SL's response to all inquiries re: Readspeaker voices

Linux for blind general discussion blinux-list at redhat.com
Sat Apr 17 23:28:17 UTC 2021 

Hi,
Thanks for your feedback.
This is a very good question as responsiveness is very important. I once encountered a TTS synth with decent voices but I simply couldn't use it because of the lagging response. It was some sort of TTS synth compatible with Windows years ago, but I know how important responsiveness is.
I will bring this up with Readspeaker, that for us screenreader users, responsiveness is just as important as quality of voice. We can't use a synth that lags, or a voice that has an irritatingly long pause between every sentence.
So I'll ask them to confirm that if we move forward with a project to make these voices  available for Linux, to be sure that it has real time responsiveness for fast typing and fast reading and can keep up with keyboard navigation without distorting the speech output.
I will inform them about Espeak-ng if they are not already familiar with that synth, and ask that the developers refer to  that as a model for comparing responsiveness when creating a Linux SDK if this project moves forward.
Thanks for your input, I appreciate it.
SL

"I'm interested, having heard the demos. They do sound more natural to me than espeak-NG really, but how responsive are they vs Espeak-NG?"

>
> On 17/04/2021 17:22, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>
>> I'm using voiceover in terminal now to write this.  I constructed a screen reader using the so called key commanders in combination with
>> existing voiceover key commands.
>>
>> One main reason I don't use linux is the absence of easily intelligible voices, of which the mac and voiceover have many built in; including
>> in terminal which is a flavor of unix..
>>
>> On Fri, 16 Apr 2021, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>
>>> Further, I believe?, that tdsr is recommended for the mac terminal, since
>>> voiceover cannot run effortlessly in terminal.
>>> Mac is a Unix based system, like Linux.
>>>
>>>
>>> On Fri, 16 Apr 2021, Linux for blind general discussion wrote:
>>>
>>>> If you made this synthesizer compatible with Speech Dispatcher then it
>>>> could be compatible with any screen reader that used Speech Dispatcher.  I
>>>> know that Orca and TDSR use Speech Dispatcher and others are probably able
>>>> to use it as well.
>>>>
>>>> On Fri, Apr 16, 2021, 5:56 PM Linux for blind general discussion <
>>>> blinux-list at redhat.com> wrote:
>>>>
>>>>> Hi all,
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for yourinterest and for all your good questions. It seems like
>>>>> maybe some ofyou missed the link to the demos that was posted in the first
>>>>> email.So for those who didn't see it, I am pasting it again here for you
>>>>> toclick and listen. I'm putting the link first so you don't miss it.But
>>>>> then, under that, I will endeavor to answer each of yourquestions as best I
>>>>> can. So please continue reading after clickingthe link:
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> https://www.readspeaker.com/text-to-speech-demo/
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> To Rudy:
>>>>>
>>>>> Hopefully the linkin this email will give you an idea of how the voices
>>>>> sound. When youclick it, it brings you to Readspeaker's official demo page
>>>>> where youcan hear short samples of the voices available.
>>>>>
>> If they are not
>>
>>>>> longenough for you to get a sense of the flow with longer text, you
>>>>> canemail me for some samples in mp3 format. I tried to include my
>>>>> emailbefore but it just blanks out the punctuation. So I will spell outthe
>>>>> punctuation, and you will know to just insert the actual symbolsinstead. My
>>>>> email is:
>>>>>
>>>>> software dotliberators at slmail dot me
>>>>>
>>>>> To A:
>>>>>
>>>>> If there is enoughinterest in this project to make it official, then the
>>>>> goal is tomake Readspeakr  voices available to any of the most widely
>>>>> usedDistros that have Orca or Speakup. Similar to how Voxin offers
>>>>> Nuancevoices that you can install on most Distros with screenreaders.
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes, Readspeakerdoes offer both Swedish and Finnish along with many other
>>>>> languages.
>>>>>
>>>>> Please click on thelink I included at the top of this email. On that page,
>>>>> you will seea combo box to select your language for a demo. Scroll up in
>>>>> thatcombo box and you will find Swedish and Finnish, then, once youselect
>>>>> the language, tab down, and press enter on "listen".
>>>>>
>>>>> To the person whosuggested further platforms of usage such as Mac
>>>>> terminals and Linuxon Windows, I appreciate the suggestion and this is
>>>>> certainlysomething to look into.
>>>>>
>>>>> Personally I onlyhave experience with stand alone Windows, and stand alone
>>>>> Linux.
>>>>>
>>>>> I really don't knowanything about the workings of Mac OS, but if a Mac
>>>>> terminal runs onLinux compatible software, then it might be possible to
>>>>> incorporateReadspeaker voices. However, with Mac, I'm assuming you're
>>>>> dealingwith Apple and whatever protocols they have as a company to
>>>>> approveof third party TTS providers. That is an avenue that I am really
>>>>> notfamiliar with, but if anyone hear is a Mac afficionado withexperience
>>>>> with Apple's protocols for approving third partyproviders, please feel free
>>>>> to share that knowledge with me.
>>>>>
>>>>>  Mac and Windowsalready have so many natural sounding speech options
>>>>> available thatI'm really focusing on trying to bring Readspeaker to Linux
>>>>> inparticular, to give Linux users more choices for natural soundingspeech.
>>>>> So if Apple already provides natural voices for the Macterminal, then it
>>>>> may be better to focus solely on stand alone Linuxsystems.
>>>>>
>>>>>  However, it seemsthat the Linux on Windows that you speak of, should be
>>>>> able toutilize these voices if its essentially still Linux software.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm still open toany ideas about Mac terminal and Linux on Windows, its
