Adding voices: SAPI5 only? Sources?

[Pete Dowson 558]

I'm just seeking clarification about adding voices. I only seem to have Microsoft Anna on this Win7-64 PC.

I've read rather offputting things that say SAPI5 isn't compatible with 64-bit applications. Is that really true, or is that just referring to the fact that the text reading applications haven't been published in 64-bit form?

Why don't SAPI4 voices work? They seem much cheaper (but lower quality I assume). I thought P2A was using the speech synthesis facilities, or does it use a package compiled into itself?

$45 for Ivona SAPI voices seems very exhorbitant, and they only seem to offer Ameican voices in SAPI5. Not so appropriate in Europe, where I fly exclusively. 

Cerproc voices are a little cheaper at £25 (and sound better to me) and offer a greater variety of UK and European voices. But are they SAPI5? The sales portal doesn't appear to say. There's also an older post here from Dave which warns against them because they cause crashes. Is that still the case?

I think I saw something about free Microsoft voices in the various language packs. Would I need to actually install them all just to get the voices, and is it worth it for a lower quality? Can I assume they are all SAPI5 these days?

I looked through the manual for guidance on all this, but unfortunately didn't really find much. So I hope I can get some good advice here.

Pete

 

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

SAPI5 voices are used because of the TTS engine being used.  They also need to be 64bit versions.  AT&T voices, for example, are 32 bit only.

CereProc voices had problems in the 32 bit program, but now that we're 64 bit, they seem to work fine.  Both IVONA and CereProc have voices from around the world.  Could be  the site you were looking at wasn't showing them all.  Cepestral also has 64 bit voices, I believe.  www.Nextup.com has several voice vendor offerings....just be sure it is 64 bit, Desktop, SAPI5.

With Windows 7, I believe there may be a few voices to be had by installing other languages along with their speech capabilities....but not all versions of Windows 7 allow additional language packs.

With Windows 10, there are quite a few Desktop SAPI5 voices available, and there is a way to make the Mobile voices work as Desktop voices, so the variety of "free" voices available is quite large.  Of course, again you have to be able to install additional languages.

Dave

[Pete Dowson 558]

8 minutes ago, Dave-Pilot2ATC said:

Both IVONA and CereProc have voices from around the world.  Could be  the site you were looking at wasn't showing them all.

Ivona don't sem to sell directly. You have to go to their agents, the main one of which appears to be "TextAloud". I can't find them for sale elsewhere, thought perhaps I missed a link someplace.

Perhaps if others here have found more they could kindly post a link?

Pete

 

 

[sbclark 55]

Pete,

I have been using Speech2Go voices and Ivona for a few years with P2A, and they work well, even when Dave rolled PTA over to 64-bit app.

Here is a link:

 https://harposoftware.com/en/

Unfortunately, they are not cheap, but they work well and add to the immersion of P2A.

You may want to check if they provide bundles like i did, I believe,they offered 5 or 6 voices for less than the combination of voices if purchased separately.

Good Luck,

Bill Clark

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

13 minutes ago, Pete Dowson said:

Perhaps if others here have found more they could kindly post a link?

I believe that IVONA sold their voices and no longer exists as a separate company.  The NextUp site does list quite a few different voices from around the globe.  These are the Welsh English ones, but you can select the region and display all those voices from this page.

http://nextup.com/ivona/englishwelsh.html

[sbclark 55]

Harpo also sells Ivona voices, may want to check who has best prices.

Most of my voices are Speech2Go......been very happy with them..

Bill Clark

[Pete Dowson 558]

23 minutes ago, sbclark said:

I have been using Speech2Go voices and Ivona for a few years with P2A, and they work well, even when Dave rolled PTA over to 64-bit app.

Here is a link:

Thank you! I will check that out!

Pete

 

[Pete Dowson 558]

21 minutes ago, Dave-Pilot2ATC said:

I believe that IVONA sold their voices and no longer exists as a separate company.  The NextUp site does list quite a few different voices from around the globe.  These are the Welsh English ones, but you can select the region and display all those voices from this page.

Oh, thanks. Evidently I found the wrong Nextup site, or a different branch.

Pete

 

[paj 21]

6 hours ago, sbclark said:

Most of my voices are Speech2Go......been very happy with them..

Hi Bill,

I thought Speech2Go was merely an application for loading text content and it in turn required 3rd party SAPI voices (such as Ivona and Nuance which, like Speech2Go, are also sold by Harpo)?

Cheers,

Peter

Edited March 29, 2018 by paj

[Dirk98 354]

On 3/28/2018 at 9:18 PM, sbclark said:

Pete,

I have been using Speech2Go voices and Ivona for a few years with P2A, and they work well, even when Dave rolled PTA over to 64-bit app.

Here is a link:

 https://harposoftware.com/en/

Unfortunately, they are not cheap, but they work well and add to the immersion of P2A.

You may want to check if they provide bundles like i did, I believe,they offered 5 or 6 voices for less than the combination of voices if purchased separately.

Good Luck,

Bill Clark

Bill, do I need Speech2Go program or just voices for P2A?

Thanks

[sbclark 55]

Dirk98,

I will try to answer our questions:

Speech2Go - Yes, this is an application, that manages all your voice choices. Once I installed all my voices, I haven't really looked at Speech2Go for well  over a year until this morning. When I ran Speech2Go there was an update to this app. After updating, I was informed that some of the voices had been updated. However, it was over 1.5 years ago since I originally installed these voices and this app. So there is value in Speech2Go as it manages all your voices, including one Ionva voice, 2 Microsoft voices, and 6 Harpo or NUANCE voices I have installed. not sure what they are named.

It appears my voices are NUANCE/Harpo voices, and I only chose USA voices since that is where I primarily fly. Also, I'm not sure if my installed voices are 32-bit or 64 bit? But the installer requires a network connection, so you end up doing, as in my case, for the 6 NUANCE voices, I did a pack/bumdle of 6, which amounts to a 2 GB download.

I had these voices prior to P2A being upgraded from 32-bit to 64-bit, and they worked fine after the update.

Hope this helps,

Bill Clark

[Dirk98 354]

Bill, all is clear, thanks.

 

Are these installers relevant to the voices we could use with P2A?

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/download/details.aspx?id=27224

Thanks.

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

No.  That is for Microsoft Servers.  You must use Microsoft Desktop voices.  Mobile voices can be set up to work as desktop voices by making changes to the Windows Registry...but this is not recommended unless you are a computer "expert" and know what you are doing since you could render your Windows system unusable.

[vadriver 247]

On ‎3‎/‎29‎/‎2018 at 5:18 AM, sbclark said:

I have been using Speech2Go voices and Ivona for a few years with P2A, and they work well, even when Dave rolled PTA over to 64-bit app.

All

I am trialling P2A ..... so could be a factor (no flights yet).

Setting up voices, I get an error when testing Ivonna 2 Nicole from Harpo (S2G) as per the attached  ....procedure entry problem

No problems with Cereproc / MS voices,

I noticed unlike Cereproc voices (which separately installs 64bit files in c:\Program Files), S2G is installed in a Program Files (x86) folder (both 32 & 64bit) ..... seems curious given each voiceset has the subject file.

Thoughts / notes appreciated.

 

Edited October 25, 2018 by vadriver

[Dave-Pilot2ATC 864]

That looks like a voice installation problem.  Suggest you contact the voice vendor for help in how to install the 64bit version of the voices.  I suspect that not having them in the Program Files folder could be part of the problem, but I don't know.