Thanks David and All,
I too have had no issues with the SAPI 4 versions of the AT&T speech in the past but this one is SAPI 5 as is the Ivona speech. I Suspect, as David detailed, that I've having some issues with additional programs running that I'm not aware of, i.e. spy or malware that isn't being cleaned up somehow. My desktop machine is Windows7 32 bit. I have a third computer, my home laptop, that is a Windows7 64 bit machine and the Ivona speech still breaks up on it so I also suspect something within the speech itself. The Ivona voices are great when they are running optimally. I'm also exploring the dedicated sound card idea. The desktop is a Dell with no modifications on my end. The work laptop is a Dell also and is at least 3 years old now. The home laptop is a Toshiba and has more memory than the other two put together. <grin> Yep, memory issues could be at fault here too. Thanks though for the suggestions and I'll let you know what I end up doing and if anything works. From: David [mailto:[email protected]] Sent: Friday, May 06, 2011 9:21 AM To: [email protected]; [email protected] Subject: Re: speech breaking up and distorting Not sure, why your specific problem arises. Both of the voices - Kendra and Crystal - are SAPI voices. To just break down the problem a bit, would you happen to have any other voices (SAPI) on any of your systems? Maybe you have Microsoft Mike and Mary, and I guess maybe even Sam. They are not the best - agreed. Still, I would suggest for you to change to one of the other SAPI voices on your system, and see if this is a SAPI issue, or if it is more related to the voice itself. The problem with broken speech in SAPI voices is known from years. SAPI loads the system somehow differently than the dedicated voices Dectalk and Eloquence. If your problem exists with other SAPI voices as well, I'd first say there could be a problem with the general system load. Maybe you are running some newly installed software, App, or even have got some kind of Malware that tends to load the system. Whenever you restart the system, you go back to a 'scratch-load', with only the basics in memory. Soon as your ssystem starts to run different software and tools, your load goes up, and if some of it overloads the system somehow, you could experience the broken voice. Try to see if there is a connection as to what software you are running, and when the voice breaks. I.e, does it always happen when you start Word, Internet Explorer or the like; or, is there no pattern here. Try to leave your system - freshly restarted - unused for a periode of time, and then start using it. Does the voice break immediately when you start using the system now? Or, do you still have to open other software like above mentioned, before the breaking takes place. If it happens even after the system has been unintended for a while after restarting, it could be that there is some kind of automatically loaded software that overloads the system. In such a case, I'd suggest you look at your startup routines, with a startup manager, and remove whatever is not necessary. Or, go to Processes under the TaskManager, and see which software tends to be heavy on the CPU usage. Even if your CPU usage is not too high, you might be running with low memory. How much RAM do your systems have? Even with a high amount of memory installed, the different software running might be 'hungry' for it, hence cause little memory left for your speech. This cause breakups, and sometimes fully stop in the speech. Specially since you say this started recently, I get the feeling there could be a matter of some newly installed stuff on your system, that tends to eat up your resources. On your laptop, which the following will be most easily tested, when this happens; does your fan start to spin rather fast? Either just before the thing happens with the voice, or simultaneously. If so, again it points to heavy loaded system resources. On your desktop, this test might not be as easily carried out, since you normally won't have the same spinning up and down of the fan, as you have on a laptop. Another couple of cases, that might affect speech, and could make it broken, is your disk usage. If things happen even through low disk usage, it might be worth to do a defrag on your disk, as I have seen that fixes certain speech problems. When comes to the pitch adjustment, which distort your voice, I have seen this with another voice as well. What I found in that case, was that you can adjust the pitch to your heart's desire, as long as you run the default speed. But, soon as you lower the speed just one step, and then adjust the pitch, the voice gets distorted. Quite frustrating, and might cause you to stop using that voice, eventually. Unfortunately, there is - as far as I know - nothing you can do about it, except from keeping your voice at the default speed. This is simply due to badly compiled voice from the manufacturer. In the case this is your experience, you might consider reporting the problem to the manufacturer, and hope for them to fix it in an updated voice version. Would it happen, that you recently saved settings in WE that includes an adjustment of the voice speed? Sorry I couldn't be of more specific help here. Hope any of the above, wil help you track down the cause of the problem. Would be interesting to know your findings, and if you solve the problem, how you managed. If for no other reason, at least for future users that might run into same problem. To fully understand why this specifically happens with SAPI voices, is a more tech thing, and I won't bother with it right now. One small point, seems to be that SAPI ain't given the highest priority in the system, hence other resource eager software, might 'kick' the voice off to the sideline. Lastly, and this is not really the most truly reason, but just want to mention it: Your sound card, has there been any adjustment on its equalizer. If you haven't done so deliberately, simply just forget this point. Only certain cases, a messed up equalizer, might give bad sound on specially female voices, since these use higher pitched tones, than male voices. I ran into this kind of case, a couple of years ago, and resetting the equalizer of the sound card, fixed the 'distorted sounding' voice. Again, if you haven't been fooling with the sound card settings - and no other user of the computer have - this solution is very little likely, and you simply omit it. ----- Original Message ----- From: "Jenine Stanley" <[email protected]> To: <[email protected]> Sent: Friday, May 06, 2011 2:32 PM Subject: speech breaking up and distorting >I have 2 computers and they both are having an odd issue lately with their > synthesizers. Both run WE 7.5 > > Desktop runs Windows7, with Ivona Kendra speech synthesizer. > >>From time to time the speech will break up, like an old radio that's >>poorly > tuned. Sometimes also when adjusting the pitch, which I like at 2, the > speech will become distorted as if it's too loud though the volume hasn't > changed at all. The breaking up tends to fix itself but the distortion > requires a complete reboot of the computer, not just shutting down WE and > restarting. > > Laptop is running Windows XP with the AT&T Crystal synthesizer. I have WE > start prior to log in and nothing has changed with the DECTalk speech. The > last several days, when I boot up, and the speech changes over to Crystal, > the voice is very distorted as if through a bad AM radio speaker. This is > continuous, unlike the desktop computer issue. The only way to fix it is > to > exit WE and restart it. Then the speech returns to normal. > > Any idea what might be going on here? > If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender > only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is > related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to > [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. > > GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can > manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv. > _____ No virus found in this message. Checked by AVG - www.avg.com Version: 10.0.1325 / Virus Database: 1500/3619 - Release Date: 05/06/11 If you reply to this message it will be delivered to the original sender only. If your reply would benefit others on the list and your message is related to GW Micro, then please consider sending your message to [email protected] so the entire list will receive it. GW-Info messages are archived at http://www.gwmicro.com/gwinfo. You can manage your list subscription at http://www.gwmicro.com/listserv.
