The hideous Dectalk 5.0

[Luke Yelavich]

On Sun, Aug 08, 2004 at 05:18:14AM EST, Adam Myrow wrote:
> Is it just me, or is the Dectalk software 5.0 the worst-sounding software 
> synthesizer ever produced?  I think between Fonix and Force Computing, 
> they've absolutely ruined the Dectalk.  This thing sounds like it's got 
> tape over its mouth, and 4.61 sounded like it was intoxicated.  Not only 
> that, the installer bombs out with an "unexpected end-of-file" error.  It 
> still seems to work, however.  I urge anybody who is considering this 
> product to think again!  I'd rather listen to Flite's monotonous voice. 
> At least it's clear.  It's not worth $50.  It isn't worth $0.01!  When I 
> pay for software, I expect quality.  I hope the USB Dectalk that everybody 
> talks about won't sound like this.

On the other hand, DECtalk 5 is much more responsive than 4.61 was, so on that
note, I would rather use 5. However I do agree that it certainly is not the
best sounding DECtalk I have heard.

Luke