1. nvda@nvda.groups.io
Topics

Lost voices and speech synths

Gerry
 

Hi, this is my first post and it is a great list

On Friday 26th April my Win10 laptop was updated automatically. When the system re-started my NVDA voice had been replaced by Hazel.  On investigation I had lost all voices except Hazel, listed  under Microsoft API version 5 and George, listed under Windows one core voices. The voice I had lost was male, possibly David, but I had not needed to look at this for years. I much prefer the voice I lost.

   At the time I was running nvda Feb 19, so I updated to March 19. This made no difference. Next I reverted to original configuration. This did make a difference. I now had the following settings.

Synthesisors, E speak ng, Microsoft API version 5, Windows one core

In Microsoft API 5 I have only Microsoft zero Desk top United States and Microsoft Hazel English UK.

In Windows one core voices I have, George, Susan and Hazel.

As I don't like any of these voices, I need to find a way to obtain a voice I like.


My questions

1 Was the MS update unusual this time as I have never experienced this situation before?

2    What synthesisers and voices come as standard with nvda?

3    Would an un-install and re-install fix my problem? I have not tried this as I would need sighted help.

4    I followed the recent  thread on Code factory and Tiflow and wonder if I should go to one of these ?

5 How can I download the latest User Manual?

Any advice on these issues would be gratefully received.

with thanks

Gerry
Chris
 

You may have to add your voices again

So if you go into settings

Then to time and language

Then speech

And tab to the add voices button

And select your voices from the list to install them

 

 

From: Gerry
Sent: 08 May 2020 15:23
To: NVDA List
Subject: [nvda] Lost voices and speech synths

 

Hi, this is my first post and it is a great list

 

On Friday 26th April my Win10 laptop was updated automatically. When the

system re-started my NVDA voice had been replaced by Hazel.  On

investigation I had lost all voices except Hazel, listed  under

Microsoft API version 5 and George, listed under Windows one core

voices. The voice I had lost was male, possibly David, but I had not

needed to look at this for years. I much prefer the voice I lost.

 

   At the time I was running nvda Feb 19, so I updated to March 19.

This made no difference. Next I reverted to original configuration. This

did make a difference. I now had the following settings.

 

Synthesisors, E speak ng, Microsoft API version 5, Windows one core

 

In Microsoft API 5 I have only Microsoft zero Desk top United States and

Microsoft Hazel English UK.

 

In Windows one core voices I have, George, Susan and Hazel.

 

As I don't like any of these voices, I need to find a way to obtain a

voice I like.

 

 

My questions

 

1 Was the MS update unusual this time as I have never experienced this

situation before?

 

2    What synthesisers and voices come as standard with nvda?

 

3    Would an un-install and re-install fix my problem? I have not tried

this as I would need sighted help.

 

4    I followed the recent  thread on Code factory and Tiflow and wonder

if I should go to one of these ?

 

5 How can I download the latest User Manual?

 

Any advice on these issues would be gratefully received.

 

with thanks

 

Gerry

 

 

 

 

 

 
Luke Davis
 

Hi Gerry.

Some comments and a possible solution below.

On Friday 26th April my Win10 laptop was updated automatically. When the system re-started my NVDA voice had been replaced by Hazel.  On investigation I had lost all voices except Hazel, listed  under Microsoft API version 5 and George, listed under Windows one core voices. The voice I had lost was male,
I probably have the same Windows update, but no such problem. I have access to David, Mark, and Zira (Zira not Zero) across the two MS APIs.

   At the time I was running nvda Feb 19, so I updated to March 19. This made
Just something you may want to know: The NVDA versions are not Feb and March. The NVDA version number is a four digit number representing the year, like 2019 or 2020. Then it has a period, and a single digit number usually between 1 and 4. These do not represent months. It may also have another period, followed by a single digit number. These do not represent days.
In short, 2019.2.1 is not a date, but a version number with three parts, which some voices read as a date because they aren't smart enough to know not to.

