question about DECtalk express voices and pitch

[Jayson Smith]

Hi.
I think I know the problem you're talking about.  It's probably a Speakup
bug, or a bug with whatever software you're using.  Each of the nine Dectalk
voices specifies a default pitch.  If a software program is not aware of the
different voices and which one is currently selected, it probably uses
standard pitch values all the time, which are appropriate for certain voices
and totally inappropriate for others.  If you know how to make use of this
information, the command to change the pitch is [:dv ap xx] where xx is the
frequency of the average pitch, in hz.  For example, Paul's default average
pitch is 120 hz so [:dv ap 120] would restore Paul to his default pitch.
There are many, many other parameters you can change with Dectalk.  For
example, try the command [:dv pr 250] [:dv sr 50] and see what that sounds
like.  I think that makes Dectalk sound much more lively!
If you are at all interested in all things Dectalk, particularly in making
Dectalk sing, you are invited to join the unofficial Dectalk mailing list.
To do so, send a message with the word subscribe in the subject line to
dectalk-request at freelists.org.  This is a very low-traffic list and you can
probably get most if not all of your Dectalk questions answered there.
Hope this helps!
Jayson.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Kenny Hitt" <kenny at hittsjunk.net>
To: <speakup at speech.braille.uwo.ca>
Sent: Wednesday, September 08, 2004 9:05 PM
Subject: question about DECtalk express voices and pitch


> Hi.  I just started using a DECtalk express.  I notice a strange problem
> when I use any voice except 0 (Paul).  If I change to another voice, it
> seems to work.  However, the pitch will change if I do anything like
> spelling a word with a capital letter.
> For example:
> change to voice 4 (Betty).  She sounds ok, but not exactly like my
> software DECtalk.  If I change the pitch by spelling a word with a
> capital letter or use insert 2 then inssert 3 to mess with the pitch the
> voice changes.  After that point, changing the pitch has little
> effect.  Voice 0 (Paul is the only voice that doesn't have this problem.
> In the case of Betty, the pitch becomes to low and you can't get the
> voice back unless you echo 4 to /proc/speakup/voice.
> Does anyone else have this problem, and does anyone know a solution?
>
> Thanks in advance.
>           Kenny
>
>
>
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