[DECtalk] DecTalk newbie

Jayson Smith ratguy at bellsouth.net
Tue Apr 19 20:45:19 EDT 2005


Hi,
I don't know if these will help, but I just dug down deep into my sent mail
archives and found two messages I sent to the list back sometime last year.
I'm going to post the texts of these messages here, in this message.  The
first is a general guide to the process of making a DECtalk project, and the
second is a specific guide for one person, using specific software.
In this message you should know the following:
I'll put the text "Next Message." between the messages.
Goldwave, Cool Edit Pro and Soundforge are audio editors.
Cakewalk Pro Audio 9 and Ntrack are multi-track studio programs.
So here goes!

Hello,
This answer will be brief, as I don't know how knowledgable you are in the
field of audio editing, what software you have available to you, etc.  If
you'd like a more detailed letter please let me know, and also tell me what
you have at your disposal.  Also, anybody else who has other tips, or a
better way to do it, please feel free to chime in!  This is an often
overlooked part of creating a Dectalk performance, and it wouldn't hurt to
get a discussion going and get a few good tips!
Ok, I'm assuming you're using the speak43 application, telling it to convert
to .wav files.  As far as I know, the highest quality you can get from
speak43 itself is 11025 sampling rate, 16 bit.  You want that.  I also
assume you're trying to do something like make Dectalk sing in harmony, a
round, etc.  If so, then you'll have to have one file for each part of the
song and convert them to separate wav files, or that would be the easiest
route anyway.  After that, you'll want to mix them of course to create what
will probably be close to the finished product.  On some sound cards, lower
sample rates produce a slight hissing sound, and on some those sample rates
even cause aliasing.  Aliasing is the introduction of unwanted high
frequencies into the audio, which weren't in the original product.  This is
caused by quick and dirty sample rate conversions among other things.
Goldwave, for example, has a sample rate convertor but if you use it to
upsample, that is, convert to a higher sample rate, you get aliasing.  Cool
Edit Pro at least, has a convertor which takes care of the aliasing problem
and you end up with a product which sounds almost, if not exactly, like the
original.  Because of various low sample rate issues, I always upsample my
stuff using Cool Edit Pro, usually to 44100, which is the standard sample
rate for CD quality material.  Always keep it sixteen bit!  It really
doesn't matter about mono Vs. stereo, but just remember to keep it 16 bit!
The reason is that once you convert to 8 bit, the extra precision of 16 bit
audio is lost and you can't get it back again, not even by converting it to
16 bit audio again.  So here's what I do.
First I get all the wav files of all the parts to the song.  I then upsample
them using Cool Edit Pro.  Then I start a new project in Cakewalk Pro Audio
9.  I then put each of the newly upsampled wav files on its own track.  Any
time you mix audio together, you're bound to end up with some clipping or
distortion if you keep the volumes the same.  Because of that, I lower the
volume on all the tracks until there is no clipping.  Then I mix that down
to a new .wav file, then run that through a Normalize command, which raises
the total overall volume to the maximum possible without clipping.
Hope this helps!
Jayson.

Next message.

Hi,
Ok, here is probably how you might turn a Dectalk project into the finished
product.
1.  Create the performance, with separate text files for each part Dectalk
is to sing or whatever.
2.  Use the speak43 application to convert each of these files into its own
wav file.  Choose 11025, 16 bit.
3.  Listen to each of the converted files.  Look out for any garbage spoken
or sung at the end of each file.  Sometimes this happens.  If it does,
simply delete that portion of the wav file(s) in question.
4.  Open each of your new wav files up in Soundforge.  Hit Process,
Resample.  Convert to 44100 sampling rate, and make sure the anti-aliasing
filter is on.  Save each newly resampled file, possibly under a different
name or in a different directory.
5.  I don't know how you use Ntrack, but start a new project and put each of
your newly resampled wav files on its own track.  Make it so that all tracks
play.
6.  Listen to the performance as a whole.  There will likely be some
distortion or clipping.
7.  Turn down the volumes of all tracks to a uniform level if desired.  What
you're looking for is a level where no clipping occurs.  Keep adjusting and
playing until you achieve this.
8.  Add any special effects.  Reverb, panning, chorus, you name it.
9.  Check for clipping after you add any special effects.  If required,
adjust volumes until it goes away.
10.  Just to be on the safe side, save your finished project in whatever
format Ntrack uses so you can come back and make changes later.
11.  Mix down the finished product to a .wav file or use Ntrack's MP3
convertor to convert it to mp3.
12.  Run this finished .wav file through a Normalize command, such as
Soundforge.  This should raise the volume of the finished product to the
maximum possible without clipping.
13.  You should now have a finished product ready to upload or do whatever
you want with!  Congratulations!
If you have any further questions, let me know.  Hope this helps!
Jayson.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Cary" <cary at blackfoot.net>
To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at jaybird.no-ip.info>
Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 8:11 PM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] DecTalk newbie


