While I always get very uptight about people criticising eSpeak, which is, IMHO, one of the most wonderful pieces of open source ever, and has, without doubt, done more for blind computer users throughout the globe than almost anything else, I know that it is not as understandable in some languages as it is in English. But we only use it in English.
If you think eSpeak is bad, jump in your time machine and listen to the voices we had to use thirty years or so ago. In the days of DOS, Dolphin Orpheus was pretty much all there was and that was awful. There is bound to be some Dolphin Orpheus on youtube somewhere. But, having said that, Dolphin Orpheus still allowed blind people to do a lot of good work and to learn how to use a PC. If you listen to eSpeak for long enough, for example as a blind computer user, you just concentrate on the work, not on the voice. A bit like not caring about your wallpaper while you're actually working. eSpeak also has a very small code footprint. It runs comfortably on an old Raspberry Pi with only 256MB of RAM, where others won't. But...svox pico is nice, at least in English. It has rubbish language support, I think it only works in English and French. And I am not sure if it has a batch mode which allows automation of the conversion of a fragment of text into an audio file. I don't use svox pico on my PCs though, because...it is much bigger than eSpeak, so won't run comfortably at a very fast rate. Pretty much anything else costs money. On 02/09/2018 11:47, Nigel Verity wrote: > Hi > > My only gripe is with the electronic voice. A point I raised on an earlier > thread a few months back is that we have a lot of listeners to whom English > is a second language. Espeak does not lend itself to clear unambiguous > diction. I could just about get value from a podcast in German but I'm > certain I'd struggle to understand an intro in German using Espeak. > > I'd prefer a gentle and clear human voice. The voice which appears in the > outro would be perfect, but I do appreciate it is a bit of an imposition on > somebody to take the upcoming episode schedules and record/edit all the > snippets. I'd volunteer to do it but anybody who has heard my few episodes > would know my voice is just not the one for the job. > > Beeza > ________________________________ > From: Hpr <hpr-boun...@hackerpublicradio.org> on behalf of Ken Fallon > <k...@fallon.ie>ly > Sent: 01 September 2018 21:03 > To: hpr@hackerpublicradio.org > Subject: [Hpr] HPR Branding > > Hi All, > > Following a discussion on the Community News, > ( > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhackerpublicradio.org%2Feps.php%3Fid%3D2631&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cb3f714638bc845dd706708d61046299c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636714290864602407&sdata=EdVu7%2B%2BIv7uDAdT%2BmlEOHRXiVjIx4LBdu2o7%2BCSDY4E%3D&reserved=0 > ) > > I am reopening the discussion as to the HPR branding as defined on "Give > Shows > Theme" > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhackerpublicradio.org%2Ftheme.php&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cb3f714638bc845dd706708d61046299c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636714290864602407&sdata=wpKLCeY6vYeYqnGnN03AnnF6Z69GqBkHle4cq2%2BZyw0%3D&reserved=0 > > It's been a while since we had this discussion and it would be good to > revisit it again. > > Currently the branding is as follows > > 1. Show Synopsis (Espeak saying "This is HPR episode ${show_number) > entitled "${title}". It is hosted by ${hostname} ... etc" > > 2. Thanking our Hosting provider (Automatically Added) > > 3. HPR Introduction Music (Mandatory) > > 4. The Show > > 5. HPR Outro Music (Mandatory) > > We would like your input on what if anything should change. > > Is the 1. Show Synopsis, adding value to people ? > > Do we continue to 2. Thanking our Hosting provider ? Should we remove it > or put it in the outro ? > > Should we refresh the 3. HPR Introduction Music ? Make it shorter ? > > Should the 5. HPR Outro Music text be changed ? > > Any other changes ? > > > -- > Regards, > > Ken Fallon > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fkenfallon.com&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cb3f714638bc845dd706708d61046299c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636714290864602407&sdata=MGxP0Y0yWwA%2BYhq%2BWL%2FID2%2B%2Fr%2BtgB9MS7M5IqEo%2FBZc%3D&reserved=0 > https://nam04.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=http%3A%2F%2Fhackerpublicradio.org%2Fcorrespondents.php%3Fhostid%3D30&data=02%7C01%7C%7Cb3f714638bc845dd706708d61046299c%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C636714290864602407&sdata=sOvAFLfraBB78EjfWTJqCsW2X80Loua5PdVwdx2UoK0%3D&reserved=0 > > > > > _______________________________________________ > Hpr mailing list > Hpr@hackerpublicradio.org > http://hackerpublicradio.org/mailman/listinfo/hpr_hackerpublicradio.org > -- Michael A. Ray Analyst/Programmer Witley, Surrey, South-east UK "Perfection is achieved, not when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to take away." -- A. de Saint-Exupery https://cromarty.github.io/ http://eyesfreelinux.ninja/ http://www.raspberryvi.org/ _______________________________________________ Hpr mailing list Hpr@hackerpublicradio.org http://hackerpublicradio.org/mailman/listinfo/hpr_hackerpublicradio.org
