Espeakup and alsa errors

[Zachary Kline]

Hi all,
I'm coming back to Linux after a while away. I've decided to use ArchLinux for simplicity.
I've noticed that Espeakup and Alsa seem quite fragile on my new machine.
This is using the default Espeak and Espeakup packages for ArchLinux.
Routinely, I start an app which inadvertantly uses sound, and it locks up the system so badly that I need to re-use my TalkingArch CD to get it back.
A lot of these apps seem to use LibSDL or PulseAudio for sound, and I recall having trouble with the latter at least before.
But I feel like Espeak is at the root of the problem.
It doesn't seem to play well with other Alsa applications.

I wonder if there are any other alternatives nowadays?
I remember years back using Speechd-up, but that no longer seems to be maintained.
Any suggestions on how to troubleshoot sound issues on Arch 64-bit would be appreciated.

Thanks much,
Zack.