There has been some recent discussion about which software package works with ATC. My needs might be a bit different. I'm looking for voice software that can replace keypresses in FSX.

 

I especially want to replace the 1, 2, 3.. button pushes that are required when you are interacting with the radio. Perhaps this still falls under the category of ATC, but I do mainly GA VFR flights, so I don't need a lot of sophistication. I've got the Saitek Radio panel and voice commands would allow me to pretty much eliminate the keyboard or mouse for radio work.

 

I've done some reading on Voice Buddy, It's Your Plane and SpeechBuddy. Are there others? Anyone have experience with these. Will they do what I want?

 

Thanks,

Ernie

Hello

I use VAC it is the best I have found, prior to that I used Shoot v1.6.4 but it does not play nice with newer OS (needs Dotnet 1.1)

http://www.dwvac.com/screenshots.html

 

Try VAC it will do what you want

Thanks.. It has a 14-day trial which is great.

 

Ernie

 

 

Hello

I use VAC it is the best I have found, prior to that I used Shoot v1.6.4 but it does not play nice with newer OS (needs Dotnet 1.1)

http://www.dwvac.com/screenshots.html

 

Try VAC it will do what you want

Hello

Somewhere on their forum is a FSX profile, a search should find it, PM me if you need any help setting it up, PTT ect.

Hello Ernie,

 

I'm using multicrew experience (with radar contact) to my full satisfaction.

It also works with the default fsx atc.

You can request a clearance, alt change etc.

They have a try demo to try it 1st.

Also i can say that their support is superb.

 

http://www.multicrewxp.com/

 

John

Hello Ernie,

 

I'm using multicrew experience (with radar contact) to my full satisfaction.

It also works with the default fsx atc.

You can request a clearance, alt change etc.

They have a try demo to try it 1st.

Also i can say that their support is superb.

 

http://www.multicrewxp.com/

 

John

 

I've looked at this often, but man the price is a tough pill to swallow.

Not really, I see it as great value, like GSX, you pay once for integration with multiple aircraft, atc, GSX and FSX/p3d integration. Other software add ons charge you per aircraft or per enhancement.

 

It has a free demo, give it a try, although got to be honest, I never got the demo working for me (I have a serious problem reading manuals) so bought it sight unseen but if you have problems,send support an email and they help you out.

 

Not really, I see it as great value, like GSX, you pay once for integration with multiple aircraft, atc, GSX and FSX/p3d integration. Other software add ons charge you per aircraft or per enhancement.

 

It has a free demo, give it a try, although got to be honest, I never got the demo working for me (I have a serious problem reading manuals) so bought it sight unseen but if you have problems,send support an email and they help you out.

 

Except that MCE is double the price of GSX, so while I see the point, MCE is still an expensive add-on.

Except that MCE is double the price of GSX, so while I see the point, MCE is still an expensive add-on.

 

 

A lot of people don’t really understand what MCE is all about.

 

We aim to re-create the full Multi Crew Experience.

 

That means interacting with various crew members, being able to create your own voice commands to get the FO perform any flow you want (for supported aircraft), execute checklist, which you can even customize all while interacting with Native, RC4 or PFE ATC. And we’re not talking about sending blind keyboard presses here (as shoot and VAC would do).

MCE knows what’s on the ATC menu at any time, so won’t select things by accident just because the speech engine picked-up the wrong command.

 

Sure, we could spend our time crafting nice commercial boxes, and you would have

 

MCE for PMDG 737 NGX: US$20

MCE for PMDG 747: US$20 (doesn’t have SDK and we have the monopoly here)

MCE for PMDG MD-11: US$20 (doesn’t have SDK and we have the monopoly here)

MCE for iFly 737: US$20

MCE for Leve-D 767: US$ 20

MCE for Captain Sim 767: US$ 20 (doesn’t have SDK and we have the monopoly here)

MCE for Captain Sim 757 US$ 20 (doesn’t have SDK and we have the monopoly here)

MCE for Feelthere ERJ: US$ 20 (doesn’t have SDK and we have the monopoly here)

MCE for SimCheck A300 US$ 20 (doesn’t have SDK and we have the monopoly here)

Wilco/Feelthere Airbus

MCE for this

MCE for that

….

 

Just to name a few of the fully supported aircraft

 

Then consider this

 

MCE, the Native ATC voice edition: US$ 20

MCE, the RC4 ATC voice edition: US$ 20

MCE, the Pro Flight Emulator ATC voice edition: US$ 20

 

MCE, the GSX extension module: US$ 10

MCE, the AES extension module. : US$ 10

 

And finally, “Voice control for FSX & FS9 user interface”(say another US$10).

 

Even if you put a price tag of just US$15 on every potential product, do the math and you will see it’s actually very good value for money.

 

And I almost forgot, support for Coolsky DC-9 (works in progress) and MD80 as well as AirbusX extended to be added for free. And keep in mind none of these have an SDK which would make it a breeze. Most is done the hard way

 

There is also commonality in the package. You don’t have to scratch your head about what voice commands are available when you switch from one aircraft to the other.

 

It’s not like you have to remember that under one specific aircraft you can only say “set speed 250”, and under a different one only allowed to say “select speed 250”.

 

Both variations will be accepted; in fact a hell of a lot more variations are available to you.

 

Would love some feedback from others, because if people want stripped down shallow products that do a single thing, and need 15 or 20 installs to match what MCE does, no problem adjusting. B)

Hello

I use VAC it is the best I have found, prior to that I used Shoot v1.6.4 but it does not play nice with newer OS (needs Dotnet 1.1)

http://www.dwvac.com/screenshots.html

 

Try VAC it will do what you want

 

I've just discovered VAC and must say that it is absolutely superb !!!

