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Pronunciation: Unwanted Dates

Hope Williamson
 

I like eloquence for it's speed and efficiency. It's unrivaled. I can't
stand the built-in breath Microsoft puts into it's narrator voices. read
something long with one, and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Hope Williamson
 

Hi Sean, is the link you shared the same version as this one?
https://blindhelp.net/software/ibmtts
Hope Williamson
 

OK, it seems like it's the same, and I already have that one installed.

On 9/27/2020 9:47 PM, Amir wrote:
Folks, the add-on itself, IBMTTS which is the same as Eloquence, is perfectly legal and its link can be shared. The add-on is at ultrasound1372/NVDA-IBMTTS-Driver: This progect is to develop and maintain the NVDA IBMTTS driver. This repository is responsible for the x0_personal versions, which are continuing development even after it seems activity from the base repository has stopped.
However, what can't be shared because of legal issues, although many people have access to it, is the required library -- I mean ECI.dll and other *.dll and *.syn files. BTW the add-on (unlike the official release of Eloquence) makes use of extensive and advanced pronunciation dictionaries, and the project is hosted at thunderdrop/IBMTTSDictionaries
I can argue that the add-on is more responsive/crash-proof than the official Eloquence provided by Code Factory, and the addition of the community-driven dictionary makes it quite appealing.

Cheers,
Amir

Gene
 

I thought you were referring to the Eloquence add-on or SAPI5 version. As far as the IBM synthesizer is concerned, I don't know where you got the actual speech files so I don't know if there is a problem with them. I have Via Voice on my machine from another program that uses it and it is unrestricted. It runs as a SAPI4 voice and works well.

Gene

-----Original Message-----
From: Hope Williamson
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 2:18 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Pronunciation: Unwanted Dates

The IBM TTS voice is extremely clicky. At least it is for me for some
reason. It might be because I'm using a cheap external audio adapter I
got off Amazon for $8. My internal audio equipment on this system is
faulty. A friend of mine thinks it's the receptacle that you plug the
speakers into.
Gene
 

Againk how recently did you use the ;paid add-on? And by both, do you mean botgh Via Voice and Eloquence oor the Eloquence Add-on and the SAPI 5 version of Eloquence? If both versions of Eloquence and Viavoice are all clicky on your machine, there is another problem. I don't want to assume what the problem is. but all three displaying the same improper behavior shouldn't happen.

Gene

-----Original Message-----
From: Hope Williamson
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 2:20 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Pronunciation: Unwanted Dates

I've tried both. They were both extremely clicky. The paid add-on did it
on every other word. I uninstalled it after like 3-4 days of the trial
period.
Gene
 

I haven't used such voices. We don't need silly ornamental imitations of reality such as voices breathing. I never am bothered by lack of breathing sounds and I don't think about it. Are these voices developed mainly for sighted people for whom they serve a very different purpose or for blind people who use them as important tools and not just for convenient reading of material when they feel like it? If Microsoft must have breathing, it should be able to be turned off.

Gene

-----Original Message-----
From: Hope Williamson
Sent: Monday, September 28, 2020 2:24 AM
To: nvda@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [nvda] Pronunciation: Unwanted Dates

I like eloquence for it's speed and efficiency. It's unrivaled. I can't
stand the built-in breath Microsoft puts into it's narrator voices. read
something long with one, and you'll know what I'm talking about.
Hope Williamson
 

Hi, I linked to the files, they're here.
https://blindhelp.net/software/ibmtts
Hope Williamson
 

I tried the paid one this year, probably March or April. I'm not sure
what Via Voice is so I can't say anything about that.
Hope Williamson
 

No me neither, in fact i can't stand the breathing. It just did this a
few minutes ago when I was reading an article and I was like oh, it's
happening again.
Amir
 

No, I meant the non-SAPI, IBMTTS Eloquence, but the SAPI-4 version is also good albeit a bit slower with NVDA. The non-SAPI version I linked on Github sounds best IMO. BTW the dictionary project is compatible with your SAPI-4 Eloquence/ViaVoice.
Part of this confusion stems from the fact that IBM now develops a cloud-based TTS Engine, Watson. But like Google's Cloud-based TTS, it can't be used with screen readers.
Amir
 

No, the link I posted gets updated regularly whereas the one you provided is based on an older driver. For instance, the new one can optionally shorten Eloquence/IBMTTS pauses, interpret phrase predictions, and enable abbreviations.
Amir
 

Yeah -- I've also observed the breathing with MS OneCore voices and don't like it either. MS OneCore voices, though more human-like, have a low bit/sample rate -- something again I can't appreciate. As far as US English is concerned, Eloquence/IBMTTS remains unrivaled.
Gene
 

Though it should be added that if you use the British dialect of Eloquence and, Via Voice may well have that dialect choice as well, but I've never checked, its really poor.  it sounds like an American trying to imitate a British accent and doing so very poorly, which is what it actually is.  The British dialect wasn't developed by British speakers and it sounds like it.

The American speech is extremely good in terms of proper inflection, proper pausing, and pronouncing the most words correctly out of the box of any synthesizer I've tried.


Gene

On 9/28/2020 4:05 AM, Amir wrote:
Yeah -- I've also observed the breathing with MS OneCore voices and don't like it either. MS OneCore voices, though more human-like, have a low bit/sample rate -- something again I can't appreciate. As far as US English is concerned, Eloquence/IBMTTS remains unrivaled.

Amir
 

Absolutely. And the same is true about French and German. The US variant is, however, horse of a different color.
Hope Williamson
 

Oh OK I think I'll download that one. Was that the Github link?
Hope Williamson
 

yeah I have to agree with that, there's nothing better than eloquence
and/or the eloquence-like voices.
Amir
 

Hope Williamson
 

OK, I'll go install that now.
Hope Williamson
 

Except it got stuck and wouldn't install for like 5 minutes. It kept
saying "please wait." I had to restart the system to stop it. I'm
running both the latest Windows 10 and NVDA.
Amir
 

Strange! It's a normal add-on which installs like other engines. But if you're using another add-on-based Eloquence or IBMTTS release, it should be removed first so as to avoid conflicts.
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