[Xerte] Re: TTS Engines

[Kemp Johnathan]

Following on from my earlier postings on TTS attached is a zip file with a
few examples

These are
Opera speak - the TTS available using the Opera web browser
Paralink - web based application free to use with I think a 1000 character
limit
Festival - Open source software (I used the web based demo)

Off the three I think the best quality is the Paralink one, though the
Festival one is not too bad.

All were recorded directly from the browser using Audacity

Kind regards

Johnathan



On 3 May 2011 14:29, Adam Read <aread at marjon.ac.uk> wrote:

>  Yes, it’s easy to record what your system is outputting using something
> like Audacity set to stereo mix. It does depends on the capability of your
> hardware and whether or not the correct drivers are installed (I just had to
> download mine to test rather than using the pre-installed Windows 7
> drivers).
>
>
>
> Adam
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Julian Tenney
> *Sent:* 03 May 2011 14:03
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* [Xerte] TTS Engines
>
>
>
> Probably need to roll our own then. Its been a  while since I went down
> this road. IE can (obviously) quite easily output TTS, using the system’s
> hardware, right? Isn’t there some easy way to set the sound input to record
> from the sound output, then just use IE to generate the sounds? A bit quick
> and dirty, but I don’t see why not…?
>
>
>
> Then you can get hold of whatever voices you can find and install them into
> windows. There are some really good ones now.
>
>
>
> So, can you record to a file the system’s sound output, anyone?
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 03 May 2011 14:00
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* [Xerte] Re: Xerte 2: MVC approach to displayed text
>
>
>
> I have looked at TTS software quite recently, but with a view to finding a
> free solution.
>
>
>
> There are a number of offerings that provide some kind of free download,
> but in general the quality of the voices is poor. The software available is
> able to provide high quality TTS but only if you buy the better voices. This
> was why I was impressed with paralink.com's offering. It was free to use
> and delivered a good quality speech rendering, particularly the male voice.
>
>
>
> I would prefer something that I could install locally as it is unlikely to
> be significantly affected by a change in business model, but for the time
> being paralink's offering is the best free offering I have come across,
> particularly so once you realise that despite the web site not offering the
> option to download an audio file of the reading, you can still make your own
> recording directly to Audacity without the need for a microphone by
> tinkering with your audio mixer settings.
>
>
>
> I am afraid we have both wondered somewhat of the original topic of this
> posting :-)
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
> On 3 May 2011 13:27, Julian Tenney <Julian.Tenney at nottingham.ac.uk> wrote:
>
> Have you looked for some windows applications for generating TTS sound
> files from text? I haven’t for a while, but the more recent voices are
> really good. There was an application – I forget what it was called now –
> that allowed you to generate the mp3s directly on windows, using the SAPI
> stuff on your system, so you could install whatever voices you wanted. Must
> be something out there.
>
>
>
> *From:* xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk [mailto:
> xerte-bounces at lists.nottingham.ac.uk] *On Behalf Of *Kemp Johnathan
> *Sent:* 03 May 2011 13:02
> *To:* Xerte discussion list
> *Subject:* [Xerte] Xerte 2: MVC approach to displayed text
>
>
>
> Recently someone posted for help in locating where some text strings were
> contained in pages as they wanted to convert the page for use in a language
> other than English.
>
>
>
> Would it be a good idea to establish a standard by which all displayed text
> in a Xerte Page model was entered via the page's wizard?
>
> Currently pages like the quiz page have embedded in the code in the .rlm
> file statements like
>
> fb = 'The quiz is complete.
>
> tooltip="Next Question"
>
> fb += '<br><br>You scored '
>
>
>
> If all such text was replaced with data calls to an external xml source
> then these strings could be readily modified using an xwd defined form. This
> could open up Xerte more readily for use internationally.
>
>
>
> I have been doing some testing recently with Page Wizards and have found
> that I can add a language block to the xwd and xml files e.g.
>
>
>
> *xwd content*
>
>
>
> <wizard>
>
> <!--DIALOG
> INTERACTION------------------------------------------------------------------->
> <dialog hint="An interaction comprising a sequence of text-entry
> interactions forming a short dialog.">
>
> <text type="TextArea" height="100" label="Text"/>
> <attempts type="ComboBox" width="100" options="1,2,3,4" label="Attempts
> before hint"/>
>
> <narration type="media" label="Narration" optional="true"/>
>
> <newNodes>
> <dialogStep><![CDATA[<dialogStep name="question" question="Write your
> question here." answer="Enter Answer" hint="Enter a hint"/>]]></dialogStep>
> </newNodes>
>
> </dialog>
> <dialogLang>
> <tryAgain type="TextInput" label="Try Again Prompt"/>
> <continue type="TextInput" label="Continue Prompt"/>
> <showAnswer type="TextInput" label="Reveal Prompt"/>
> </dialogLang>
>
> <dialogStep menuItem="Question" icon="icComment" remove="true" max="12">
>
> <question type="TextArea" height="100" label="Question"/>
> <answer type="TextInput" label="Answer"/>
> <commentary type="TextArea" height="100" label="Commentary"/>
> <hint type="TextInput" label="Hint"/>
>
> </dialogStep>
>
> </wizard>
>
>
>
> *XML content*
>
>
>
> <learningObject>
> <dialogLang tryAgain="Try Again" continue="Press Enter to continue"
> showAnswer="The correct answer has been revealed" />
> <dialog linkID="" text="Enter text for the page here" attempts="2">
> <dialogStep name="question" question="Write your question here. 1"
> answer="Enter Answer 1" hint="Enter a hint 1" />
> <dialogStep name="question" question="Write your question here. 2"
> answer="Enter Answer 2" hint="Enter a hint 2" />
> </dialog>
> </learningObject>
>
>
>
> *Rlm examples*
>
>
>
> The model file can then access the language strings defined in the wizard
> by calls to the xml data
>
>
>
> pageIcon.templateData.learningObject[0].dialogLang[0].showAnswer
>
>
>
> (With forthcoming changes to the Page Wizards this will soon be reduced
> to   pageIcon.templateData.dialogLang[0].showAnswer  )
>
>
>
> I have tested this and it works.
>
>
>
> This approach has the distinct advantage of providing a separate page in
> the wizard form, for the language strings, thus avoiding having forms that
> are significantly longer than the window in which they are displayed. It
> also separates the display related text from the content related text.
>
>
>
> However it requires separate blocks outside of the <dialog></dialog> tags
> which may not prove compatible with pageTemplates.
>
>
>
> *Can anyone more aufait with pageTemplates or On-line toolkits see any
> problems with this approach in terms of it being transferred to
> pageTemplates /  On-line toolkits, or can you think of a better way that
> would be more compatible with the way the xml and xwd data is organised in
> the pageTemplates environment?*
>
>
>
> As a result of other recent development work I have carried out on the Page
> Wizards I believe a single .rlm file that could be used both within Page
> Wizards and  pageTemplates (and presumably therefore On-line toolkits) is
> now achievable. I would like therefore to consider the implementation of
> better support for language support in a context that considers both Page
> Wizards and pageTemplates based pages.
>
>
>
> Kind regards
>
>
>
> Johnathan
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
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> This message and any attachment are intended solely for the addressee and
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> error, please send it back to me, and immediately delete it.   Please do not
> use, copy or disclose the information contained in this message or in any
> attachment.  Any views or opinions expressed by the author of this email do
> not necessarily reflect the views of the University of Nottingham.
>
> This message has been checked for viruses but the contents of an attachment
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