 

Here's a brief list of what I've configured it to voice control:

 

1) Ezdok camera views, eg, "Captain", "First Officer", "Right Wing" etc;

2) Airbus X commands, eg, "Gear Up", "Gear Down" etc;

3) PFE commands, eg, "Contact Clearance", "Request pushback & start", etc;

4) AES commands, eg, "Request boarding", "We're ready for pushback and start", etc

5) FSX commands, eg, "Pause", "Framerate", etc

 

I think that the list of possibilties is endless and at only $18 it is a real bargain.

 

Gary

Pretty compelling case you've outlined there Gerald, no doubt about that. I guess I'll have to give it more consideration, as I mentioned I've done in the past. I'm short a decent headset with a mic though so it would cost me that as well. Is there a comprehensive list of all the add-ons supported, or is what you wrote here a pretty good depiction?

 

For the record, I never suggested moving to a stripped down product model. I was merely commenting on the not so insignificant price tag in an age where everything costs an arm and a leg. One has to try and be careful with their dollar because in these days it does stretch very far.

 

EDIT: One more question. Does MCE support Windows8 x64?

Pretty compelling case you've outlined there Gerald, no doubt about that. I guess I'll have to give it more consideration, as I mentioned I've done in the past. I'm short a decent headset with a mic though so it would cost me that as well. Is there a comprehensive list of all the add-ons supported, or is what you wrote here a pretty good depiction?

 

For the record, I never suggested moving to a stripped down product model. I was merely commenting on the not so insignificant price tag in an age where everything costs an arm and a leg. One has to try and be careful with their dollar because in these days it does stretch very far.

 

EDIT: One more question. Does MCE support Windows8 x64?

 

Thanks

 

Obviously, all default FSX, FS9 and many Prepar3D stock aircraft (perhaps all of them, but I haven’t checked every single one) are supported.

And forgot these.

 

Ariane 737X

PMDG J41

 

I only listed the aircraft we could easily have packaged with headlines like “specifically coded according to standard operating procedures”.

 

You will find many other aircraft will be interfaced to some level.

Gear, Flaps, Spoilers, Trims, Brakes control as well as radios dialling (COM, NAV, ADF, Transponder) will usually work with almost any aircraft (Even PMDG uses the standard FSX variables for most of these items). It’s the overhead panel and sometimes the MCP (autopilot) panel that require a custom solution.

 

There’s a VoxKey feature, which allows you to create custom voice commands associated with keyboard key combos to be sent to the sim. Similar to what VoiceBuddy, VAC or Shoot does.

 

There’s a VoxScript feature, which lets you eventually replace the stock flows with your own.

 

Decide which switches the FO should flip, in which order and pace, triggered not by a hard to memorise voice command, but by any key sentence that suits you.

 

MCE V2.5.0.8 works on Windows 8, Windows 7, Vista or Windows XP, 64 or 32 Bit.

 

It doesn’t need or install .NET framework in order to run.

 

A little known fact...

 

While we could have run the speech recognition engine inside our fsInsider.dll (which runs inside the FSX process) we decided against it. FSX is stretched to the limit in terms of virtual address space (4 GB max for a 32 bit process), when you throw in heavy scenery and complex aircraft with HD textures. That’s why you hear about many of those OOMs on machines fitted with 8+ GB RAM.

 

Running MCE inside the FSX process would imply about 500 MB virtual address space less available to sceneries and aircraft (will inevitably lead to lowering of display settings), not to mention the prospect of the flight going pear shaped (CTD) at the slightest mishandled voice command. We would then be forced to heavily restrict what users are allowed to speak (verbal exchanges with FO) in order to avoid bad surprises.

 

 

As things stand, only absolute necessary code is run within the sim, mainly to allow MCE to interact with various aircraft. The heavy part, the speech engine and the tons of voice recordings, run in an external process. Should the speech engine leak memory over a 2 hour flight or the FO get stuck in a loop or something, your flight (which is after all the most important thing) will never be compromised.

 

As for the headset, any wired USB headset in the $20 dollar price range will do. Definitely stay away from those expensive, failure prone, fancy wireless headsets.

 

Sorry for being so verbose.

Thanks for the offer.

 

I found a two profiles and the FSX SP2 one does exactly what I was looking for. It does a whole lot more, but I'm still playing with. However, it seems certain they will get my $18.

 

Ernie

 

Hello

Somewhere on their forum is a FSX profile, a search should find it, PM me if you need any help setting it up, PTT ect.

 

Thanks John,

It looks like a great product and I though, wow! a light version,, cool. Unfortunately, its a little to lite since it only supports default ATC and the FSX default aircraft only.

 

However, it is definitely something that I will be looking into when/if I move to heavy iron. For now I think that my needs are better satisfied by VAC.

 

Ernie

 

 

Hello Ernie,

 

I'm using multicrew experience (with radar contact) to my full satisfaction.

It also works with the default fsx atc.

You can request a clearance, alt change etc.

They have a try demo to try it 1st.

Also i can say that their support is superb.

 

http://www.multicrewxp.com/

 

John

Sorry for being so verbose.

 

Well, the verbosity is appreciated by at least myself, and hopefully others as well. I'm getting closer, and knowing that I needed a good headset for other games I play, I've bitten the bullet there already.

 

I'm having trouble determining the conditions of the demo though. Are there feature restrictions? Time limits?

In terms of features, the Ultimate Edition Demo has all the capabilities of the registered version.

 

You must however perform your testing within a 3 days time frame. And you cannot start MCE more than 30 times.

 

Countdown starts after the first run. If you're running into issues, best to get in touch with support rather than quickly exhaust the limited amount of runs.