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Zabaware Forums => Speech Technology => Topic started by: Jimbo on May 04, 2009, 12:25:06 pm

Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: Jimbo on May 04, 2009, 12:25:06 pm
Before I start spending on voices, I'd like to know which voices are the most realistic.
Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: echoman on May 05, 2009, 06:26:25 am
After listening to as many as I could, my personal favourite is Cepstral. I found the voices are quite soft and personal. I also like the effects that can be added. I found Neospeech Kate's voice quite hard sounding.
Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: Art on May 05, 2009, 05:48:03 pm
As I've mentioned, that question is a lot like asking someone which is the best dog?

The answer depends on YOUR preference...not someone else. You have to visit the various sites or perhaps one like www.nextup.com and sample all the different ones.

They have men, women, children, younger and older voices. Usually you will want to opt for the 22kh voices instead of the 16kh or 8kh ones.

Give a listen to the same voice but on different sites as sometimes bandwidth, background noise, how and where it was sampled all have an effect on the quality of the final output.

But, as I said...the ultimate choice is yours!

Best of luck in your decision(s)!
Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: freddy888 on May 06, 2009, 08:31:44 am
Yeah you really need to listen to the demos, the site Art posted has a lot of them.  Personally I went with the Real Speak 'Karen Australian' voice.  I've had 'her' for a couple of years or more now and she suits me fine.  The quality of the voice is good to my ears.
Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: Jimbo on May 06, 2009, 11:29:12 am
You said that one of the reasons you liked the Cepstral voices was the effects that can be added. What are the effects, and is this unique to Cepstral?
Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: Jimbo on May 07, 2009, 04:10:16 pm
You said that one of the reasons you liked the Cepstral voices was the effects that can be added. What are the effects, and is this unique to Cepstral?
Title: What voices can you recommend?
Post by: echoman on May 09, 2009, 12:44:18 pm
Hello Jim.

It's been a while since I have fiddled around with the effects but I can remember feeling impressed with the variety and quality. I believe there is a limited free version to check out.