Mary.Otten@p0.f1055.n261.z1.fidonet.org (Mary Otten) (04/25/91)
Index Number: 15201
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
In a message to JIm F you said you thought deck talk would be good to
use with arkenstone at demos. I wholeheartedly agree with you. Trouble
is, that when vendors of products show them at demos to sighrted buyers
of blind people not used to computer speech, the people often don't gove
those products a fair chance. I know the agency I work for blew a whole
bunch of money on decktalks because, at the time, we, sighted and blind,
were so impressed with the speech. Only later did we realize that they
were clunky, wouldn't shut up and wouldn't even work with the best
speech program available at the time. Too litle too late. It's easy to
be sucked in by the superior quality of the deck speech, soanyting the
vendors of the products that work with others besides deck but also with
deck can do to make their products more immediately appealing is a good
idea. Of course, there are dealers who don't sell deck, so I guess
they're out of luck.
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!261!1055.0!Mary.Otten
Internet: Mary.Otten@p0.f1055.n261.z1.fidonet.orgWilliam.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson) (04/25/91)
Index Number: 15203
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
MO> were so impressed with the speech. Only later did we realize
MO> that they were clunky, wouldn't shut up and wouldn't even work
MO> with the best speech program available at the time.
Mary,
Excuse me? What, pray tell, was this "best speech program of the
time" that didn't support DecTalk? About the only speech program I know
of that doesn't support the Dectalk is Artic, and they don't support
anything but Artic! Actually, I heard that Artic had a version for the
DecTalk, and although I never saw it, that does make sense that they
would support it if only one other synthesizer.
By the way, although the Dec is sluggish compared to an internal
board like the Symphonix, you really do have to use one with Flipper or
Vocal-Eyes to see it at its best. In particular, both those programs
make the shut up feature quite acceptable, at least as far as I am
concerned.
Speaking of Dectalk, I got a call today from a gentleman named Don
Swartz in California who is looking for a Dec to go with his Arkenstone,
and he wants it now! He has been in contact with the people at that
Boston hospital who is supposedly handling the internal Dectalk, but
apparantly they are putting him off beyond his ability to wait.
Phil or Les, you out there? Where did you guys get your portable
Dectalks, and was there much of a wait?
In order to save Don as much time as possible with exchange of any
information he may be able to use, he asked me to post his home phone
number here, so it is 415-538-0671, so if you can help him out, I'm sure
a call to him there would be greatly appreciated.
Willie
... BlinkTalk, Dr. Deb and Silver in Pittsburgh!
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Internet: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgWilliam.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson) (05/03/91)
Index Number: 15282
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
CH> Oh do I remember that one! Enable reader and DecTalk, one of
CH> the worst combinations I've ever layed hands on.
Au Contraire mon frere,
Despite all the shortcomings of Enable Reader and Dectalk, I still
use the combination when making demo tapes of my use of a talking
computer for school children, as someone else suggested to Steve.
Seriously, nothing else I feed the Dec with produces quite the
effect of Enable Reader, accenting the speech just the right way based
upon the punctuation and with what sounds like an extremely
charicaturized voice! It usually catches their attention like a cartoon
creature, and the way I figure it, although this doesn't really give an
accurate picture of what I do with a computer, it shows them the basics
as to how we can use alternative means to do the same kinds of things
they do on their Apple II's there in the classroom.
Enable Reader really does sound pretty neat when feeding a Dec, but
yes, I am very glad that I don't have to use it all the time!
Willie
... BlinkTalk - Blind bats in the belfry!
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Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89!William.Wilson
Internet: William.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.orgWilliam.Wilson@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (William Wilson) (05/03/91)
Index Number: 15307
[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]
GP> I thought you used Vert for that and not Enable.
Gary,
Assuming you are referring to my tape demos for school children and
the like, I think I actually posted earlier that I used VOS for these
things.
Actually, I used to rotate between Enable Reader and VOS for these
things in the past, but after extensive research and painstaking effort,
and I do mean painstaking, I have determined that Enable Reader produces
a tad more expressive speech with the Dec than VOS, and both are
significantly more expressive than anything else.
Sort of ironic, isn't it, that these two programs are the ones that
I use to get a laugh out of my Dec's audience!
Willie
... BlinkTalk, Dr. Deb and Silver in Pittsburgh!
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