I am a newcomer to espeak but interested in learning to use it. Going to section 5.2 under "voices", I see many useful attributes being listed. But, with a drag-and-drop GUI background, I admit I am not too experienced with command-line structure. I have downloaded espeakedit and also tried to use the CLI included in espeak, but still not sure how to get these commands to work on a document. Do I enter these commands into the CLI, or into espeakedit? Could anyone point me to a basic tutorial somewhere for what-to-do-after-I-turn-the-ignition-key advice?
Thanks for any help to get me started…
Skinny Cricket
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Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble with the CLI. I think I'm probably just missing needed keystrokes or characters somewhere. I'm trying to get it to speak some text using attributes to configure the voice in a specific way. As a test, here is exactly what I typed into the CLI:
language en
pitch 82 118
tone 600 170 120 135 200 110
consonants 150 250
intonation 4
"This is my text. I am trying to speak with the above attributes."
This is exactly what I typed, without entering any other characters etc. which the CLI might require. Sorry, I'm not CLI-savvy at this point. What happens is that when I hit return, it simply speaks the entire input text (including all the attributes) in the default voice, instead of applying the attributes to just the text in quotes. I don't mean to sound like I need to be spoon-fed, but I know I'm missing something somewhere.
…Skinny Cricket
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The voice attributes such as: language, pitch, intonation
are not for the CLI. They go in a Voice File (in espeak-data/voices) or a Voice Variant file (in espeak-data/voices/!v).
Then use the name of the voice file as an option to the espeak command, eg, to use Voice File "en" with Voice Variant "f2", do the command::
espeak -v en+f2
If you look at the Voice Variant files in espeak-data/voices/!v (using a text editor), you will see that they contain voice attributes.
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Got it…now I see how the variants work. But I'm still not getting the CLI to work. Am I incorrect trying to use the CLI? Again, when I type something such as
espeak -v en+f2 (or whatever my variant is)
and hit return it just speaks that line in the default voice. Could you show me exactly what I should type, and which key to hit, to get it to speak text that I enter following the command? I'm probably missing some needed characters, or something.
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How did you open the command-window? My guess is that you are using Windows and clicked on the espeak command-line program, and that opened a command-window. In that case, it's as though you have already typed the command:
espeak
so everything that you type after that is spoken as text.
Instead, open a command-window from the Windows start menu (under "accessories"). Then use the "cd" command to change directory to the folder which contains the "espeak" command:
cd C:\Program Files\espeak\command_line
Then you can type your espeak command:
espeak -v en+f2 "Hello world"
i don't know whether Windows provides a way to open a command-window directly in a folder, to avoid the use of the "cd" command. I couldn't see any obvious way to do that on Windows.
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Tried it…and kept getting the "path not found" response. I think I'll just have to keep playing around with it…I must not be entering the characters correctly somewhere. I do apologize for the oversight in not mentioning the system. Yes, it is Windows. I have eSpeak on Drive E so I made the substitution where it calls for Drive C.
One more question: I have a SAPI5 editor (TextAloud) on my system which recognizes three of the espeak voices (two -en and the very British-sounding en-us), but none of the others. Are those the only three SAPI5-compliant voices in your voices folder? If they are all SAPI5, why does my editor only list three of them? Your own TTSApp also lists only those three.
…Skinny Cricket
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All the eSpeak voices can be used with SAPI5, but they are only listed in the Windows SAPI5 menus if you enter the voice names (or voice+variant combinations) in the eSpeak installation dialog.
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How to map a word with its corresponding phoneme to build our own Dictionary?? can we change the output so that the phonemes are printed horizontally or we could directly print the word with its corresponding phoneme in dictionary
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add the path variable "C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak"
and move the "espeak" file in "C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak\command_line" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak". This should do the trick
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This is a really helpful discussion, especially for people who are still learning how to use eSpeak and the setup on the command line. Once everything is properly set up, it's always interesting to see how voice files and variants work. In a related vein, I recently discovered a useful local resource for bathroom renovation San Jose, while researching home improvement topics. Could be helpful if anyone here is also balancing tech projects with some home upgrades.
