DECtalk
GRE...@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu
Greetings!
I have access to a DECtalk speech synthesizer, but none of the
documentation. I can get the unit to speak, but I don't have the codes for
changing the speech parameters (pitch, speed, and the like). I remember
seeing a demo (or hearing one, as the case may be) where the DECtalk switched
between male, female, and child voices. Does anyone have a list of the
command codes for doing this? Thanks for any assistance.
John Greenwald
gre...@yalevm.ycc.yale.edu
"DECtalk version two point zero is running."
Wolfram Schmidt
Hi!
Several different DECtalk boxes exist. What I have on my desk right now
(went 5 floors up to get it ;) is the "DECtalk(TM) DTC01 Programmer's
Reference Card". The Number is: EK-DTC01-RC-001, First Edition, December 1983.
I couldn't find the newer Version.
Quoted without permission:
[...]
NEW VOICE COMMANDS
Name Voice Characteristics
:np Perfect Paul Standard male voice
:nb Beautyful Betty Standard female voice
:nh Huge Harry Deep male voice
:nf Frail Frank Older man voice
:nk Kit the Kid Child's voice (10-year-old)
:nr Rough Rita Deep female voice
:nu Uppity Ursula Alternate female voice
:nv Variable Val User definable Voice
DEFINE VOICE [:dv] ARGUMENTS
Command Min Max Unit Action
list List current speaker definition
listall List all parameters
save Save current speaker def in variable buffer
sex 0 1 Set sex to female (0 or f) or male (1 or m)
ap 50 300+ Hz Average pitch
br 0 60 dB Breathiness
fo 0 100 % Forte Voice
hs 75 150 % Head voice
g1 0 80 dB Synthesizer gain 1
g2 0 80 dB Synthesizer gain 2
g3 0 80 dB Synthesizer gain 3
g4 0 80 dB Synthesizer gain 4
g5 0 80 dB Synthesizer gain 5
la 0 100 % Laryngealization
pr 0 250 % Pitch range
sm 0 24 dB Smoothness (high frequency attenuation)
[...]
End of quoting.
Hope this helps.
I was told you even can make DECtalk sing!
If there is a DECtalk there should be the entire manual set somewhere.
Greetings
Wolfram
--
wsch...@iao.fhg.de Tel.: IAO: 0711/970-2431, Uni: 0711/121-3806
Don Stokes
> documentation. I can get the unit to speak, but I don't have the codes for
> changing the speech parameters (pitch, speed, and the like). I remember
> seeing a demo (or hearing one, as the case may be) where the DECtalk switched
> between male, female, and child voices. Does anyone have a list of the
> command codes for doing this? Thanks for any assistance.
In a former life, I was developing code to handle credit authorisations
over the phone using a DECtalk DTC01 (this was a commercial timesharing
shop, and that was about as exciting as things got). A colleague and I
were feeling bored one evening and came up with this little ditty....
[hae<200,10>piy<200,10>brr<400,12>thdey<400,10>tuw<400,15>yu<700,14>].
[hae<200,10>piy<200,10>brr<400,12>thdey<400,10>tuw<400,17>yu<700,15>].
[hae<200,10>piy<200,10>brr<400,22>thdey<400,19>diy<400,15>rbray<400,14>ax<700,12>n].
[hae<200,20>piy<200,20>brr<400,19>thdey<400,15>tuw<400,17>yu<700,15>].
This sings "Happy Birthday" to "Brian" (Brian and Bryan were our respective
team managers -- they seemed like good victims at the time.... 8-)
This is probably a little different to what you've done so far. Text
enclosed in square brackets is expressed phonetically rather than being
passed through the standard English parsing on the DECtalk. The angle
brackets enclose duration & tone pairs and follow the phoneme they apply
to. Tones are expressed as semi-tones; I forget what note 0 is (probably
Middle C); I think the duration figures are in milliseconds. You can
play with the vibrato etc, but the defaults give pretty good results.
I think the commands were wrapped in square brackets too, but I did this
many moons ago and really can't remember. You'd really need a manual to
use it properly. DECtalk is amazingly powerful considering how long it's
been around, and does very well if you're prepared to put up with an
American accent....
DECtalk will also do telephone management -- it can pulse or tone dial, as
well as return ASCII codes in response to DTMF tones sent to it. One use
we had was to answer the phone, say I was out and forward the call to
someone else based on what key the caller pressed.
