Speech synthesis and voice reading e-books

Voice engines

At the moment, voice engines are best suited for speech synthesis:

• Acapela ALYONA Multimedia (Acapela Multimedia Alyona)
• Acapela ELAN NIKOLAI Tempo Multimedia (Acapela ELAN Tempo Multimedia) V5.1.0.0 English (255 channels)
• Other Russian Voices

Add. Information: Text-to-speech (TTS) engine or speech synthesis engines - programs similar to drivers, designed to convert and synthesize text into a sound wave. The speech synthesis engines do not have built-in controls and it’s not enough for one TTS to have your computer speak. To use TTS, you need a synthesis program (TextAloud, Cool Reader, Balabolka, etc.), which replaces the interface, allowing you to work with TTS, change its settings, sound and voice, and control other features.

The company Acapela, the developers of the popular Russian-language voice module Nikolay, released a new Russian, female voice engine, which was named Alyona, works on SAPI-5 at 22 KHz, according to the quality of synthesized speech, Alyona is far ahead of Nicholas, the voice timbre and intonation are more pleasant than at the Katerina engine from ScanSoft RealSpeak.

Together with the engine comes Lexicon Manager - a dictionary editor that allows you to change the pronunciation of words both literally and phonetically.

For example, using KooBAudio, mp3book2005 and this voice engine - a 4 hour romance can be voiced and transferred to mp3 in 10 minutes

Acapela Alyona - works well with programs such as: KooBAudio 0.7.0.7, mp3book2005, Balabolka, Cool Reader ...

Good voice engine! In general, he really reads clearer than all the other Russian-speakers, including Nikolai, however, the latter has a more pleasant voice due to the low timbre of his voice and he makes less mistakes in stress.

Book reader

Preparing to install

1. Download speech synthesis engine:

• Alyona Russian 2.220 ( Alyona_Russian_ID2220.rar ) (148.93 Mb) - Russian speech synthesis engine.
• Nicolai ( Acapela-Elan-TTS-Nicolai.rar ) (10.7 MB) is another quality voice.

2. Download Infovox Desktop 2.220 Engine SP3 ( Acapela_Infovox_Desktop_2.220_EngineSP3.rar ) (24.08 Mb) - management and activation program, with a native, simple reader, and most importantly with the Alyonny Dictionary dictionary editing software - Lexicon Manager.

3. Download US English 2.220 ( English_ID2220.rar ) (233.13 Mb) - English speech synthesis engine.

4. Download the reader , a program for reading books ( links above ).

5. Download AlyonaSlovari-Alyona22k ( AlyonaSlovari.rar ) (1.2 Mb) - Dictionaries for Alain in 24,345 words.

7. Download MSagent.exe and ms_speech_api.exe ( sintez_bib.rar ) (archive-1.09 MB) - MSagent.exe (400 KB) - agent for working with speech recognition and synthesis engines, ms_speech_api.exe (830 KB) - libraries necessary for the operation of speech recognition and synthesis programs (for Windows 7 are not needed).

Supports OS: Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7, 8.

All links listed below on the page!

Install and Run

• 1) Install the main control Infovox Desktop 2.220 Engine
• 2) On top, install the voice engine Alyona English 2.220
• 3) Launch the License Manager and copy the License Code with the "Copy to Clipboard" button
• 4) Launch key.exe, paste the code there and click "Make Key" to generate the license file.
• 5) Import the resulting file in the License Manager by clicking "Import License File"
• 6) Add dictionaries using Lexicon Manager (Lexicon-Voice Associations - Add Lexicon ... or File - Import Lexicon)

Additional libraries are required for work (install in this order!):

• 1. MSagent.exe and ms_speech_api.exe are libraries necessary for the operation of speech recognition and synthesis programs. (for Win 7 not needed)
• 2. Acapela ELAN Tempo Multimedia V5.1.0.0 Nicolai is an engine for the synthesis of Russian speech for an agent.
• 3. ToM Reader 2.73 or MP3book2005 - reading software, which one you like.
• 4. Download stress dictionary for ELAN Tempo Multimedia Nikolai .

We copy the main exc_rus.txt dictionary, and abb_rus.txt - for abbreviations, in C: \ Program Files \ Elan, and exc_rus.txt also in Program Files \ MP3book2005 \ DIC, with replacement.

MP3book2005 edits only exc_rus.txt, abb_rus.txt needs to be edited in Notepad or Word. These are branded dictionaries used by ELAN Tempo Multimedia.

There is also a dictionary that is built into the ToM Reader (Digalo Russian Nicolai.dic) reading program. In no case do not use such dictionaries, they only worsen the pronunciation.

In ToM Reader, the engine settings are as follows:

To edit the dictionary in the MP3book2005, click the Dictionary button, and if required, load the exc_rus.txt dictionary. To add a new word to the dictionary, press the button at the top of the Pronunciation, write the word on the bottom line, if it is highlighted in the text, it will already be there, click the Check button, put the cursor on the correct place of stress, press (<), and if the pronunciation fits click Add. Then the button at the top Save to overwrite the dictionary. Abbreviations, like asterisks, are not used in branded dictionaries, each word is written separately. This is not convenient, but the pronunciation is better.

