kcarroll (04/11/83)
A while ago, I asked people in this newsgroup with experience with a piece of software called the "Software Automatic Mouth", from Don't Ask Software (in Sunnyvale, I think) to give me their evaluation of it. I received about half-a-dozen responses; the concensus is that the program produces very high-quality speech (better than a votrax, according to two of the respondents), but that it has one large drawback. That is, in order to keep the DMA for the screen refreshes from interrupting the voice during speech, the display is turned off during speech. This eliminates a number of potential applications for the voice, such as game sound-effects, and speaking words as they appear on the screen. Too bad, but that's the way the computer is built... I'm quite pleased to receive all this reassuring mail, especially since I'd already sent away for the program, before sending my query to the net! Thanks for your responses, people. Kieran A. Carroll ...decvax!utzoo!kcarroll