[DECtalk] Any news?
Dectalk at aol.com
Dectalk at aol.com
Wed May 4 18:40:05 EDT 2011
I have no hope. The head person in charge of creating the SAPI doesn't
seem to know Dectalk and can't even tell one version from the other. Blake
and I both got told we don't know what we are talking about.
It sounds like more time and money is going into the project. But as long
as the head programmer has a bad ear, I think it's totally hopeless!
SNOOPI BOTTEN
In a message dated 5/4/2011 4:53:17 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
beroberts at hughes.net writes:
Thanks everyone for the feedback thus far about the SAPI Dectalk version
referred to as 4.3. Keep it coming! You guys have come to some of the
conclusions that Snoopi and I have experienced as testers.
The current SAPI Dectalk definitely needs fixing. As a number of list
members have said, most of the voices sound awful. I understand that some
list members find SAPI Dectalk to be somewhat acceptable, as each
individual has the right to his/her own oppinion. I think most of us agree
there is room for improvement prior to release and wide acceptance.
There's something else that I think all of you should be aware of. Work has
been done on a speak window of the SAPI Dectalk 4.3. Like SAPI Dectalk, the
speak window definitely needs improvement. There are two reasons for this.
First, there is no spken message when an error is encountered, such as when
Dectalk stops singing. For those of us who are blind, this presents a
serious problem because we don't know exactly what the error is or where it
is. The second Speak Window issue is that there are no keyboard shortcuts
yet for play, stop and pause. The addition of keyboard shortcuts was
previously pointed out to a programmer involved. Snoopi and I were told
the
aforementioned keyboard shortcuts are in the works.
As a long-time Dectalkist, I am uncertain if the SAPI Dectalk can be made
to
sing on its own. It is possible that us blind people will need to make
Dectalk sing using the Speak Window, as has been the case in years past. As
I've said, both SAPI Dectalk and the speak window can benefit from
improvement.
If any list members would like to test out the speak window, write me off
list and I will send it as a zip file. For people on Gmail, I'll come up
with some other compression method, such as 7-zip. I am making this offer
to
share the speak window because I think you all need to know about both
items
that need fixing.
Blake
-----Original Message-----
From: dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com
[mailto:dectalk-bounces at bluegrasspals.com] On Behalf Of Raymond Grote
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 4:17 PM
To: DECtalk Discussions
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Any news?
Heck no. If they're going to release this, then I would feel the same way.
But I had always thought this was a test and would sound significantly
different later?
So were they really planning on releasing it like this?
I really do hope not. As I said in previous posts, someone really messsed
it
up, and we have to fix it somehow, otherwise only people who are curious
will ever use it.
----- Original Message -----
From: Dectalk at aol.com
To: dectalk at bluegrasspals.com
Sent: Wednesday, May 04, 2011 1:24 PM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Any news?
The real question is, would people pay for a partially working SAPI?
I personally wouldn't.
SNOOPI BOTTEN
In a message dated 5/4/2011 1:16:54 P.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
bmisch2002 at gmail.com writes:
you are hearing it wright. some of the voices are good like
paul, frank, harry, and probably one other voices. if people just want to
use paul for nvda and other things, it's ok for that but if people want to
make dectalk do certain things like sing, this isn't as good but for people
who just want to use it with a screen reader and nothing more, it's ok for
that.
On May 4, 2011, at 1:06 PM, Dectalk at aol.com wrote:
I'm too mad to deal with it. Blake and I got asked
how to make Dectalk sing, so we sent them a file. We both got told that we
don't know what we're doing. Then we're told that it will sing with no
problem, Um, it won't. I had Blake send "WE ARE THE WORLD" for the simple
fact that if they ever get that to sing clear through with no feedback, we
will have something to work with.
As of now, we are working with garbage! That's why
I'm against posting samples because this stuff is mostly crap. They call
it
4.3, I don't! This is as far from 4.anything as you can get!
