Hi Donna, This bit of information about the speaking rate actually came from another list member who wrote to the accessibility team at Apple. She posted the reply to the list:
<begin quote> Hi Jane: Check out this site for information on how to embed commands into the text to speed it up or change other attributes: http://developer.apple.com/documentation/UserExperience/Conceptual/SpeechSynthesisProgrammingGuide/index.html Embedded commands are described in the section titled "Techniques for Customizing Synthesized Speech" - > "Use Embedded Speech Commands to Fine-Tune Spoken Output. For example, to set the rate of the spoken text to 300 words per minute use something like: "[[rate 300]] This text should be spoken fast." <end quote> That linked document gives the commands for controlling volume, rate and other attributes for speech. Darcy used this information to describe making an Automator workflow for recording text in one of the Screenless Switcher podcast episodes shortly afterwards (end of 2007 or beginning of 2008). I just use the Mail Archive search function for this list a lot <smile>. Cheers, Esther Donna Goodin wrote: > Wow, Esther, that's amazing! Is there anything about the Mac that > you don't know? > Best, > Donna :) > On Nov 7, 2009, at 1:05 PM, Esther wrote: > >> Hi Anouk, >> >> Yes, you can make yourself an Automator workflow to convert any >> text documents to mp3 files on the Mac. The only tricky thing >> about using regular text to speech to translate the documents is >> getting the voice to speak at a faster rate. You can control this >> by putting a sequence that specifies the speaking rate at the >> beginning of your text file like this: >> [[rate 300]] >> >> (You need to read this character by character: two left brackets >> followed by the word "rate" followed by a space and then the number >> of words per minute --- here "300" --- followed by two right >> square brackets) >> >> • Apple has a demo Automator workflow that converts text from your >> clipboard to an audio clip in iTunes. You could download this and >> modify it to work with a selected TextEdit file instead of the >> clipboard, and you could change the setting from AAC encoding to >> mp3. The Apple URL is: >> >> http://automator.us/leopard/examples/ex07/index.html >> >> and you can get the workflow from the page's download link. It's >> actually easier to check the components out under Automator. It's >> made up of 4 steps: >> >> 1. Get Contents from Clipboard >> 2. Text to Audio File >> 3. Import Audio Files >> 4. Add Songs to Playlist >> >> You can hear these listed if you VO-right to the Workflow area of >> Automator, interact, and VO-down arrow through the list once you've >> downloaded it. >> >> To run this as is, download the workflow and open it. Select some >> text and copy to clipboard with Command-C. Then do a Command-R to >> run the workflow. As it stands, the workflow creates an AAC file >> called "Spoken Text" that it move into your iTunes library. You >> can change the format to MP3 by interacting with the "Import Audio >> Files" action of the Workflow and VO-right to the popup button that >> specifies using the "AAC encoder" and set this to "MP3 encoder". >> The only warning for users who have never used iTunes before is >> that you must have set up iTunes for MP3 encoding at least once, >> since iTunes uses the last set of values for this in your >> preferences file. (This means that the AAC option should work for >> everyone, but if you've never ripped a CD or converted another >> audio file to MP3 format in iTunes, there are no previous MP3 >> encoding settings for the workflow to use.) >> >> What you really want to do is replace the "Get Contents from >> Clipboard" action with "Get Contents of TextEdit Document", but >> this is a little more complicated. If you interact with the "Text >> to Audio" action of the workflow, you can select the voice to use >> on the pop up button. (This could be the voice in another language). >> >> HTH >> >> Cheers, >> >> Esther >> >> On Nov 7, 2009, at 07:35, anouk radix wrote: >> >>> Hi Esther, What I think would be nice about ghostreader is that >>> you can for example translate books in text or pdf or html format >>> into mp3 audio files using the voice you like, i am not sure if >>> you can do this on the mac natively. >>> Greetings, Anouk >>> On Nov 7, 2009, at 6:26 PM, Esther wrote: >>> >>>> Hi Anouk, >>>> >>>> Visiovoice is designed for visually impaired individuals. It was >>>> an alternative solution that would work out of the box if you >>>> wanted to run your Mac using French or Dutch voices in Tiger, >>>> where starting up with VoiceOver required knowledge of English. >>>> Visiovoice has a separate interface