[DECtalk] Modifying DECtalk (was User dictionaries forSpeakwindows)

Corine Bickley corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu
Wed May 18 18:27:29 EDT 2011


Let's see what Ed says, but I think your guess is right - you could
enter all the parameter settings directly and create Betty from Paul
(is that a sex change operation ??)

On Wed, May 18, 2011 at 1:30 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
> Hi,
>
> I have another question having to do with the voices. Are the voices defined
> entirely by their parameters or is there some internal model for each voice?
> What I'm getting at is, for instance, let's say you started with the Paul
> voice. Could you, after making lots of adjustments, end up with what was
> exactly the same as the Betty voice, even though you'd never changed from
> Paul? Or does each voice have some internal model, waveform, etc. that makes
> it unique?
> Thanks.
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Corine Bickley" <corine.bickley at gallaudet.edu>
> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 18, 2011 6:55 AM
> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Modifying DECtalk (was User dictionaries
> forSpeakwindows)
>
>
> Dennis was not one to show off. He was interested in how the voice
> parameters he has defined could be used to vary voice quality. For
> instance, was intelligibility decreased with a whispered voice? Humans
> certainly understand each other when they whisper, and whispering is
> appropriate in some situations. Dennis was a true scientist and wanted
> to understand everything about synthetic voice.
>
> On Tue, May 17, 2011 at 12:38 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> Just curious, how were the other voices named? What is this thing with
>> every
>> synthesizer that supports this feature including a whisper voice? Is it
>> seen
>> as actually useful, or just the developers showing off?
>> Jayson
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "ebruckert Bruckert" <edbruckert at gmail.com>
>> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>> Sent: Tuesday, May 17, 2011 6:07 AM
>> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Modifying DECtalk (was User dictionaries for
>> Speakwindows)
>>
>>
>>> The voices were named by Dennis. Perfect Paul was modeled after Dennis
>>> his
>>> voice before he got cancer and Dr. Dennis was modeled after his voice
>>> after
>>> he got cancer. The issue of just using one voice is a process issue it's
>>> always existed would DECtalk we never tuned old games to last step
>>>
>>> On Mon, May 16, 2011 at 1:33 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>>> Changed the subject on this one.
>>>>
>>>> Ed, you were talking about focusing on the Paul voice for now. I think
>>>> that's a good move. In my opinion, whoever gave Paul his name got it
>>>> right.
>>>> He's pretty much the perfect DECtalk voice, I think. That having been
>>>> said,
>>>> I think the following goes without saying. As I see it, all nine factory
>>>> voices should be tuned at least to an extent where they are perfectly
>>>> understandable. I was going to say they should be pleasant to listen to,
>>>> but
>>>> some people might not think certain voices would be pleasant to listen
>>>> to
>>>> for a long time. What this basically means is, no factory voice should
>>>> produce overload squawks or other undesirable noises when synthesizing
>>>> any
>>>> reasonable text. Obviously once people get into messing with the
>>>> parameters
>>>> and creating their own voices, they're asking for it.
>>>> Jayson
>>>>
>>>> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> From: "ebruckert Bruckert" <edbruckert at gmail.com>
>>>> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>>>> Sent: Monday, May 16, 2011 12:52 PM
>>>> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] User dictionaries for Speak windows
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> > I'm busy today but I will send versions of the user Dic. T
>>>> > On in all honesty I can't remember if there were different versions,
>>>> > but
>>>> > there certainly weren't many.
>>>> > One of the main differences in the know of version was I tuned the
>>>> > frication
>>>> > or high-frequency noise is stronger because of signal loss going to
>>>> > the
>>>> > transmitters through regular telephone lines. I am slowly working on a
>>>> new
>>>> > version I want your feedback but understand this is a stepwise process
>>>> > so
>>>> > I
>>>> > need feedback on both what you like and what you don't like. Attached
>>>> > is
>>>> a
>>>> > very short piece of Paul. The way the gains of the vocal track have to
>>>> > be
>>>> > tuned I'm only going to focus on Paul or perhaps a different voice if
>>>> > you'd
>>>> > prefer until we get closer to what we want. I'm almost afraid to
>>>> > mention
>>>> > something, but I have archived the last research DECtalk version that
>>>> > Dennis
>>>> > was working on when he died, I may try to get it running obviously it
>>>> > was
>>>> > never finished. In that regard does anybody know of a utility that can
>>>> > convert an old 16 bit sound file into a wave file?
>>>> >
>>>> > Mon, May 16, 2011 at 12:12 PM, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com>
>>>> wrote:
>>>> >
>>>> >> Hi,
>>>> >>
>>>> >> I downloaded that but it doesn't seem to work for the Speak43 window.
>>>> >> I
>>>> >> assume that means each version of DECtalk has its own dictionary
>>>> >> format.
>>>> >> To
>>>> >> me, that seems a bit weird and breaks forward and backward
>>>> compatibility.
>>>> >> But whatever.
>>>> >> Jayson
>>>> >>
>>>> >> ----- Original Message -----
>>>> >> From: "Alex H." <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com>
>>>> >> To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
>>>> >> Sent: Sunday, May 15, 2011 6:22 PM
>>>> >> Subject: Re: [DECtalk] User dictionaries for Speak windows
>>>> >>
>>>> >>
>>>> >> > Hi Jayson,
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > I know there's a utility to make user dictionaries for the DECTalk
>>>> >> > USB, and you can download the files on Access Solutions' website. I
>>>> >> > don't know if they'd work on the demo Speak windows though.
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > Alex
>>>> >> >
>>>> >> > On 5/15/11, Jayson Smith <ratguy at insightbb.com> wrote:
>>>> >> >> Hi,
>>>> >> >>
>>>> >> >> Does anyone know how to create/generate/compile user dictionaries
>>>> >> >> for
>>>> >> the
>>>> >> >> Speak windows? I know back in the days of the DECtalk PC, it
>>>> >> >> shipped
>>>> >> with
>>>> >> >> software to take a properly-formatted text file and compile it
>>>> >> >> into
>>>> >> >> a
>>>> >> >> binary
>>>> >> >> dictionary file. I still have one of those files, and it doesn't
>>>> >> >> work
>>>> >> >> as
>>>> >> >> a
>>>> >> >> user dictionary in Speak43. Are there tools out there to generate
>>>> user
>>>> >> >> dictionaries, or are they pretty much just internal tools which
>>>> should
>>>> >> >> have
>>>> >> >> been distributed but weren't? Snoopi, Ed, Corine, can anyone help
>>>> >> >> here?
>>>> >> >> Thanks.
>>>> >> >>
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>>>> >
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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>>
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