Voice ...

[chris_j_hunter]

how to get something other than MS Mary & Mike ...

we're living with Mary, but she's not so clear ...

so, we'd like to get something better ...

if something exists ...

but, how ?

[Gumby]

I got Cepstral Millie ages ago, still seems to work. Also tried the AT&T Audrey, but don't use it, can't remember whether it was because of problems or just didn't like the accent.

Not sure about Win 7 options.

[toscal]

Don't know if this link is any help.
When I was running Homeseer, I used the Star Trek computer voice for certain messages. Such as "Captain incoming message" for new email. While its not a complete voice engine having certain messages pre-recorded as wav or mp3 files made it easy to use. I didn't like the TTS voices that MS supplied.

[Karam]

Yes of course you could even record your own voice for fixed messages but obviously for messages that deliver dynamic content you need a TTS engine and Cortex should work with any SAPI5 compliant engines. As Gumby suggests Cepstral Millie is a good choice for a UK English voice. You can find it and other voices here: https://www.cepstral.com/store/desktop-view

But there are no doubt a few other out there. You can download the Cepstral engines and try out before buying - the unlicensed versions inject suitable reminders into the speech :-)

[chris_j_hunter]

thanks, the two UK voices they offer (Lawrence & Millie, for about $30 each) seem quite good - especially with some speed & effect adjustment ...

also tried the Italian & German voices, speaking English, but didn't work so well ...

[stachoo]

Another voice provider

I'm successfully using voices from http://www.ivona.com in my HA setup. For me quality is really excellent
Kimberly is a very nice US-English voice, they seem to have a few decent UK-Voices too.
Good luck!

[chris_j_hunter]

brilliant, thanks for that - we typed numerous test phrases & tried most of the voices - and quite took to the Amy one and, even better, the Emma one ... very clear & with a good flow !

Pity payment is via PayPal though ...

[alldone]

I have been toying with purchasing one of the Scottish voices from cereproc (free if you have a scottish public sector email address)

see http://www.thescottishvoice.org.uk/Audio-Sample/

[chris_j_hunter]

they're quite good, too ...

as with others, to a degree, it has a strange acoustic, though - as if the voice elements were recorded in a quite boomy & acoustically noisy room that plays a bit at odds with the quietness of the spaces between ... sibilants are harsh, too, and the AVC is v.agressive ... it's as if recordings were made using some quite ancient language-laboratory equipment ! Still, that's listening with headphones - such things mightn't be noticeable in-practice ...

[alldone]

There are other regional UK voices available from Cereproc directly too.

http://www.cereproc.com/en/store

Some of these would be quite entertaining for a house voice.

[chris_j_hunter]

yep - the Jess one seems particularly clear, with v.smooth transitions between words ...

for us, looks like the choice is between CereProc Jess & Ivona Amy or Emma - no harshness & all clear enough to play at lowish volumes ...