from VoiceOver and a >>>> different pronunciation editor. You also have to separately >>>> purchase the Infovox iVox voices for the languages Visiovoice >>>> supports. It has a number of other features for low vision users >>>> in terms of its cursor magnification support, and it also has >>>> features such as simply creating an audio file from text. The >>>> main interest in using Visiovoice was among VoiceOver users who >>>> wanted to work in languages other than English. I think that at >>>> one point, version 1.2 supported Japanese using the DTalker voices. >>>> >>>> GhostReader is targeted as "convenience ware" for users who want >>>> to have mail, web pages, and documents read to them with text-to- >>>> speech on the Mac. It is is not designed for visually impaired >>>> individuals, though probably low-vision users would find it >>>> convenient. This application is relatively inexpensive (around >>>> $39.95 list price for one language), and can only read documents, >>>> web pages, pdf files, etc through the GhostReader interface. It >>>> comes with compressed versions of the Infovox iVox voices, but >>>> can use any of the system voices. I looked at it as a low-price >>>> alternative to getting the Infovox iVox voices. (I happened to >>>> find this on sale as a one-day new promotion at half price -- >>>> $19.95 vs. the then $149.95 price for the regular voices). I was >>>> slightly surprised that Anne was using this, since she has >>>> Visiovoice, and since this application is not that convenient to >>>> use without vision. Also, I think anyone who wants to get non- >>>> English voices for their Mac will want to use them for all >>>> applications (with VoiceOver), and not just for selected reading >>>> of web pages or PDF files and documents through the GhostReader >>>> interface, since you don't have the same kind of detailed >>>> navigation control that VoiceOver provides; GhostReader is better >>>> for doing a straight read through. >>>> >>>> However, as an add-on (for $10), or as an application for low >>>> vision users who use multiple languages, GhostReader can be a >>>> great option. They also sell it with multiple language (2, 3, >>>> etc.) options, though a VoiceOver user would use the better >>>> quality Infovox iVox voices that work system-wide. (The >>>> GhostReader voice versions are like slightly lower quality mp3 >>>> renditions of an audio CD). The two nice features of GhostReader >>>> are: (1) an undocumented feature that lets you automatically >>>> switch voices (and languages) when reading text and (2) the >>>> feature (also in Visiovoice) to create and audio file from read >>>> text. >>>> >>>> The way the voice/language switching works is by using the >>>> sequence: >>>> \vce=speaker=newspeaker\ >>>> when I specify a French voice, e.g. >>>> \vce=speaker=julie\ >>>> the text that follows gets pronounced with French intonation. >>>> Changing to an English voice, e,g. >>>> \vce=speaker=heather\ >>>> gives the text in English. If you want to read through a dialog >>>> with voices speaking multiple languages, this is great. It only >>>> works in GhostReader (not VisioVoice), and only with voices of >>>> the same type. So if you have only the lower quality >>>> ConvenienceWare versions of voices that come with GhostReader for >>>> French, you can only switch between that quality voice in French >>>> and English. Since most VoiceOver users will get the better >>>> quality Infovox iVox voices for system-wide use in all >>>> applications, they can switch between all the higher quality >>>> Infovox iVox voices on their system >>>> >>>> HTH >>>> >>>> Cheers, >>>> >>>> Esther >>>> >>>> anouk radix wrote: >>>> >>>>> Hi Anne, What is the difference between visiovoice and >>>>> ghostreader? >>>>> Greetings, Anouk >>>>> On Nov 7, 2009, at 4:51 PM, Anne Robertson wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> Hello Donna, >>>>>> >>>>>> On Nov 6, 2009, at 7:25 PM, Donna Goodin wrote: >>>>>>> >>>>>>> So what do you use Ghost-reader for? I just can't seem to get >>>>>>> excited >>>>>>> about it. >>>>>> >>>>>> I use it for converting text files such as scanned books into >>>>>> audio files. I wouldn't actually have bought it since I already >>>>>> have VisioVoice except that lots of French Mac users have >>>>>> GhostReader and I felt I should know about it to help them with >>>>>> it. After all, I have a French-language website for VI Mac >>>>>> users so I feel some responsibility toward them. >>>>>> >>>>>> Cheers, >>>>>> >>>>>> Anne >>>>>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> >>>> >>>> >>>> >>> >>> >>> >>> >> >> >> > > > > --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. 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