[DECtalk] Midi conversion?

Jayson Smith ratguy at bellsouth.net
Thu Jun 2 09:59:31 EDT 2005


Hi,
Thanks for the explanation.  I do have a few more questions.  One's about DECtalk itself.  Does the software actually have a DECtalk program in it, or does it call an external program to play the song you've just created?  If DECtalk is bundled with the program, this might present a whole mess of licensing concerns.  Most of us in this community use the freely available DECtalk demo program put out by Digital way back when, called speak43.exe.  I have written a small program called Playdec which will allow for command-line or Windows association playing of DECtalk files using the Speak43 application or any similar application.  Let me know if you want a copy.  The license for my program is, basically, do whatever you want with it but if you use my code somewhere else I'd like credit.
Is your program only usable under XP?  That's not a problem for me or probably for most others, but I'm just wondering if it actually requires XP or if it's just not been tested on older systems such as 98.
My other question involves the translation of MIDI notes into DECtalk code.  Let's say you have an eight-note MIDI file, and you create a DECtalk phonemic version of the text 'This is a test'.  Now, would the first note sing 'this', the second note sing 'is', the third note sing 'a', and the fourth note sing 'test'?  If so, what about the other four notes, would they be silent?  In other words, is it always assumed that one note equals one syllable?
Thanks,
Jayson.

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: John B. Eulenberg 
  To: DECtalk Discussions 
  Sent: Thursday, June 02, 2005 9:20 AM
  Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Midi conversion?


  Dear Jayson et al.,
  Basically, the program, which runs under Windows XP, presents three text windows: The first is for English orthography (regular spelling); the second is for DECtalk phonemic code, without the musical note codes; and the third is for the fully "enchanted" DECtalk code, including the musical notes. You can enter text into either the first window or the second window. If you enter it into the first window, clicking a control button creates the corresponding phonetic text in the second window for you automatically. A separate navigation control allows you to select a midi file on your computer. Then, once you have thus specified the phonetic text in the second text window and the desired midi file, clicking a second control button creates the fully "enchanted" DECtalk text in the third text window. This text can then be played by clicking a third control button. Any of the texts can be copied to the clipboard for use in another application. Also, one can hand-edit the text in all three windows at any time.

  I am working with Michigan State University on getting this software available either for free (my preference) or for a nominal license fee under $15.

  As for accessibility of this software for blind users, I think it would be accessible to a person using most screen reading programs. I will give it a test with JAWS this week.

  Yours,
  John Eulenberg


  Jayson Smith wrote:

    Hi,
    A few more questions if you don't mind.  I understand that this software is currently unavailable to the public, and you'd need sufficient interest in order to release it.  With that said, I'd like to ask a few questions which might let everybody know if this program would work for us.
    1.  What operating systems does the program run under?
    2.  How does it work?  E.G. what is the user interface like?  Is it a deal where you write a text script which describes what phonemes or sounds are to be put on each note, or is it a graffical representation where you somehow find the proper notes on the screen and put phonemic symbols on those notes or something?  If that's the way it is, it probably wouldn't be that useful to most of us, as most of us on this list probably are blind.
    I think once there was talk of writing a program to do something similar, but putting some generic phonemic symbols on each note so you could then go in and manually put the  phonemes in.
    Jayson.

      ----- Original Message ----- 
      From: John Eulenberg 
      To: DECtalk Discussions 
      Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 10:23 AM
      Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Midi conversion?


      It hasn't been released, but it ould be. It's pretty much a matter of clearing the MSU office of Intellectual Property. I'd be happy to look into it if there is sufficient interest.
      John B. Eulenberg

John Bryson Eulenberg
Professor
Director, Artificial Language Laboratory
      Jayson Smith wrote:

        Hi,
        Has this software ever been made available to the DECtalk community at large, or is it only available for internal use?  Just curious.
        Jayson.

          ----- Original Message ----- 
          From: John B. Eulenberg 
          To: DECtalk Discussions 
          Sent: Thursday, May 26, 2005 7:15 AM
          Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Midi conversion?


          Dear Jayson et al,
          We have been doing MIDI to DECtalk conversions for years at the Michigan State University Artificial Language Laboratory, using our own proprietary software. Our main application has been for nonspeaking people using a communication aid system such as DynaVox. 
          Our program allows the user to input either at the phoneme level or at the level of orthographic representation (regular spelling).
          Yours,
          John Eulenberg

          Jayson Smith wrote: 
Hey,
Did anybody ever figure out a way to convert data in MIDI files into proper
DECtalk format for singing?  Obviously you'd have to put in the proper
phonemes yourself, but still it'd be nice to be able to have the notes and
durations converted.
Jayson.

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-- 
John Bryson Eulenberg, Ph.D.
Professor
Audiology and Speech Sciences
Linguistics, Germanic, Slavic, Asian and African Languages
African Studies Center
Director, Artificial Language Laboratory
405 Computer Center
Michigan State University
East Lansing, MI 48824-1042
517-353-6622 voice
517-353-4766 fax
517-896-6655 mobile
517-332-1970 home
artlang at msu.edu
http://www.msu.edu/~artlang/



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