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.
I sent a little something too (poor kitty).
Alan
Thanks @Alan, seriously appreciated.... I will start another thread later this week after he gets his surgery... We're thinking it might be on Friday...
@Steve, I can make you a cardboard cut out of a Roli and mail it to you?... You can make robot sounds while you push it around...:D
I will keep everyone posted...
@Richard R
I sent you guys a few dollars. Tell Patches some folks down In Alabama are pulling for him to get well.
@Zap.... Thanks!... Just for that I am personally coming down to Alabama to take our Canadian cold air back...
UPDATE
Time to get back on point. I'm back home after my business trip, and what was waiting for me when I got home... my shiny brand new laptop.
So I got straight to it, done all the necessary updates, installed ARC, and got testing with the voice synthesis.
I started off with Microsoft voices and there was no change. ARC still used MS Hazel and not the other two voices. Same thing with Cepstral and Ivona as well. Then I moved on and installed my free trial version of CereProc with high hopes. They were soon dashed. It works fine on Windows Narrator but not with ARC
.
So I went back and opened up all three laptops I have, and spent the last 2 hours un-installing then re-installing all the voices I have and did some final testing. Again there was no change. I went one further step and went in to one of the laptops registry to try and change some of the MS voice settings, even to the point where I made a copy of MS Hazel then tried to delete it from the system to see what would happen, but it wouldn't allow me to.
In the following post, I have given all the information I came across with the hopes that other members who are facing the same issues will follow suit and supply their info for the DJ and the guys at EZ HQ to hopefully help them troubleshoot the issue. If you guys at the office would like any more info then please let me know.
Steve.
Below is a list of laptops with the latest ARC software version installed, using Microsoft and 3rd party SAPI voices I have tried. All the voices have been tried with both setting the voices as the default TTS system voice, and setting the Microsoft voices as default system voice. Hopefully this info will help the guys at the office with their troubleshooting.
HP 650 notebook. Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit, 6 Gig RAM, 320G HDD, Intel Pentium CPU B790 processor.
Microsoft Anna In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Working.
Cepstral Lawrence. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Working. With sound effects... Working.
Ivona Brian. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Working.
CereProc William. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Working.
Toshiba Satellite C50D-B-120 Windows 8.1, 64 bit, 4 Gig RAM, 500G HDD, AMD E1-6010 processor.
Microsoft Hazel In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Working.
Microsoft Heera In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Microsoft Zira In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Cepstral Lawrence. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Ivona Brian. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
CereProc William. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working.
Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Acer Aspire V3 572PG Windows 8.1, 64 bit, 8 Gig RAM, 500G HDD, Intel i5-4210U processor.
Microsoft Hazel In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Working.
Microsoft Heera In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Microsoft Zira In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Cepstral Lawrence. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working.
Every Speech synthesis setting variation tried.
Ivona Brian. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working. Every Speech synthesis setting variation tried.
CereProc William. In Windows Narrator... Working. In ARC... Not working.
Every speech synthesis setting variation tried.
That is so bizarre Steve... I have 3 Win 8 pcs (Asus, Acer and an HP) and one win8 Acer w3 tab and all of them have no issues switching between windows voices including my Ceraproc voice. All this within ARC....
@Richard.
I know. It's the craziest thing right? It's like MS Hazel is holding every other voice back within ARC. Did someone upset her or something confused.