15 Sep
2025
15 Sep
'25
2:16 a.m.
Thanks for the reply. No, I merely threw ESpeak out there as an example. Any Linux speech
synthesizer would work. The only one synthesizer I wouldn’t recommend is, as you
mentioned, the online ones. That would make it dependent on an internet connection and not
as self-contained as I would imagine. Sadly, I no longer own a hardware synthesizer of my
own. I did have a working one but gave it to a friend who was in need of one. I have been
searching EBay, without luck, for another. That is interesting about musicians. I never
knew that. Well hopefully someone who is versed in this type of software development may
want to take up this project.
Frank
On Sep 15, 2025, at 4:37 AM, Adrian Godwin via cctalk
<cctalk(a)classiccmp.org> wrote:
Do you think espeak is the most suitable, or just a convenient example ?
A friend's commercial product used a system from Lernout & Houspie but it's
also something the current AI craze does moderately well (most of the time,
anyway..), often using an online server.
There are several open source choices too, as well as espeak and those
fairly expensive commercial systems.
I have collected a couple of external synths - A Votrax and a later DECTalk
than the one in your link. I understand these are also in demand by
musicians for their characteristic sound. I don't know if that's another
market for your idea - I would have thought a DAW would provide a good
environment for a software synth but they seem to like the DECTalk.