Re: [orca-list] IBMTTS and slackware

[Michael Whapples <mwhapples aim com>]

On Mon, 2008-06-02 at 09:17 +1000, Luke Yelavich wrote:
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> On Mon, Jun 02, 2008 at 05:36:07AM EST, Michael Whapples wrote:
> > Alternatively I am wondering whether it would be best save the money and
> > stick with espeak as it is good and works, where as ibmtts sounds like I
> > may hit all sorts of compatibility issues and potentially have no
> > support from the seller.
>
> Unfortunately compatibility issues will only be more and more common with ibmtts/ttsynth as Linux distro 
> development continues, as the legacy library needed is from gcc 2.95, which is all but history. The 
> ibmtts/ttsynth code also contains various crash bugs, including bugs where it can be crashed by simple 
> words, which were fixed on other platforms years ago.
I could imagine this to be so, but as voxin provides the library is it
so critical (providing they can keep providing it). If the words are
only those listed in known problems with voxin at the voxin website, I
doubt I will be meeting those much (if ever).
> I'd advise you to save your money, and maybe even check out Cepstral Swift or DECtalk, as these are both 
> supported by gnome-speech, and are much easier to get set up. As an added bonus, there is a 64-bit version 
> of cepstral available as well. Otherwise, if you can live with espeak, I suggest you stick with it. 
> Development is always ongoing, and the synthesizer is always improving.
I never liked dectalk, its not even a consideration. Cepstral, I don't
know, the voices sound OK, but I imagine that they may not be too good
at high speeds and may possibly have lag. How much is this so? Do
cepstral still have a demo copy you can download?

I am tempted to go for voxin as it is so much cheaper than TTSynth is,
and looks like things may be more helpful there, I would prefer viavoice
out of the commercial synths.

Regarding espeak, its good, and certainly very acceptable, its just I
feel viavoice is slightly better (its difficult for me to say exactly
what it is I prefer about viavoice, may be its just the sound of it, and
possibly with some tweaking espeak's voice might be possible to get as
good in my oppinion).
> Luke
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