DOUBLETALK PC/LT USER`S MANUAL
Contents
1. DOUBLETALK PC LT USER S MANUAL Copyright C 1991 1997 RC Systems Inc All rights reserved Tech Support Phone 425 355 3800 E mail support rcsys com NOTICI Gl This manual is available in braille from HotKey Systems 63 25B Bourton St 1B Rego Park NY 11374 Ph 718 335 1788 Fax 718 335 1786 RC Systems Inc 609 England Ave ett WA 98203 h 425 355 3800 425 355 1098 Ds d tp www rcsys com LIMITED WARRANTY Short Version If anything should go wrong with your DoubleTalk and it s not your fault we ll fix it for free up to two years after you purchased it Long Version Our lawyers made us put this here It makes them feel important RC SYSTEMS INC RC Systems warrants this product against defects in material and workmanship for a period of TWO 2 YEARS from the date of original retail purchase by the original consumer purchaser If you discover a defect in this product RC Systems will at its option repair replace or refund the purchase price of this product t no charge to you provided you return it during the warranty eriod transportation charges prepaid to the dealer from whom you urchased it or to RC Systems A copy of your purchase receipt or ther proof of date of original consumer purchase must be provided ith each product returned for warranty service Please also attach our name address telephone number and a complete descr2. ds Erol Shortly af DoubleTalk r If you T can also run froma 9 volt volume b ending on usage habits Firmly plug the cord from the AC adapter into the Don t be afraid to press tery for periods of up to 10 hours If you remove the battery sur artment tery is installed nded as long as the adapter is the DoubleTalk unit nes Note or n the front of DoubleTal This is DoubleTalk s power switc ter turning the unit on eady come from the internal spea do not check to make sure that t If you are using headphones defectiv message from DoubleTalk s spea listening Turn on the computer a DoubleTalk Utilities disk A A headphones plugging headphones i he internal speaker and typing the following DOS commands ter gt T NO SYSTE Enter gt TE If you are r unning a screen reader program at the time th report that test program is run DoubleTalk couldn t be found is because t are fighting DoubleTalk reader sof to avoid t hi tware before running the above test he scr each other for control of Be sure to disable your screen s situation he foam that was originally in the or undesirable resonances may occur during speech production DoubleTalk with the AC adapter even no battery energy plug them into the headphone The headphone jack is of k until you h and volume you sho
3. 15 150 min 16 O immediate ak 10 min w reminder 18 20 min w reminder 31 150 min w reminder Table 7 Sleep Mode Timer ote that the delay interval is simply n x 10 minutes for 0 lt n lt 6 Adding 16 ton 16 lt n lt 32 yields the same interval range but lso enables the reminder tone which sounds at the end of each ten inute interval Programming n 0 disables the Sleep mode setting 16 forces DoubleTalk to go to sleep as soon as it has stopped speaking even when running from the AC adapter Delay 22 60 minutes with the reminder tone is the default setting gt 3 0 HZ RC SYSTI E n 32 DOUBLETALK PC LT PCM Mode n These commands activate DoubleTalk s PCM modes This is an advanced topic discussed in the Developer s Tools Protocol Options nG This command controls various internal operating parameters in DoubleTalk Refer to the Developer s Tools for more information Index Marker nI Index markers are non speaking bookmarks that a program can use to monitor the progress of the TTS synthesizer s output Since this is a command only programmers would use it too is covered in the Developer s Tools Interrogate This command enables a program to read DoubleTalk s current settings Yep you guessed it you re gonna need the Developer s Tools to learn more about this one too Clear Control X The Clear command stops the synthesizer an
4. or create sound effects including singing Pitch values can range from OP through 99P the default is SOP lume nV This command controls the synthesizer s volume level from OV through 9V OV yields the lowest possible volume maximum volume is attained at 9V The default volume is 5V The Volume command can be used to set a new listening level or create emphasis in speech PCM mode and the sinusoidal DTMF generators are also affected by this command ne nX The synthesizer supports three tone settings bass 0X normal 1X and treble 2X which work much like the bass and treble controls on a stereo The best setting to use depends on the speaker being used and personal preference Normal 1X is the default setting verb nR This command is used to add reverberation to the voice OR the default introduces no reverb increasing values of n correspondingly increase the reverb delay and effect 9R is the maximum setting nctuation Filter nB Depending on the application it may be desirable to limit the reading of certain punctuation For example if DoubleTalk is used to proofread documents the application may call for only unusual punctuation to be read On the other hand an application which orally echoes keyboard entries on a computer for a blind user may require that all punctuation be spoken DoubleTalk supports four primary levels of punctuation filtering as shown in Table 2 Beside
5. Bee Re KIN VETE ae a RR AAA 8 UTTLETIES Lastras a a LS BUSSE Ska 8 LO can A Sd Lng ASMA ES NE a LE BOE ae ELS 9 DUES COMES Sry A Mest inen i hae A A A 9 Smart A A E RE RN 9 EES ASS AS A LAA AS TAG TAE AA IA a A Aled ah 10 A NO OOO NL O IS 10 PREM a a ls BD by Spay si A k aj IE ds E AS a a es 10 TON A T N AAA A AA A A A wee 11 DoubleTalk DELVOCS cee y te ers A AA A IEA A A Game ln 8 11 Talking printer sr a ds bes 11 Fistalling DTIPRN yla ds a dis eels tii a he hte ew di 11 Disabling Do bleTalk s HWEEEY vussa msi sal a a 12 Removing DITPRN from Memory sica a e ia 12 Sending text and commands ii Eie eee ede a Bee we Sew 12 Stopping speech Production s sessa ss Lewd Se ee wee ow 13 Word Ss 0 talking PEINTtET ss a bly os dived la AATE LATER ue 13 IBM Speech Adapter emulator oooooooooooooonooooooooooo 14 TBM Screen Reader ess SR AS E is RA 15 SSI VO A GO mis ey levis sieni y ks SSE A A Y Taka IEN Nuolen aes i N 16 Davidson dives a Seas HES HORN CASE DHS TES KITA A OE DES 17 Windonws Sound Ar Iver a oe Mee A a Sls ja Mote wee Oa EMSS eens 18 Windows Bla a aisle Gowri ee Deas LO Soma SIAN EO SSA UE Me ous Love Soe eres 18 WINDOWS DO ti Mikes Beles dh Barbe hkl AS A A 18 Configuring the Sound driver rosee id lhe hee Hales ees 19 Speaking Spanish lt es es Se Sa eS SE N SE eee ew Eee ww OS 19 Configuring SSIL based screen readers for Spanish 19 OBERATIONAL DESCRIBLETON LD A tee OE eS BS ti bee 2 Be E
6. DoubleTalk Utilities entry should look like Dictionary c dt spanish exa near the beginning of the file ntry tells the SSIL driver which DoubleTalk Enter the complete pathname of in the default location on drive C the 4 Save the SSIL INI file back to disk RC SYST Gl 20 DOUBLETALK PC LT OP TT ERATIONAL DESCRIPTION This section describes the operational characteristics of DoubleTalk Since this is somewhat technical in nature and is not necessary to successfully use DoubleTalk you may wish to stop reading here S Operating Modes DoubleTalk s TTS synthesizer has three operating modes which determine how text is processed by the internal algorithms These modes are the Text Character and Phoneme modes treated separately in the following paragraphs The operating mode can be changed anytime even within the same string of text NOT E The operation of DoubleTalk s LPC PCM and CVSD synthesizers are not discussed here as they are technical in nature and require some programming skills to be used effectively Obtain the Developer s Tools disk if you require more information about these DoubleTalk functions In the text to speech operating modes DoubleTalk does not make any distinction between uppercase and lowercase characters Text and commands may be sent as all uppercase all lowercase or any combination thereof Text mode In this mo
7. DoubleTalk s installation Disk Contents The Utilities disk contains the following programs and files MANUAL TXT This file INSTALL COM Copies the utilities to your hard disk TEST COM DoubleTalk test program DTINFO COM Talking DoubleTalk statistics SMARTALK EXE DoubleTalk demo program SMARTALK HLP Help system file for SMARTALK EXE ORDS1 LPC LPC data file for SmartTalk male ORDS2 LPC LPC data file for SmartTalk female PCM PCM ADPCM data files for SmartTalk TGN Tone generator data files for SmartTalk SPANISH EXA TTS Spanish dictionary for DTPRN COM SPANISH EXS TTS Spanish dictionary for SmartTalk SPANISH BAT Batch program for changing to Spanish DRIVERS Drivers for Windows MS Word SSIL etc SmartTalk The SmartTalk program enables you to explore most of your new DoubleTalk s functions and features To run SmartTalk type SMARTALK lt Enter gt at the DOS prompt You should be able to navigate around SmartTalk by following the help line at the bottom of the screen and using the context sensitive help available with the Fl key SmartTalk works with a mouse or keyboard The SmartTalk screen is made up of four distinct areas or windows which control the four major functions of DoubleTalk Any one of these windows can be activated at a given time the remaining three i c nactive windows are dimmed A differen
