VDR and Bookshare is a great combination! I have Sally, and while she sounds quite smoothe and pleasant (which totally surprised me, considering my earlier complaints about most Ivona and Acapella voices) I absolutely hate how flat sounding she is. She always seems to use the same speaking method for every sentence, and it's this sort of up-and-down, up-and-down rhythm, beginning a sentence with the up, then going lower towards the end, and it's very repetitive and irritating to me. Maybe it wouldn't be such a big problem if she wasn't so flat sounding, which might be exacerbating the issue for me.
I initially really like James while listening to the sample text, and bought him pretty much on the spot, afterwards I found myself not liking him as much, so I stopped using him; then I came back to him one day, and really liked him. One problem I have with James, Ashley, and Bridget is that they all sort of sound a bit muffled when compared to Kate and Julie, which both sounds much clearer. It's like someone put a cloth or something lightly over the speakers mouth, and I don't hear that effect with Kate or Julie. I'm not a huge fan of Julie, but that's more because she tends to have some odd intonation as well, and tends to be a bit too expressive for my taste. While I like Emma and Rona, they both have that weird up-and-down within words and auto tune thing going on, which I find very distracting. Thanks, Ari > On Jul 8, 2016, at 12:35 PM, Wayne Merritt <[email protected]> wrote: > > I really haven't gotten into different voices, figuring that I can > adjust to most anything, and that different voices are very subjective > to each person listening and what they like or don't like. However, > with this discussion, I went back and browsed through all the > available voices; wow! I ended up getting James, and after my wife > heard him, she was very surprised that it was a TTS voice and not > someone speaking. She liked Sally the best. So now I've got some > choice when I want to read files or BookShare books. BTW, thanks to > the people that have pointed out that BookShare is very easy to browse > and download from, I never realized. I just might extend my BookShare > membership on that fact alone, grin. > > Wayne > >> On 7/8/16, [email protected] <[email protected]> wrote: >> My biggest problem with most Acapela and Ivona voices is that they kind of >> have this weird up-and-down internation in the middle of words. It's very >> sudden and jerky-sounding to me, and sort of sounds like the voice was put >> through auto tuning. All the NeoSpeech voices sound a lot smoother when they >> speak, at least in my oppinion. However, this is why we have choice, and >> it's great to see so many options in Voice Dream Reader. >> >> >> Thanks, >> Ari >> >>> On Jul 7, 2016, at 6:20 PM, Richard Turner <[email protected]> >>> wrote: >>> >>> >>> My personal favorite is Amy from Ivona which I usually have set at 375 or >>> 395, depending on what I'm reading. >>> Richard >>> >>> >>> (From a poster of a church cemetery) >>> When you are dead, you don't know that you are dead. It is difficult only >>> for the others. >>> >>> It's the same when you are stupid. >>> (Sent from my iPhone 5S) >>> >>>> On Jul 7, 2016, at 10:50 AM, [email protected] wrote: >>>> >>>> Besides Kate and James, I'm really starting to like Ashley from >>>> NeoSpeech. I have her set to read at 255 words per minute, just like Kate >>>> and James, both also from NeoSpeech, but I have her pitch set at 120. I >>>> also sometimes use Bridget from NeoSpeech on occasion, but I have her >>>> left at defaults, other than altering her words per minute, also set at >>>> 255. >>>> >>>> -- >>>> The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone >>>> list. >>>> >>>> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or >>>> if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the >>>> owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >>>> >>>> Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn >>>> - you can reach Cara at [email protected] >>>> >>>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>>> --- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "VIPhone" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >>> -- >>> The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone >>> list. >>> >>> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or >>> if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the >>> owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >>> >>> Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - >>> you can reach Cara at [email protected] >>> >>> The archives for this list can be searched at: >>> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >>> --- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "VIPhone" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. >> >> -- >> The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone >> list. >> >> If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if >> you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or >> moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. >> >> Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - >> you can reach Cara at [email protected] >> >> The archives for this list can be searched at: >> http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ >> --- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "VIPhone" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. > > > -- > Follow me on Twitter at: > www.twitter.com/wcmerritt > My website: > www.wayneism.com > My book list: > www.wayneism.com/books.php > > -- > The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. > > If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if > you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or > moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. > > Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - > you can reach Cara at [email protected] > > The archives for this list can be searched at: > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ > --- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "VIPhone" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout. -- The following information is important for all members of the V iPhone list. If you have any questions or concerns about the running of this list, or if you feel that a member's post is inappropriate, please contact the owners or moderators directly rather than posting on the list itself. Your V iPhone list moderator is Mark Taylor and your owner is Cara Quinn - you can reach Cara at [email protected] The archives for this list can be searched at: http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]/ --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" 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 https://groups.google.com/group/viphone. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
