TomTom TTS on a Keg?

[Toran]

Hello Good People,

After much searching it seems there are a limited amount of quality voice engines out there.
I have a TomTom GPS unit and was wondering if those TTS voices could be used to create better sounding prompts for our much loved Kegs?

T.I.A!

[sbingner]

If you can make a wave file named the same way the keg does... you can replace the files that are on the DMS and it will use those files with any voice you used to create it

If you're really bored, you could even record them all yourself

[Toran]

Sorry but could you explain it like I was younger?
The TomTom voices sound so much better than anything I have heard on a desktop computer. Would be nice to give this a try.

Could you please explain the details about what the steps are?

T.I.A

[sbingner]

look in PHTSYS\tts and PHTDTA\tts - you'll see a bunch of wave files, you have to make something record them...

If it installs as a windows voice you can just have them updated using PMM by going into the options and selecting that voice... but I'm guessing it doesn't...  You may need to write some sort of script to do it for you

[Toran]

I am rusty on the script writing these days. Would be nice if someone with some script writing experience would be interested in this venture. TomTom TTS are by far the BEST voices! I would rate them far beyond ATT Natural voices.

Any takers?

[VorTechS]

PhatHack Media Manager will allow you to re-generate both the static prompts and album/artist/genre announcement files using TTS voices installed on your system.

I think PhatVoice has the same functionality too.

There are some issues with non-english systems [which I'll be looking into over the next few days] but it should work fine for anybody else.

So if you have the voices installed, then try it out.  If you don't - and are trying to get the relevant voices off the TomTom onto your PC, that's going to be a whole different ball game.

[Toran]

Ya we are indeed talking about playing a whole different ball game.
I'll start the research and will report the findings.

Thanks...

[VorTechS]

Okay, well I'm currently downloading the two TTS directories which alledgedly contain the Kate / Simon voices.

I'll have a look and see if it's possible to get the voices registered under SAPI somehow.

[VorTechS]

Okay, I've just been having a general look around and Loquendo (makers of the TomTom TTS voices) use their own TTS engine and the likelihood is that this is NOT a SAPI compliant engine.

This URL kind of gives the game away as it list Microsoft SAPI separate to some other engines.

http://testlab.inin.com/ProductsPage.aspx?ProductType=13#CIC%202.4

Anyway, I've located a Windows Version of a Loquendo TTS voice (Susan) and I'll have a look to see how easy it is to add support for it.
Again from what I've seen on their website, they use some form of XML tagging.  From my perspective this may not be an issue, but we'll see.

[Toran]

VorTechS your a go getter! You beat me to the draw.

I strongly believe this will improve our sweet kegs!

T.I.A

[VorTechS]

Heh, I have Susan installed and it IS a SAPI voice.  I have it working fine in PhatHack Media Manager, and it does sound good I have to say.  Better than the ScanSoft Jennifer voice I have.

I'll send you a PM with a URL to the installer + some patch files.

I'll leave it to you to work out how to get other voices in - once you're done let me know if you can get it working.

[Toran]

YOU ROCK!

[VorTechS]

At this point I go home.  I've gotten as far as having the TomTom Voice registered correctly under SAPI so it's available in the list to be selected from.  But I can't get it to announce anything.

I'll see if I can dig a bit more into this tomorrow - if you haven't already solved it yourself.

Attached is an export of the registry settings as far as I have gotten, modify and import them into the registry based on the TomTom voice you want to import.

[Toran]

Thanks VorTechS, I'll keep the porch light on while you rest and I'll continue where you left off.

T.I.A

[VorTechS]

I wonder if you got anywhere?  I'm not going to have time to look into this today.

However I have managed to get hold of the following Loquendo voices....

Loquendo TTS      -   Simon (Uk English)
            Elizabeth (Uk English)
            Dave (US English)
            Kenneth (US English)   

Loquendo TTS      -   Saskia (Dutch)
            Sophie, Bernard, Juliette (French)
            Stefan, Ulrik (German)
            Afroditi, Artemis (Greek)
            Paola, Roberto (Italian)
            Gabriela (Portugese - Brazil)
            Amalia (Portugese - Portugal)
            Diego, Francisca, Esperanza (Spanish - S/A) America)
            Jorge, Juan, Carmen (Spanish - Spain)
            Jordi, Montserrat (Catalan)
            Annika (Swedish)
            Linlin (Chinese)

[Toran]

Just acquired the same files as you along with a file called "Giga Pack TTS 2007 Vol01". My PC is a simple non crashing setup running Windows98. Looks like I may have to install a newer OS before going any farther.

Will report the progress A.S.A.P

[Toran]

Today I will update my OS from Win98.
Did you have any success installing the Kate voice?

[Toran]

I am back with my overall findings!
Super thanks to VorTechS for his support and technical insight. Since TomTom using voices from Loquendo TTS in their GPS units it made sense to consider a Loquendo TTS voice for the keg. After trying a few Loquendo TTS English voices here is how they measured up in my opinion on voice realism.

Susan
Dave
Simon

Have yet to test the newest UK English voice "Kate" but the demo sounds great!

I was able to return my old PC back to Win98, WinXP is so memory intensive.

So in my opinion on voice realism Loquendo TTS voices are by far more realistic than ATT Natural Voices.

Only the best sounds/setup for our kegs!

[devooolasvegas]

Any tips or walkthroughs for how a noob can get these voices working on their kegs? 

[VorTechS]

To use voices you have installed within PMM 3.92, do the following:

Go to 'Tools', 'Options'
In the left-pane on the window that pops up select 'Voice Prompts' under 'General'
In the right-pane, click on the 'Edit Voice Prompt Dictionary' button
On the next window that pops up, at the bottom of it, drop-down 'Voice' and select the voice you want to set as the default.
Click on the 'Set as Default Voice' button

Any playlists you edit/create from here on in should use the voice you selected.

If you want to, you can re-generate your voice prompts using PhatHack Media Manager, without touching the contents of the DMS other than the voice prompts themselves.

There's a new alpha version coming up on Friday, so look out for that if you want the easy route!