8. EOUIPMENT AND PROPERTY AND ANY COSTS OF RECOVERING REPROGRAMMING OR REPRODUCING ANY PROGRAM OR DATA STORED IN OR USED WITH RC SYSTEMS PRODUCTS Some states do not allow the exclusion or limitation of incidental or consequential damages or limitations on how long an implied warranty ii lasts so the above limitation or exclusion may not apply to you This warranty gives you specific legal rights and you may also have other rights which vary from state to state iii TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION uste Blox cartel aan Shes ates haa ee Saad E Bas ree hs Be ee dm See ee ha Bes dl ABOUT THES MANUAT tn a A A eens Bi ee A a A A ES A eee 2 SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS ax sve 818 ie a ee ee le a A ak ee ave el di eee S 3 DoubleT ale BE ae Sa se itd Autos ee oases Do Be Sead da SS BBs ANY eee BLS Ale See Be ees 3 Double ak IM e a Ld wes kiai dew Geta aes LS wee Sew alia Nie ias 3 INSTALLATION demora i ASS ale aise US Fat la ia Sa saw E a tia a Jah aids SN see A IAN 4 DOUBbTe Tadic P EN aN oie datos ide citaron oo aN eye te assi Oe haava nan US Yale cope aus Sere 4 DOUDTEST AUR LD as its Pia lo Steps is site SERS Gi ace ate isa 5 UEITIELOS Installati n tl A A A it E Selden wie eke See 7i windows 95 98 System Registration seses deses erede ria re deu ele yari 7 What s Next eric ve ee awe
9. G 21 TIS Operating MOSES e e tits Bev te Sa Pod Mate dy swear A tate ers E 21 Text mode vuan esses eS EER DOCS SESE DES ETE EOE EA Oe EK ES 21 Character Mode els A Ae les ws bees a how Shade Mee eRe Ales Ide Bad 21 Phoneme MOS wes eels hes sie AS SUE lok ole E SUSIE Riga lore SRS Rags 21 Transtation ACCULAG Ys iD ada 1 82 22 Commands sshd cee A A garde uses ah eee Nes RS Wah ade be Ded 22 Command FOLMACS sd a Wee a ees eS Se es Se ee SS 23 The command CHharacteeis makeus orl la teta le shes tee ara a 23 Changing the command character ooooooooooooooooooo 23 Command P rameteots ssa is matsit jae ai BB SRA er A aise Nes SE 23 Command DESSCTiPELOIS sso y Di AS y AE rE ia E 24 iv EN ry EN ry EN ay MOLES ADO av Sue IN ae AAA AIN H N EW OY SEN AIN AIN 24 AT EAC ae WOM TA TT e aia ayia e aan EPS ela e tasa 25 Expression B NE avses oon heb ieee a eee eg a Sen es 25 ONDEONE EMO AS ed Sw BEG ces A A Kasi APE kielet SESE 25 Formant Ereguency CAE se ts E E eine E tle o s Hans 25 Speed NS susa cesta eo S A a OORT TERN A 25 Pay TIP acd Tete ee Re Saale facta dive SS ds Seales eth ee a a Ad ide Be Bad 26 VO lUMmE OV ysr en eis bene A A A lls He aoe a SRS meets 26 TOHO TIN maa E A o ae ate 26 REVERED xc MARI South sde Place A TA oS NAT E e Guha ye Ad 26 Punctuation Filter 0B a sek ewe SeA ees ee ee Be oes OE 26 TMS Ot Del
10. Hardware Wizard Click Next 2 The wizard should now be asking you if you want Windows to search for your new hardware Click the No button then Next 3 In the Hardware types list box click on Sound video and game controllers then Next 4 You are now shown lists of manufacturers and models Click on the Have Disk button 5 In the File name text box type A DRIVERS WIN95 and click the OK button 6 Choose the type of DoubleTalk you have from the Models list box then click OK 7 Click the Finish button to install the file If you have DoubleTalk PC and changed the port address jumper setting during installation you will need to change the setting in System Properties Device Manager DoubleTalk PC Resources accordingly RC SYST E n N DOUBLETALK PC LT What s Next Now that you have your DoubleTalk installed and have verified that it is working you re probably wondering what software and or drivers need to be installed In most cases the answer is none Use the following checklist to help you determine what if any software needs to be installed from the Utilities disk 1 I will be using DoubleTalk with a screen reader program other than IBM Screen Reader Install and configure your screen reader for DoubleTalk With the exception of IBM Screen Reader all screen reader programs install their own DoubleTalk driver These inclu
11. Wi languages tex memory an this featu NOT E Installing D DTPRN is i DRIVE where lt por thru COM4 DRIV E If no por During ins ndows based programs t to be spoke ng printer TS k s TTS syn COM1 is a resident R program that enables your programs to thesizer as a printer LPT1 LPT3 or COM4 This enables most DOS and such as word processors and programming municate with DoubleTalk by simply printing the n to the port DTPRN requires only 700 bytes of be loaded into upper memory on machines supporting ng the DOS LOADHIGH command ions port to com d can re usi DTPRN will not work with native Windows 95 98 applications It only works in a Windows 95 98 DOS shell Windows 3 1 and standard DOS environments A version of DTPRN which works with native Windows 95 98 applications is available for use with the DoubleTalk PC contact RC Systems for details TPRN nvoked from the DOS command line by typing the command RS DTPRN lt port gt N Cx R t gt is one of the seven system ports LPT1 thru LPT3 or COM1 For example DIPRN can be installed as LPT2 by typing RS DTPRN LPT2 or LPT2 specification is given DTPRN will install as LPT3 tallation DTPRN will initialize DoubleTalk if DoubleTalk cannot be procedure RC SYST Gl located in the computer DTPRN will abort the installation and notify you as such ET DOUBLETA
12. located in the WAVE subdirectory enables DoubleTalk to play Wave WAV files from Windows based applications When the driver has been installed your DoubleTalk PC or LT will be compliant with Windows programs supporting sound Follow these steps to install the sound driver Windows 3 1 1 Open the Drivers icon in the Windows Control Panel 2 Inside the Drivers window click the Add button and choose Unlisted or Updated Driver 3 In the text box type A DRIVERS WAVE and click the OK button If your Utilities disk is in a drive other than A substitute the appropriate drive letter 4 Click the OK button to install the driver 5 Configure the driver for your DoubleTalk per the instructions below Windows 95 1 Open the Add New Hardware icon in the Windows Control Panel This will bring up the Add New Hardware Wizard Click Next 2 The wizard should now be asking you if you want Windows to search for your new hardware Click the No button then Next 3 In the Hardware types list box click on Sound video and game controllers then Next 4 You are now shown lists of manufacturers and models Click on the Have Disk button 5 In the File name text box type A DRIVERS WAVE and click the OK button If your Utilities disk is in a drive other than A substitute the appropriate drive letter 6 Confirm that RC Systems DoubleTalk Wave is display
13. printer When selecting the SPEECH printer in Word make sure you choose the same port that DTPRN is using LPT3 if you followed the suggestion given above in Word s Printer Options setup When you print a document to the SPEECH printer DoubleTalk always begins speaking with the voice parameters set to the following values Fmt Freq 5 Pitch 50 Speed 5 Dictionary Disabled RC SYSTI 13 DOUBLETALK PC LT E n The SPEECH printer also recognizes seven font attributes and acts upon them as shown in the following table Font Attribute Voice Change Underline Low volume Dbl underline High volume Strike thru Low pitch Italics High pitch Subscript Slow speed Superscript Fast speed Bold Use dictionary The reason a command was included to use or not Bold as ttribute English exception dictionary foreign languages as well a in your use DoubleTalk s is to enable you to use documents This has proven to be of great potential in classroom e to set up talking foreign language lessons teacher is able con taining both English and foreign words and phrases nvironments where the To set up such a system for Spanish and English for example follow these steps 1 Run DTPRN COM 2 Load the Spanish dictionary SPANISH EXA into DoubleTalk 3 Run Word This procedure can be automated by crea the
14. the DoubleTalk LT note that it will initially be set up for port COM1 If your DoubleTalk LT is connected to a port other than COM1 you must change Screen Reader s port setting with the SRDUTIL utility program The following Special codes have been included in the DTPC TTS and DTLT TTS files RC SYSTI 15 DOUBLETALK PC LT E n AA1 Disable exception dictionary AA2 Enable exception dictionary AA3 Bass AA4 Treble AA5 Forman frequency 3 AA6 Formant frequency 5 normal AA7 Formant frequency 7 AA8 Monotone no intonation AA9 Inflected automatic intonation Note that Special codes 1 and 2 may be used to switch between English code 1 and a foreign language code 2 such as Spanish Of course you may re assign any DoubleTalk commands you wish to the Special codes using the SRDUTIL program that came with your Screen Reader hen Screen Reader initially loads it looks in the current directory for a user exception dictionary named SRD EXA If the file exists it is automatically loaded into DoubleTalk This is the easiest way to make Screen Reader speak in a foreign language to speak in Spanish for example simply copy the SPANISH EXA file to your Screen Reader directory and rename it SRD EXA It is not necessary that the dictionary be present for Screen Reader to function SSIL driver A number of Windows based screen readers and scann