You can keep the ToM Reader and MP3book2005 open at the same time. You read in ToM Reader, edit it in MP3book2005, while after changing the dictionary, ToM Reader must be restarted. Can only use MP3book2005. It should be borne in mind that the ToM Reader is free, and not registered MP3book2005 has minor limitations.

Disadvantages:

Acapela ELAN Tempo Multimedia sometimes reads words spelled in CAPITAL letters.

Digalo Nikolai - the old version.

You can take Digalo TTS 2000 (DigaloCoreRus.exe-7,44 MB, SAPI 4) and ToM Reader Russian. Digalo TTS 2000 is a voice engine that supports several languages, including Russian. It is paid, but you can find crack. ToM Reader Russian is a program that uses the Digalo TTS 2000 to read books.

Digalo TTS 2000 has Nicolai's Russian voice, it is better than voices from other companies, but not perfect, so a dictionary is needed for it. There are two options: use the dictionary built into the ToM Reader, and use the dictionary in Digalo itself. The first is simpler because it uses asterisks (*) to replace a part of the word, but less quality, the second is more complicated, but also more qualitative.

In the first case, take the Digalo Russian Nicolai.dic dictionary and copy it to the dict folder in ToM Reader, which appears when you open ToM Reader and set it in the settings: use the dictionary. In the second case, the process is somewhat longer. But the advantage of it is that you get a better pronunciation, and other programs, such as PROMT, which do not have the ability to connect a dictionary, will have the correct pronunciation, because Digalo will use its dictionary.

So, take DigaloEditor 1.0 and unpack it in c: \ Program Files \ Digalo \ Digalo 2000 Russian \ russian \ data. There appear: DigaloEditor.exe - dictionary editing program, abb_rus.txt and exc_rus.txt - dictionaries. abb_rus.txt for abbreviations, exc_rus.txt for other words. DigaloEditor.exe only edits exc_rus.txt, abb_rus.txt needs to be edited in Notepad or Word.

Now about the features of editing in DigaloEditor.

If you want to add a word or search, click the Add button, and start typing, the search is automatically performed, and if such a combination is there, it is highlighted in red. And the most important thing. When you type a word, it is already recorded in the dictionary, and if you exit it saving the result, it will be in the dictionary. In independence, there is such a word in the dictionary or not. Therefore, if you have written the correct word, press the save button. If it is not correct or there is already such a word, then delete the entered line with the Delete button. And so save-delete after each set. The emphasis is placed by the “<” sign without quotes, spaces must be an equal number on one side and the other. For example: “trout fish fish fore <e”. Line: “fish trout fish <e” will cause an error in Digalo. Words with variable stress depending on the meaning, you need to write in a phrase. Suspension lock = suspended lock <k.

The result is heard after the reader is restarted.

Russian Speech Synthesis Program Speaking Language 2.0.6 and Digalo and SpeechCube voice engines

• Developer site
• Year of release: 2006
• Version: 2.0.6.0
• Developer: Anton Ryazanov
• Platform: Windows 9x / nt / 2000 / xp
• System requirements: minimum P200 + sound card
• Interface language: English + Russian
• Tabletka: Not required

Govorilka is a small program for reading texts by voice. She can read aloud any text you give her in any language, in any established voice. Record text to MP3 file.

The main features of the program Govorilka.

• Reading text in voice.
• Record readable text into an audio file (* .WAV, * .MP3) with increased speed * and broken down into parts of a given size.
• Adjust reading speed and voice pitch.
• Automatically scrolls text on the screen so that the readable fragment is always visible (tracking speech). In this case, the readable text can be highlighted in color.
• The updated dictionary of pronunciations, which allows you to easily adjust the pronunciation of individual words and phrases.
• Opens large files in DOS and Windows encoding.
• Opens texts from Microsoft® Word and HTML files.
• Readable text size up to 2 gigabytes.
• Memorized text and cursor position when exiting the program.

Please note that the current version of the program is a test (beta) - there may be minor errors.

What is useful Govorilka: Govorilka saves your eyesight. With it, you can listen to the texts of electronic books, and not read from the monitor screen. You can learn how words and phrases sound in a foreign language. You can quickly burn books to MP3 files and listen to them on your MP3 player. With the help of the talker you can evaluate the possibilities of computer speech synthesis and teach your computer to talk.

Description: A talker is necessary for someone who likes to listen to texts more than to read them from the monitor screen or saves their eyesight and wants to read texts of e-books sitting away from the monitor, who wants to find out how words and phrases sound in a foreign language. A talker is needed by anyone who wants to teach his computer to speak and who is simply curious to find out how it all works.

Additional features: change of reading speed and voice pitch; opening large files in DOS and Windows encoding, as well as reading text from MS Word files; record speech to an audio file (wav or mp3); automatic scrolling of text on the screen so that the readable fragment is always visible; reading the text in the clipboard, the ability to change the pronunciation (dictionary).

Add. Information: The interface of Govorilka is multilingual, in Windows 2000 / XP the program will work immediately, but users of Windows 95/98 / NT may have to download some missing files - text-to-speech engine and SAPI (details - on the home page) .