Some of these people are on this list. Maybe they
will finally get that the gn command on some voices is set too high, the
consonant sounds are not clearly heard, and ugh I could go on and on.
I might not get another SAPI after posting the demo.
I don't care. This is trash, and I'm tired of being told I'm not hearing
it
right. I'm glad I'm not alone in my opinion.
SNOOPI BOTTEN
In a message dated 5/4/2011 12:41:05 P.M. Eastern
Daylight Time, bmisch2002 at gmail.com writes:
i hope you show this sample to those who are
telling you that there is no problem.
On May 4, 2011, at 12:17 PM, Dectalk at aol.com
wrote:
http://pastorsnoopi.twigs76.com/music/SAPI%20DEMO.mp3
The above link is the sample that
people wanted. Blake and I are both told that there is no problem. Tell
that to our ears. (YUCK)
SNOOPI BOTTEN
In a message dated 5/4/2011 11:16:00
A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, edbruckert at gmail.com writes:
All that means is what you
are sent is not acceptable don't worry it'll be solved I promise at this
point in my life I need it as much as anybody else
On Wed, May 4, 2011 at 10:48
AM, <Dectalk at aol.com> wrote:
Brace yourselves
because I don't think you guys will like it. The very worst voice is Kit.
I'd do the recording for you guys but I really don't want to be linked with
this pour Dectalk quality. Have fun guys.
SNOOPI BOTTEN
In a message dated
5/4/2011 9:10:14 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time, ratguy at insightbb.com writes:
Hi,
Here's a
sample text. I assume you can use DECtalk commands in the text? An
MP3 of the
4.3 speak application performing this exact text can be found at
http://www.bluegrasspals.com/dt43sample.mp3
Now here's
the text.
[:phoneme
on]
[:np] [:ra
250]
Hello. This
is the factory default Paul voice.
I'm talking
now with this voice since this is what most people are probably
going to be
using. Let's speed it up a bit.
[:ra 300]
This is
probably how Jayson's JFW would talk normally. Now let's put some
intonation
in there.
[:dv pr 250]
[:dv sr 50]
Okay, this
is how Jayson used to listen to DECtalk back in the good old DOS
days. With
4.3 and earlier, if you could get used to this which you would
over time,
this sounds pretty good! It'd take some getting used to again,
not having
had it for so long.
[:np] [:ra
250]
The rest of
this demo was created a few months ago to compair and test the
various
other factory voices and several custom voices in different DECtalk
versions.
I will now
test the other voices.
[:nb] I'm
Beautiful Betty, the default female voice.
[:nh] I'm
Huge Harry.
[:nd] I'm
Doctor Dennis.
[:nf] I'm
Frail Frank.
[:nu] I'm
Uppity Ursula.
[:nr] I'm
Rough Rita.
[:nw] I'm
Whispering Wendy.
[:nk] and
I'm Kit the Kid.
[:np]
Now I'll let
the DECtalk manual describe us.
[:np]
Perfect Paul Standard male voice.
[:nb]
Beautiful Betty Standard female voice.
[:nh]
Huge Harry Deep male voice.
[:nf]
Frail Frank Older male voice.
[:nk]
Kit the Kid Child's voice (about 10 years
old).
[:nr]
Rough Rita Deep female voice.
[:nu]
Uppity Ursula Light female voice.
[:nd]
Doctor Dennis Breathy male voice.
[:nw]
Whispering Wendy Whispery female voice.
[:np]
Okay, let's
test a few custom voices.
[:nf] [:dv
br 0 la 0 sr 100 hr 100 ap 150 pr 95] [:ra 220] This is the voice
of Rimmer
from Red Dwarf.
Lister, we
are being tested! I don't know what to do!
[:nf] [:ra
240] [:dv br 0 hs 95 ap 100 as 100 pr 220 hr 30 sr 30] This is
Lister.
Rimmer! Come
over here and help me with this new speech synthesizer!