15. to be changed anytime such as for identifying text attributes italics bold underline etc Voices are selected with the commands 00 through 70 as shown in Table 1 Note that because this command alters numerous internal voice parameters pitch tone etc it should precede any individual voice parameter commands n Voice Name 0 Perfect Paul default E Vader 2 Big Bob 3 Precise Pete 4 Ricochet Randy 5 Biff 6 Skip 7 Robo Robert Table 1 Voice Selections for the blind often send to DoubleTalk This can completely negate any voice with your screen reader try S adjusting its pitch command to restor RC SYST Gl 24 the desired voice some DOUBLETALK PC LT screen readers allow you to do this permanently by editing one of its parameter files check your screen reader documentation for details Articulation nA This command adjusts the articulation level from OA through 9A Excessively low articulation values tend to make the voice sound slurred very high values on the other hand can make the voice sound choppy In general the articulation should be increased as the speed nS is increased The default articulation is 5A Expression E nE Expression or intonation is the variation of pitch within a sentence or phrase When expression is enabled n gt 0 DoubleTalk attempts to mimic the pitch patterns of human speech For example when
16. A LPC Word Lists File WORDS1 Gender male words 206 Zero three six nine twelve teen thousand A adjust alpha area B break C cancel charlie clock control D degrees direction down By electrician exit F fast flow from G gauge golf H high I inspector J K RC SYSTI E n 16 12 19 15 39 148 46 139 20 187 21 TIS 51 152 108 33 179 191 183 40 109 116 21 78 117 194 28 118 52 34 158 41 120 22 29 one four seven ten had ol twenty abor aler amps at FECHA between button calibrate caution check complete crane danger delta display east enter fail feet foxtrot gallons get green henry hold inch intruder juliet kilo 13 147 97 110 149 151 189 1 76 178 102 190 61 48 76 154 192 155 193 50 130 195 119 53 196 81 159 131 169 35 two five eight eleven fif hundred about all and automatic bravo call change circuit connect cycle days device door echo equal farad fire frequency gate go hertz hours india is 11 18 14 10 79 112 173 70 49 74 63 140 141 75 114 153 115 47 TT 174 100 156 157 80 136 188 92 146 DOUBLETALK PC LT lima easure icro illi otor 3 3 3 3 N november O ohms operator over P
17. EXE after copying DTPC TTS rename as SRD TTS after copying DoubleTalk LT SRDPROG EXE Screen Reader version 1 1 ONLY DTLTASYN EXE rename as SRDASYNC EXE after copying DTLT TTS rename as SRD TTS after copying An installation program SRDINST BAT is included in the IBMSRD subdirectory which will copy the necessary files for you automating the above process To use the installation program type A lt Enter gt CD DRIVERS IBMSRD lt Enter gt INSTALL type path lt Enter gt Gl where type is the synthesizer type pc or 1t and path is the drive directory of where your Screen Reader software is installed For example INSTALL LT C SRD12 lt Enter gt will install the DoubleTalk LT driver in directory SRD12 on drive Csi Screen Reader version 1 1 has a bug in the program file SRDPROG EXE which degrades Screen Reader s performance with DoubleTalk This file should be replaced with the SRDPROG EXE file included in the IBMSRD directory but ONLY if you have Screen Reader version 1 1 The bug was fixed in Screen Reader version 1 2 Do NOT replace the SRDPROG EXE file shipped with version 1 2 or the program will become non functional The INSTALL program will update this file for you automatically if appropriate If you are setting up Screen Reader for use with
18. LK PC LT If an error occurs during the installation of DTPRN such as the use of an invalid port name DoubleTalk wasn t found or DTPRN is already resident an error code is returned to the program that invoked DTPRN This code can be processed in a batch program using the IF ERRORLEVEL command so appropriate action can be taken The following is a summary of the return codes returned by DTPRN DTPRN was successfully installed no errors DTPRN is already resident An invalid port name was specified Too many or invalid parameter s DTPRN still loads Incompatible version of DOS must be 2 0 or later DoubleTalk could not be located 01 amp W ND H O During operation DTPRN intercepts the appropriate BIOS software interrupt vector 14h for COM ports or 17h for LPT ports Therefore programs that bypass the BIOS interrupts by accessing the port s hardware directly as some terminal programs do will not speak since DoubleTalk will never receive the output characters Disabling DoubleTalk s buffer The optional command line switch N is used to disable DoubleTalk s text buffer This can be beneficial in applications where it is important that the voice stay synchronized with the text being read from the screen Removing DTPRN from memory DTPRN can be removed from memory by typing DRIVERS DTPRN R Removing DTPRN from memory frees the 1000 or so bytes of RAM that it uses as well as allow the pri
19. Talk contains a programmable timer which will force it to translate its buffer contents after a predetermined time interval The timer is enabled only if the Timeout parameter n is non zero DoubleTalk is not active not talking and the input buffer contains no CR or Null characters Any characters sent to DoubleTalk before timeout will automatically restart the timer The Timeout parameter n specifies the number of 200 millisecond 0 2 sec periods in the delay time which can range from 200 milliseconds to 3 seconds Table 3 The default value is 0 which disables the timer n Delay 0 Indefinite wait for CR Null L 200 milliseconds 2 400 milliseconds 15 3000 milliseconds 3 sec Table 3 Timeout Delays 27 DOUBLETALK PC LT E n Load Exceptions L This command purges DoubleTalk s exception dictionary and stores subsequent output from the host in DoubleTalk s exception dictionary RAM Because the memory used by the dictionary is the same physical RAM used by the input buffer the space available for the input buffer is decreased proportionally by the size of the dictionary The dictionary can be purged from DoubleTalk with the Reinitialize command or by loading a null dictionary file into DoubleTalk Both methods reallocate the memory space occupied by the dictionary to the input buffer Exception files must be compiled into the internal format used by Do
20. ZOO J aGe ZH viSion K Cute space variable pause KX sKi medium pause L Long E long pause Table 5 Synthesizer Phonemes Normally used between words duration determined by nT command Phoneme attribute tokens RC SYSTI Table 6 lists the voice attribute tokens that can be used in the Phoneme mode in addition to the standard DoubleTalk commands These tokens do not require the command character or any parameters As indicated in the table the and tokens temporarily increase and decrease the pitch by m steps Besides being temporary the difference between using the pitch tokens and the Pitch command nP 30 DOUBLETALK PC LT E n is that the effective pitch range is extended beyond the normal 0 99 range by approximately 20 steps and if the pitch should fall out of range it will simply bottom or top out instead of wrap around All other phoneme attribute token commands remain in effect until explicitly changed Symbol Function nn Set pitch to nn 0 99 Increase pitch m steps Decrease pitch m steps Increase speed 1 step Decrease speed 1 step Increase volume 1 step lt Decrease volume 1 step v Table 6 Phoneme Attribute Tokens Step size determined by nE command m 2 5n Applications of Phoneme mode Phoneme mode is useful for creating customized speech when the normal text to speech modes are inappropriate for producing the desired voice ef
21. a later step to secure the DoubleTalk board in place Hold press board inser the DoubleTalk board firmly at the top edges and firmly the gold connector into the expansion slot Make sure the is firmly seated in the slot with the gold connector fully ted The board will fit only one way in the slot Using compu the screw removed in step 3 secure DoubleTalk in the ter by reinstalling the screw in the retaining bracket Replace the computer s cover and plug in the power cord Plug t bracke jack he supplied speaker into the jack in DoubleTalk s retaining t Locate the volume control shaft just above the speaker and adjust it to about the mid point of its movement Later you may want to further fine tune the volume but setting it at the midpoint now insures you don t accidentally attempt to use DoubleTalk with the volume turned all the way off Turn on the computer and run the test program supplied on the DoubleTalk Utilities disk Do this by inserting the disk in drive A and typing the following DOS commands A T ter gt Enter gt RC SYST Gl DOUBLETALK PC LT NOT E If you are running a screen reader program at the time the test program is run the test may report that DoubleTalk couldn t be found This is because the screen reader and test programs are fighting each other for control of DoubleTalk Be sure to disable your screen reader soft