> Dang, I was afraid you were going to say that. bummer.  I've tried to use
> different wave editors and I'm just not good at all that stuff.  You'd
think
> that me having a computer science degree would make it easy for me but
ugh,
> that's not the case, unfortunately.  Well I guess it turns out that
learning
> how to make DecTalk sing was the easy part.  I wonder if there are any
good
> tutorials out there for how to use wave editors.  But then I guess that's
a
> topic for a different list, eh?
> Well thanks for responding to my message nonetheless.
> -Cary
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Jayson Smith" <ratguy at bellsouth.net>
> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at jaybird.no-ip.info>
> Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 5:32 PM
> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] DecTalk newbie
>
>
> > Hi,
> > As far as I know, there is absolutely no way to make DECtalk sing in
> harmony
> > with itself without using a wave editor.  DECtalk can only generate one
> > voice at any given instant in time.  There is an option in the DECtalk
> demo
> > to save a .wav file of the sound generated by the synthesizer.  Using
that
> > and a sound editor, you could put several of those files together to
make
> a
> > production, and that's what many people do.  Some, naturally, are of
> better
> > quality than others.  Some files have distortion because, presumably,
the
> > voices weren't normalized before being combined, and/or the final
product
> > wasn't normalized.  Some have aliasing.  Aliasing is a high-frequency
> > element added to a sound, where none was present before.  Aliasing is
> caused
> > by people converting the DECtalk wav files to a higher sampling rate
using
> > certain poorly written tools for this purpose.  On the other hand, some
> are
> > of probably the best quality possible, given the limits of the DECtalk
> > system itself.
> > Jayson.
> >
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Cary" <cary at blackfoot.net>
> > To: <DECtalk at jaybird.no-ip.info>
> > Sent: Tuesday, April 19, 2005 7:04 PM
> > Subject: [DECtalk] DecTalk newbie
> >
> >
> > > Hey guys, I'm a DecTalk newbie.  I downloaded the DecTalk demo and
I've
> > been
> > > fooling around with the ability to make DecTalk sing.  What I want to
> know
> > > is if there is a way to make DecTalk harmonize with itself.  I know
this
> > can
> > > be done because there are dozens of files out there that have DecTalk
> > > harmonizing with itself, but  what I'm wondering is if the people that
> did
> > > it used some sort of wave recording software to make it happen.  If
so,
> > I'm
> > > not much of a sound engineer, so I don't know how to do all that nifty
> > > stuff.  But I definitely can make DecTalk sound relatively decent,
just
> > > based on the manual and the tutorial on Shwatskoff's site, not sure if
I
> > > spelled his name right, sorry if I didn't. heh
> > > So basically, I'm wondering how to make DecTalk harmonize with itself,
> > > without the use of nifty cool recording software.  If there isn't a
way,
> I
> > > guess I'm SOL. heh
> > > -Cary
> > >
> > > _______________________________________________
> > > DECtalk mailing list
> > > DECtalk at jaybird.no-ip.info
> > > http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
> >
> > _______________________________________________
> > DECtalk mailing list
> > DECtalk at jaybird.no-ip.info
> > http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
> _______________________________________________
> DECtalk mailing list
> DECtalk at jaybird.no-ip.info
> http://jaybird.no-ip.info/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>
>
> --
> No virus found in this incoming message.
> Checked by AVG Anti-Virus.
> Version: 7.0.308 / Virus Database: 266.9.18 - Release Date: 4/19/05
>




More information about the Dectalk mailing list