njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) (05/08/91)
In a previous article, njg2@po.CWRU.Edu (J. Norell Guttman) says: > >In a previous article, walrus@wam.umd.edu (Udo K Schuermann) says: > >>I'm somewhat skeptical of the usefulness and accuracy of current voice >>recognition technology. I've heard of VoRecOne for the Amiga, but >>before I rush out to buy one, I'd like to find out more about it. Is >>VoRecOne more than a toy? >> >>If you have a VoRecOne, I'd be VERY interested in talking with you. >> >>Responses via email, if possible. >> >>Questions follow; press 'n' to skip rest of article... >> >>1. Who makes VoRecOne? Is it still supported? What is the going >> price? Where can I get one from? > >Impulse makes VoRecOne... I think it is still supported even though >their big seller right now is Imagined. I do not know what is the >price right now but I picked mine up from Dr. Oxide himself for $130 >at the AmigaExpo 1 year ago in New York City. Try Go-Amiga or >Compu-Save (I forget names so easily). > >> >>2. How difficult is 'training' the software? How flexible? Once >> trained for my voice, how difficult is it to train it to another >> voice? Could multiple configurations be maintained and activated >> to suit the moment > >This is where VoRecOnes incredible ability and advantages lie. There >are comparably price voice recognition for the IBM but it is very very >limited. VoRecOne is not limited in practically anyway!!!!! {I do not >know English very well}. You can program mouse events, menus, gadgets >{Dpaint} etc. It is very much like making a macro .... in fact consider >it as a event triggered macro. For example whenever you say "dpaint" it >will load up dpaint and select the airbrush and have the load file >requester. It is compatible with practically every program that is 1.3 >compatible. It is 100% multi-tasking so whatever window you are working >in it activates so you can draw by saying "right 30" and it draws a straight >line and then you can say "sonix - play" and it will switch to the >Sonix screen and play the song. Programming involves knowing basic >CLI... you have to say the word 2 to 3 times and it stores it (typically >0.3 K meaning you can have thousands of words it will recognize depending >on whether you have a hard drive or not). Not only that but if you lets >say you want to go into a word processor you can have it load another >library of words it will recognize therefore if I say "play" in WorkBench >it will play Sonix but if I say "ProWrite - I can play with her" it will >load up Prowrite and type "I can play with her". The VoRecOne program is >highly user-friend {blows away Macs if that what you want to hear}. You >simply type in lets say "Music" and then say "Music" 2x and then type >in the next column "sonix" or any cli event. You can program the mouse >to move, but I already went over this... if you want certain things >only to be specific to one program and not all you just indent and to >a procedure you indent more so lets say I say "sonix" it enters my >"sub-program" which is just a series of mouses presses I "recorded" and >then I say "Write" and it will enter another sub-program and then I say >"Quarter Note" and it will enter another subProgram. I can copy these >instructions quite easily and save them. If my brother wants to use >it all he does is say the words and then save the voice recognition file(s) >under a different name. Therefore my entire family can have their own >files which work only when they use it. It should take around 2 minutes >for 50 words but once they do that they will never have to say those >50 words again (unless your brother starts deleting their files). > >> >>3. How accurate is VoRecOne? How does VoRecOne handle errors? Does >> the software provide some sort of error handling? Are there any >> specific weaknesses that limit its usefulness? > > This seems to be a problem. Unfortunately I am not >quite qualified to judge it for accuracy since I have a speech impediment >and so does my brother (we both slur our words and mispronounce). >VoRecOne however does not fail when it comes to accents or even >languages ... my Japanese friends when I was in high school (without >any previous Amiga experience) taught the Amiga to be a translator >by them saying "Oyasuminasei" the told the amiga with the Say command >{I taught them that} "Good Evening" and they were having a whole >bunch of fun. It can do any language all someone has to do is make a >template which these kids made and have some Israeli say >for instance "Shalom", "Slecha", "Me zeh", and the Amiga would translate. >However there was a trade-off between accuracy and size of the samples. >When you buy VoRecOne you will be very unimpressed with the garage type >of operation it appears to have been produced with. The engineers >essentially produced a cheap sampler which compares the sample with >preproduced patterns. The samples are only .3K on the average for a >1 to 2 syllable word but that means that the samples were taken at >a very low rate. In other words if there are two samples that are >alike such as "red" and "rod" then it might select the one you did not >intend. Another thing because something to do with the frequency of >deep voices (its low sampling rate or something has difficulty) it >will not really work that much. It is best if you are a girl or >prepubescent boy. Also you can not change your voice all the time >unless you want to make different voice files so you have the mourning >voice which is all horse and the evening voice which sounds quite different. >It can even vary after you eat. It can work really well if you >know how to control you voice (modulate) and if it is rather high >pitch. > >> >>4. How quick is VoRecOne? Does it take forever to use; would using >> mouse and keyboard be faster? Does an accellerated Amiga work >> better, or is the processing done outside the Amiga? > > It is quite fast but that depends on how many words it has to >select from and compare to. It works pretty well on my unaccelearated >Amiga 500 with 1 meg. The box as I said before is just a sampler and >all the magic is in the Amiga. I guess it would work better in a A3000 >but I do not know. With regard to the keyboard and mouse control it >depends... can you talk fast and enancaite clearly. It depends wether >you can type like me 60 wpm or finger type. It depends whether you >like to like in bed and call up your favorite songs without lifting >a finger. If you type scietific documents {that would be a bit difficult >I guess) or if your words are less than 5 syllables. It is those >a wonderfull tool. Remember in StarTrek the Movie II when Scotty goes >to the Mac and starts talking to the mouse until realizing that it >does not have voice recognition. Well your Amiga has it NOW... the >possibilities are endless. > >>5. Will the software run on an accellerated Amiga? How about a 3000 >> with KickStart 2.0? What system resources are required? How much >> CPU time does the software eat? > > I do not know... > >>6. Is there a programmer's interface so that I could get close to the >> hardware if I so choose? How does VoRecOne interface with the >> Amiga? > > Contact impulse... > >> >>7. Any other comments you'd like to offer? > > I would recommend if you speak clearly more as a gadget unless >you have somewhat of a high voice and willing to put the initial effort >it takes. It will surely sell Amigas left and right! Of course first >go to some dealer or Expo before buying it to determine if your voice is >up to par or VoRecOne is up to par with you. > >DISCLAIMER: I have never worked with Impulse. My only contact with >them was through the purchase of VoRecOne. I will not be held >responcible in any way for the above information. Caveat Emptor! >I do not know by the way how to write proper disclaimers as you >have noticed! > > >>Thank you in advance for any information you have to offer! >> >> ._. Udo Schuermann "Does he talk? DOES HE TALK?" -- "Of course I talk. >> ( ) walrus@wam.umd.edu I'm the Minister for Internal Affairs." -- M.Python >> >-- >==============|njg2@po.cwru.edu|J.Norell Guttman|ClassCWRU'94|================= >Ugh....{RunDMC) "It can only be expressed in silence"- Norell Guttman // >{LLCoolJ} My .sig file has been crushed by a 1600 lbs. Case chic!!! \\ // >{Ghetto Boys} It will soon be fixed!{Salt'N'Pepper,HeavyD} Only Amiga \X/ > -- ==============|njg2@po.cwru.edu|J.Norell Guttman|ClassCWRU'94|================= Ugh....{RunDMC) "It can only be expressed in silence"- Norell Guttman // {LLCoolJ} My .sig file has been crushed by a 1600 lbs. Case chic!!! \\ // {Ghetto Boys} It will soon be fixed!{Salt'N'Pepper,HeavyD} Only Amiga \X/