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

[Brent Harding]

Ah, I heard demos on Main Menu with all sorts of different sounding Dec 
Talk, from Window-Eyes to Mobile Speak, etc.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Raymond Grote" <musicalman1 at comcast.net>
To: "DECtalk Discussions" <dectalk at bluegrasspals.com>
Sent: Thursday, May 31, 2007 3:49 PM
Subject: Re: [DECtalk] Why are there so many variations of Dec Talk Sound?


>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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