" (Music on Hold). They know how to EQ the music so it doesn't peak or clip on the phone's tiny internal speaker.
The Copyright Mystery
One of the coolest things about the Cisco call waiting music saga is that Tim Carleton didn't get rich off it initially. It was a favor for a friend. For years, Cisco just used it. It wasn't until the song became a massive internet meme that people started asking: "Who actually owns this?"
Eventually, Carleton and Deel got their recognition. While they might not be making "Happy" by Pharrell levels of royalties, the track is technically copyrighted. Most businesses have to pay for "performance rights" to play music over the phone (via ASCAP or BMI), but because Cisco includes this track by default, it exists in a strange licensing gray area for the end-user.
Common Misconceptions About Cisco Audio
- It’s not an "Easter Egg": People think it was hidden in the code. It wasn't. It was an intentional choice by a developer who happened to have a hobbyist recording lying around.
- It’s not "broken": When the music sounds like it’s stuttering, that’s "jitter." It means your VoIP network is losing packets. The music is actually a great diagnostic tool. If the beat stays steady, your connection is solid.
- There isn't just one version: There are actually a few "variations" of the default files in the Cisco directory, including some lighter ambient tracks, but none have the staying power of Opus Number One.
The Psychology of the Loop
There’s a reason the song loops every five minutes or so. Psychologically, if a hold song is too short, you get annoyed by the repetition. If it’s too long, you lose the sense of time.
The Cisco call waiting music hits a "flow state" where the melody is catchy enough to keep you from hanging up, but repetitive enough that your brain eventually tunes it out. It bridges the gap between boredom and frustration. Some psychologists argue that hold music reduces "perceived wait time." If you’re sitting in silence, five minutes feels like ten. If you’re listening to a synth-pop jam from 1989, five minutes feels like... well, it still feels like five minutes, but at least you can tap your foot.
Real-World Impact
I once saw a tweet from a guy who said he accidentally started humming the Cisco hold music during a first date. That’s the level of brain penetration we’re talking about. It is arguably the most-listened-to piece of electronic music in human history, purely by volume of minutes played.
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Think about it. Every major bank, government agency, and hospital system uses Cisco. Millions of callers are listening to this right now. At any given second, there is a global choir of thousands of people hearing that same opening synth chord.
Actionable Steps for IT Admins
If you’re managing a Cisco system and want to optimize the experience for your callers, don't just leave everything on default without a strategy.
- Check your Gain levels: Default music can sometimes be too loud, causing clipping on mobile phones. Drop the output level by 3dB if you get complaints about "fuzzy" music.
- Test on a Cell Phone: Don't just listen to the hold music on your high-end desk phone. Call in from a cell phone in a noisy area. That’s how your customers experience it. If the music masks the "Hello?" of the operator when they finally pick up, it’s too loud.
- Consider "Comfort Noise": Sometimes, a tiny bit of static or a "period beep" is better than music for very short hold times, so people don't think they've been cut off. But for anything over 30 seconds, you need the tunes.
- Update your files: If you're still using the original 1990s files, ensure they haven't been corrupted over various system migrations. A fresh upload of the original source can sometimes clear up "ghost" artifacts in the audio.
The legacy of Cisco call waiting music isn't going anywhere. Even as we move toward AI-driven chat and "we'll call you back" features, the "Opus" remains a pillar of the digital age. It’s a reminder that sometimes, the most enduring pieces of technology aren't the ones designed by committees, but the ones born in a garage from a kid with a synthesizer and a dream.
Next Steps for Implementation
If you want to dive deeper into the technical side, search for the "Cisco Unified Communications Manager Administration Guide" specifically under the "Softkey Layout" and "Music On Hold" sections. You can also find the original high-quality version of "Opus Number One" on most streaming platforms if you want to hear what it sounds like without the 8kHz telephone compression—it’s surprisingly lush. For those looking to legally change their hold music, ensure you have a "Mechanical License" or use "Royalty-Free" tracks specifically cleared for telephony use to avoid heavy fines from music licensing boards.