#dectalk — Public Fediverse posts

(now with updated audio at a better pitch)

Woo! I got the DECtalk on ESP32 board working! Here's a long sample of its output (standard USA Paul voice, slow 200 wpm rate), reading from Chapter 4 of "Augustus Carp, Esq."

Hardware cost for this is $30-40 or so. It's supposed to be compatible with JAWS.

Project URL:
https://dectalk.homerow.net/

#dectalk #tts

(now with updated audio at a better pitch)

Woo! I got the DECtalk on ESP32 board working! Here's a long sample of its output (standard USA Paul voice, slow 200 wpm rate), reading from Chapter 4 of "Augustus Carp, Esq."

Hardware cost for this is $30-40 or so. It's supposed to be compatible with JAWS.

Project URL:
https://dectalk.homerow.net/

#dectalk #tts

No joy with the ESP32-C6 based DECtalk clone. Checked wiring. Tried two different audio DACs. Fiddled frantically with the volume control. No output

The thing does respond to serial commands and seems to be behaving in that way. But a very frustrating day.

#tts #dectalk #esp32

No joy with the ESP32-C6 based DECtalk clone. Checked wiring. Tried two different audio DACs. Fiddled frantically with the volume control. No output

The thing does respond to serial commands and seems to be behaving in that way. But a very frustrating day.

#tts #dectalk #esp32

@alexchapman PSST. You can't change the inflection in your add-on. #DECTalk

#askfedi #duckduckfedi #BlindFedi
what are folks using to compile their DECTalk user dictionaries? i really don't want to have to set up the whole build environment on Windows just to compile a proonunciation dictionary for #NVDA, but I don't want to use NVDA's dictionaries for DECTalk because i don't want to have to keep toggling phonemic input in the dict entries.

#DECTalk #Blind #Accessibility #A11Y #Help

#askfedi #duckduckfedi #BlindFedi
what are folks using to compile their DECTalk user dictionaries? i really don't want to have to set up the whole build environment on Windows just to compile a proonunciation dictionary for #NVDA, but I don't want to use NVDA's dictionaries for DECTalk because i don't want to have to keep toggling phonemic input in the dict entries.

#DECTalk #Blind #Accessibility #A11Y #Help

Oh no. The Cybiko can communicate with the DECtalk device, which now also speaks Meshtastic. What have I done.

#Cybiko #Meshtastic #DECTalk

Oh no. The Cybiko can communicate with the DECtalk device, which now also speaks Meshtastic. What have I done.

#Cybiko #Meshtastic #DECTalk

This afternoon I partook of a webinar produced by #NFB on the subject of the product 1Password. I’ve been curious about 1Password for a while, and I thought this would be a good idea to get an introduction to it. It was well-done, but I wound up having to bail early. It had nothing to do with the value of the webinar, I learned a lot. Unfortunately, the presenter was using #DecTalk on the computer on which they were demonstrating it. DecTalk just gives me a headache. There are so many far better voices available now, why would anyone stick to what was the standard at the turn of the millennium? But I digress. I’m very interested in 1Password now, but the house is very much divided. Sarah does not trust anything like this; just this week she had to delete all of her passwords from Google. I still might invest in 1Password, we shall see.

This afternoon I partook of a webinar produced by #NFB on the subject of the product 1Password. I’ve been curious about 1Password for a while, and I thought this would be a good idea to get an introduction to it. It was well-done, but I wound up having to bail early. It had nothing to do with the value of the webinar, I learned a lot. Unfortunately, the presenter was using #DecTalk on the computer on which they were demonstrating it. DecTalk just gives me a headache. There are so many far better voices available now, why would anyone stick to what was the standard at the turn of the millennium? But I digress. I’m very interested in 1Password now, but the house is very much divided. Sarah does not trust anything like this; just this week she had to delete all of her passwords from Google. I still might invest in 1Password, we shall see.

I adapted the #I2S Pinout for the #DECtalk Mini from the #MAX98357A Board to my NanoPi Nanohat #PCM5102A
Sounds much louder as the PWM-Version :)
The Board is a #Waveshare RP2040 Zero

I adapted the #I2S Pinout for the #DECtalk Mini from the #MAX98357A Board to my NanoPi Nanohat #PCM5102A
Sounds much louder as the PWM-Version :)
The Board is a #Waveshare RP2040 Zero

From the #DECtalk Mini github repository I commpiled with the #Pico-SDK today the RPi #RP2040 Pico version and changed it
from USB serial 115.200 Baud
to GPIO0/1-TTL-Serial 9600Baud.
Sounds fine on the left 3.5mm Audio channel
(GPIO28/Pin 24) of a
#Olimex RP2040-Pico-PC Board :)

https://github.com/dectalk/DECtalkMini
https://github.com/dectalk/DECtalkMini

From the #DECtalk Mini github repository I commpiled with the #Pico-SDK today the RPi #RP2040 Pico version and changed it
from USB serial 115.200 Baud
to GPIO0/1-TTL-Serial 9600Baud.
Sounds fine on the left 3.5mm Audio channel
(GPIO28/Pin 24) of a
#Olimex RP2040-Pico-PC Board :)

https://github.com/dectalk/DECtalkMini
https://github.com/dectalk/DECtalkMini

I think Bohemian Rhapsody with the main 4 Microsoft Agent characters (Merlin, Genie, Peedy, and Robby) would be cool if it doesn't exist yet. I'd do it but I don't have enough knowledge of making Agents sing. This idea was inspired by this video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30DUDh197bk