22. a sentenc nds with a period the pitch drops at the end of the sentence a question mark will cause the pitch to rise he optional parameter n determines the degr of intonation OE rovides no intonation monotone whereas 9E is very animated ounding 5E is the default setting If the parameter is omitted he current last set value will be used This is useful for re nabling intonation after a Monotone command 0 4t0 H Monotone M This command disables all intonation expression causing DoubleTalk to speak in a monotonic voice Intonation should be disabled whenever manual intonation is applied using the Pitch command or phoneme attribute tokens Note that this command is equivalent to the OE command Formant Frequency nF This command adjusts the synthesizer s overall frequency respons vocal tract formant frequencies over the range OF through 9F By varying the frequency voice quality can be fine tuned or voice type changed The default frequency is 5F Speed nS The synthesizer s overall rate speed of speech can be adjusted with this command from 0S slowest through 9S fastest The default speed is 5S MS 25 DOUBLETALK PC LT RC SYST Gl Pi Vo To Re RC tch nP This command varies the synthesizer s pitch over a wide range which can be used to change the average pitch during speech production produce manual intonation
23. ally removing DTPRN from memory To run SPANISH BAT SPANISH lt Enter gt NOT ea Spanish dic reader firs If a screen reader program is used with the tionary be sure to start the screen t before running SPANISH BAT the scr Otherwise dictionary Keep in mind that whe DoubleTalk and enable pronunciation to all text is actually Span switch to the normal DoubleTalk and the E when it i n the Spa n Y niti d DoubleTalk will ader will purge the alizes DoubleTalk text it r ish or no cei English pronunciation rules built nable Exceptions U command to switch back to Spanish Configuring SSIL based nish dictionary is loaded into apply Spanish rules of by EXA to DoubleTalk type ves regardless of whether the screen readers for Spanish t Use the Text mode command into AT to Windows screen reader programs utilizing the SSIL standard can be easily adapted to Spa nish 1 Locate the screen reader s SSIL INI file usually C WINDOWS SSIL IN RC SYST E n Els DOUBLI ETA LK PC LT 2 Using any text editor standard text 3 Note the following lin The Dictionary e Dictionary none or word processor that can save files as or ASCII files load the SSIL INI file dictionary to load during startup where the SPANISH EXA file is located For example if you installed the
24. aracter operating mode The optional delay parameter n is used to create a variable pause between characters Values between 0 the default and 15 provide pauses from shortest to longest respectively Values between 16 and 31 provide the same range of pauses but control characters will not be spoken If the delay parameter is omitted the current value will be used and the exception dictionary will be disabled 29 DOUBLETALK PC LT RC SYST E n Phoneme Mode D This command disables the text to phonetics translator allowing DoubleTalk s phonemes to be accessed directly Table 5 lists the phonemes that can be produced by DoubleTalk When concatenating two or more phonemes each phoneme must be delimited by a space For example the word computer would be represented phonetically as K AX M P YY UW DX ER Phoneme Example Phoneme Example Symbol Word Symbol Word A dAs Spanish Me AA cot N New AE cAt NG TUNG AH cUt NY niYo Spanish AW cO O nO Spanish AX bottom OW bOAt AY bite OY POY B BiB P POP CH CHurCH PX sPot D DiD R Ring DH eiTHer RR tRes Spanish DX ciTy S Sell E sEr Spanish SH SHell EH bEt T Tin EI mEsa Spanish TH THin ER bIRd TX sTick EW actEUr French U Uno Spanish EY bAke UH book F Fee UW boot G GaG V ValVe H He W We I lIbro Spanish WH WHen IH bIt Y maYo Spanish IX rabbit YY You IY bEEt Z
25. ate listening through the headphones The speaker s volume control can be used to adjust the listening level xcessive nois If you are experiencing coming through the headphones all PCs generate some noise some are worse than others try the following increase the volume by adjusting the volume control on the DoubleTalk card and compensating by reducing the volume level the speaker s volume control with DoubleTalk LT To set up DoubleTalk LT follow these steps 1 Plug the cord that is attached to the back of DoubleTalk into a serial RC SYST E n COM port in your computer DOUBLETALK PC LT RC Plug the AC adapter that came with DoubleTalk into any convenient wal outlet power jack at the back of DoubleTalk the plug in hard it s designed to be a tight fit NO If you will be using headpho k in the front of DoubleTalk monaural type A stereo mono adapter must be used if you are the sound will be heard from only one jac the usi ear Tur T ia DoubleTalk L alkaline bat or more dep level etc to replace t battery comp vibrations You may use though a bat will be expe plugged into ng stereo headphones n the small black wheel i hear a small click con wor headphones is properly connected unplugging them and turn DoubleTalk s power off and back on you hear the power on may hav headphone jack mutes t
26. ay AY fae ae a oak oy a te aiaa SMe sien vt caver aie Se 27 Load Exceptions TN id suus es aoe ss ien dto Sunes is ares h WEES e Sree oe Sue 28 Enable Exceptions U res iw aed pear we mei K Gees eee e aN 28 R einitralize U oi fines E Agee Ru 3 wien EE A N ose 28 Zap Commands 2 oros weed weds wae Eee we OS Ta ee Bes 28 DIME Generator AA wis weit wees Sete we eS a BROS OR ees 28 Ton Generators I II nevada soe keene be eR ek eed weeds 29 Text Mode Delay T nT s s esti ekle Ke E a eee N 29 Character Mode Delay C C a Met BORE i ti vai 29 Phoneme Mode MD simaa KAMINA IN EIE EES SN EISA ALK Is 30 Phoneme attribute EOokons ssa M use K ae a a eee a 30 Applications of Phoneme mode o o oo ouk eee eee ee ee eee 31 Sleep Timer MO ape ite Simtek yi eet Me rte ep t t Mere t A N 31 PCM Mode HELT a Kam S NI A ENIN ER A ANKAN TIMAR NEET I 33 Protocol Options NG simm t arar EM T E Taa 33 index Marker 0I ss susa BM le Rea a Eo Se E Rasa A le Se ate ee S 33 EME ESTE OGACS 2 maaten e le olds Me GOS N STi hee IEN cola LOS LSS RR a kea OE Nv 33 Clear KEOnEtTOL X Bless T ee A Sia hae ws de ee a nade A eta Eh 1 14 33 Command Summary seca ei nesi NS 34 DIXA seee e A nae ae a a e ea a ole ese a a e aE a ede e n NS 35 LLE NOKAT ES TiS nes aee dise o Sivas io ts Sues ia ide Sue 35 DE BA So Sas AA eases 8 BSS AA See Gee Bs Sel ee ees Pet eA ie ss 38 DoubleTalk LT Cable Connections susa sa mu
27. d clears the input buffer of all text and commands None of the synthesizer settings are affected but any untranslated commands will be ignored Note that the format of this command is unique in that the command character Control A is not used with it The Control X 18h character is written directly to DoubleTalk s I O port which enables DoubleTalk to react immediately even if its input buffer is full To be most effective the states of DoubleTalk s handshaking signals should be ignored when writing the Clear command RC SYST Gl MS 33 DOUBLETALK PC LT Command Summary Table 8 is a summary of t he commands supported by DoubleTalk Command Function Range Default nA Articulation 0 9 5 nB Punctuation filter 0 15 6 C nc Character mode delay 0 31 0 D Phoneme mode E nE Expression 0 9 9 nF Formant frequency 0 9 5 nG Protocol options 0 63 2 ni Index marker 0 99 J nJ Musical sine tone generators 0 99 L Load exception dictionary M Monotone nO Voice 0 7 0 nP Pitch 0 99 50 nQ Sleep mode LT only 0 31 6 nR Reverb 0 9 0 ns Speed 0 9 5 T nT Text mode delay 0 15 0 U Enable exception dictionary nV Volume 0 9 gt nX Tone 0 2 1 nY Timeout delay 0 15 0 Z Zap commands Reinitialize a Interrogate TN DTMF generator 0 16 Non buffered PCM mode n Buffered PCM mode 0 99 Table 8 Command Summary RC SYSTEMS 34 DOUBLETALK PC LT APPENDIX
28. de all text sent to DoubleTalk are spoken as complete sentences Punctuation is also taken into consideration by the intonation generation algorithms DoubleTalk will not begin speaking u t ntil it receives a CR 0Dh or Null 00h character this ensures hat sentence boundaries receive the proper inflection This is the default operating mode Character mode This mode causes DoubleTalk to translate input text ona character by character basis i e text will be spelled instead of spoken as words DoubleTalk does not wait for a CR Null in this mode Phoneme mode RC SYST This mode disables DoubleTalk s text to phonetics translator allowing DoubleTalk s phonemes to be directly accessed Phonemes in the input buffer will not be spoken until a CR or Null is received MS 21 DOUBLETALK PC LT Gl Translation Accuracy Because DoubleTalk must handle the highly irregular spelling system of English as well as proper names acronyms technical terms and borrowed foreign words there inevitably will be words that it will mispronounce If a word is mispronounced in your application there are three techniques available to you for correcting it 1 Respell the word for the desired pronunciation 2 Redefine the way the word should be pronounced by creating an exception for it in DoubleTalk s exception dictionary This method allows words to be corrected without having to modify the original text and it au
29. de ASAP ASAW JAWS JAWS for Windows Vocal Eyes Window Eyes Tiny Talk and OpenBook You do not need to install anything from the DoubleTalk Utilities 2 I will be using DoubleTalk with IBM Screen Reader IBM Screen Reader does not directly support DoubleTalk you must install the necessary drivers from the DoubleTalk Utilities disk see DoubleTalk Drivers IBM Screen Reader below for installation instructions 3 I want to use DoubleTalk as a Windows sound card In order for DoubleTalk to play sounds from Windows applications the Windows sound driver must be installed See DoubleTalk Drivers Windows sound driver below 4 I want to be able to use DoubleTalk as a talking printer in DOS and Windows 3 1 applications See DoubleTalk Drivers Talking printer below 5 I want to use DoubleTalk with software written for the IBM Speech Adapter See DoubleTalk Drivers IBM Speech Adapter emulator below 6 I want to use DoubleTalk with programs published by Davidson See DoubleTalk Drivers Davidson drivers below 7 I want DoubleTalk to be able to speak in Spanish See Speaking Spanish below RC SYST E n DOUBLETALK PC LT UTILITIES The Utilities disk that came with your DoubleTalk contains a number of useful and fun programs They can be run directly from the floppy disk they came on or from your hard disk if you ran the INSTALL program during
