Dear All:Trust me - save your money ($80 if you don't need the headset mic). VOX ATC is the WORST addon I ever bought. For this kind of money, I was expecting the program to live up to the advertising I saw on the Vmax website - (www.simpilot.com). This is a direct quote from the ad on the website:"These voices enhance the text-to-speech so it sounds just as natural as recorded WAV voices in other ATC products that do not include voice recognition." And also:"Up until now the problem with using text-to-speech technology in a flight simulation ATC product is that the voices have sounded robotic and artificial."And finally:"The Natural Voice product is used in many commercial text-to-speech applications and is recognized recognized worldwide for it's ability to recreate speech that is fluid and natural-sounding."What a bunch of inaccurate statements! Afetr all the money I spent, I can truly tell you all that the included voices are INCREDIBLY robotic sounding, and pale in comparrison to the FS 2004 included ATC voices! Furthermore, they neglect to tell you that the program will not recognize or handle AI traffic whatsoever. So all those nice planes I got in Ultimate traffic are just for show now, and they do not repect the VOX ATC requests, since they are not recognized by VOX ATC. I had a United Airlines plane taxi right into me tonight since no one told it not to (of course in the VOX ATC manual it says I should turn off all AI traffic! What?! I LIKE AI traffic! I also payed good money for the AI traffic in Ultimate Traffic! They should have at least made it clear that this program would not handle AI traffic. Unfortunately, I was one of the unlucky ones who spent most of the past few nights repeating phrases over & over again for ATC since it could not understand what I was readin back - even if I spoke REALLY slow & clearly. I did ALL the training to get ATC to recognize my voice (something I also did rather successfully with the VOICE BUDDY program by the way). All the training sessions worked fine - but when it came time to read simple instructions and numbers back to ATC, it could not recognize it - despite the great success I had in the training sessions.I also hate the fact that the ATC prompter window is not transparent like the native one in FS 2004. It blocks my view. That certainly was not well thought out. I never even knew there was a demo - the website never mentioned THAT either. I found out after the fact that there was demo. Had I tried it, I could have saved $80. I am SO disappointed with this program - especially given the fact that the ATC voices sound SO robotic (which was not promised) and given the fact that I spent a ton of money on this now undesirable (to me) program. I suppose many others will love the program, but in my humble opinion folks - save your money.Chris Catalano

why waste ur money on junk when you can get live people talking to you in real time on vatsim.neti dunno ...

Bad luck Chris, and thanks for the warning not that I would personally be interested, it cos as Clayton suggests, you can't beat the voice of a real flesh and blood controller with all the challenge and "keeping you on your toes" feeling you get on VATSIM.

Not everyone wants to use VATSIM, and have to add the additional programs that are needed to use it, running in the background.

For most of the day I only saw this post's title, and I thought it was a little harsh. After having just read the whole thing for the first time, however, I've changed my mind. Sounds like the package is pretty worthless given your situation, Chris, and it dosn't sound like there was much in the way of warning. That's pretty bad, and borders on sleazy. I would ask for a refund given the circumstances, and see what they say. bill

>Not everyone wants to use VATSIM, and have to add the>additional programs that are needed to use it, running in the>background. >> program,actually.all one needs is either SB3 or FSinn.cheersJP.

I would LOVE a refund, although I would rather doubt one would be forthcoming in light of the fact that it is computer software. I may ask just the same.Thank you all.Chris Catalano

If I wanted to give Vatsim a try, could you send me a link so I can either investigate further on how it works, or even purchase such a thing? I really don't know much about VATSIM or how to get it running if I wanted. Can you direct me to a website or something?Thanks!Chris Catalano

Vatsim is totally FREE, all the software and the usage of the system is absolutely FREE(Which is awesome). Go here for Vatsim www.vatsim.net The only problem with vatsim is there isnt 100% ATC nor is it 100% guaranteed that in one flight session you will even have to talk to any ATC.

Thank's for the head's up Chris! As far as VATSIM,when it's 100% voice,and I don't have to type,I will go back to it.I have Radar Contact,but am tired of hearing the same canned chatter. I have gone back to CF9 ATC enhanced with EditVoicePack.

Hi there,I tried VOX ATC a little while ago (I purchased it) and this was before they were using the more realistic voices.I have to admit there was much I liked about the package but I did miss the AI traffic (which was rather miss-leading in the promotion material) and I did find it did not recognise my voice instrutions most of the time. By most of the time I mean I found most flights I got moments when nothing got understood. It was very buggy.I lost confidence in the program and they refunded my money.I then missied aspects of VOX, namely the ability to speak with my own voice to get ATC.I then investigated VATSIM and have never looked back. There are things that VOX does though like it gives ATC all the route which is a rare thing with VATSIM. But all things taken in to account I personally think VOX is a bit overpriced and would haver rather limited apeal.It would work very well for somebody who maybe can't be sure they have sufficient time to do a real time flight without pauses and tea breaks or they need to look after somebody while they fly, a parent or a child for example.I think this first poster is a maybe a little harsh in delivery style but I have found from experience I agree with everything he has said albeit, brutally honest.

Chris, if you paid by credit card you can get your money back. Seller assumes all risk wether they say they offer refunds or not.That's why it's so difficult to abtain an online merchant account.I would of coarse first contact the seller and let them know your not satisfied and ask them for a refund.Steve

Thanks! I'll look into it. Also - If I fly with VATSIM, am I still able to use AI traffic and the Ultimate Traffic program I like to use? Will VATSIM be able to handle AI traffic or will it also be ignored as well?Thanks for the help.Chris Catalano

Chris,Vatsim is ALL real people (pilots and ATC). If you really like the AI Traffic then I would suggest flying offline with that to practice routes you wish to fly online when Vatsim is hoppin'.edit:I guess I did not directly answer your question. No, you can not use Ultimate Traffic or like programs with Vatsim. But Vatsim is real people and at times it can be as crowed at airports and in the air as with AI programs. During most hours of the weekend (excluding 1:00 a.m to about 6:00 a.m.) and during most week nights you most likely can find routes where ATC is staffed on Vatsim. It is great because the only problems with voice recognition is when the real person on the other side of the mic can not understand you, so slow down or speak up!! ;-)

Whatever...an additional bandwidth and resource stealing piece of software.