That will not hurt you in this situation, but it may be useful to know in other situations. Also, NVDA is now up to 2020.1 (Which, again, is not January, but just means the first version released in year series 2020).
You may want to try upgrading to that.

2    What synthesizers and voices come as standard with nvda?
Espeak, and all of its voices and variants. All the rest come standard with Windows, and NVDA just utilizes them.

3    Would an un-install and re-install fix my problem? I have not tried this as I would need sighted help.
You wouldn't need sighted help. The solution there, is to use Narrator.
In windows, with NVDA shut down, press control+windows+enter, and Narrator will start.
You could get everything ready in NVDA (pre-open relevant windows, download files, etc.), then switch to Narrator for the minimum time necessary to remove NVDA and start the new installation.

That said, it seems very unlikely that you need to reinstall.

Most probably, Windows removed the voices for some reason. To try to get them back, press your windows key and type "speech".
Move down to "speech settings", and press enter.
Then tab over to the "Manage voices" group, and you should be on the "add voices" button.
Press enter on that, and you will be able to enter and choose your language, and then install the appropriate voice pack(s).
In this case, you'll want to install the English (US) voice pack.
Once you select and install the voice, close everything and restart NVDA.

That should solve your problem. If not, post back with exactly what you did and what happened, and someone will probably have further ideas.

5 How can I download the latest User Manual?
The NVDA user manual is always available on the menu.
Press NVDA+n, h, u, and you will be looking at the user guide.
If you want the actual file, while your browser has that open, go to the address bar (for example with control+l), and from there you can copy the path to the actual manual file, which is on your system already.
On mine it is in c:\Program Files (x86)\NVDA\documentation\en\userGuide.html

Regards,

Luke
Tony Ballou
 

Hi,


I'm dealing with the same thing. I've had to deal with some stuff and haven't talked to the folks at Microsoft about it yet. However, they may be able to help things out.


Tony

On 5/8/2020 5:24 AM, Gerry wrote:
Hi, this is my first post and it is a great list

On Friday 26th April my Win10 laptop was updated automatically. When the system re-started my NVDA voice had been replaced by Hazel.  On investigation I had lost all voices except Hazel, listed  under Microsoft API version 5 and George, listed under Windows one core voices. The voice I had lost was male, possibly David, but I had not needed to look at this for years. I much prefer the voice I lost.

   At the time I was running nvda Feb 19, so I updated to March 19. This made no difference. Next I reverted to original configuration. This did make a difference. I now had the following settings.

Synthesisors, E speak ng, Microsoft API version 5, Windows one core

In Microsoft API 5 I have only Microsoft zero Desk top United States and Microsoft Hazel English UK.

In Windows one core voices I have, George, Susan and Hazel.

As I don't like any of these voices, I need to find a way to obtain a voice I like.


My questions

1 Was the MS update unusual this time as I have never experienced this situation before?

2    What synthesisers and voices come as standard with nvda?

3    Would an un-install and re-install fix my problem? I have not tried this as I would need sighted help.

4    I followed the recent  thread on Code factory and Tiflow and wonder if I should go to one of these ?

5 How can I download the latest User Manual?

Any advice on these issues would be gratefully received.

with thanks

Gerry
Shaun Everiss
 

If you have lost voices you can add in the voices in narator settings
then add the language voices you want.
Sometimes windows updates its language packs and things happen.
You can probably readd the voices you want back in.

On 09/05/2020, Tony Ballou <cyberpro224@outlook.com> wrote:
Hi,


I'm dealing with the same thing. I've had to deal with some stuff and
haven't talked to the folks at Microsoft about it yet. However, they may
be able to help things out.


Tony

On 5/8/2020 5:24 AM, Gerry wrote:
Hi, this is my first post and it is a great list

On Friday 26th April my Win10 laptop was updated automatically. When
the system re-started my NVDA voice had been replaced by Hazel.  On
investigation I had lost all voices except Hazel, listed  under
Microsoft API version 5 and George, listed under Windows one core
voices. The voice I had lost was male, possibly David, but I had not
needed to look at this for years. I much prefer the voice I lost.

