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Dear Jayson,<br>
Thanks for your questions.<br>
You're right about the licensing. It would require a license for
DECtalk.<br>
The program could be distributed in a form that doesn't include
DECtalk, if the user would be content with just a function that merged
the already phoneticized DECtalk string with the midi file.<br>
The program works with just the first track of the MIDI file, so in
casese of multi-track MIDI files, you'll want the first track to be the
vocal track, rather than some other instrument. My current
implememtation doesn't isolate the vocal track for you, but there are
MIDI editor programs that allow you to strip out the non-vocal tracks
from the song and resave the stripped-down version.<br>
As for operating systems, this program has worked under ME, and
probably would work under 98 and 2000. I've been using XP during the
last several years, as I've refined the software, but the code doesn't
depend on it's being used under XP. <br>
The program does assign one syllable per note, where a syllable is
defined as a vowel, diphthong or syllabic consonant, plus the preceding
consonants, if any. For syllables that need to be stretched over two
notes, such as the "O" in "O say can you see by the dawn's early
light....", the solution is just to put a number (in the case of "O",
it would be "2") in the DECtalk phoneme text box directly before the
phoneme for the vowel, as in "[2ow]", and the program will
automatically assign two consecutive notes to that syllable.<br>
<br>
If I have time over the weekend, I may be able to give the list a
couple examples of how this works. <br>
<br>
Does anyone have a song (with lyrics and associated midi file) for this
test?<br>
<br>
Yours,<br>
John Eulenberg<br>
<br>
Jayson Smith wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid001901c5677b$4cca6ca0$6700a8c0@h2c8f0" type="cite">
<title></title>
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<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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?</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Thanks,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Jayson.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote
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<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">-----
Original Message ----- </div>
<div
style="background: rgb(228, 228, 228) none repeat scroll 0%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>From:</b>
<a title="eulenber@msu.edu" href="mailto:eulenber@msu.edu">John B.
Eulenberg</a> </div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>To:</b>
<a title="dectalk@jaybird.no-ip.info"
href="mailto:dectalk@jaybird.no-ip.info">DECtalk Discussions</a> </div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Sent:</b>
Thursday, June 02, 2005 9:20 AM</div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Subject:</b>
Re: [DECtalk] Midi conversion?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<big><big>Dear Jayson et al.,<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
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.<br>
<br>
Yours,<br>
John Eulenberg</big></big><br>
<br>
<br>
Jayson Smith wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid01c501c56202$3bd1f7c0$6700a8c0@h2c8f0"
type="cite">
<meta content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1476" name="GENERATOR">
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">1. What operating systems does
the program run under?</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">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.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Jayson.</font></div>
<div> </div>
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<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">-----
Original Message ----- </div>
<div
style="background: rgb(228, 228, 228) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>From:</b>
<a title="eulenber@msu.edu" href="mailto:eulenber@msu.edu">John
Eulenberg</a> </div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>To:</b>
<a title="dectalk@jaybird.no-ip.info"
href="mailto:dectalk@jaybird.no-ip.info">DECtalk Discussions</a> </div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Sent:</b>
Thursday, May 26, 2005 10:23 AM</div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Subject:</b>
Re: [DECtalk] Midi conversion?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
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.<br>
John B. Eulenberg<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">John Bryson Eulenberg
Professor
Director, Artificial Language Laboratory</pre>
<br>
Jayson Smith wrote:<br>
<blockquote cite="mid001701c561fd$0361fa20$6700a8c0@h2c8f0"
type="cite">
<meta content="MSHTML 6.00.2800.1476" name="GENERATOR">
<style></style>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Hi,</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Has this software ever been
made available to the DECtalk community at large, or is it only
available for internal use? Just curious.</font></div>
<div><font face="Arial" size="2">Jayson.</font></div>
<div> </div>
<blockquote
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<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;">-----
Original Message ----- </div>
<div
style="background: rgb(228, 228, 228) none repeat scroll 0% 50%; -moz-background-clip: initial; -moz-background-origin: initial; -moz-background-inline-policy: initial; font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>From:</b>
<a title="eulenber@msu.edu" href="mailto:eulenber@msu.edu">John
B. Eulenberg</a> </div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>To:</b>
<a title="dectalk@jaybird.no-ip.info"
href="mailto:dectalk@jaybird.no-ip.info">DECtalk Discussions</a> </div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Sent:</b>
Thursday, May 26, 2005 7:15 AM</div>
<div
style="font-family: arial; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; font-size: 10pt; line-height: normal; font-size-adjust: none; font-stretch: normal;"><b>Subject:</b>
Re: [DECtalk] Midi conversion?</div>
<div><br>
</div>
<big><big>Dear Jayson et al,<br>
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. <br>
Our program allows the user to input either at the phoneme level or at
the level of orthographic representation (regular spelling).<br>
Yours,<br>
John Eulenberg</big></big><br>
<br>
Jayson Smith wrote:
<blockquote cite="mid000501c561c1$47a7f860$6700a8c0@h2c8f0"
type="cite">
<pre wrap="">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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</blockquote>
<br>
<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
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
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:artlang@msu.edu">artlang@msu.edu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.msu.edu/%7Eartlang/">http://www.msu.edu/~artlang/</a>
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<br>
<pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">--
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
<a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:artlang@msu.edu">artlang@msu.edu</a>
<a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://www.msu.edu/~artlang/">http://www.msu.edu/~artlang/</a>
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