Thanks Pete - that's one of the things that makes you so very successful indeed!Chris CatalanoPS: I love your products!

Thanks Chis, appreciated.

I happen to like to find the quickest way to actually solve my problems with the least amount of emotional heart wrenching.So I'm wondering, just what is it that you get when you stand on the highest mountaintop and scream "What an awful product it is that I just bought!", instead of going to the developer or the company you purchased the product from and asking them to fix the problems you found or asking them for a refund. Certainly, the first amendment gives you that right. But I'm having trouble figuring out what the real purpose is. What do you get?I suppose the cleaner(?) air up there might be refreshing or something.Just wondering.Thomas

I did it for you folks - not necessarily me. People post reviews all the time - perhaps I may have saved some money for some others, or at least helped others to see the reality of this product. Not only that, I thought I should shed some light on the obviously misleading statements on the website, lest others fall for the inaccurate info regarding the product. Obviously it seems that several people are willing to put up with some of the programs' limitations. I would rather not. Everyone can make up their own mind. I was most upset about the fact that the voices sounded so robotic & feel that the website was guilty of false advertising. I did call VMAX this week & asked for a refund by leaving a message. I am yet to get a return call, although I bet they were probably away at the convention. I hope I hear from them this week. Anyway, it seems like my post helped some and not others. So.... that's why post as I did.Chris Catalano

Chris,It is sad to hear that you did not like or enjoy the VOX ATC. I have it installed along with the enhanced voices, and enjoy it beyond what I had initially expected. At first I had a little problem trying to get it going due to the fact that I had not trained it to my voice however and set the sensitivities as instructed. [i ripped open the package, installed without reading! :-)] Now that is corrected, it recognizes me very well.I will say however that I hope in the future that they will add a few more voices to the package, make the prompt (when I need it) exportable to a separate Computer via FSUICP and WIDE FS. One last little quirk that is minor to me is that the AI aircraft is not covered in the ATC voices heard from other aircraft.The prompt hasn

Steve,I don't think PMDG 744 sales would agree?Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

James,Use it with 'Flight Deck Companion' as I do and you'll be kept well busy!Dave T. .........On the lovely warm Devon Riviera and active 'FlightSim User's Group' member at http://www.flightsimgrpuk.free-online.co.uk/

The VATSIM weakness is that it doesn't become worthwhile until you achieve the critical mass of a fly-in weekend type of event.At any given time, there's only a meager handful of pilots/controllers and many are flying in areas with no positive control at all.In many ways, for the average casual flight, I'd prefer the built-in ATC and AI traffic.

Thomas:There is nothing accomplished on behalf of the disillusioned customer except for his OWN piece of mind knowing that his experience my prevent others from sharing the same sorrow...nothing more and nothing less. The program is the way it is, which is "for sale as is". What will going to the developer first accomplish? Should the consumer expect a personal patch, personal enhancement package, personal rewrite of code so that the software is now to his liking? I would imagine that the developer has heard complaints about his/her package and nothing has been done (at least nothing to change the operational aspect of the program). So, what SHOULD the originator of this thread have done in your eyes? Write to the developer and sit patiently until the software has been sufficiently fixed to his liking..however long that takes? I don't think so.Regards,Mike T.

>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 CatalanI know the designer of VOX ATC who lives a few miles from me here in Devon, England. In my capacity as a film maker, I made a short promo using some local airport shots and my own flight simulator. Although the voices are slightly metalic and american, they can be understood clearly and compare very well with the real world atc which has a clipped and stilted feel to it. Interaction with atc is not meant to be in a conversational and leisurely style! I think it is also fair to say that the pronunciation of english is as important with VOX as it is in a real pilot situation where repeats occur all the time.Give it a chance folks - it's got to be better than talking to an imaginary co-pilot!!! (Voice Buddy).www.voxatc.comTony Gerard, Devon, England.

>I happen to like to find the quickest way to actually solve>my problems with the least amount of emotional heart>wrenching.>>So I'm wondering, just what is it that you get when you stand>on the highest mountaintop and scream "What an awful product>it is that I just bought!", instead of going to the developer>or the company you purchased the product from and asking them>to fix the problems you found or asking them for a refund. >Certainly, the first amendment gives you that right. But I'm>having trouble figuring out what the real purpose is. What do>you get?>>I suppose the cleaner(?) air up there might be refreshing or>something.>>Just wondering.>>ThomasThe "First Ammendment" does not apply in England. There ARE places other than America you know!!!

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>The "First Ammendment" does not apply in England. There ARE>places other than America you know!!!Canada? ;)

I did it for you folks - not necessarily me. People post reviews all the time - perhaps I may have saved some money for some others, or at least helped others to see the reality of this product. Not only that, I thought I should shed some light on the obviously misleading statements on the website, lest others fall for the inaccurate info regarding the product. Obviously it seems that several people are willing to put up with some of the programs' limitations. I would rather not. Everyone can make up their own mind. I was most upset about the fact that the voices sounded so robotic & feel that the website was guilty of false advertising. I did call VMAX this week & asked for a refund by leaving a message. I am yet to get a return call, although I bet they were probably away at the convention. I hope I hear from them this week. Anyway, it seems like my post helped some and not others. So.... that's why post as I did.Thanks for your review. I'll steer clear of this one. You have every right to complain since you outlayed the cash.

I just tried it after having some weird issues, and I think it's really good. Yes, the voices completely stink, but the phraseology is as close to real as anybody has come yet. It's different that my local phraseology, but really not by much- I would definately be OK speaking like that to my tower. Usually we are much more brief. Normally, we just use the last three digits of the callsign after the initial call even if the controller didn't. It's a smaller class D airport with a part-time tower, so it's not unusual that we are the only plane taxiing/taking off.My nitpick (and this is really just a nitpick) is that it only accepts EXACTLY the phrase that is prompted. Depending on how busy my airport is, I could abbreviate things, say them differently, or if I'm not sure where we are going, I can choose to not give the tower my departure direction initially, and give it later.- unfortunately VoxATC doesn't have that option. But that said, it is at least 400% more realistic than the built in ATC. ATC is not about pressing buttons. The built in ATC sounds pretty, but it's just not complete.I will buy it. My only question is, can I get the "natural voices" with the download version? I don't need/want another CD shipped to me.