Re: Dectalk 5 test results.

[Thomas Ward <tward1978 earthlink net>]

Hi

Al Puzzuoli wrote:
i'm not sure how much you could ascertain by
listening to the orca demo at csun,but I would be curious as to what your
thoughts are as to the speech quality of 4.64 vs that of 5?



There is certainly a difference in quality between 4.6.4 and 5.0. The 
4.6.4 version used at the csun conference sounded to me quite a bit like 
the classic Dectalk voice. With the 5.0 version I noticed the voice 
sounds like it has a head cold, kind of a stuffed nose sound, and also a 
bit of a foreign accent or something to it. I am sure you have heard IBM 
TTS, and the new Dectalk sounds like a cross between IBM TTS and 
Dectalk, and that is the best I can explain it. Personally, the new 
voice doesn't bother me that much, and I still like it although I would 
have rathered it stay the classic voice, but the new is ok by me.  I can 
certainly understand Dectalk purests wishing  for the classic Dectalk 
sound, but compared to FreeTTS, Festival, etc Dectalk 5 is still 
superior for day to day use and quality of speech in my opinion.