Another Voice file creation problem.

[jnoseworthy]

Hi Folks:

For some time now, I have been using Cygwin to create my new voice files for voicing menus and such. Recently, however, I have not been able to create the files using Cygwin.  The process seems to execute well enough however, I only end up with a 6K file.  In an effort to resolve my problem, I decided to try the Rockbox Utility program.  I am able to create the file clips with this program; however, I am not able to create the Rockbox voice file. I guess the questions are:
1.  Can the voice file be created using the Rockbox Utility program?
2.  If so, do I have to inform the program where to locate necessary files?

I'm sure that part of my problem is that I am a Blind user and, at the present time, the program is not very Blind-Friendly.

Any help would be appreciated all over the place.

Thanks.

[bluebrother]

1.  Can the voice file be created using the Rockbox Utility program?

Yes, the latest release has this feature added.

2.  If so, do I have to inform the program where to locate necessary files?

No, the required information gets retrieved from the webserver. All you need is to have the required voices (SAPI) or TTS engine (non-SAPI) installed. Beware that there might be a bug (can't remember exactly) that prevents building using SAPI.

I'm sure that part of my problem is that I am a Blind user and, at the present time, the program is not very Blind-Friendly.

Well, making a program blind-friendly isn't quite easy if there isn't much help from the blind ones -- I even got responses like "turn your monitor off" when asking people to test and tell about the experience (won't work, as I know the program and I bet I have a completely different work flow than an average user, being blind or not). Not very helpful (and only getting complaints but no really help can get quite frustrating).
Current Qt has a bug which prevents speaking the tab widget that is the main chooser of the functionality you want to use. This is a Qt bug and nothing we can do much about it. Nevertheless Rockbox Utility has the "Action" menu added to overcome exactly this limitation -- you can access all functionality from that menu the same way (the shortcut is Alt-s, and then you can use "a" "v" to enter the voice file creation window).

Feel free to step up and help improving Rockbox Utility for the blinds ...

[jnoseworthy]

Hi:

Thanks for your response.

I'm sorry if you haven't had informed help from the Blind community.

The main problem that I am having with the Rockbox Utility from an accessible point of view is that the dialog screens are not accessible using computer speech.  When a process is activated, the only text that is accessible is the word "OK"  Consequently, we are not hearing any messages at all.

Personally, I have no problem accessing most of the features of the program but, as I stated above, I cannot hear the result of my actions.

Again, thanks much for your help and for taking the time to communicate with me concerning this matter.

Cheers.

[jnoseworthy]

Hi Again:

With sighted assistance, I can now report the error when I try to creat a voice file using the Rockbox Utility program:

download error:  received http error 404.

I attempted the process on two different computers.

Thanks much.

[bluebrother]

The main problem that I am having with the Rockbox Utility from an accessible point of view is that the dialog screens are not accessible using computer speech.  When a process is activated, the only text that is accessible is the word "OK"  Consequently, we are not hearing any messages at all.

Hmm -- that's interesting. I did some short tests on this (unfortunately my virtual machine running windows crashes frequently when trying to use the sound card) and had the windows itself spoken. So all windows are not spoken? Or is it only the progress window that's not spoken? At least the installation window should be spoken. I used NVDA as screen reader when trying this (was a while ago).

I just checked for your error -- there seems to be a problem with the rockbox website (Rockbox Utility retrieves some information from that site to be able building the voice file). I informed the server admins, hopefully this will be fixed in a couple of hours. The error message of Rockbox Utility is a bit terse in this case I need to admit.

[jnoseworthy]

Hi Again:

Thanks for your continued response.

It's the progress windows that are giving us the problems.

Thanks.

[crzyboyster]

I seem to be getting the 404 error when trying to generate any language voice file, too.

 And for some odd reason when I tryed to generate a hindi voice file (1-2 weeks ago), I used to get a 3 kb file generated. However, generating an English voice file worked perfectly back then...

[bluebrother]

I seem to be getting the 404 error when trying to generate any language voice file, too.

As I already said, that's a problem with the website and not Rockbox Utility. It has just been fixed (few minutes ago) by Zagor. So this should now work again.

jnoseworthy: I'll see what we can do about the progress window. Can't promise you anything though. Nice to hear that at least the other windows don't cause problems for you.

[jnoseworthy]

Hi Again:

The download error problem has now been resolved:  thanks all over the place.

However, I do have another problem:  the audio for the menu options is being clipped. How do I resolve that issue?

Thanks much.

[bluebrother]

However, I do have another problem:  the audio for the menu options is being clipped. How do I resolve that issue?

I'm not completely sure about this but my guess is that the generated audio is too loud and therefore clips. You can adjust the volume of that the following way:
in the voicefile creation window click the "change" button. You'll be then shown the TTS configuration window. Click the "Configure Enc" button. A new window pops up that lets you adjust the values for the encoder. Set "Volume" to something less than 1.0 (which is full volume). Accept the changes with the OK button, close the configuration window with the OK button too and then re-create your voice file.

Note that I assumed your player is something different than an Archos one (it would be different for Archos).

[jnoseworthy]

Hi:

Thanks much for your response.  I guess I used the wrong termanology when I used the word "clipped."  What I meant to say is that speech at the end of the menu options are being cut off before completion of the last word in the menu option.

This also happens with voice clips.

Thanks.

[Domonoky]

hi,

i just tried it, and generated a voicefile for my ipod4g, and i dont see this clipping.

could you provide a few more details to this problem ?
e.g for which player was the voicefile generated, which language have you used ?
It would also be nice if you could name a few menu options which are cut off for you.

[jnoseworthy]

Hello:

Thanks for your response.

I am using English VW Paul on a Sansa 2800 player.

One good example of my problem would be the word "System" which is found in the main menu.  Only the word "sys" is audible.  In general, however, most of the menu options experience chopping of the audio.

I have experienced this using several computers to generate the files.

Again, thanks much.

[Llorean]

What SVN revision is your build?

[jnoseworthy]

Hi:

I am using Rockbox (r16681) with rbutilqt V1.0.4.

Thanks.