I agree; that was a fascinating BBC program.
In 1987 or 1988, a special issue of the Journal of the Acoustical Society of
America had the article about the history of speech synthesis, written by
Dennis Klatt. This magazine, as was sometimes done back then, contained an
Eva-Tone flexible disc bound inside. It contained the recording, made by Dr.
Klatt, and was distributed to all of the subscribers of the magazine. Of
course, this was at 33 rpm, and not the 8 rpm that NLS was using at that
time. But it would have been pressed on the same equipment that NLS used, in
Clearwater, Florida. Anyway, that recording with its 30-some selections, has
been digitized by several individuals. An old version of this, archived at
the University of California, Berkeley, is still available at
http://www1.icsi.berkeley.edu/eecs225d/klatt.html . I have not looked around
for copies of this recording that would be more convenient to use in our
modern browsers and media players; it's probably out there somewhere on the
internet.
The Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of American History had a
small collection on speech synthesis. Some of its printed documents were
online a few years ago, but I haven't found them since a reorganization of
their website. Someone had interviewed a lot of other people, including Mr.
Gagnon, who invented the Votrax series of synthesizers, originally from
Federal Screw Works in Michigan.
There is fascinating history behind the products we take for granted, but it
is only of interest to some segments of the population.
Lloyd Rasmussen, Kensington, MD
http://lras.home.sprynet.com
-----Original Message-----
From: David Goldfield via Talk
Sent: Friday, October 21, 2016 9:36 PM
To: Window-Eyes Discussion List
Subject: Re: speech synthesizers
I just found this fascinating documentary on Youtube. It's called Klat's
Last Tapes: a History of Speech Synthesis. It's amazing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=097K1uMIPyQ
David Goldfield,
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
On 10/21/2016 9:24 PM, David Goldfield via Talk wrote:
Ah, you answered a question I just asked. So, Fred is a Klat variant, so
to speak?
David Goldfield,
Assistive Technology Specialist
Feel free to visit my Web site
WWW.DavidGoldfield.Info
On 10/19/2016 8:57 AM, Chris Grabowski via Talk wrote:
You can, sort of, its name is Fred.
-----Original Message-----
From: Talk
[mailto:talk-bounces+cgrabowski=aisquared....@lists.window-eyes.com] On
Behalf Of Kevin Barry via Talk
Sent: Wednesday, October 19, 2016 4:15 AM
To: CJ &AA MAY <chrisalis...@gmail.com>; Window-Eyes Discussion List
<talk@lists.window-eyes.com>
Subject: Re: speech synthesizers
As do I.
There are many newer ones which say they are human sounding, they are
not, and in my opinion they are not as clear as easy to understand as the
venerable DecTalk I wish I could get it on my iPhone.
On Wednesday, October 19, 2016, CJ &AA MAY via Talk <
talk@lists.window-eyes.com> wrote:
I originally used Dectalk Express and despite the wide choice of much
more human voices, I still prefer to use Dectalk Access 32.
Alison
_______________________________________________
Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the
author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared.
For membership options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/
options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/krbarry%40gmail.com.
For subscription options, visit http://lists.window-eyes.com/
listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com List archives can be found at
http://lists.window-eyes.com/ private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
--
Sent from Kevin's iPhone.
_______________________________________________
Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the
author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared.
For membership options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/cgrabowski%40aisquared.com.
For subscription options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
List archives can be found at
http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
_______________________________________________
Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the
author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared.
For membership options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/david.goldfield%40outlook.com.
For subscription options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
List archives can be found at
http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
_______________________________________________
Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the
author and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared.
For membership options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/david.goldfield%40outlook.com.
For subscription options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
List archives can be found at
http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
_______________________________________________
Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared.
For membership options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/lras%40sprynet.com.
For subscription options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
List archives can be found at
http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
_______________________________________________
Any views or opinions presented in this email are solely those of the author
and do not necessarily represent those of Ai Squared.
For membership options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/options.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com/archive%40mail-archive.com.
For subscription options, visit
http://lists.window-eyes.com/listinfo.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
List archives can be found at
http://lists.window-eyes.com/private.cgi/talk-window-eyes.com