30. ds virtually any computer with a standard eight or 16 bit slot also known as a PC AT or ISA slot will work with DoubleTalk PC No interrupts IRQ s DMA or system memory is used by DoubleTalk PC Try to find another add in card nowadays that can claim that DoubleTalk LT DoubleTalk LT requires only a serial port operating at 9600 baud 8 data bits 1 stop bit and no parity 9600 N 8 1 The connecting cable is designed to be plugged into a standard 9 pin serial connector found on most PCs RC SYST E n W DOUBLETALK PC LT INSTALLATION DoubleTalk PC Installing DoubleTalk PC in your computer is easy Before you begin be sure you have the following An open 8 bit or 16 bit system expansion slot on your computer s motherboard MS DOS or PC DOS Version 2 0 or later present in your computer A medium screwdriver or 3 16 nut driver or wrench Then follow these steps Turn off t Attempting computer s board and he power to the computer and unplug the power cord to install a board in the computer while the power is on can cause permanent damage to both the the computer Remove the cover from your computer Refer to your computer s owner s guide if you are not sure how to remove its cover Choose any empty expansion slot and remove the small metal cover by removing the retaining screw with a screwdriver or nut driver Be sure to keep the screw you ll use it in
31. e current volume is 4 it will i cuted The command 2V will ha will be decreased by two u the value of a parameter falls out ue will wrap around instead of be current volume is 7 and the comma me will be 7 4 FOr or Ty S u n writing application programs for t relative parameters be used for ributes such as raising the pitch olute parameter commands only once tialization routine This way 1f t be changed it only needs to be tine nd Descriptions ncrease to 6 after the command ve a similar effect except th side the command s range the ing truncated For example if nd 4V is issued the resultant nce the volume range is 0 9 DoubleTalk it is recommended temporarily changing voice of a word using in the program s the base value of an attribute changed in the initialization This section describes the software commands supported by DoubleTalk With the exception of the Volume command these commands onl y affect the text to speech synthe sizer Some programs voice control commands change the way a voice sounds change you might make such as screen readers such as pitch If this happen or even Voice no DoubleTalk s TTS synthesizer has eight standard voices to choose from as well as a number of individual voice controls that can be used to independently vary the voice characteristics The Voice command enables DoubleTalk s voice
32. eTalk is connected to COM1 COM2 COM3 or COM4 For example SSIL Device DoubleTalk Port coml will properly configure the driver for DoubleTalk LT connected to COM port 1 Case is not significant COMl is the same as comi as far as the driver is concerned Be sure to save the modified file if you made any changes Davidson drivers The two drivers in the DAVIDSON subdirectory enable DoubleTalk PC to work with DOS based programs from Davidson For Windows based Davidson programs use the Windows driver in the WINDOWS subdirectory When installing the Davidson software for use with DoubleTalk PC choose any one of the supported sound devices in the installation program If you want to follow the examples in the following steps choose the Covox driver Then follow these steps 1 Locate the batch file used for starting the program in the directory of your hard disk that the program was installed The file name will be the same name you type to start the program with a BAT extension For example the correct batch file for Zoo Keeper is ZOOKEEP BAT 2 Using any text editor such as EDIT that comes with DOS load he batch file located in step 1 and locate the line that loads he sound driver This is usually the second or third line and tains the word SOUND thr letters dependent on river chosen during installation If you chose the Covox driver hen you installed the program you w
33. fect For example Phoneme mode should be used to change the stress or emphasis of specific words in a phrase This is because Phoneme mode allows voice attributes to be modified on P f honeme boundaries within each word whereas Text mode allows hanges only at word boundaries This is illustrated in the ollowing program examples 100 A CHR 1 105 LPRINT A D A M 110 LPRINT 70H AW D gt EH R lt YY UW S P lY K T UW M IY DH AE T W EY Note in line 105 that expression is disabled since the pitch variations due to the internal intonation algorithms would otherwise interfere with the pitch tokens Compare this with the same phrase produced in Text mode with expression enabled 100 AS CHR 1 105 LPRINT AS T AS E 110 LPRINT How dare you speak to me that way Phoneme mode is also useful in applications that provide their own text to phoneme translation such as the front end of a custom text to speech system Sleep Timer nQ This command places the DoubleTalk LT in a nearly powered down state in order to help conserve battery power the command has no effect on the DoubleTalk PC If you tend to forget to turn off your RC SYST Gl MS 31 DOUBLETALK PC LT DoubleTalk at the end of the day or during lunch breaks for xample the Sleep mode timer can be used to turn it off automatically DoubleTalk doesn t actually turn completely off it en
34. ffer 5220 and D6 data formats 2 speeds 8 kHz sampling rate PCM Synthesizer PCM ADPCM 8 bit mono 4K sample buffer 100 sampling rates 4 kHz to 11 kHz 10 volume levels CVSD Synthesizer 32 kbps sampling rate Audio Output Internal speaker 8 ohms 0 5 W Headphones 1 8 monaural jack 75 ohms 3 H Syste RO Requirements non System DMA Requirements non System Memory Requirements non System I O Reguirements One serial port 9600 baud 8 data bits 1 stop bit no parity RTS CTS handshaking Power Consumption 75 mA maximum active at min volume 25 mA standby 4 mA sleep AC adapter or 9 V alkaline battery Size 75 3 4508 XK LS Weight 11 oz without battery RC SYSTI E n 41 DOUBLETALK PC LT
35. following echo off drivers dtprn if errorlevel 2 goto type spanish exa gt lp word Exit Exit t3 commands ECH asterisk sed with the SP DoubleTalk DTPRN above can also be u F ting a batch file similar to described in the section printer IBM Speech Adapter emulator INT4DAPI COM is a DoubleTalk with a designed to type INT4DAPI at t installed prior to sm nu he DOS prompt INT4DAPI can be re INT4DAPI R Software that has been tested and known IBM s Bouncy Bee Learns Letters Bouncy Read RC SYST 14 Gl work with IBM s Speech Adapter Note that INT4DAPI must be running the talking software and Hartley Courseware s Project S all TSR program which enables you to use mber of talking educational software programs To install it simply moved from memory by typing to work with INT4DAPI is Bee Learns Words Writing to tar and Brick by Brick DOUBLETALK PC LT series Not tested but probables are IBM s Measurement Time amp oney and Hartley s Money Series IBM Screen Reader The files in the IBMSRD subdirectory enable DoubleTalk to work with the DOS IBM Screen Reader program After installing the Screen Reader choose any synthesizer when prompted copy the appropriate files to the Screen Reader directory as follows DoubleTalk PC SRDPROG EXE Screen Reader version 1 1 ONLY DTPCASYN EXE rename as SRDASYNC
36. haracter from to amp To disable DTPRN s command recognition altogether use C by itself For example DRIVERS DTPRN LPT1 N C E installs DTPRN as LPT1 with the buffer and command recognition both disabled Note that even when DTPRN s command character has been changed or disabled commands can still be issued to DoubleTalk using DoubleTalk s command character A Stopping speech production You can momentarily silence DoubleTalk by pressing the left and right Shift keys simultaneously Keep in mind however that this action will not terminate the file being printed to DoubleTalk you must stop the printing of the file from the application program usually by pressing the Escape key or Control C Pressing the Shift keys only purges the text currently in DoubleTalk s input buffer Word 5 0 talking printer The SPEECH PRD file is a printer definition file for turning DoubleTalk into a versatile talking printer with Microsoft Word 5 0 Simply copy the SPEECH PRD file to your Word directory and a new printer named SPEECH will appear in Word s Print Options printer list NOT E The printer emulator DTPRN described in an earlier section must be installed in order for Word or any other word processor for that matter to read its files through DoubleTalk We recommend that you install DTPRN as port LPT3 so as not to interfere with your real
