Hi All,
As you know, I've been recording and uploading dictation files as I need them. I spend a few hours doing as many as I can before life intervenes. Some days (after four attempts to record a passage at 60wpm), the computer text-to-speech program is very tempting. The current computer method works, but I'd like to automate it further.
The plan is for you to get your own copy of the speech engine, Cepstral. This solves all the licensing problems. It's $30 for personal use, or free if you don't mind "Please register me" messages.
Would you be comfortable downloading a program from us? You input text and a speed, and it calls Cepstral to create the sound files. This gives the most options for speed calibration.
It will probably be an old-fashioned text-only question-and-answer interface. It's faster to program and the resulting program file size is much smaller.
The other option is you upload a passage to our site. We create several text files, including a .bat file, and you download them to your own machine. You double-click on the .bat and it calls Cepstral to do the rest. All the files would be readable by any text editor or word processor, but only a programmer would be able to understand them. (Probably only a programmer over 40, since .bat files aren't popular these days.)
How important is exact speed? So far, it's trial-and-error, and voices vary by 20%. We have several options.
Labels: audiofiles, dictation, dictationpractice, general, howto