[:np] [:dv
as 0 bf 0 la 20 nf 00 ri 100 sm 0 hr 0 sr 0] [:ra 220] This is
Holly.
This is an
important announcement. All persons aboard this ship are to
report to
the voice calibration office at once. That is all.
[:np] [:dv
br 100 lx 100 bf 100 hr 100 sr 100 as 100 qu 100 ap 110 pr 150 sx
1 la 0]
[:ra 210] This is the voice of the toaster.
I don't know
where this voice calibration office is. Does anyone want some
toast?
[:np] [:dv
sm 1 hs 90 br 0 ri 0 la 0] [:ra 250] I'm the cat.
Who says my
voice needs to be calibrated? I want fishies!
[:nd] [:dv
as 0 bf 0 la 20 nf 00 ri 100 hr 0 sr 0] [:ra 220] I'm Queeg 500.
None of you
have any credit, so you may not use the voice calibrator.
[:nu] [:dv
as 1 bf 10 la 30 nf 10 ri 100 sm 50 hr 100 sr 20 ap 130] [:ra
240] I'm the
newer voice of Holly.
I'm picking
something up. It's another ship. Its name is Deck Talk or
something
very close. They have been conducting an experiment on us all this
time. That
would explain why we've been saying all these silly things. I
knew I was
having trouble finding a record of any voice calibration office
on Red
Dwarf.
-----
Original Message -----
From:
"Corine Bickley" <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu>
To: "DECtalk
Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Sent:
Wednesday, May 04, 2011 7:02 AM
Subject: Re:
[DECtalk] Any news?
> HI Jayson,
> I will do
that. Could you suggest some sample sentences to synthesize?
> We're
trying to find a way to put a "demo play" button on the Enable
> website so
people can type in any text they'd like to hear, but our
> programmer
hasn't been able to spend time on that project right now.
> corine
>
> On Tue,
May 3, 2011 at 8:12 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>> Do you
have any audio samples you could share? Maybe I could elaborate on
>> what
people don't like. I pretty much know what DT 4.3 sounds like.
>> Jayson
>>
>> -----
Original Message -----
>> From:
"Corine Bickley" <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu>
>> To:
"DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>> Sent:
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 7:53 PM
>> Subject:
Re: [DECtalk] Any news?
>>
>>
>>>i meant -
i can't hear the differences, not being so attuned to the
>>> various
DT versions. i can hear ok, but i'm not clear on the
>>>
differences in quality.
>>>
>>> On Tue,
May 3, 2011 at 7:24 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>> Hi,
>>>>
>>>> Wo, you
actually got 4.3 working with SAPI? What kind of quality
>>>>
problems
>>>> are
there?
>>>> Thanks.
>>>>
>>>> -----
Original Message -----
>>>> From:
"Corine Bickley" <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu>
>>>> To:
"DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>>>> Sent:
Tuesday, May 03, 2011 6:14 PM
>>>>
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Any news?
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>> Still
waiting for one of the "old" (not chronologically, just in terms
>>>>> of
contact with DT) to send some more versions for testing.
>>>>> 4.3
and 4.67 work in SAPI fine but preliminary listening results
>>>>>
indicate dissatisfaction.
>>>>> corine
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> On
Tue, May 3, 2011 at 2:29 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com>
>>>>> wrote:
>>>>>> Okay,
it's broken record time. Anything new going on with the SAPI
>>>>>>
DECtalk?
>>>>>>
Haven't heard anything in a while.
>>>>>>
Jayson
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
_______________________________________________
>>>>>>
DECtalk mailing list
>>>>>>
DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>>>>
http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>>>>>>
>>>>>
_______________________________________________
>>>>>
DECtalk mailing list
>>>>>
DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>>>
http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>>>>
>>>>
_______________________________________________
>>>> DECtalk
mailing list
>>>>
DECtalk at bluegrasspals.com
>>>>
http://bluegrasspals.com/mailman/listinfo/dectalk
>>>>
>>>
_______________________________________________
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mailing list
>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
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>
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