Sound isn't smooth

[dolph98 24]

Hi all. RC is much better and more realistic than the built in ATC for sure. However, I only fly RC when I'm going into large cities because I can't get over the way the voices that RC uses flow. I wonder if anybody reading this has tweaked RC to sound as good as the built in ATC? Could it be my installation? I don't mean to belittle the program, it is a great addition and worth the money. But the sound bites are pieced together in such a way that it grates on my nerves to hear it. Some sound bites don't even match up - its like they were recorded on different days and the person was in different moods or something. It's truly a computer voice thing. Picky? Yes I am. I have not ever read anyone else complaining about this. Is it just me?So does anyone know how to make it sound better? I'm sorry if this offends anyone.

[jd 57]

what version of rc are you running? are the voice sliders all the way to the left? have you defragged recently?

[Guest Temp]

Hi dolph98.I have to agree you with about the voices in RC4. I have mentioned it myself a while back in a posting about something. Quite frankly, I really hate the voices or the way they have been recorded. For example, when a sentence is spoken, it seems as if each individual word is like it's own little file and all recorded with different tones and different times. I am, and I'm sorry guys at RC4, sometimes embarrassed by the sound of the voices and they make me squirm in my seat. I've had to disable about three or four voices because they sound awful! RC4 is certainly a great product of which I am a customer but the voices do not sound anywhere as fluent and smooth as the default ATC. I do hope that some kind of improvement in this area will be looked at when programming RC5. I thought it was just me being picky but I'm so glad I'm not alone in my thinking on the voice situation. PS..Yes, I have checked each voice slider for maximum benefit. Best Regards.Graham.

[jd 57]

and they are all the way to the left, you have 4.3, your disk is defragged, and you have a sound card (as opposed to integrated sound)?jd

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

Graham,I'm really sorry that you find the voices so unacceptable. Unfortunately we don't have the resources of Microsoft where we can invite potential recorders to a studio to record time and time again until the enunciation is perfect. Nor do we have professional recording equipment or the services of a professional sound engineer.We invite people to submit a sample set of recordings so we can assess the clarity of their voice, its authority (for controllers) and the quality of the recording. The first two might be great but if the recordings are not good enough (despite guidance notes on how to optimise them) we have to reject them. I use SoundForge to batch process the wavs and its very good at killing dead space at the start and end of each recording. But it does require good quality recordings with good signal to noise ratio.Volunteers who are willing to record over two thousand separate wav files are not plentiful. People do the best they can. I do my best and will hopefully improve with experience.The default voices in FS9/FSX are clear but totally unrealistic. I 'dirtied' the RC recordings to make them sound more authentic. Some will like them, some won't. That's the nature of people. But if you ever listen to real world ATC transmissions they are not hi-fi.You can always deselect certain voice sets if you don't like them. I think the more you listen to them the more you accept them. I could never go back to the default FS ATC simply because the procedures are so unrealistic especially when flying outside the FAA world.It is perhaps testament to how difficult producing a realistic ATC program is that there remain so few available. I like to think that although RC does have less strong points its strengths far outweigh its weaknesses.

[dolph98 24]

>what version of rc are you running? are the voice sliders all>the way to the left? have you defragged recently?Hi JD,I bought version 4.3.3845 in October. I have been using it for more complex situations and I love it. I surely didn't mean to knock the program by bringing up the voice thing. I just wondered if it was me or my system settings. I defrag every day. I use Disk Keeper and I have it set to defrag daily. I have all sliders to the left for speed in busy situations. I couldn't stand it to be slower. I am currently running a 3.2 GHz machine with 1GB of RAM but am upgrading to the machine listed in my sig. Things can only get better/faster once it gets here (Monday or Tuesday hopefully).

[Guest Temp]

Ray ProudfootThanks for your detailed and interesting post above. I always use RC4 and have been using it since purchasing the product months ago. It is of course much more realistic than the default ATC and I've never said otherwise. But I'm sorry, I will never get used to the way the sound bites or Waves have been put together. You can honestly tell that each individual word in a sentence has been recorded differently or not at the same time. It's not a natural flowing sentence in my own honest opinion.I know and appreciate that programmers and others work very hard indeed to make our hobby as realistic as possible and I'm always grateful. I hope you will take my comments as nothing but a harmless criticism in an area that I hope can be much improved in future releases.Best Regards.Graham.

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

Hi Graham,Rest assured I'll do my best to make v5 sounds as good as I can.

[mbattison 0]

HiIn response to differences in voice realism between default FS and RC. I would add that my system is reasonably high spec, and get smooth FPS on all but the busiest airfields, all FS9 settings at MAX.Although I use RC4 for all flights, and will continue to do so, I agree that there more of a realistic sound to the default FS voices. Comments above about what Microsoft can do compared to the RC team are noted and accepted.But one of the things that really bugged me about default ATC was the stammering when it into busy areas. Words and phrases were ex-ex-ex-ex-extended when traffic was busy. I have NEVER heard that on RC4, the quality and speed of the speech remains constant at all times.Then there is the annoying beep on default ATC if you try and speak over someone. Fair enough if someone is actually talking, but we all know when trying to contact tower at busy airports, getting the screeching noise even though no one else is talking. As far as I tell on RC4, you press whatever key then simply wait a moment.Another gripe about default ATC is that it is very hard to follow conversations. Tower will give instructions to one aircraft, then another, before receiving acknowledgements. Before long you don't know who is talking to who. In all my flying, RC4 always operates on a instruction-direct reply basis - much more realistic!But of course the biggest advantage of RC4 is not how it is said, but what is said. I much prefer the instructions and terminology used on RC4, and that is why I will continue to use it, and in years to come buy RC5. To me that is more important than the voices used.

[JayDub 0]

Good Day To All,I just ordered the CD version of Radar Contact 4.3 yesterday. I kind of wish I had read this thread before ordering as I probably would have held off on placing the order until I could do a little more research.I hope I will not be disappointed in the program based on the comments concerning the poor quality of voice recording. Please someone reassure me that it is not as bad as described. Committed to the purchase now and will just have to get used to it I guess. Will the realism of the ATC procedures overcome the voice issues. It sounds like an otherwise outstanding program.Comments anyone....... Will be using the program in FS9 with MyTraffic 2004 installed.Thanks, JayDubAMD Athlon 64 3500+ 90nm Winchester CoreAbit AV8 - 3rd Eye VIA K8T800ATi X850XT 256MB AGP with ATi 7.10 DriversAntec 400W ATX 12V Power SupplyThermaltake A1172 CPU Heatsink1GB Corsair DDR PC3200 400MHZWindows XP Home Edition SP2 Creative Audigy XGamer 5.1 Sound

[Ray Proudfoot 8,947]

Hi JayDub,Please don't be put off by a few comments about the voice sets. Radar Contact has sold in its hundreds (possibly more) and few negative comments have been posted here about the voice sets.And if you need further reassurance read some of the reviews in the locked topic. I'm sure you won't be disappointed.Cheers,

[allardjd 0]

This is from a user review of RC 4 that I wrote for the Mutley's Hangar web site at http://www.mutleyshangar.com/features/jda/jda.htm"The voice messages are more rough, choppy and patched than those of FS ATC. It

[Guest diajohn2]

I was also a little put off by the voice sets at first. Setup the ones you prefer and after awhile those on FS series will sound almost too perfect.The instructions on Radar Contact are much better also. Its humans trying to guide you, not artifical MS FS voices.I love Radar Contact and always fly with it.