Re: voices for version 7 text-to-speech
- To: mathgroup at smc.vnet.net
- Subject: [mg96785] Re: [mg95947] voices for version 7 text-to-speech
- From: Murray Eisenberg <murray at math.umass.edu>
- Date: Wed, 25 Feb 2009 04:01:11 -0500 (EST)
- Organization: Mathematics & Statistics, Univ. of Mass./Amherst
- References: <200901301046.FAA06571@smc.vnet.net>
- Reply-to: murray at math.umass.edu
I persisted in trying to get clarification from NaturalSoft. The confusion seemed to be that a "voice" in itself cannot work with a 3rd-party program. But they actually supply is a "voice + voice engine", and that does work with any program that addresses the Windows Text-to-Speech API. So I did buy the NaturalSoft NaturalReader Pro package, which includes two of their voices/engines and two of the NeoSpeech voices/engines, along with a text-to-speech application and text-to-MP3 converter. The voices/engines work just fine with Mathematica's Speak -- MUCH less choppy and more natural sounding than the rather awful voices that Microsoft supplies. Murray Eisenberg wrote: > Mathematica 7 has the function Speak, and related functions, that read > the argument aloud, using the OS's text-to-speech (TTS) capability. > > I'm using this with Windows XP. What happens, evidently, is that > Mathematica calls the Windows SAPI (SAPI4? SAPI5?) interface. And that > interface in turn calls the built-in Windows TTS engine/voice. > > The Microsoft-supplied voice is very unnatural. I want to replace it. > But I'm confused as to whether the 3rd-party TTS products such as > NaturalReader and Neospeech VoiceText will in fact accomplish what I want. > > I think my confusion stems from the fact that a TTS voice also involves > a specific voice "engine". > > I have been trying to get a straight answer from NaturalReader tech > support as to whether, if I installed their product, it would work with > Mathematica's Speak or not. But their English is not too good. The > first time I asked, they responded, "Natural voices always work in > NaturalReader. NaturalReader can read any text correctly including > mathematical expressions." When I asked for clarification, they > responded, "Natural voice only works with NaturalReader." > > I can't figure out whether this simply means that the engine behind the > NaturalReader TTS application is required to use the voices they supply > -- which would be what I want, I presume -- or whether, instead, that > the only way to use the voice is to go directly through text in the > NaturalReader application. > > Any information would be appreciated. -- Murray Eisenberg murray at math.umass.edu Mathematics & Statistics Dept. Lederle Graduate Research Tower phone 413 549-1020 (H) University of Massachusetts 413 545-2859 (W) 710 North Pleasant Street fax 413 545-1801 Amherst, MA 01003-9305