[DECtalk] Why are there so many variations of Dec Talk Sound?

Raymond Grote musicalman1 at comcast.net
Thu May 31 16:49:18 EDT 2007


I don't exactly know what you mean, but maybe it's the sound card?
Plus, Dectalk 4.3 and 4.4 sound very similar, but when you compare them side 
by side, they sound a little different.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "GUI Access" <guiaccess at covad.net>
To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 2:15 AM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Why are there so many variations of Dec Talk Sound?


> >It seems these days I've heard more variations of Dec Talk than I ever 
> >did
>>in years ago. I know 5.0 is where they messed it up, but it seems that
>>various modern implementations sound different than others. Why, for
>>instance, does Mobile Speak seem to be the worst, Window-Eyes isn't too 
>>bad,
>>and other modern products fall somewhere in between? Are device and 
>>software
>>manufacturers able to, and are, changing the way it sounds? I understood
>>there to be 2 different ways Dec Talk sounded, but I believe I have heard
>>more variations.
>
>
> Actually, v4.61 is where "they" messed it up.  I believe that v4.60
> was the last version of DECtalk by D.E.C. before Compaq sold DECtalk
> to Force Computers.  Force is who released v4.61 which in my opinion
> was the worst DECtalk has ever sounded.
>
> Later Fonix (when they acquired the rights to DECtalk) tried to undo
> some of the v4.61 "improvements."
>
> This is where things get weird.  Fonix simultaneously released v5.0
> and v4.63 of DECtalk.  The v4.63 version was an attempt to get as
> close to the D.E.C. version of DECtalk as Fonix could get, given that
> they no longer had the source code to v4.60.
>
> DECtalk v5.0 supposedly sounds more natural by deploying hlsyn (a
> high level parameter synthesizer that translates 13 high level
> parameters to the 39 low level Klatt-style parameters used by all
> earlier versions of DECtalk).
>
> Lastly, Fonix then released DECtalk v4.64 which has a weird "classic
> voices" switch which swaps the nine voices for voices that supposedly
> sound exactly like the D.E.C. voices.
>
> Having played with DECtalk v4.64, I can tell you that neither bank of
> the nine voices sound like the D.E.C. voices of v4.60 and earlier.
>
> I have never heard DECtalk v5.0.  This is supposedly what is in the
> DECtalk USB but comparing the DECtalk USB's DECtalk voices to the
> voices produced by v4.63 of DECtalk yields no noticeable differences
> ... and I have a very good ear for these things.
>
> I have no idea what version of DECtalk MobileSpeak uses.  Again, it
> sounds like v4.63 or the DECtalk USB to me.
>
> It'd be great if anyone on the list could expand on the information
> presented here but no one has done so before now, and this topic has
> been discussed at length numerous times over the years.
>
> All of the above are my own observations/findings.
>
> Thanks,
>
> GUI Access
>
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