eD's "Voice Buddy" vs. ATC?

[Fitz505 21]

There is a message dated today in the Radar Contact forum concerning VoiceBuddy. Part of the quote was "I just got an email from Mr. Epstein (Ed) and he said they are considering adding the ability to talk to ATC in VoiceBuddy V2" Not sure if he is talking about the stock ATC also. Sounds like there may be an upgrade needed. One thing that concerned me was they were stressing the default aircraft. I wonder how 3rd party aircraft like PMDG and PSS with their sometimes weird keystroke combinations will fare with VB. John Fitzpatrick

[Guest Mark Hazeldine]

Yep, it was me who got that e-mail (well 3 actually)!Here's an edited version of what he told me:MICHEAL EPSTEIN:"Voice Buddy does not respond foryou, per se. You must choose how to respond to ATC, just as any pilot in command would. Voice Buddy gives you a hands-free way to handle ATC calls. The dialog goes like this:"Display ATC"(To bring up the ATC window)As you receive ATC calls, you're offered various response options. With Voice Buddy, you just say, "Select 1" to choose options #1. Or. Select 4" to choose option four, etc. All the while, you keep hands on yoke and throttle, feet on the rudders, eye on flying the airplane."ME: "Will you be able to speak to ATC directly in a future software version?"MICHAEL EPSTEIN:"Yes, that is something we are considering for V 2.0, but it would bedifficult. Currently you never have to touch your keyboard, which is a huge advantage."So there you go! In the future maybe? I don't know i might go for this anyway. Even just for the headset and checklists thing. It would make final approach and ground handling a bit easier.Mark

[Avcomware 1]

Hi.I am not familiar with "Voice buddy", but I can tell you that "SpeechBuddy2" available here at AVSIM and free, based on the SAPI503 has a very good recognition algorithm, with very good recognition and good Voice confirmation, speech output. Back in the mid 80s I worked on a hardware solution for voice recognition, and I

[Guest David Lee 2]

Thanks for the info. Just another Game Commander in my book but I'm sure others will have fun with it. To truly practice ATC communications I find it much more realistic to actually say the phrase first, then hit the key command and listen to how close my phrase was. Saying "2" and letting Speech Buddy do the hard work doesn't suit my needs or interests.David

[Gridley 257]

I've got speech buddy on my download list now!Thanks to everyone for all the info.sg

[THibben 16]

According to their sales department it is due for release on Friday. However they did say it may come out as early as today.Tom

[Guest thefringe]

With some innovative editing, any of these voice recognition machines can be made to interact with ATC to some extent. For example when 'Roger' requires key #1, I'll say "Roger". If Roger requires key #2 in a different situation, I'll say "Roger That". When Roger Requires key #3, I'll say "That's a Roger". I'll also say "Switching" (keystroke 1) when promted to tune the next controller's frequency. These are all easily programmed in by editing. This way 1,2 or 3 is activated at the correct time. Also because some software has phrase length limitations, you will have to smartly edit your english written command. "L A Senr 9 9 5 with u" instead of "Los Angeles Center United Nine Nine Five is with You at Flight Level"....etc. Yes, I have been using GC and other software for quite a while. Just turn off the pilot voices and you are ready to interact with ATC.John M.

[Gridley 257]

Care to share you GC profile?PS> Welcome to AVSIM!

[Avcomware 1]

Hi Magig Man.If you want, you can implement a complete ATC voice command interface with

[Guest thefringe]

Thanks Gridley !(actually as an FS9 beta tester, I've been around for a while but have not posted for 90 days so had to re-register !) I apologize for not having access to my gaming system, so I can't furnish the actual profile. System crashed a while back and I am contemplating repair or upgrade. Maybe Santa will drop an Athlon 64 or P4 3.2 down my chimney. In reality, my GC profile includes the examples in my above post plus just a few other commands. These are more straight forward and can be customized to fit your taste. "Tower, 9 9 5 requests landing clearance" (assigned to key #1) followed by "9 9 5 copy clear 2 land" (assigned to key # 1 or 2, I forget which). I generally have all the centers assigned by name (Seattle Center... Salt Lake Center..... etc) and some local (Seattle) areas added to Departure, Tower, Ground etc. " 9 9 5 Say again" of course assisned to key 2, and possibly "9 9 5 could you repeat" instead assigned to key #3 in certain situations. You can actually create an entire GC or Speech/Game Buddy ATC profile including some flight commands ("Gear up/down" assigned to key G, and "Flaps set for take-off" assigned to (F7)+(F7)+(F7) ) in 5-10 minutes. Adding individual airports and Center names will take longer off course. Some software has upwards of 250 assignable commands.Best of luck,John M. I

[Gridley 257]

Great - I'll spend some time with that and see what I can come up with...To be more accurate then, welcome back!sg

[Guest av84fun]

The review at flightsim was, to put it mildly, hysterically positive and was an obvious attempt to suck up to a large advertiser.Here are some issues to keep in mind.1. If you fly a virtual airline, you cannot use VB at the same time.2. If you have remapped any of the sim keyboard commands VB will not recognize any of them...just the defaults.3. On my system at least, using VB ate framerates.

[Guest allcott]

>The review at flightsim was, to put it mildly, hysterically>positive and was an obvious attempt to suck up to a large>advertiser.>>Here are some issues to keep in mind.>1. If you fly a virtual airline, you cannot use VB at the same>time.>2. If you have remapped any of the sim keyboard commands VB>will not recognize any of them...just the defaults.>3. On my system at least, using VB ate framerates.Thanks, kind of reinforces the suspicion I had when I saw posts in the other forum being removed as soon as any criticism or critique of Voice Buddy was attempted. Wondered what they were hiding. In my case, many of the keybaord assignments have been re-mapped.So I don't think Voice Buddy is on my shoppng list, particularly if the developer condones such practices as deliberate misuse of a public forum to promote a commercial product. Not really the kind of people I'd want to do business with, I'm afraid.Think I'll give Speech Buddy a try over Xmas, though.Thanks to all for the informative (and impartial) thread.Allcott

[Guest skywarrior]

Hi guys. Have you tried this? http://www.internalworkings.com./ Right now it only works with FS2002, but these guys are trying to get it running with FS2004. I use it in my sim & love it. It doesn't seem to require much speech learning/recognition if you speak slow & clear. The only complaint I would have is that you can't use shortcuts like I use when I fly real planes. For example: I can't acknowledge ground control by saying "taxi to 19R, hold short, tower on 18.2, 51 Delta" Or you can't say "out of 5 for 8, 51 Delta" You have to read back using the "correct" response. For example, you must read back to ground "Taxi to runway 019 right, hold short, contact Wichita Tower on 118.2, Cessna 51 Delta " Or "climb from 5,000 to 8,000, Cessna 51 Delta" Also, It positions you on the taxiway as opposed to a ramp. Tegwyn told me that the program can't distinguish between a ramp & a taxiway. But, this is a small problem. All my pilot buddies who have flown my sim can't believe that it's works as good as it does. Anyway, after using it for almost a year, I love it & wouldn't fly without it.Regards,Jim

[Gridley 257]

Actually, VoxATC was why I started this thread - I had posted to see if anyone had any info as the beta has been going on for...ever, and no updates on the website for a long time. Do you have any info about how this program is progressing? Is there a public beta, or are you "in the know"?Thanks,sg