Yes, this is Yosemite. As I said in my original message, speech synthesis is one of the most subjective things about accessibility software. For instance, I'm in that crazy minority that love ESpeak and KeynoteGold. <smile> > On Feb 9, 2015, at 12:01 AM, Traci Duncan <[email protected]> wrote: > > I take it, this new Alex is in Yosimity only? I have consistently used > Compact Samantha on my Mac. I have mostly found Alex difficult to understand > after long periods of reading. He seems to blur his words together. I was > using him on my iPad mini for a while, but ended up going back to trusty > Compact Samantha. > > When I upgrade to Yosimity, maybe I’ll give Alex another whirl. :) > > Traci > PS. Compact Samantha says OS X correctly. As in OS Ten. :) > > > On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:27 PM, Devin Prater <[email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: > >> I've had the studdering issue for a while now, but I'd always use Fred and >> forget about it. >> >> Sent from my iPhone >> >> On Feb 8, 2015, at 9:04 PM, Alex Hall <[email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >> >>> Thanks for the confirmation, everyone. I never thought I'd say it, but I >>> plan on keeping Alex as my primary voice for the foreseeable future. Of >>> course, that's assuming some genius doesn't port ESpeak over to the Mac. :) >>> >>> Odd that you're encountering suttering, Devin. Nuance voices would >>> definitely stutter and lag, even in the latest Yosemite, but Alex has no >>> such problems. In fact, VoiceOver with Alex is way more responsive, and I >>> often feel like I have that immediate response the Mac has been lacking for >>> so long. It used to be that a Windows screen reader had the immediacy down >>> - hit a key, hear speech, no delays at all - but now the Mac is getting >>> there too. Alex is the only voice to offer it, though; the Nuance voices >>> I've tried still have a bit of lag to them in all situations, and can lag >>> terribly every so often. >>>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 9:56 PM, Devin Prater <[email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>> >>>> The only thing I don't like is that Alex seems to studder and skip a >>>> little on the mac, but he doesn't do that on the iPhone. So I use Fred on >>>> the mac because of that. >>>> >>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>> >>>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:59 PM, Jessica Moss <[email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>> >>>>> What words did you find he ran together? I use him as my default all the >>>>> time, and only thing I've found that sounds really weird, is when you try >>>>> to log in anywhere and go to the usual "remember me," checkbox, when he >>>>> speaks the "remember me," he sounds like he either has his teeth >>>>> clenched, or has something in his mouth, which always makes me cringe, >>>>> and I've always thought it really weird that he sounds like that. >>>>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:41 PM, Alex Hall <[email protected] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hi all, >>>>>> First, yes, this is about a speech synthesizer, and will thus be very >>>>>> subjective. I wanted to see, though, if anyone else might have come to >>>>>> the same conclusion I have. >>>>>> >>>>>> I got a Mac in the days of Lion, and quickly switched to the Vocalizer >>>>>> voices (Serena or Lee, mostly). When we got new ones in Mavericks, I >>>>>> favored Ava, and she is still among the best voices I know of, except a >>>>>> couple from Ivona. In testing things for Yosemite, I kept switching from >>>>>> Ava to Alex, just to see if any problems were being caused by the use of >>>>>> Nuance voices. I accidentally made a startling discovery: Alex used to >>>>>> be pretty bad a few years ago, but now, he's quite good. I've always >>>>>> liked the breathing thing, but Alex would constantly run words together, >>>>>> mispronounce syllables, and have other small problems that made him hard >>>>>> to understand, especially at higher speeds. The more I use him in >>>>>> Yosemite, though, the more I look for reasons to switch back to Ava, but >>>>>> the more those reasons allude me. Ava misses the period after certain >>>>>> words, like "app", Alex doesn't; Ava says "capital" before uppercase >>>>>> letters, although that setting is disabled, and Alex doesn't; VoiceOver >>>>>> has delays when opening the VO Utility or bringing up VO menus while >>>>>> using Nuance voices, but with Alex, I find no such delays; and more. >>>>>> >>>>>> So, is it just me, or has Alex gotten way better? I don't mean "better" >>>>>> in that VoiceOver runs faster while using Alex, although it certainly >>>>>> does. I mean "better" in that, compared to a few years ago, he's far >>>>>> clearer when speaking and makes far fewer mistakes. Maybe I'm >>>>>> misremembering, or maybe I'm the only one to notice, since the change >>>>>> was likely gradual and thus invisible to those who have used Alex all >>>>>> along. Either way, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts, and I'm more >>>>>> eager than ever to obtain a 64-bit iPhone so I can start using Alex >>>>>> there as well. My only complaint about Alex is that he doesn't speed up >>>>>> very well - sure, he can go crazy fast, but I find I miss things at more >>>>>> than 70% speaking rate. Anyway, what do you all think? If you haven't >>>>>> used Alex in a long time, give him another chance. If you use him all >>>>>> the time, have you noticed anything? >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> Have a great day, >>>>>> Alex Hall >>>>>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>>> an email to [email protected] >>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>>> email to [email protected] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>>>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>> email to [email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> Have a great day, >>> Alex Hall >>> [email protected] <mailto:[email protected]> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to [email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >>> <mailto:[email protected]>. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>. >> To post to this group, send email to [email protected] >> <mailto:[email protected]>. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected] > <mailto:[email protected]>. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries > <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout > <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>.
-- Have a great day, Alex Hall [email protected] -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
