[DECtalk] A history question

Alex H. linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com
Sun Jan 30 23:08:23 EST 2011


That's a good idea. Snoopi, could you make a little sample of DT 5.0?

Thanks,

alex

On 1/30/11, Brandon Misch <bmisch2002 at gmail.com> wrote:
> can you provide samples of it?
>
> On Jan 30, 2011, at 9:07 PM, Dectalk at aol.com wrote:
>
>> I have 5.0 but I promised never to give it out, sorry.  I will say it's
>> bad.
>>
>>
>> SNOOPI BOTTEN
>>
>> In a message dated 1/30/2011 8:52:41 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
>> bmisch2002 at gmail.com writes:
>> i'm sure someone has a version of it.
>>
>> On Jan 30, 2011, at 8:38 PM, Jayson Smith wrote:
>>
>> > I don't think there was ever a 5.0 demo at GW. I'm surprised nobody
>> > seems to
>> > have a copy of it laying around.
>> > Jayson
>> >
>> > ----- Original Message -----
>> > From: "Brandon Misch" <bmisch2002 at gmail.com>
>> > To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>> > Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 8:36 PM
>> > Subject: Re: [DECtalk] A history question
>> >
>> >
>> >> wasn't that the demo that used to be on gw's site? if it was, it's now
>> >> found at dectalk.com
>> >>
>> >> On Jan 30, 2011, at 8:28 PM, Alex H. wrote:
>> >>
>> >>> I only wish I could grab DT 5.0, I then would have all the demo
>> >>> programs. :( but it's just tantelizingly too late. Fonix used to have
>> >>> the demos on the old website.
>> >>>
>> >>> alex
>> >>>
>> >>> On 1/30/11, Brandon Misch <bmisch2002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>> if you want to hear a reading edge machine, you can find a podcast of
>> >>>>
>> >>>> that
>> >>>> over at blindcooltech.com i bring this up because that had dectalk
>> >>>> 4.0
>> >>>>
>> >>>> On Jan 30, 2011, at 5:22 PM, Blake Roberts wrote:
>> >>>>
>> >>>>> I think the record Ed refers to is a collection of speech synthesis
>> >>>>> demonstrations that Dennis put together. He provided brief narration
>> >>>>> before
>> >>>>> each demoSomeone converted that record to an old sound format (.au).
>> >>>>> I
>> >>>>> think
>> >>>>> it's on dectalk.com somewhere. I took the .au version, converted to
>> >>>>> mp3,
>> >>>>> changed the file name and listed Dennis Klatt as the artist. If
>> >>>>> anyone
>> >>>>> would
>> >>>>> like to hear the mp3 version of Dennis's record, write me off-list.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Like Brandon, I would love to hear any other recordings of Dennis
>> >>>>> that
>> >>>>> exist, or recordings of older Dectalks.
>> >>>>> Blake
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> -----Original Message-----
>> >>>>> From: dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com
>> >>>>> [mailto:dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com] On Behalf Of Brandon
>> >>>>> Misch
>> >>>>> Sent: Sunday, January 30, 2011 1:56 PM
>> >>>>> To: DECtalk Discussions
>> >>>>> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] A history question
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> can you send what you can? or is that recording all that you have
>> >>>>> and
>> >>>>> are
>> >>>>> there any recordings of the old dectalks from the 80's besides that
>> >>>>> record?
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Jan 30, 2011, at 1:45 PM, ebruckert Bruckert wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> He recorde alot before his voice went. By 1982 it was very
>> >>>>> different. And I don't have a lot of backups as the medu=iums
>> >>>>> changed.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 12:43 PM, Brandon Misch
>> >>>>> <bmisch2002 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> his voice didn't sound that bad from that record about
>> >>>>> speech systems from the 30's to the 80's unless that wasn't him.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Jan 30, 2011, at 9:56 AM, ebruckert Bruckert wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> All the DECtalk voices have been there since 1982.