   At the time I was running nvda Feb 19, so I updated to March 19.
This made no difference. Next I reverted to original configuration.
This did make a difference. I now had the following settings.

Synthesisors, E speak ng, Microsoft API version 5, Windows one core

In Microsoft API 5 I have only Microsoft zero Desk top United States
and Microsoft Hazel English UK.

In Windows one core voices I have, George, Susan and Hazel.

As I don't like any of these voices, I need to find a way to obtain a
voice I like.


My questions

1 Was the MS update unusual this time as I have never experienced this
situation before?

2    What synthesisers and voices come as standard with nvda?

3    Would an un-install and re-install fix my problem? I have not
tried this as I would need sighted help.

4    I followed the recent  thread on Code factory and Tiflow and
wonder if I should go to one of these ?

5 How can I download the latest User Manual?

Any advice on these issues would be gratefully received.

with thanks

Gerry
Gerry
 

Hi Luke

My thanks to you and others that replied.

After some fiddling around with Narrator I have managed to get back those lost voices, the one I was using was David.

However, on selecting David in nvda and trying to achieve the speech rate I wanted, I had to drop the rate right down to 20 and then apply rate boost.  It seems to me that the maximum rate available is not enough.

Anyway, back in action, now for the user manual.

regards

Gerry

On 08/05/2020 17:04, Luke Davis wrote:

Hi Gerry.

Some comments and a possible solution below.

On Friday 26th April my Win10 laptop was updated automatically. When the system re-started my NVDA voice had been replaced by Hazel.  On investigation I had lost all voices except Hazel, listed  under Microsoft API version 5 and George, listed under Windows one core voices. The voice I had lost was male,
I probably have the same Windows update, but no such problem. I have access to David, Mark, and Zira (Zira not Zero) across the two MS APIs.

   At the time I was running nvda Feb 19, so I updated to March 19. This made
Just something you may want to know: The NVDA versions are not Feb and March. The NVDA version number is a four digit number representing the year, like 2019 or 2020. Then it has a period, and a single digit number usually between 1 and 4. These do not represent months. It may also have another period, followed by a single digit number. These do not represent days.
In short, 2019.2.1 is not a date, but a version number with three parts, which some voices read as a date because they aren't smart enough to know not to.

That will not hurt you in this situation, but it may be useful to know in other situations. Also, NVDA is now up to 2020.1 (Which, again, is not January, but just means the first version released in year series 2020).
You may want to try upgrading to that.

2    What synthesizers and voices come as standard with nvda?
Espeak, and all of its voices and variants. All the rest come standard with Windows, and NVDA just utilizes them.

3    Would an un-install and re-install fix my problem? I have not tried this as I would need sighted help.
You wouldn't need sighted help. The solution there, is to use Narrator.
In windows, with NVDA shut down, press control+windows+enter, and Narrator will start.
You could get everything ready in NVDA (pre-open relevant windows, download files, etc.), then switch to Narrator for the minimum time necessary to remove NVDA and start the new installation.

That said, it seems very unlikely that you need to reinstall.

Most probably, Windows removed the voices for some reason. To try to get them back, press your windows key and type "speech".
Move down to "speech settings", and press enter.
Then tab over to the "Manage voices" group, and you should be on the "add voices" button.
Press enter on that, and you will be able to enter and choose your language, and then install the appropriate voice pack(s).
In this case, you'll want to install the English (US) voice pack.
Once you select and install the voice, close everything and restart NVDA.

That should solve your problem. If not, post back with exactly what you did and what happened, and someone will probably have further ideas.

5 How can I download the latest User Manual?
The NVDA user manual is always available on the menu.
Press NVDA+n, h, u, and you will be looking at the user guide.
If you want the actual file, while your browser has that open, go to the address bar (for example with control+l), and from there you can copy the path to the actual manual file, which is on your system already.
On mine it is in c:\Program Files (x86)\NVDA\documentation\en\userGuide.html

Regards,

Luke
1 - 6 of 6