>>>>> just that Idon't have any experience with that, I don't know if there
>>>>> arealready existing natural voices for them seeing as it seems to be Linux
>>>>> software but running on top of Mac or Windows, but any input on that would
>>>>> be great.
>>>>>
>>>>>  To Chime:
>>>>>
>>>>> We might be able torequest Heather if we get enough interest to get this
>>>>> project up andgoing. Although the only place where I have seen Heather
>>>>> utilized isin their web-reader solutions which are a bit different from
>>>>> theirLinux compatible SDK. They do offer the option to have
>>>>> customizedvoices though, so we might be able to request Heather if we
>>>>> reallywant that. Personally, for US English I like the Julie voice which
>>>>> isavailable to demo on the Readspeaker site, as well as the Sophievoice
>>>>> which is what they used to record that mp3 file for Consoleusers that you
>>>>> listened to.
>>>>>
>>>>> Let me know if youever end up finding any samples of the Voxygen Hypra
>>>>> voices, I'd liketo know what they sound like in English and I havn't found
>>>>> any Hyprasamples either.
>>>>>
>>>>> To Debin Prater:
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks for theinput.
>>>>>
>>>>> I'm a beginnerso I don't have experience with the Emacspeak servers you
>>>>> speak of.But if we move forward with a project with Readspeaker, the
>>>>> goalwould be to offer the voices for the most widely used Distros
>>>>> thatinclude Orca or Speakup for people to install the voices and use on
>>>>> their localsystem.
>>>>>
>>>>> I really havn'tsmoothed out the finite details on that as to how exactly
>>>>> the interface making Readspeaker available for Linux screenreaders would
>>>>> work in terms of the technicalities. For example, how to make it available
>>>>> both for Debian based systems and for something like Arch, just throwing
>>>>> out examples. But Voxin has done it with Nuance, so it should be doable
>>>>> with Readspeaker and the guys at Readspeaker are apparently willing to
>>>>> consider developing an interface to make it possible, as long as there is
>>>>> enough interest in the community, and so long  as it would be commercially
>>>>> viable for them.
>>>>>
>>>>> My first step is to simply find out ifthere is any interest, which, it
>>>>> seems like there is a small handful here on this list that would be
>>>>> interested.
>>>>>
>>>>> Other Consolereaders might be considered as well, and would be mentioned
>>>>> in an officialsurvey before actually getting started on the project, to
>>>>> determinewhat is the most popular Console screenreader for Linux users
>>>>> andstart with that. Hopefully offering voices for Orca graphical, and
>>>>> atleast the most widely used Console reader. I know there's quite a
>>>>> fewConsole readers out there, but we'd have to really decide where
>>>>> thedevelopers at Readspeaker would focus their time and effort intomaking
>>>>> their Linux compatible interface to bring Readspeaker voicesto
>>>>> screenreaders.
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>>  I think startingwith Orca for Graphical, and then one Console Reader,
>>>>> would be good.
>>>>>
>>>>> Havn't even gotteninto Emacs yet, but if that uses a seperate screenreader
>>>>> and iswidely used, then that would be something to consider including
>>>>> ifpossible. I'm just trying to cover the basics of something forgraphical,
>>>>> and something for console. As far as I know, isn't Emacslike a text editor
>>>>> and used for programming etc? Do people also useit like a screenreader to
>>>>> access daily tasks on Linux instead of OrcaOr Espeakup?
>>>>>
>>>>> To Didier:
>>>>>
>>>>> Wow, didn't know youalso reached out to Readspeaker as an Ivona
>>>>> distributor back in theday. Good to know. Its too bad that something can't
>>>>> be done to bringIvona to Linux seeing as one of their original pages said
>>>>> that anIvona SDK was compatible. But when I asked them, I got the
>>>>> sameresponse that Ivona is linked with Amazon now so Ivona is not an option.
>>>>>
>>>>>  I'm not the only oneto inquire. You asked them years before me, and I
>>>>> wouldn't besurprised if we're not the only ones to ask for Ivona.
>>>>> Quitefrustrating that Ivona is not more open to collaborating
>>>>> foraccessibility solutions on multiple platforms. Even from a
>>>>> strictlybusiness standpoint, Ivona could make additional proffits from
>>>>> selling solutions to Linux users. Oh well.
>>>>>
>>>>> As for theReadspeaker brand voices, when I contacted them, they did say
>>>>> thatthey usually only sell to businesses, not individuals; but they
>>>>> saidthat in this case, they would be willing to consider developing
>>>>> aninterface to bring Readspeaker voices to Linux screenreaders providedthat
>>>>> there is enough interest in the community, and that it would becommercially
>>>>> viable. Thats why I'm trying to get a baseline ofinterest, to see if its
>>>>> worthwhile to try to move forward with this.
>>>>>
>>>>> To Francisco:
>>>>>
>>>>> Yes, I totally agreewith you. Thats why I started this endeavor, first
>>>>> trying to bringIvona to Linux but that didn't work out. Now trying to
>>>>> bringReadspeaker's own brand of voices  to Linux. I too want to see
>>>>> morenatural sounding voices become available to Linux. Allowing Linuxusers
>>>>> to have a similar range of natural TTS choices as Windowsusers, and in
>>>>> return, more people may decide to give Linux a try.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks to all forthe inquiries, hope I was able to answer at least some of
>>>>> yourquestions, feel free to keep asking questions or sharing ideas, andfor
>>>>> those of you who missed the link the first time around, please dotry
>>>>> listening to the demos available on Readspeaker's web page.
>>>>>
>>>>> Thanks,
>>>>>
>>>>> SL
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> Blinux-list mailing list
>>>>> Blinux-list at redhat.com
>>>>> https://listman.redhat.com/mailman/listinfo/blinux-list
>>>>>
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