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AIList Digest Volume 6 Issue 008
AIList Digest Saturday, 9 Jan 1988 Volume 6 : Issue 8
Today's Topics:
AI Tools - Voice Synthesizers & Online Dictionaries
----------------------------------------------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 88 00:51:46 GMT
From: ndsuvax!nebezene@uunet.uu.net (Todd Michael Bezenek)
Subject: voice synthesizer package needed
I am looking for a voice synthesizer package that produces good
quality voice.
The North Dakota State University Amateur Radio Society is
developing a microprocessor-based control unit for a remote radio
site. We need a good voice synthesizer which will be interfaced to the
control unit. The audio must be of a quality that will be easily
understood when transmitted via radio. It is not necessary that the
synthesizer package come with any support hardware whatsoever.
Our budget for the interface is $100.
If you know of a device that is available, please give me
information concerning voice quality, price, and availability. Also
let me know of any special pricing for which our student club may
qualify.
Sicerely,
-Todd
--
Todd M. Bezenek --=---+---=--
\___
Student of Electrical and ---=---+-I-=---
Electronics Engineering |\
---=----+----=---
Bitnet: nebezene@ndsuvax |
UUCP: uunet!ndsuvax!nebezene ^ Amateur Radio Station KO0N
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 88 03:20:43 GMT
From: krc@purdue.edu (Kenny "RoboBrother" Crudup)
Subject: Re: voice synthesizer package needed
In article <611@ndsuvax.UUCP>, nebezene@ndsuvax.UUCP (Todd Michael Bezenek)
writes:
> I am looking for a voice synthesizer package that produces good
> quality voice.
I used to play around with the General Instruments (GI) chip set. There
is a member of its SP- series morpheme(?) generators masked-out to produce
allophones. There is a companion chip based around one of its micros that
takes regular old asynch serial and spits it out to the SP-AL2 so that
you get speech from ascii. The chip has a lot of options concerning
inputs/speed/etc. so you could probably do parallel (I forget.) These
chips, and a 2k x 8 RAM (as a buffer) is all you need.
The best part is that you can get it all from [Radio Shack] for about $40.
I got mine from GI a long time ago and just proto-boarded it (the
chips were free) just to see what it sounded like. I did'nt have the
suggested filtering, or even the right speed xtal, but it worked good
enough for me. Of course, it screws up some words (like my last name,
and doesnt know context like the difference between 'wind' (air)
and 'wind' (watch)), but that is expected. You should have seen
folks faces, though! (Shall we play a game?)
Hope this helps.
--
Kenny "RoboBrother" Crudup krc@arthur.cs.purdue.edu
Purdue University CS Dept.
W. Lafayette, IN 47907 The above is practically Official
+1 317 494 7842 University Policy. So there.
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 88 17:54:57 GMT
From: lawrence@bbn.com (Gabe Lawrence)
Subject: Re: voice synthesizer package needed
In article (Todd Michael Bezenek) writes:
>
>I am looking for a voice synthesizer package that produces good
>quality voice.
Check out the "What's New" article on pg. 86 of the January '88 BYTE citing
the new Heath HV-2000 speech processing system. It's an IBM-compatible
half-size plug in card consisting of a speech synthesizer, audio amplifier,
a speaker, and a 60K buffer. It will read ASCII text files or ASCII data
received through the serial port and it even includes some terminal-emulation
software to add speech to modem communications.
Technically speaking, the HV-2000 uses a basic set of 64 phonemes for word
and/or sentence construction and allows you to specify up to 4 durations,
16 rates, 4096 inflection levels, 32 transition levels, 8 transition rates,
8 articulation rates, 49 musical notes and 16 amplitude settings. Pricing
for these things is $89.95/each. Not bad considering I used to work for
a company which used those stupid VOTRAX beasts which costs us $400.00/each...
Details and orders should be addressed to Heath Company, Dept. 350-020, Hilltop
Rd., Benton Harbor, MI 49022.
Please send them all net inquiries, I know nothing beyond what I've described
in this posting. Having never even _seen_ one of these boards, all standard
disclaimers apply.
=Gabriel Lawrence=
=BBN Communications=
USENET: ...!harvard!bbn!ccv!lawrence
INTERNET: lawrence@bbn.com
------------------------------
Date: 5 Jan 88 15:19:28 GMT
From: ucsdhub!hp-sdd!ncr-sd!ncrcae!gollum!rolandi@sdcsvax.ucsd.edu
(rolandi)
Subject: online dictionaries
Several people have written to me personally in reference to an request I
made earlier for an online dictionary. This is a collective response to
those people.
Two sources have been suggested.
the Microsoft CD ROM version of the American Heritage Dictionary
and
the OED from Oxford University Press
I called my local Microsoft dealer but he had no idea what I was talking
about. I have not been able to get further information about the OED
either. If anyone can locate these sources, I would appreciate what
they find out.
