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Quick question for Tracy Allen..reference "EMIC" — Parallax Forums

Quick question for Tracy Allen..reference "EMIC"

denodeno Posts: 242
edited 2007-06-15 20:19 in BASIC Stamp
I have done alot of "stamping" using the "emic" device over the years and have had great success with "her...female voice".

There is one little annoying thing however, and that is the 'hiss' one hears in the background while she is speaking.·· I am sure that this hiss is comming from the EMIC as there is probably alot of switching going on inside the device. I was wondering if you, or prehaps someone else has designed and build some sort of audio filter on the output that might filter out this hiss.

Thank you

deno

Comments

  • NewzedNewzed Posts: 2,503
    edited 2007-06-13 12:20
    Deno, I had the same problem.· It has been a long time since I fixed it, but as I recall, it is the timing.· I think changing the speed and volume parameters was what did it.· If I have time today, I will see if I can get the hiss back, then I'll know what I did to get rid of it.· In the meantime, play around with these two parameters and see if you can reduce it.

    Sid

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.

    That is why they call it the present.

    Don't have VGA?
    Newzed@aol.com
    ·
  • SN96SN96 Posts: 318
    edited 2007-06-13 13:18
    Have you guys tried using the speakjet? It is a lot harder to develop words or phrases since it is not text to speech, but I like the synthetic robot sound it produces. I made it say all kinds stuff and there are sound effects built in with the ability to program your own sounds.

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    Mike



    ·
  • Tim-MTim-M Posts: 522
    edited 2007-06-13 14:25
    Mike,

    I have used the V-Stamp from RC Systems·(www.rcsys.com) and like that product line·very much.· It's all text-to-speech, so both the hardware and software sides are easy to work with.· The voices are very flexible and·easy to customize.· Off the 'Downloads' tab, choose 'Voice Samples' to take a listen and see what you think.

    Tim
  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,666
    edited 2007-06-13 16:26
    Deno,

    I know what you mean about the hiss. The Winbond chip (heart of the EMIC) does not do too well on the sibilants; it is hard to distinguish e.g., "sixteen" from "sixty", because the "n" gets lost in the hiss. It is an annoyance in a voice reporting weather station we have (1-415-381-9463). I haven't come up with a good solution to it. I'll curious to hear what Sid did to improve it. I know the speed and pitch and volume settings do make a big difference, and sometimes you can improve individual words with a phonetic spelling.

    That chipset from RC Systems looks pretty interesting, but I hear quite a bit of hiss there too. I guess it is a byproduct of the synthesis.

    Maybe an audio compressor could help, a PGA to squelch the gain when the audio is below threshold.

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    Tracy Allen
    www.emesystems.com
  • Tim-MTim-M Posts: 522
    edited 2007-06-13 19:53
    The RC Systems products do produce a fair amount of hiss while speaking, but the speech quality is very good and versatile as well. I'd like to see what the pro's like you Tracy, could do to filter the output a bit. The software is free and very simple to use too. The chipset is very smart with automatic pronunciation of abreviations and the user can even define their own custom dictionary. Voices can be extremely customized as you would like to too. I just like the product.

    Tim
  • NewzedNewzed Posts: 2,503
    edited 2007-06-13 20:13
    Tracy, I have been playing with my Emic all day and I can not hear a hiss.· I even wrote:

    serout tx, T2400, [noparse][[/noparse]say, "Certain, sounds, have, a, hiss,", EOM]

    and it came out quite normal.· My setting are vol = 5, spd = 2,
    pitch = 0.· Words like fourteen and sixteen are quite clear.

    Sid

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.

    That is why they call it the present.

    Don't have VGA?
    Newzed@aol.com
    ·
  • NewzedNewzed Posts: 2,503
    edited 2007-06-13 21:57
    Forgot to tell you, Tracy.· I modified my program so she only says the time every five minutes.· Makes it just a bit quieter around here.smile.gif

    Sid

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.

    That is why they call it the present.

    Don't have VGA?
    Newzed@aol.com
    ·
  • denodeno Posts: 242
    edited 2007-06-14 22:15
    Thank you for all the responses...I will play around with the pitch, volume, and speed.· I am having a devil of a time getting the EMIC to say the word..."of"!

    Will keep at it...thanks...deno
  • NewzedNewzed Posts: 2,503
    edited 2007-06-14 22:40
    Deno, your might try "av" or "awv" - sometimes the phonetics work better than the correct words.· Also, putting a comma after a word introduces a slight pause.

    Sid

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.

    That is why they call it the present.

    Don't have VGA?
    Newzed@aol.com
    ·
  • Bruce BatesBruce Bates Posts: 3,045
    edited 2007-06-15 06:45
    deno -

    As Sid suggested, if it will accept phonemes, another one to try is "UUV".

    Regards,

    Bruce Bates

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  • Tracy AllenTracy Allen Posts: 6,666
    edited 2007-06-15 16:49
    Here is how I had to spell the word for Mount Tamalpais, ^P"t@m@lp1YIs". You really have to experiment. Sometimes you can do it by fiddling with the spelling. Sometimes the special phonetic alphabet will help. The phonetic spelling of "of" would probably be ^PAv where ^P is ascii 16 ($10) and prefaces spellings with the EMIC's phonetic alphabet. In the above spelling of Tamalpais, the 1Y indicates that the Y phoneme (as in "buy") is accented.

    Another example, to say "thank you", I found it much more pleasing to enter it as "thankyou".

    Sid, I have no problem understanding it, myself, when played through a good speaker. (but I wonder, how can you tolerate it every 5 minutes!!?) In the application behind the phone number for a hang gliding association, it is going through a DAA and the phone lines, and that adds to the confusion, and the robotic voice and the weak "n"'s are off putting to the occasional listener. When I hear the message that the windspeed was 13 miles per hour, I have to catch myself thinking, "did she say '30', or '13'?", Chris Savage was kind enough to hook us up with an ISD set that we intend to try out, to string together messages spoken in the natural voice of one of the association members, but that is still on a back burner.

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    Tracy Allen
    www.emesystems.com
  • NewzedNewzed Posts: 2,503
    edited 2007-06-15 20:19
    Tracy, Emic doesn't run all the time.· To start the program, I just press any key.· To stop the program I press "Q".· It only runs when I am working on something and I need to be aware of the time, like a doctor's appointment, or I have to go pick up a Subway for supper, something like that.· I agree - it would drive me cuckoo to listen to her all day.· But it is a good thing to have - especially all the reminders I have stored in Bank 1 and which I can play by pressing 2.

    Sid

    ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
    Yesterday is history, tomorrow is a mystery, and today is a gift.

    That is why they call it the present.

    Don't have VGA?
    Newzed@aol.com
    ·
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