>> >>>>> In fact the Dennis voice was modeled by Dennis Klatt at the time to
>> >>>>> be
>> >>>>> his
>> >>>>> closest match to his own voice as he could. When I first met him his
>> >>>>> natural
>> >>>>> voice was already deteriorating due to his throat cancer.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> The DTC 01 does try to hear touchstones while at
>> >>>>> speaking it tries to cancel out the outgoing sound from the ingoing
>> >>>>> sound
>> >>>>> and in old systems used to work pretty good. Whether changes in
>> >>>>> telephony
>> >>>>> have made that more difficult I don't know.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On Sun, Jan 30, 2011 at 8:58 AM, Jayson Smith
>> >>>>> <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Hi,
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Okay, this is getting way out there, but
>> >>>>> when did DECtalk get the eighth and
>> >>>>> ninth voices? I remember hearing a sample of
>> >>>>> DECtalk in I think it was
>> >>>>> Dialogue Magazine on flexible disk. My
>> >>>>> parents had a copy. I heard the piece
>> >>>>> in 1989, not sure when it was actually done
>> >>>>> though. At that point, DECtalk
>> >>>>> only had seven voices, from how I understand
>> >>>>> it. Dennis and Wendy weren't
>> >>>>> present.
>> >>>>> Then in November of 1989 we got our Kurzweil
>> >>>>> Personal Reader with DECtalk in
>> >>>>> it. All nine voices were there, in pretty
>> >>>>> much the same form they kept until
>> >>>>> Digital became Compaq and Force got hold of
>> >>>>> DECtalk. I think the version on
>> >>>>> the Kurzweil was something older than 4.0.
>> >>>>> While the voices sounded a lot
>> >>>>> alike, there were some pronunciation
>> >>>>> differences.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> We got our first DECtalk PC running version
>> >>>>> 4.0 in mid 1993, and our first
>> >>>>> DECtalk Express in mid 1995.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> Over all, I'd have to say my favorite
>> >>>>> DECtalk version is 4.2CD, the version
>> >>>>> that's running on all our DECtalk Expresses.
>> >>>>> 4.3 is excellent too, and it's
>> >>>>> all over the place in the DECtalk Archive,
>> >>>>> thanks to the speak43 program
>> >>>>> making the rounds. From what I heard of 4.4
>> >>>>> in the demo sent to this list
>> >>>>> yesterday, it sounds pretty good. I'm not
>> >>>>> exactly sure what version of
>> >>>>> DECtalk Access32 uses, but by then there
>> >>>>> were a few changes. We got our copy
>> >>>>> of Access32 in mid 1998. In particular, the
>> >>>>> B sound, as in the words bin,
>> >>>>> bye, and bag, almost had an extra sound like
>> >>>>> it was trying to put an r in
>> >>>>> there. Not quite sure how to describe it.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> I think my least favorite version is 4.61.
>> >>>>> Don't know if I ever heard 4.63.
>> >>>>> I think 4.64 sounds kind of weird, a bit
>> >>>>> sluggish or something. From what I
>> >>>>> heard of it, I think DECtalk 5 sounded
>> >>>>> better than 4.64, though not as good
>> >>>>> as the Digital versions.
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>> On a somewhat related note, a few years ago
>> >>>>> I purchased a DTC01 on eBay.
>> >>>>> It's running DECtalk 2.0 from July 1984, and
>> >>>>> you can tell it. Not sure how
>> >>>>> many voices it has. It's pretty much just
>> >>>>> been sitting around collecting
>> >>>>> dust, unfortunately. I thought I might use
>> >>>>> some of its telephone
>> >>>>> functionality, but the DTC01 had some
>> >>>>> limitations I didn't know about until
>> >>>>> I already had it, E.G. can't detect
>> >>>>> touchtones while speaking, can't
>> >>>>> automatically detect hangups, etc. So that
>> >>>>> never happened.
>> >>>>> Jayson
>> >>>>>
>> >>>>>
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>> >>>>>
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