#MicrosoftAgent #DECTalk #MoonbaseAlpha #BohemianRhapsody

I think Bohemian Rhapsody with the main 4 Microsoft Agent characters (Merlin, Genie, Peedy, and Robby) would be cool if it doesn't exist yet. I'd do it but I don't have enough knowledge of making Agents sing. This idea was inspired by this video:

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=30DUDh197bk

#MicrosoftAgent #DECTalk #MoonbaseAlpha #BohemianRhapsody

Did you know that you can build and use DECTalk on Linux?

https://github.com/dectalk/dectalk

#DECTalk #Linux

Did you know that you can build and use DECTalk on Linux?

https://github.com/dectalk/dectalk

#DECTalk #Linux

Control your #DECtalk-Mini #TTS
on #Android via #Network ( HTTP or UDP) with the Home24 MediaPlayer App v1.28:

Control your #DECtalk-Mini #TTS
on #Android via #Network ( HTTP or UDP) with the Home24 MediaPlayer App v1.28:

#DECtalk-Mini as #TTS
for #Android (also v12+):
https://github.com/dectalk/DECtalkMini/releases/tag/v2.0.3

#DECtalk-Mini as #TTS
for #Android (also v12+):
https://github.com/dectalk/DECtalkMini/releases/tag/v2.0.3

Hello #blind folks! A very long time ago, I had a zip archive containing a whole bunch of funny stuff that talented people had made with that good old #Dectalk TTS. There were covers, jokes... I lost it during a crash and I'd really like to find it again. If you had it, that would be cool! Thanks

I used this to help with the conversion:
brianbaillargeon1/MIDI2DECTalk — https://github.com/brianbaillargeon1/MIDI2DECTalk

It was hard to install and didn't quite work right, but it got so much closer than anything else I've tried

#DECtalk #midi

I used this to help with the conversion:
brianbaillargeon1/MIDI2DECTalk — https://github.com/brianbaillargeon1/MIDI2DECTalk

It was hard to install and didn't quite work right, but it got so much closer than anything else I've tried

#DECtalk #midi

which, if you don't want to paste it into
https://webspeak.terminal.ink/
sounds like ...

#DECtalk #DuggaDoo #DrWho

which, if you don't want to paste it into
https://webspeak.terminal.ink/
sounds like ...

#DECtalk #DuggaDoo #DrWho

Enough of Dugga Doo to be annoying:

[:NU][d<90>'ah<77,31>g<90>ax<76,31>d<90>'uw<244,27>d<90>'ah<76,31>g<90>ax<77,31>d<90>'uw<243,27>d<90>'ah<77,26>g<90>ax<77,26>d<90>'ah<76,32>g<90>ax<77,32>d<90>'ah<77,31>g<90>ax<76,31>d<90>'uw<244,27>d<90>'ah<76,31>g<90>ax<77,31>d<90>'uw<243,27>d<90>'ah<77,31>g<90>ax<77,31>d<90>'uw<243,27>d<90>'ah<77,29>g<90>ax<76,31>d<90>'ah<77,32>g<90>ax<77,26>d<90>'uw<488,27>]

#DECtalk #DuggaDoo

Enough of Dugga Doo to be annoying:

[:NU][d<90>'ah<77,31>g<90>ax<76,31>d<90>'uw<244,27>d<90>'ah<76,31>g<90>ax<77,31>d<90>'uw<243,27>d<90>'ah<77,26>g<90>ax<77,26>d<90>'ah<76,32>g<90>ax<77,32>d<90>'ah<77,31>g<90>ax<76,31>d<90>'uw<244,27>d<90>'ah<76,31>g<90>ax<77,31>d<90>'uw<243,27>d<90>'ah<77,31>g<90>ax<77,31>d<90>'uw<243,27>d<90>'ah<77,29>g<90>ax<76,31>d<90>'ah<77,32>g<90>ax<77,26>d<90>'uw<488,27>]

#DECtalk #DuggaDoo

That time I made a little DECtalk hardware box with now-defunct hardware
[tɒk bɒks] — a tiny hardware speech synthesizer/TTS — https://scruss.com/blog/2016/02/27/t%C9%92k-b%C9%92ks-a-tiny-hardware-speech-synthesizertts/

