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Speech Technology / Three problems with Ultra-Hal TTS

« on: June 09, 2005, 02:46:47 pm »

quote:Originally posted by Dr.Benway

Thatolkevin, Art, I beg you pardon for my not too bright response. Here is the demo application that comes with MS Speech SDK 5.1.
I hope it works on your computer as well.



Download Attachment: TTSApp.zip
66.66 KB

Thanks for the suggestion.  I have downloaded and installed the file.  Do you know if it's possible to use the voice of Mike from Ultra-Hal with this program, and if so, how?  It's quite a bit more pleasant than Microsoft Sam.

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Speech Technology / Three problems with Ultra-Hal TTS

« on: June 05, 2005, 01:46:34 am »

quote:Originally posted by Dr.Benway

Have you tried?

C:Program FilesabawareHalReaderPaullibTTSApp.exe

No, I don't believe I've accessed the file you mentioned.  What is it?  Is it an update which fixes bugs like the ones I've described, or does it have something to do with the voice of Paul (which I've not yet ordered)?

Thanks!

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Speech Technology / Three problems with Ultra-Hal TTS

« on: June 04, 2005, 10:26:21 am »

Being outside the US for a period, I have been using Ultra-Hal to read transcripts from the Rush Limbaugh program's website while I'm doing work around the house.  However, I regularly run into three irritating problems:

1) When the program is set to read the text in windows and messages that come up, if I click on something before allowing it to read the entire current message, it alters my Windows volume settings, turning WAV almost all the way down, and the balance all the way to the left.  I must then manually restore the proper settings.

2) I am frequently unable to record to a .WAV file all the text I wish to at once.  If I try to do more than about ten Office pages of text, Hal will record about thirty-three minutes of it and quit.  I would prefer not to have to split up text and record it in two parts.

3) Sometimes Hal "records" an entire selection, and when I go to play it, there is only silence.  I have no way of knowing whether it's really recording until I try to play it afterward (or I load the .WAV file into Audacity for conversion and see a flat green line indicating the file's non-existent sound level throughout.

I think the cost of ordering the lifelike voice of "Paul" is reasonable, and would be helpful for reading political articles and news show transcripts to me while I'm commuting after my return to the US.  I intend to order the new voice if I can get these problems solved.  Otherwise, the hassle of splitting text for recording in two parts, or rerecording a selection until it "takes," makes it all more bothersome than worthwhile.

I'm using Windows XP on a Compaq 2135US laptop.