If you would like to refer to this comment somewhere else in this project, copy and paste the following link:
I am a newcomer to espeak but interested in learning to use it. Going to section 5.2 under "voices", I see many useful attributes being listed. But, with a drag-and-drop GUI background, I admit I am not too experienced with command-line structure. I have downloaded espeakedit and also tried to use the CLI included in espeak, but still not sure how to get these commands to work on a document. Do I enter these commands into the CLI, or into espeakedit? Could anyone point me to a basic tutorial somewhere for what-to-do-after-I-turn-the-ignition-key advice?
Thanks for any help to get me started…
Skinny Cricket
The voice files in espeak-data/voices are text files. You can edit them, and add attributes, using a text editor.
The espeakedit program is not used to change voice files. It is used to re-compile the phoneme data, and to adjust vowel files.
Thanks for the info. Unfortunately, I'm still having trouble with the CLI. I think I'm probably just missing needed keystrokes or characters somewhere. I'm trying to get it to speak some text using attributes to configure the voice in a specific way. As a test, here is exactly what I typed into the CLI:
language en
pitch 82 118
tone 600 170 120 135 200 110
consonants 150 250
intonation 4
"This is my text. I am trying to speak with the above attributes."
This is exactly what I typed, without entering any other characters etc. which the CLI might require. Sorry, I'm not CLI-savvy at this point. What happens is that when I hit return, it simply speaks the entire input text (including all the attributes) in the default voice, instead of applying the attributes to just the text in quotes. I don't mean to sound like I need to be spoon-fed, but I know I'm missing something somewhere.
…Skinny Cricket
This is wrong.
The voice attributes such as: language, pitch, intonation
are not for the CLI. They go in a Voice File (in espeak-data/voices) or a Voice Variant file (in espeak-data/voices/!v).
Then use the name of the voice file as an option to the espeak command, eg, to use Voice File "en" with Voice Variant "f2", do the command::
espeak -v en+f2
If you look at the Voice Variant files in espeak-data/voices/!v (using a text editor), you will see that they contain voice attributes.
Got it…now I see how the variants work. But I'm still not getting the CLI to work. Am I incorrect trying to use the CLI? Again, when I type something such as
espeak -v en+f2 (or whatever my variant is)
and hit return it just speaks that line in the default voice. Could you show me exactly what I should type, and which key to hit, to get it to speak text that I enter following the command? I'm probably missing some needed characters, or something.
How did you open the command-window? My guess is that you are using Windows and clicked on the espeak command-line program, and that opened a command-window. In that case, it's as though you have already typed the command:
espeak
so everything that you type after that is spoken as text.
Instead, open a command-window from the Windows start menu (under "accessories"). Then use the "cd" command to change directory to the folder which contains the "espeak" command:
cd C:\Program Files\espeak\command_line
Then you can type your espeak command:
espeak -v en+f2 "Hello world"
i don't know whether Windows provides a way to open a command-window directly in a folder, to avoid the use of the "cd" command. I couldn't see any obvious way to do that on Windows.
Tried it…and kept getting the "path not found" response. I think I'll just have to keep playing around with it…I must not be entering the characters correctly somewhere. I do apologize for the oversight in not mentioning the system. Yes, it is Windows. I have eSpeak on Drive E so I made the substitution where it calls for Drive C.
One more question: I have a SAPI5 editor (TextAloud) on my system which recognizes three of the espeak voices (two -en and the very British-sounding en-us), but none of the others. Are those the only three SAPI5-compliant voices in your voices folder? If they are all SAPI5, why does my editor only list three of them? Your own TTSApp also lists only those three.
…Skinny Cricket
All the eSpeak voices can be used with SAPI5, but they are only listed in the Windows SAPI5 menus if you enter the voice names (or voice+variant combinations) in the eSpeak installation dialog.
How to map a word with its corresponding phoneme to build our own Dictionary?? can we change the output so that the phonemes are printed horizontally or we could directly print the word with its corresponding phoneme in dictionary
add the path variable "C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak"
and move the "espeak" file in "C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak\command_line" to "C:\Program Files (x86)\eSpeak". This should do the trick
This is a really helpful discussion, especially for people who are still learning how to use eSpeak and the setup on the command line. Once everything is properly set up, it's always interesting to see how voice files and variants work. In a related vein, I recently discovered a useful local resource for bathroom renovation San Jose, while researching home improvement topics. Could be helpful if anyone here is also balancing tech projects with some home upgrades.