#speech #tts #DECtalk

That time I made a little DECtalk hardware box with now-defunct hardware
[tɒk bɒks] — a tiny hardware speech synthesizer/TTS — https://scruss.com/blog/2016/02/27/t%C9%92k-b%C9%92ks-a-tiny-hardware-speech-synthesizertts/

#speech #tts #DECtalk

Wow, an #archive for #DECtalk, the cutting-edge speech synthesizer from *drumroll* 1984! 📼 Because who doesn't need a comprehensive guide to a dusty relic only hipsters and historians care about? 😂 Remember, nothing says "I live in the past" like diving into legality issues of forgotten tech. 📚👴
https://dectalk.nu/ #SpeechSynthesizer #TechHistory #Nostalgia #HipsterCulture #HackerNews #ngated

Wow, an #archive for #DECtalk, the cutting-edge speech synthesizer from *drumroll* 1984! 📼 Because who doesn't need a comprehensive guide to a dusty relic only hipsters and historians care about? 😂 Remember, nothing says "I live in the past" like diving into legality issues of forgotten tech. 📚👴
https://dectalk.nu/ #SpeechSynthesizer #TechHistory #Nostalgia #HipsterCulture #HackerNews #ngated

DECtalk Archive

https://dectalk.nu/

#HackerNews #DECtalk #Archive #technology #nostalgia #speechsynthesis #digitalheritage

DECtalk Archive

https://dectalk.nu/

#HackerNews #DECtalk #Archive #technology #nostalgia #speechsynthesis #digitalheritage

#DECtalk for #Android ;)
as a .APK v1.0.5 from the 2nd Jan 2025
https://github.com/dectalk/microdectalk

#DECtalk for #Android ;)
as a .APK v1.0.5 from the 2nd Jan 2025
https://github.com/dectalk/microdectalk

This kind of worked, kind of didn't. I made a little #DECtalk sound pendulum

What it is is eight tracks of DECtalk singing "ping!". The first track, panned hard left in stereo, plays at the lowest pitch and says "ping" every 768 ms. The next track, mostly panned left, plays at the next scale note up every 720 ms, The next, just left of centre, at the third note of the scale, every 672 ms ... and so on.

It's supposed to drop in and out of phase. It does, kinda, but needs work

This kind of worked, kind of didn't. I made a little #DECtalk sound pendulum

What it is is eight tracks of DECtalk singing "ping!". The first track, panned hard left in stereo, plays at the lowest pitch and says "ping" every 768 ms. The next track, mostly panned left, plays at the next scale note up every 720 ms, The next, just left of centre, at the third note of the scale, every 672 ms ... and so on.

It's supposed to drop in and out of phase. It does, kinda, but needs work

aside from @vik 's inspired sed 's/[aeiou]/&lf&/g' nonsense generator, I think this one's much better than the last:

sed 's/[aeiou][aeiou]*/&rkle/gi'

'To be, or not to be' => 'Torkle berkle, orkler norklet torkle berkle'

In the spirit of #aeiou , this sounds “amazing” when fed through #DECtalk ...

aside from @vik 's inspired sed 's/[aeiou]/&lf&/g' nonsense generator, I think this one's much better than the last:

sed 's/[aeiou][aeiou]*/&rkle/gi'

'To be, or not to be' => 'Torkle berkle, orkler norklet torkle berkle'

In the spirit of #aeiou , this sounds “amazing” when fed through #DECtalk ...

Finally fixed Visual Studio 6 builds of #dectalk so they should be being pumped out on GitHub every commit.

https://github.com/dectalk/dectalk/actions/workflows/build.yml

for the few that care: DECtalk now builds on 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS (Debian, armhf). It previously only ran on 64-bit OSs.

dectalk/dectalk: Modern builds for the 90s/00s DECtalk text-to-speech application. — https://github.com/dectalk/dectalk

#DECtalk #tts #TextToSpeech #SpeechSynthesis #RaspberryPi #aeiou

for the few that care: DECtalk now builds on 32-bit Raspberry Pi OS (Debian, armhf). It previously only ran on 64-bit OSs.

dectalk/dectalk: Modern builds for the 90s/00s DECtalk text-to-speech application. — https://github.com/dectalk/dectalk

#DECtalk #tts #TextToSpeech #SpeechSynthesis #RaspberryPi #aeiou

somebody trained a neural network on a very skewed corpus of #DECtalk songs, and the results are quite something:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8AwSZdNknIE

A terrible guide to #singing with #DECtalk — https://scruss.com/blog/2023/05/30/a-terrible-guide-to-singing-with-dectalk/

Will I ever tire of getting #DECtalk to sing about #JohnMadden ?

DECtalk in your browser is pretty cool: https://webspeak.terminal.ink/

The #DECtalk manual is delightfully precise about accents:

“The phonemes of English are not pronounced the same by every speaker. We all know people who pronounce some words differently from the way we do, yet we understand them. The differences may occur because we come from different parts of the country. Because of these variations, there is no such thing as a universal standard pronunciation of English. DECtalk attempts to mimic a midwestern (Northern Milwaukee) dialect.”