[DECtalk] DECtalk USB ready

[Brandon Misch]

well, you can call access solutions for the specs and the wall plug. 

On Nov 10, 2011, at 12:43 PM, Alex H. wrote:

> Hi,
> 
> Sorry, forgot to say this in my first post. People wishing for a
> totally classic, copy for copy of the old Express days won't like this
> much. As we've found out over time through various sources, the
> DECtalk USB sound is based off DECtalk 5.0 and some heavily modded
> stuff to make it sound more classic.  As much as I can say this isn't
> classic completely, it's got some things referencing it. There is that
> sort of stuffed graham crackers in mouth sound of 4.64 in there, but
> thankfully it's dialed back and doesn't pause at every given second
> like 4.64 does, so that's a good thing. The intonation sounds more
> like 4.4 though, and most of the parameters for voice adjustment are
> pretty sensative, so there's lots of control there. If I had to
> compare it to a classic DECtalk era version, I'd say 4.4 mixed with
> 4.64.
> 
> As a note, I've used this constantly with JAWS for the past day, and
> am seriously considering writing an NVDA driver if Axsol is willing to
> hook me up with a nice manual to expose all the functions, this would
> be a really good start to me learning more about Python and applying
> it to a real-world situation. I don't just want to do express, either.
> Would be great to have native USB support, just plug in and go with my
> favorite screen reader. It certainly can be done from what I've been
> hearing from the developers of NVDA, so now I just need to get the
> required info.
> 
> Final verdict thus far: If you've got a load of money and want a cool
> hardware synth to play with and use, and you're not to picky about
> your DECtalk versions or can accept some change, get this. If
> someone's got it used and they don't like it for whatever reason or
> just don't use it and they're willing to sell it, snag it while it's
> there. Grab life by the horns, I guess.
> 
> Peace!
> 
> Alex
> 
> On 11/10/11, Alex H. <linuxx64.bashsh at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>> 
>> So I finally managed to procure a DEC USB and it arrived yesterday
>> afternoon. I bought it used, the person who had it said it was
>> collecting dust in a closet, and he never used it. Well, as much as
>> I'm sad to hear of DECtalk equipment being in storage, I'm glad
>> because now it's found a new home with me.  It's in excellent
>> condition with only a small dent in the speaker grill, but it sounds
>> great. Very responsive also, even with JAWS in a VM. It takes the lag
>> out of running virtual machines, feels native now.
>> 
>> On the off chance, does anybody know what the specs of the wall
>> adapter are? I only got the unit itself+the USB cable. If not, that's
>> ok, I'll probably only use this via USB anyway, and there's always the
>> 9-volt option if needed for Linux/serial connections.
>> 
>> Thanks,
>> Alex
>> 
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