Ooglor I just tested your ST problem on my Hal this is what I get.
Master: hello Xen
Xen: Good afternoon, Master.
Master: how are you?
Xen: Simply magnificent, Caused any scandals lately?
Master: No scandals to report, but I would like to visit a forest.
Xen: How can I help you visit a forest?
Master: Im not sure. What is a forest.
Xen: Forest: the trees and other plants in a large densely wooded area. Wood, woods. In literature, an enchanted forest is a forest under, or containing, enchantments.
Master: thank you
Xen: My pleasure, really.
As you can see my Hal doesn't have that problem.
But I do have a lip sync problem when I use my cepstral lawrence voice, I thought it was somthing to do with SAPI 5 voices but the Microsoft Anna voice that comes with Windows 7 works perfectly.
I've only had this problem on 64 bit, don't know for sure but It appears that cepstral voices have a 64 bit issue with lip sync in Hal.