speechd modules

[Hynek Hanke]

On Sat, May 15, 2004 at 11:05:40PM +1000, Tim Cross wrote:
> I thought I might look at
> doing some modules for the software dectalk and possibly Cepstral's
> TTS engine. However, I thought before I begin to look at this, I'd see
> if anyone else was working on anything with these software synths as
> I'd prefer to work with someone rather than reinvent what they have
> already done. 

Hi Tim,

thank you for your message and please forgive my late response. There
currently *is* some very simple output module for software Dectalk.
It works using the generic output module (the configuration file is
named dtk-generic.conf and can be found in
etc/speech-dispatcher/modules/. So, if you have Dectalk installed,
loading the synthesizer dtk-generic should make it speak. However, the
generic output module is a very simple interface (it lacks support for
punctuation modes, etc.). So, if you like to help with this, you might
investigate if there isn't some better way of communication than it's
simple line client. The current config file dtk-generic.conf was written
by Jacob Schmude <address@hidden>, a Speakup developer.

As for Cepstral, somebody on the Speakup mailing list wanted to create
a new config file for the generic output module, but I didn't hear
anything from him for a longer time now so I assume nobody is working
on it. Your work on the Cepstral module might have more impact on the
end users than improving the Dectalk software synthesis module.

> I realise speechd is pro open source and neither of these synths are
> open source. However, I also feel we need some modules with high
> quality speech and there is some validity in supporting commercial
> efforts with TTS, especially if the retail price is reasonable. 

I think we are not only pro Open Source, but also pro Free Software ;)
If you can help with Festival (which is Free Software), this would be
highly appreciated. On the other side, we understand that e.g. the
Cepstral voices might make some users whose language is not supported
yet in Festival able to use the GNU/Linux system at all. So in the
area of software synthesis, we decided we have to temporarily suppport
even non-free software although we don't like it very much.

I'm happy to help you with anything that was proposed here.

With Regards,
Hynek