emic text to speech module

robban35 · 2012-01-11 07:22

hi!

saw that the emic text to speech module has been discontinued....is there a replacement for this or in the future?

loved this module

Robban

Duane Degn · 2012-01-11 08:02

Parallax is working on a replacement. There are some other options currently available.

There was a relatively recent thread about some of the options. I'll try to find the thread and post a link here.

Duane Degn · 2012-01-11 08:10

Here's a couple of threads to look at.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?118730-Discontinued-EMIC-Text-to-Speech-module-Hunting

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?130090-Emic-Text-to-Speech-SIP-Module-(Female)-...discontinued

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?136728-Questions-about-the-speakjet

I also think the Emic modules are really cool. I have a couple myself. They sure make it easy to get a robot (or other project) talking.

Humanoido · 2012-01-12 07:15

The best replacement is a Propeller chip. I used the Emic to speak English and Chinese on the BASIC Stamp Supercomputer project. I used the SPO256 to speak 5 languages on humanoid robots. Now I exclusively use Propeller chips to do the same with the Big Brain.. It has a much better machine accent and it can also sing. Check the Brain index to locate the singing files and video.

http://forums.parallax.com/showthread.php?124495-Fill-the-Big-Brain&p=977506&viewfull=1#post977506

New Big Brain Source

Dave Hein · 2012-01-12 08:52

Humanoido,

What do you do for speech synthesis? I looked at your lnk, but it wasn't obvious what you actually use. Do you use Phil's speech code that uses Chip's synthesizer? I played around with this several months ago, but I found it very hard to understand what it was saying. Phil did some great work on it, and I'm sure it can be improved, but it isn't at the quality of other speech chips.

Dave

Humanoido · 2012-01-14 15:24

Dave Hein wrote: »

Humanoido, What do you do for speech synthesis? I looked at your lnk, but it wasn't obvious what you actually use. Do you use Phil's speech code that uses Chip's synthesizer? I played around with this several months ago, but I found it very hard to understand what it was saying. Phil did some great work on it, and I'm sure it can be improved, but it isn't at the quality of other speech chips. Dave

Dave, I now use the Propeller chip almost exclusively for new projects with speech talking and singing. I'm not after human voice quality but rather want the uniqueness of a machine accent and sound, and the Propeller has exceptional high quality for this purpose.

The Propeller chip has Chip Gracey's sound object with Phil's extension and user programs as posted. I use these as the core and have written Brain virtual lips and Brain unique singing extensions found using the Index. The Brain also has a stereo amplifier and small high quality speakers added to its vocal tract routed via the Big Brain's Propeller Summit Board output. The power supply is a built in rechargeable battery pack.

Typically you work up the raw examples and then add some finessing to get the sound in line with the auditory goal. A log of these coding rules is helpful in doing numerous and various programs. The quality of sound, varied capabilities, and attractive pricing of the Propeller chip make it my number one choice for speech synthesis in various voices, singing, whispering, and for use as a pure sound synthesis and FX chip.

A recent Propeller Big Brain Project has a choir of singers, about 800 all singing at the same time.

http://humanoidolabs.blogspot.com/

Look at the 2011 entries for the blog. Another version has 400 singers. This work is based on Big Brain Arrays, requires at least 100 propeller chips, and several Chip Gracey programs found in the Forum. I hope this answers your question.

emic text to speech module

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