Resolved by CochranRobotics!
Hey guys.
I have asked this question in another thread, but I decided to create a new "assistance required" thread as my issue relates to Windows 8, where as the other thread was really related to Windows 7, plus I'm still having problems. I really hope someone can help with this.
The issue
I'm in the middle of a transition from moving from a Win 7 to Win 8 laptop, and I'm having a real pain in the butt issue using speech synthesis voices with the new Windows 8 machine and new ARC install.
As Richard may remember, I mentioned in the other thread that I copied the .exe file for a Cepstral voice from my Win 7 machine, reinstalled it on to the Win 8 laptop, and added the activation key. The voice worked on Narrator and other 3rd party apps such as screen readers, but it never worked on ARC so I thought that was the problem. I have since reset the laptop back to the "Out of the box" state, and started again.
My new Windows 8 Toshiba Satellite laptop comes with three pre-installed voices, but only one of them works with ARC. I have installed a fresh version of a trial Cepstral voice and a 30 day trial of an Ivona voice, and neither one works with ARC either.
I have tried each and every variation of the "Speech synthesis" settings for each voice and they have made no difference whatsoever, and keeps using the one Windows voice. The only thing that does change is the "Rate".
Have any of you guy's faced this issue with Windows 8, and/or does anyone know what can be done so I can use the voices I want to use? I really want to get this working and I don't see why I'm having these problems, as using Cepstral with ARC on Windows 7 was no problem at all. Please help. confused
Many thanks.
Steve.
Assuming that DJ doesn't see this, find a bug, and fix it before the weekend, you could try contacting Cereproc (which works for Richard) to see if they have a trial license available.
No mention of it on their web site, but I saw from a google search some old references to getting a trial coupon from Cereproc. If any of their voices sound like they would work for you, you could email them to see if they still do that so you could try before buying. (William didn't sound too different from Lawrence to me. Not a great match to your sound files, but not as jarring as changing genders).
I don't know if they have the "robot" effect on their voices. None of the Microsoft voices have it, at least on my machines.
Alan
It's worth a go a guess. I'll try anything at this point. Thanks Alan.
I just fired off an email to Cereproc to see if they will offer a trial period licence. Fingers crossed X X.
I am tempted to bite the bullet and just buy a license, figuring that if it doesn't work, DJ will eventually fix it and it will. I don't want my K9 to sound exactly like your's anyway because that would just be weird, but I do like the Lawrence voice with the robot effect. If Cereproc also does robot effect I would be happy with the William voice, but without it, it sounds TOO human. Their website is woefully thin on details unfortunately.
The only thing that is holding me back is that success on a North America Windows install doesn't necessarily translate to success on a UK install, so I might buy it, have it work, and then you might follow suit and not have it work (main concern being that we have different results just using Microsoft voices due to our regional settings). I can't handle the responsibility
Alan
Don't worry Alan. You are hearby exempt from all responsibility
. Joking aside, I agree that the Cereproc website doesn't give much away in regards to details and features. I'm still hoping the guys at HQ will chime in with some advice.
I believe Rich has a Cereproc voice as well... @Rich, I assume you are using it (and it is working) in ARC?
The voice you hear in my Inmoov video is Cereproc William...
@Richard R,
does it support voice effects like "Old robot" in the Windows settings?
Alan
@Alan, where do I set that? In text to speech I can choose the default window's voice but there is no other settings... Settings button is greyed out for some reason (for all the voices)...