Difference between revisions of "Speakonia"

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There have been reports that the Speakonia activation service itself has been discontinued, with those trying to access it getting <code>403 Forbidden</code> errors. If this is the case, people will need to use alternatives instead, like [[Balabolka]].
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There have been reports that the Speakonia activation service itself has been discontinued, with those trying to access it getting <code>403 Forbidden</code> errors. If this is the case, people will need to use alternatives instead, like [[Balabolka]], if they haven't activated Speakonia yet.
  
 
==Trivia==
 
==Trivia==

Revision as of 18:56, 6 May 2020

Speakonia is a TTS (Text-to-Speech) program created by the company CFS-Technologies (founded by Chris Schuster) used mainly in the creation of YouTube videos; in particular, "Microsoft Sam reads...", for example. Arguably the most famous voices are Microsoft Sam, Microsoft Mike, Microsoft Mary, and Peter (Adult Male #1 (American English)) as Radar Overseer Scotty.

Overview

A screenshot of Speakonia

Speakonia itself is fairly simple to use for the average user, regardless of their skill level. The graphical user interface is similar to Notepad, in a technical way. A user simply has to type what they want the voice to say, and when they click the button that looks like a play button, the selected text-to-speech voice will read it. The user can change the voice at any time by going to the drop-down menu labeled Voice under the Speech Properties, and selecting another voice, then clicking "Apply". The user can also change the speed and volume of the voice with the sliders below the drop-down menu. It can also be installed in several languages.

Interface

The Speakonia interface consists of 4 main elements: the menu bar, the toolbar, the text box, and the "Speech Properties" Box.

The Menu Bar is mostly for working with saving and exporting files, as well as registering the program. It is not the main focus of the program.


The toolbar has some saving feature shortcuts, as well as commands for playing, pausing and stopping the voice from reading the text that has been entered into the text box.

The Text Box is where you will spend most of your time in the program. You simply type what you want the voice to say into the text box.

Lastly, the Speech Properties window is the handiest tool in Speakonia. It allows you to switch between voices quickly, change the speed at which the voice speaks, change it's pitch and volume. This window also has the handy-dandy "Lexicon" feature, which allows you to change the pronunciation of a word if the voice does not say it correctly.

The Speech Properties window in Speakonia.

Microsoft Voices

By default, Speakonia is included with at least 11 voices. This number can be greatly increased by installing a separate package of voices, called simply: Microsoft voices Mary, Sam, and Mike. Once the download is complete, install the package and the Microsoft voices will be available for you to use, along with a number of other voices (RoboSoft 1-6, whispers, etc.).

Exporting as .WAV

Speakonia has an option to export the spoken text as .WAV audio files. In order to export a file as a .WAV audio file, you must register Speakonia. To register, one must simply give their name and E-mail address. From there, you will receive a code by e-mail and once registered, you will unlock all features of Speakonia. E-mail registration of Speakonia is no longer possible as of 2012. To activate Speakonia, you must use the information provided in the Activation section of this article. Registration is essential for anyone who wishes to use the voices in their YouTube videos.

Activation

Speakonia hasn't been supported by CFS-Technologies since 2012. If you want to unlock all features of Speakonia, you will need to activate it with the following info:

    • Name: Unlimited License
    • Email: none@needed.com
    • Reg. Code: SPK-174101-172083

There have been reports that the Speakonia activation service itself has been discontinued, with those trying to access it getting 403 Forbidden errors. If this is the case, people will need to use alternatives instead, like Balabolka, if they haven't activated Speakonia yet.

Trivia

  • The Default Adult Voices of Speakonia are actually adapted from the Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice voices. The voices are named in Speakonia similar to the following: "Adult Male #6, American English (TruVoice)" and "Adult Female #2, American English (TruVoice)", as opposed to showing their actual names (with Adult Male #1's official name being Peter)
  • There are no pitch, speed and volume indicators to display levels of pitch, speed and volume.
  • The Microsoft Voices included in Windows XP differ from the ones in Speakonia, with differing speech patterns. Instead it matches Windows 2000 Microsoft Sam.
  • CFS-Technologies no longer supports Speakonia, but still has the program available for download on its site. (also available on the CNET download site)
    • As such, most of the TTS Community has moved on to other text readers, with the most popular one currently being Balabolka.
  • Speakonia will not work with Windows RT.
  • The test phrase for every TTS voice used in Speakonia is: "This is a test for Speakonia."
  • Speakonia was released in 2002 (at least according to the CNET download page)
  • If you open Balabolka with Speakonia opened, Speakonia's clipboard reading function will automatically be disabled. However, it can still read the clipboard contents.

External Links

NOTE: The Mediafire links may not work. If it fails, use the Google Drive links.

References