37. ill find a line that says her DRIVERS SOUNDCVX or simply SOUNDCVX O 15 032300 to H ct kay you ve made it this far Now here s the tricky part March 1993 Davidson changed the way their programs work with und drivers due to a conflict with Sony CD ROM drives This ade it necessary for us to supply two versions of essentially he same driver SOUNDDBL EXE for post March 93 program eleases and SOUNDDBT EXE pre March 93 O D B430H0O hat you ve got to do now is take your best guess as to which of he two drivers will make your Davidson program happy and change he name of the driver located in step 2 to SOUNDDBL or SOUNDDBT s well as copy the corresponding driver from the DoubleTalk tilities disk to the directory of drivers in the Davidson rogram If you choose the wrong one you simply won t get any ound through DoubleTalk In this case install the other driver nd try again Another clue that you gambled wrong is if you THT aw tts RC SYST E n 17 DOUBLETALK PC LT s the message No sound driver loaded when quitting the program Of the five DOS based Davidson programs we found in our archives we found Reading Adventures in Oz and Zoo Keeper to work with SOUNDDBT EXE Likewise SOUNDDBL EXE worked with Word Attack 3 Spell It 3 and Kid Keys Windows sound driver The Windows sound driver
38. ing in the Models list box then click OK 7 Click the Finish button to install the driver 18 DOUBLETALK PC LT RC SYSTI E n Configuring the sound driver Immediately after installing the sound driver a setup dialog box will appear The left half of the box lists the six possible 1 0 addresses for the DoubleTalk PC COM ports for DoubleTalk LT DoubleTalk 29E is the factory default for DoubleTalk PC T setting can be changed later in the Windows 3 1 Control Panel Windows 95 if necessary or the Multimedia icon i Note that performance is somewhat limited with the DoubleTal since all of the digital sound data must be pumped out your computer s serial port works Speaking Spanish not a very efficient arrangement the right half lists the possible Check the appropriate box for your his using the Drivers icon n bu Teaching DoubleTalk how to speak in Spanish is quite simple special exception dictionary is included on the Utilities disk the Spanish language t it A defining the letter to sound rules for The Spanish dictionary is provided in the file named SPANISH EXA which need only be loaded into DoubleTalk How it actually gets loaded varies depending on the program that will be using it The batch file SPANISH BAT is designed to automate the procedur running the DTPRN pro gram transferring SPANISH and fin
39. ing of the command parameter n to the buttons on a telephone is shown in Table 4 28 DOUBLETALK PC LT RC SYST E n The pause tone is used to generate the inter digit delay in phone number strings The generator s output level can be adjusted with the Volume nV command DTMF commands are buffered and can be intermixed with text for the TTS synthesizer without restriction n Button 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 pause O O UP O Table 4 DTMF Generator Tone Generators J nJ DoubleTalk s tone generators are activated with these commands The operation of the tone generators are beyond the scope of this manual but are described in detail in the Developer s Tools Text Mode Delay T nT This command places DoubleTalk in the Text operating mode The optional delay parameter n is used to create a variable pause between words The shortest and default delay of 0 is used for normal speech For users not accustomed to synthetic speech the synthesizer s intelligibility may be improved by introducing a delay The longest delay that can be specified is 15 If the delay parameter is omitted the current last set value will be used and the exception dictionary will be disabled This feature is useful for returning from another operating mode or disabling the exception dictionary see Enable Exceptions command Character Mode Delay C nC This command puts DoubleTalk in the Ch
40. ing programs use what is known as the Speech Synthesizer Interface Library or SSIL standard When you install one of these programs on your E e omputer the appropriate DoubleTalk SSIL driver is installed with he program An Open Book Unbound ASAW and JAWS for Windows are xamples of such programs The files in the SSIL subdirectory are meant to replace the older SSIL DoubleTalk drivers which probably came with your program They correct some bugs in the older drivers and add new functionality To update your drivers perform the following steps 1 Copy the two files from the Utilities disk SSIL subdirectory SSIL INI and DUBLTALK DLL to your Windows directory usually C WINDOWS If you have DoubleTalk PC you re done If you have DoubleTalk LT proceed to step 2 2 Using any text editor or word processor that can save files as standard text or ASCII files load the SSIL INI file from your Windows directory 3 Note the following three lines in the beginning of the file SSIL Device DoubleTalk Port Internal The Port entry tells the SSIL driver how your DoubleTalk is connected to the computer If this entry is not set correctly it RC SYST E n 16 DOUBLETALK PC LT will very likely cause your computer to hang when the driver is used The default setting is for the DoubleTalk PC Port Internal If you have a DoubleTalk LT change the Port entry to the port Doubl
41. iption of he problem when returning any RC Systems product for warranty service kee OO TO W You may request additional information about this warranty by contacting the RC Systems dealer from whom the product was purchased or by contacting RC Systems directly This warranty applies only to products manufactured by RC Systems RC Systems does not warrant any products that are not RC Systems products This warranty does not apply if the product has been damaged by accident abuse misuse or misapplication has been modified without the written permission of RC Systems or if any RC Systems serial number has been removed or defaced ALL IMPLIED WARRANTIES INCLUDING IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE LIMITED IN DURATION TO TWO YEARS FROM THE DATE OF ORIGINAL RETAIL PURCHASE OF THIS PRODUCT T THE WARRANTY AND REMEDIES SET FORTH ABOVE ARE EXCLUSIVE AND IN LIEU OF ALL OTHERS ORAL OR WRITTEN EXPRESS OR IMPLIED No RC Systems dealer agent or employee is authorized to make any modification extension or addition to this warranty RC SYSTEMS IS NOT RESPONSIBLE FOR SPECIAL INCIDENTAL OR CONSEOUENTIAL DAMAGES RESULTING FROM ANY BREACH OF WARRANTY OR UNDER ANY OTHER LEGAL THEORY INCLUDING LOST PROFITS GOODWILL DOWNTIME DAMAGE TO OR REPLACEMENT OF
42. izer PCM ADPCM 8 bit mono 4K sample buffer 100 sampling rates 4 kHz to 11 kHz 10 volume levels O to 48 kHz non buffered mod CVSD Synthesizer 32 kbps sampling rate Audio Output 0 5 W 8 ohms Bridge tied live ground dc coupled 1 8 monaural jack RC SYST E n 39 DOUBLETALK PC LT S Syste RO 3 H Reguirements System DMA non Requirements ystem Memory non Requirements System I O Reguirements Power Consumption Size DoubleTalk LT Processor CPU On Board Memory Supported Speech non Two 8 bit ports 25E F 29E F 2DE F 31E F 35E F or 39E F jumper selectable T 75 mA maximum active at min volume 25 mA standby 5 V SEO A O Intel 10 MHz 80C188EB 512K ROM 8K RAM Technologies Tone Generators TTS Synthesizer RC SYST Gl Text to speech TTS Linear Predictive Coding LPC Pulse Code Modulation PCM Adaptive Delta Pulse Code Modulation ADPCM Continuously Variable Slope Delta CVSD 3 musical 2 sinusoidal Touch Tone 3K input buffer 3 operating modes 8 voices 10 speeds 10 formant frequencies 100 pitches 10 volume levels 10 expression levels 10 articulation levels 10 reverb levels 3 tone levels 16 word character delays 16 timeout delays 16 punctuation levels 40 DOUBLETALK PC LT LPC Synthesizer 4K data bu
43. n be loaded is 32K PCM This window allows you to play back digitized sounds which have either PCM or ADPCM encoding A number of sample data files are ncluded on the disk You can manipulate the playback sampling rate with the Rate field note that by default the sampling rate is automatically set to the rate at which the sounds were originally recorded The volume is controlled by the TTS synthesizer s volume parameter in the TTS window The largest data file that can be loaded is 256K H 10 DOUBLETALK PC LT RC SYST E n TGN This wi ndow activates DoubleTalk s musical tone generators Simply load one of the sample tone generator data files from the disk and press t playbac 16K Doubl ne k at anytime Play button Press the Cancel button to cancel the The largest data file that can be loaded is eTalk s sinusoidal generators are not accessible through this wi DoubleTal ndow Drivers The DRIVERS directory of the Utilities disk contains files which enable DoubleTalk to operate with a number of programs include a text from Wave dri sound These talking printer driver which enables DoubleTalk to read your favorite word processor or text editor a Windows ver which brings your Windows based programs alive with and others more specific to certain application programs that you may have Talki D DTPRN COM access DoubleTal communicat