One other thing -- check out the DTK$ functions in VMS; if you can get onto
a VMS system try using the functions to do things, and capture the output.
There are a few things that the functions will want an answer from a real
live DECtalk for however. The DTK$ functions are all documented in the
help libraries if you don't have access to the VMS doc set, however the doc
set will be much more complete.
--
Don Stokes, ZL2TNM (DS555) d...@zl2tnm.gen.nz (home)
Network Manager, Computing Services Centre d...@vuw.ac.nz (work)
Victoria University of Wellington, New Zealand +64-4-495-5052
Frank - Hardware Hacker - Borger
>
>I was told you even can make DECtalk sing!
>
it doing Tom Lehr's "Poisioning Pigeons." It wasn't really a great
performance, but suprisingly good.
There is no truth to the urban legend that Michael Jackson is actually
lip-synching to DECtalk.
Frank R. Borger - Physicist __ Internet: Fr...@rover.uchicago.edu
Michael Reese - Univ. of Chicago |___ Phone : 312-791-8075 fax : 567-7455
Center for Radiation Therapy | |_) _
2929 South Ellis Avenue | \|_) If I were two-faced, would I be
Chicago, Illinois 60616 |_) wearing this one? - Abraham Lincoln
Terry Kennedy, Operations Mgr.
> At the first DECUS where DECtalk was introduced, they had a demo of
> it doing Tom Lehr's "Poisioning Pigeons." It wasn't really a great
> performance, but suprisingly good.
For your amusement (and that of your DECtalk, if you should happen to own
one 8-), here it is:
[spr'ih<400,4>nx<,4>ih<200,15>z<,15>hx'ih<600,13>r,
ax<100,11>s'ah<100,8>prr<100,5>ix<400,1>nx<,1>ih<200,13>z<,13>
hx'ih<600,11>r, l'ay<400,4>f)ih<200,15>z sk'ih<200,13>tel<200,11>
z<,11>ae<200,9>nd l'ay<400,1>f)ih<200,13>z b'iy<600,11>r,
'ay<200,6> th'ih<200,8>nxk dhax<200,9> l'ah<200,9>v liy<200,8>
ix<200,6>st t'ay<200,8>m ax<200,9>v dhax<200,11> y'iy<200,13>r
)ih<200,15>z dhax<200,18> spr'ih<400,16>nx].
[bah<100,11>t dheh<100,11>rz w'ah<200,6>n th'ih<200,6>nx
dhae<200,6>t m`ey<200,6>ks spr'ih<200,8>nx
kax<200,9>mpl'iy<100,11>t )fow<100,9>r miy<800,8>, ae<200,8>nd
m`ey<200,10>ks 'eh<200,10>vr iy<200,10> s'ah<200,10>n dey<200,11>
ax<200,13> tr'iy<100,15>t fow<100,13>r miy<800,11>.
`ao<200,8>l dhax<200,9> w'rr<200,11>ld s'iy<200,8>mz ih<200,9>n
t'uw<200,11>n aa<200,8>n ax<200,9> spr'ih<200,11>nx
ae<200,8>ftrr<200,9>*n'uw<200,11>n)weh<200,13>n wiy<200,16>r
p'oy<300,20>sax<100,18>nix<200,16>nx p'ih<100,15>jhax<100,13>nz
ih<300,11>n dhah<100,8> p'aa<800,9>rk. 'eh<200,6>vriy<200,8>
s'ah<200,9>ndey<200,6> y'uw<200,8>l) s'iy<100,9> may<200,8>
sw'iy<200,9>t*hxaa<200,6>rt) ae<200,8>nd miy<200,9>, ae<200,11>z
w'iy<200,15> p'oy<300,18>sax<100,16>n dhah<200,15> p'ih<100,13>
jhax<100,11>nz ih<200,9>n dhah<100,7> p'aa<800,8>rk.]
Terry Kennedy Operations Manager, Academic Computing
te...@spcvxa.bitnet St. Peter's College, Jersey City, NJ USA
te...@spcvxa.spc.edu +1 201 915 9381
Charles Lasner
Yes, DEC once had a demo phone number for DECtalk. It spoke as an old man,
a housewife, and a (male) child.
cjl