Thanks.
walter rolandi
rolandi@gollum.UUCP ()
NCR Advanced Systems, Columbia, SC
u.s.carolina dept. of psychology and linguistics
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 88 12:36:09 GMT
From: dave@mimsy.umd.edu (Dave Stoffel)
Subject: online dictionaries
*** reposted in response to recent request for online dictionaries ***
Subject: Re: machine-readable dictionaries
Here's a summary of replies to my query on sci.lang. I also received
some papers on MRDs; let me know if you would like copies.
I recently queried the net community about computerized
dictionaries which contained part-of-speech information. Here's
a digest of the responses.
----
>From the Oxford Text Archives:
Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary of Contemporary English
Collins English Dictionary.
>From ?
Webster's Pocket Dictionary (Amsler's thesis used this one)
Longmans Dictionary of Contemporary English.
>From Gage Publishers:
Gage Canadian Dictionary
----
Automated Language Processing Systems
190 West 800 North
Provo, UT 84601
Tel. (801) 375-0090
They have a wide variety of machine readable dictionaries (in several
languages). They are not on USENET but you could get in touch with
them by telephone or mail. Talk to either Robert Goode or Logan Wright.
----
You may wish to consult a report by Robert Amsler on computerized
dictionaries that appeared in the Annual review for Inf Sc and Tech
Vol 19, 1984, pp 161-209.
----
A book you may be interested in:
Erik Akkerman
Pieter Masereeuw
Willem Meijs
1985
Designing a Computerized Lexicon for Linguistic Purposes
ASCOT Report No. 1
Rodopi
Amsterdam
A comparison of the Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English and
the Oxford Advanced Learner's Dictionary for the purposes of NLP
research.
Both dictionaries are apparently available on tape, and both have part of
speech info included. (The report favors Longman's dictionary.)
--
Dave Stoffel (703) 790-5357
seismo!mimsy!dave
dave@Mimsy.umd.edu
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 88 17:53:06 GMT
From: ptsfa!pbphb!pbhyd!rjw@ames.arpa (Rod Williams)
Subject: Re: online dictionaries
My understanding is that the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
is still a work-in-progress and is not yet commercially available.
------------------------------
Date: 6 Jan 88 19:29:59 GMT
From: mary@csd4.milw.wisc.edu (Mary Patricia Lowe)
Subject: Re: online dictionaries
In article <29@gollum.Columbia.NCR.COM> rolandi@gollum.UUCP () writes:
>
> the Microsoft CD ROM version of the American Heritage Dictionary
> the OED from Oxford University Press
>
>If anyone can locate these sources, I would appreciate what they find out.
In the January 1988 issue of IEEE Spectrum, the section on Tools and Toys
(p. 73) contains a short blurb on the Microsoft Bookshelf. The CD-ROM
includes the following reference works:
The World Almanac and Book of Facts,
The American Heritage Dictionary,
The U.S. ZIP Code Directory,
The Chicago Manual of Style,
Bartlett's Familiar Quotations,
Roget's II: Electronic Thesaurus,
Houghton Mifflin Spelling Verifier and Corrector,
Houghton Mifflin Usage Alert,
Business Information Sources.
For more information, contact: Microsoft Corp., Box 97017, Redmond, WA. 98073,
(206)-882-8088.
-Mary
Mary Patricia Lowe mary@csd4.milw.wisc.edu ...ihnp4!uwmcsd1!mary
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
------------------------------
Date: 7 Jan 88 10:32:13 GMT
From: otter!sjmz@hplabs.hp.com (Stefek Zaba)
Subject: Re: online dictionaries
/ otter:comp.ai / rjw@pbhyd.UUCP (Rod Williams) / 5:53 pm Jan 6, 1988 /
>My understanding is that the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
>is still a work-in-progress and is not yet commercially available.
Oxford Advanced Learner's is available as indicated. The mammoth work of
reference on the historical development of the English Language, the multi-
volumed Oxford English Dictionary, is being reworked and will be made available
in electronic form with extensive tagging (i.e. *not* just flat text).
Overall manager of this project is Timothy Benbow at Oxford University Press,
Oxford, England (no email link that I know of!); there's also active academic
involvement at A Canadian University - Waterloo? - which has set up a unit to
do great things on this project. Mail me if you want the correct details
on that (I can dig them out at home).
------------------------------
Date: 8 Jan 88 14:51:10 GMT
From: craig@think.com (Craig Stanfill)
Subject: Re: online dictionaries
In article <1092@pbhyd.UUCP> rjw@pbhyd.UUCP (Rod Williams) writes:
>My understanding is that the online Oxford English Dictionary (OED)
>is still a work-in-progress and is not yet commercially available.
There is a new edition of the OED, which is currently in preparation,
and will eventually be available in electronic form. There is also
the old (1932?) edition plus numerous supplements, which is available
in electronic form through Oxford University Press.
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End of AIList Digest
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