tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (09/25/87)
I'm looking for a high-quality digital voice box that can be used with any System V Unix machine.. preferably, this device would interface to the computer through an RS-232 interface, but it's not necessary since I'll be buying a new Unix computer anyway. Price isn't that important; what is, is that the voice quality is "as good as a human's" and that I can program it to both speak and recognize incoming touch-tones. Any help you can give me with tracking down "what's available and where" would be most appreciated. Thanks, Lee Hounshell - ptsfa!pbhyf!tlh 2600 Camino Ramon, #4E700 415-823-2432 San Ramon, CA. 94583
jgh@killer.UUCP (Greg Hackney) (09/25/87)
In article <2138@pbhyf.UUCP>, tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) writes: >I'm looking for a high-quality digital voice box that can be >used with any System V Unix machine.. through an RS-232 interface. >Lee Hounshell - ptsfa!pbhyf!tlh 2600 Camino Ramon, #4E700 >415-823-2432 San Ramon, CA. 94583 You might look at Digital Equipment Corporations DecTalk Model DT-01 voice synthesizer. We have 3 of them that are used for calling in to get voice mail on System 5 Unix machines. There are several standard male and female voices, or you can design your own. The input is RS232 plain old ascii text, or you can input phonetically. DecTalk has an internal speaker, and an external speaker jack. It also has jacks to attach to a Touch-Tone phone line. It can answer the line, prompt for touch tone responses, etc. It can also originate a call and prompt for responses under computer control. The manual gives examples of C programs necessary to drive the interactive calls. Or, you can plug a dumb terminal into it and just type sentences for fun. Price...I think around $2,500. I wrote some C programs that interface the standard unix mail files so users can get their mail via the phone from home, but I have always toyed with the idea of hooking one to a home alarm system via a PC, you know, something like, "Greg! There is a car coming up the driveway". I can hardly wait for the voice recognition technology to be better developed. -- Greg Hackney Southwestern Bell Telephone Co. ihnp4!killer!jgh
wheels@mks.UUCP (09/26/87)
In article <2138@pbhyf.UUCP>, tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) writes: > I'm looking for a high-quality digital voice box > Price isn't that important; what is, is that the > voice quality is "as good as a human's" and that I can program it to both > speak and recognize incoming touch-tones. > > Lee Hounshell - ptsfa!pbhyf!tlh I think you would find DECTalk, from DIGITAL, to your liking. I've lost track of it, but it had what you want a couple of years ago, and I hear it's been improved since then. I'm glad you have a price-is-no-object attitude -- I think it was fairly expensive. -- ll // // ,'/~~\' Gerry Wheeler {decvax,ihnp4}!watmath!mks!wheels /ll/// //l' `\\\ Mortice Kern Systems Inc. (519) 884-2251 / l //_// ll\___/ 43 Bridgeport Rd. E., Waterloo, ON, Can. N2J 2J4 O_/
tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) (09/27/87)
In article <1639@killer.UUCP> jgh@killer.UUCP (Greg Hackney) writes: >In article <2138@pbhyf.UUCP>, tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) writes: > >I'm looking for a high-quality digital voice box that can be > >used with any System V Unix machine.. through an RS-232 interface. > >You might look at Digital Equipment Corporations DecTalk Model DT-01 >voice synthesizer. We have 3 of them that are used for calling in >to get voice mail on System 5 Unix machines. [...] Greg, thanks for the info about Dec-Talk, but I've had the opportunity to use one in the past, and although the voice quality is OK, it doesen't sound like a *person*.. just a "machine" that's speaking. For this application, I need a box that will sound *exactly* like a human voice.. my guess is that it will have to be digital. If you (or anyone else) have any other suggestions, I'd love to hear them. Lee Hounshell - ptsfa!pbhyf!tlh 2600 Camino Ramon, #4E700 415-823-2432 San Ramon, CA. 94583
sweet@percival.UUCP (Dan Sweet) (09/30/87)
In article <2147@pbhyf.UUCP> tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) writes: >In article <1639@killer.UUCP> jgh@killer.UUCP (Greg Hackney) writes: >>In article <2138@pbhyf.UUCP>, tlh@pbhyf.UUCP (Lee Hounshell) writes: >> >I'm looking for a high-quality digital voice box that can be >> >used with any System V Unix machine.. through an RS-232 interface. >> >>You might look at Digital Equipment Corporations DecTalk Model DT-01 >>voice synthesizer. We have 3 of them that are used for calling in >>to get voice mail on System 5 Unix machines. [...] > >Greg, ..edited.. > For this application, I need a box that will sound *exactly* like a > human voice.. > >Lee Hounshell - ptsfa!pbhyf!tlh 2600 Camino Ramon, #4E700 > 415-823-2432 San Ramon, CA. 94583 Lee, Give TI a call. A few years back I rember seeing a demo system they had at a trade show. It used an LPC speech system that they built. The thing basically 'played' back pre-recored and digitized speech. The phrases (could be anything, including custom stuff) were digitally recorded, processed to remove un-needed patterns, and then compressed. When played back, you could not tell it from the real thing (because it was!) OKI semiconductor also had a system that was similar, but I don't know if they still are in the speech game. Yet another source...National Semiconductor also was into speech systems, although all I ever saw from them was chips, and development systems. Good luck, spelling/grammar errors | line-eater -- Dan Sweet ...!{ucbvax|ihnp4|seismo}!tektronix!reed!percival!sweet "Remember, if a weirdo in a blue suit offers you some DOS, just say no." -- Bill