44. nother command character and then back again Changing the command character The command character can be changed to another control character 01h 1Ah by sending the current command character followed by the new character To change the command character to Control D for example issue the command Control A Control D To change it back issue the command Control D Control A It s generally a good idea to change the command character if the forthcoming text contains characters which may otherwise be interpreted as command characters and hence commands The command character can be unconditionally reset to Control A by sending Control 1Eh to DoubleTalk while operating in the Text Character or Phoneme modes Command parameters Command parameters are composed of one or two digit ASCII numbers DoubleTalk supports two types of parameters absolute and relative Absolute parameters explicitly specify the parameter s new value such as 9S or 3B Relative parameters specify a displacement from a parameter s current value not the actual new value itself Relative parameters can specify either a positive or negativ displacement from a parameter s current value For example the Volume command 2V increases the current volume by two V 2 gt V RC SYST Gl MS 23 DOUBLETALK PC LT If has vol EE val the vol he ha tt bs ni mus rou H amp oct Comma the x m
45. nter or communications port assigned to DTPRN to function normally again Sending text and commands Any combination of text and commands can be sent to DoubleTalk via DTPRN Note however that DoubleTalk will not begin speaking until it receives at least one Carriage Return 0Dh or Null 00h except when in Character mode Additional text may be sent while DoubleTalk is speaking A special feature of DTPRN is the way in which it handles DoubleTalk commands DoubleTalk itself accepts only a control character for its command character A by default see Commands below which can be somewhat difficult if not impossible to enter in some applications such as a word processor For this reason DTPRN has been designed to also accept an asterisk as the command character besides the standard A character A so called asterisk command must be followed by an alphanumeric character or G to be considered a valid command by DTPRN Examples of valid asterisk commands are 8s 3E 10P RC SYST Gl MS 12 DOUBLETALK PC LT If the text being read contains asterisk characters you may find DoubleTalk s voice changing unexpectedly if the characters following an asterisk evaluate to a valid command For this reason DTPRN allows you to change its command character to any other printing character with the optional Cx command line switch For example C amp changes the command c
46. passed plus power probe Q R red right S service sierra south stop T test timer unit volts west RC SYSTI E n 35 54 42 160 137 175 83 23 132 30 138 91 123 36 200 124 101 86 43 24 111 165 3 180 171 204 105 37 128 144 44 143 25 129 32 168 38 45 26 left line machine mega mike minus move north number of on oscar papa percent point press pull guebec range repair romeo safe set slow speed switch tango the tool under up valve wait whiskey x ray yankee zulu 197 67 106 98 93 64 122 161 184 199 107 170 59 85 186 201 125 94 202 103 133 203 88 166 89 181 56 58 167 90 145 182 71 172 57 96 135 36 light low manual meter mill minutes off open out pass pico position pressure push ready repeat seconds shut smoke start temperat time turn uniform victor watts yellow 177 82 121 60 198 150 65 68 84 185 162 99 163 62 164 87 126 142 127 he 66 ure 104 69 205 95 134 59 206 DOUBLETALK PC LT File WORDS2 Gender words the J a m 4 o clock 7 three 10 six 13 nine 16 twelve 19 fifteen 22 eighteen 25 thirty 28 good 31 evening 34 RC SYSTEMS time p m one our seven ten thirteen sixteen nineteen forty morning
47. pause LI 14 17 20 23 26 29 32 30 is oh two five eight eleven fourteen seventeen twenty fifty afternoon 12 15 18 21 24 221 30 33 DOUBLETALK PC LT APPENDIX B DoubleTalk LT Cable Connections Table B 1 RC SYST Gl Figure B 1 DB9 F Connector Jumpered together in cable Cable Connections 38 Pin No Symbol Description Direction 1 NC No Connection 2 TXD Transmit Data Output 3 RXD Receive Data Input 4 DSR Data Set Ready Input 5 SG Signal Ground O DTR Data Terminal Output Ready 7 NC No Connection 8 RTS Reguest To Output Send 9 RI Ring Indicator Output DOUBLETALK PC LT APPENDIX C Specifications DoubleTalk PC Processor CPU Intel 12 5 MHz 80C188EB On Board Memory 512K ROM 8K RAM Supported Speech Technologies Text to speech TTS Linear Predictive Coding LPC Pulse Code Modulation PCM Adaptive Delta Pulse Code Modulation ADPCM Continuously Variable Slope Delta CVSD Tone Generators 3 musical 2 sinusoidal Touch Tone TTS Synthesizer 3K input buffer 3 operating modes 8 voices 10 speeds 10 formant frequencies 100 pitches 10 volume levels 10 expression levels 10 articulation levels 10 reverb levels 3 tone levels 16 word character delays 16 timeout delays 16 punctuation levels LPC Synthesizer 4K data buffer 5220 and D6 data formats 2 speeds 8 kHz sampling rate PCM Synthes
48. rself This is because most programs prevent the commands from reaching DoubleTalk virtually becoming a brick wall between you and DoubleTalk Many talking programs however usually provide an indirect means of changing DoubleTalk s attributes via some sort of voice menu or command system This restriction does not apply however if you are printing files from a program to DoubleTalk RC SYSTEMS 22 DOUBLETALK PC LT Gl via DTPRN Although DTPRN is essentially a program capable of blocking commands it was specifically written to pass commands on to DoubleTalk Furthermore DTPRN enables you to use an asterisk or other user defined character as the command character besides Control A see discussion below Command formats All DoubleTalk commands are composed of the command character a one or two digit ASCII parameter n and an ASCII character which uniquely identifies the command Some commands simply enable or disable a feature of DoubleTalk these commands do not require a parameter The command formats is lt command character gt lt n gt lt letter gt The command character The default DoubleTalk command character is Control A 01h The command character itself can be spoken by DoubleTalk by sending it twice in a row Control A Control A This special command allows the command character to be spoken without affecting the operation of DoubleTalk and without having to change to a
49. s determining which punctuation characters will be spoken and which will not the punctuation filter also determines how number strings will be read SYSTI E n 26 DOUBLETALK PC LT n Punctuation Spoken All Most all but CR LF Space Some S amp lt gt None W D H O Table 2 Base Punctuation Settings The values of n listed in the table cause number strings to be read a digit at a time e g 0123 zero one two three Adding 4 to these values n 4 7 causes number strings to be read as numbers 0123 one hundred twenty three N 6 and 7 also cause currency s i E s trings to be read as they are normally spoken for example 11 95 s read as eleven dollars and ninety five cents Finally adding 8 o these values n 8 15 disables leading zero suppression number trings beginning with zero will always be read a digit at a time The default filter setting is 6B Some punctuation Numbers mode leading zero suppression on Timeout Delay nY RC SYSTI The Text and Phoneme modes of DoubleTalk defer translating the contents of the input buffer until a CR or Null is received This ensures that text is spoken smoothly from word to word and that the proper intonation is given to the beginnings and endings of sentences If text is sent to DoubleTalk without a CR or Null it will remain untranslated in the input buffer indefinitely Double
50. s installing DoubleTalk are contained in the first part of the manual The more complex and usually boring to non programmer types subjects are left to the latter parts of the manual which you may skip entirely if you wish In particular the manual enters the Twilight Zone in the section entitled Operational Description and it never really does return to reality after that However should you have difficulty falling asleep some night For the serious user software developer or otherwise deranged person a DoubleTalk Developer s Tools disk is available from RC Systems It is not a product for the novice user or faint hearted as it is quite technical in nature it uses words like bits and I O ports Topics covered include Using the exception dictionary amp compiler Using DoubleTalk s LPC and PCM modes Wave PCM file conversion utility Programming DoubleTalk s tone generators Hardware interface with example driver source code QuickBASIC QB Basic PDS 7 QBX and C libraries Programming with the DTPRN and INT4DAPI drivers Programming tips RC SYST Gl MS 2 DOUBLETALK PC LT SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS DoubleTalk PC DoubleTalk PC will work with an IBM PC XT AT 386 486 Pentium PS2 25 PS2 30 or any of the many compatibles on the market DoubleTalk PC will not work in computers equipped with Microchannel style slots such as the PS2 80 In other wor
51. saa Bae He SEES OES s 38 DERA AC E O a eae Late ah eae SETE La NEON SA eas a Ease 39 SPSCLEIOATISONS gea gar AS AS eco ended GUE ae a 39 Doubletatlk PC agit DES Wa eke A a Amato ea 39 DoubleTalk LT wei see EK ee Ee we ON See wR eS eS E 40 INTRODUCTION DoubleTalk is virtually all text to speec IBM compatibl a voice synthesis sound system which supports of the voice technologies in use today including h TTS LPC PCM ADPCM and CVSD With it your e computer will be able to speak to you from your own programs as well as many programs specifically written for voice or sound includ written for t the DoubleTal mong DoubleT 20 Kbytes of nd LPC decod here s even emanding tas nes do As a demanding ta power than a ing Windows based multimedia programs Most programs he older Echo speech synthesizers will also work with k LT alk s features are a built in 16 bit microprocessor on board memory integrated text to speech converter ing processor all of which leave your computer s an advanced power management system built in less ks use less power than more computationally intensive matter of fact when DoubleTalk is doing the least sk of sitting idle it consumes about 500 times less typical 60 watt household light bulb A 5 a resources completely free for running your application programs T d o There are many ways you can use your DoubleTalk synthesizer If you write yo
52. t window can be activated by licking on it with the mouse or using the PgUp and PgDn keys The LPC window controls DoubleTalk s LPC synthesizer the PCM window controls the PCM synthesizer and so on Inside each of these windows are various parameter fields or hotspots so named because they are activated whenever they are clicked on with the mouse Each of these fields performs a specific function such as setting the text to speech synthesizer s speed or pitch or loading a data file If you don t have a mouse you can select each field in turn by repeatedly pressing the Tab key The Shift Tab key RC SYSTI E n o DOUBLETALK PC LT combination works similarly except it moves through the fields in the opposite direction Each field also has a corresponding hotkey designated by the highlighted letter in the field s name To select a field in this manner press and hold the Alt key and the corresponding letter key e g Alt S selects the TTS synthesizer s Speed field Alt L loads a data file and so on After a field has been selected its value can be changed in any of several different ways If you have a mouse pressing the right button will decrease the field s value pressing the left button will increase its value If you prefer to use the keyboard the right and left arrow keys can be used to increase and decrease the field s value in one step increments the up and do
53. ters a low power state which consumes about one tenth the power it ould otherwise An audible reminder tone can even be programmed to ound every ten minutes to remind you that you have left DoubleTalk n Ons The sleep timer is reset anytime DoubleTalk is accessed from your computer such as when reading In this way DoubleTalk will not shut itself off during normal use as long as the programmed timer interval is longer than the maximum time DoubleTalk is inactive The S a 1 leep timer is also disabled when DoubleTalk is running from the AC dapter i e the timer runs only when operating from DoubleTalk s internal battery Once DoubleTalk has entered Sleep mode it can be woken only by turning the power off and back on The serial port control signal DTR is forced to its not ready state when DoubleTalk is asleep preventing application programs from attempting to send DoubleTalk any more data Just before going to sleep DoubleTalk emits the ASCII character S from the serial port which the host computer can use to detect DoubleTalk s sleep state The command parameter n determines when Sleep mode will be entered You can place DoubleTalk in Sleep mode immediately program the sleep timer to any of 15 ten minute intervals 10 to 150 minutes or disable Sleep mode altogether Table 7 summarizes the Sleep mod command n Delay 0 Sleep timer disabled 1 10 min 2 20 min
54. tomatically corrects all instances of the word 3 Use DoubleTalk s Phoneme mode The first technique is the easiest way to fine tune word pronunciations by tricking DoubleTalk into the desired pronunciation Among the more commonly mispronounced words are compound words baseball proper names Sean and foreign loan words chauffeur Compound words can usually be corrected by separating the two words with a space so that baseball becomes base ball Proper names and foreign words may require a bit more creativity so that Sean becomes Shon and chauffeur becomes show fur Heteronyms words with identical spelling but different meanings and pronunciations can also be modified using this technique For example if the word read is to be pronounced as reed instead of red respell it reed Commands The commands described in the following pages provide a simple means of controlling DoubleTalk under software control They can be used to vary voice attributes such as the speed or pitch to suit the requirements of a particular application or your listening preferences Commands are also used to change operating modes Commands can be freely intermixed with the text that is to be spoken allowing the voice to be dynamically controlled Commands affect only the text that follows them in the text stream NOTE DoubleTalk commands can generally be used only with application programs that you write you
55. ubleTalk before they can be used A compiler program is included on the Developer s Tools disk for performing this task The topic of writing exception dictionaries is somewhat complex for the averag sane user and is therefore left to the Developer s Tools Enable Exceptions U The exception dictionary is enabled with this command If DoubleTalk is in Phoneme mode or if an exception dictionary has not been loaded the command will have no effect The exception dictionary can be disabled by issuing one of the mode commands D T or C Reinitialize This command clears the input buffer see Clear command and restores all of the voice parameters to their default settings The exception dictionary memory is also cleared and reallocated to the input buffer Zap Commands Z This command prevents DoubleTalk from honoring subsequent commands enabling it to read commands as they are issued Any pending commands in the input buffer will still be honored The only way to restore command recognition after the Zap command has been issued is to write Control 1Eh or perform a hardware reset DIMF Generator n The DIMF Touch Tone generator generates the 16 standard tone pairs commonly used in telephone systems Each tone pair generated by DoubleTalk is 100 ms in duration more than satisfying the telephone Signaling requirements this can be extended to 500 ms with the Protocol Options command The mapp
56. uld hear the ker or he AC adapter try If ker now you nto the to allow private nd run the test program supplied on the Do this by inserting the disk in drive the test may This n reader and test programs DOUBLETALK PC LT Utilities Installation The Utilities disk includes an installation program for copying DoubleTalk s utility programs to your hard disk If you would like to copy the utilities to your hard disk type A INSTALL and follow the instructions on the screen NOTE The INSTALL program simply copies the utilities files to the directory you specify on your hard disk None of your programs or setup information will be modified on your computer Also DoubleTalk s operation does NOT depend on the utility programs being copied to your hard disk Windows 95 98 System Registration DoubleTalk does such a good job of being unobtrusive to your computer that other hardware may not notice it and render DoubleTalk inoperable This is particularly true of Plug and Play devices An information INF file is included in the DoubleTalk Utilities DRIVERS WIN95 directory which will make Windows 95 98 DoubleTalk aware It is recommended that you install this file as soon as you install DoubleTalk in your system it can even be installed beforehand if you prefer Here s how to do it 1 Open the Add New Hardware icon in the Windows Control Panel This will bring up the Add New
57. ur ow Commercial pr well as many DoubleTalk W also be used n programs you can easily add voice output to them ograms specifically written to work with DoubleTalk as that work with IBM s Speech Adapter can be used with indows based applications supporting digital sound can communication DoubleTalk is text based programs with voice output There s even a program on the included Utilities disk that allows you to install DoubleTalk as a talking printer or s device enabling you to read files from many also supported by virtually all of the major screen reader programs that give blind users access to their computers RC SYSTI E n 1 DOUBLETALK PC LT ABOUT THIS MANUAL This manual covers both the DoubleTalk PC and DoubleTalk LT voice synthesizers DoubleTalk PC is a card that plugs into a standard PC AT eight or 16 bit slot in your computer DoubleTalk LT is an external stand alone version of DoubleTalk PC that plugs into a serial port of your computer instead of an internal slot This can be beneficial when you need to share DoubleTalk with more than one computer or where an internal slot is not available as in many laptops and notebooks DoubleTalk LT can also be used with non DOS based computers such as the Apple II family and Macintosh We have attempted to write this manual as concisely and clearly as possible The subjects of interest to everyone such a
58. ware before running the above test to avoid this situation In the rare event that your DoubleTalk board does not pass the above test re check your work the above instructions to a silly mistake making sure DoubleTalk is installed per Usually a mute DoubleTalk can be pinpointed such as the speaker not being plugged in or the volume control on the card or speaker being turned all the way down If you still cannot above suggestions black plas DoubleTalk t When moving the connector n to right addresses left side used when address is the only configurable aspect of DoubleTalk doesn t use DMA or IRO s get any sound out of DoubleTalk after trying the try changing its port address by moving the small tic connector located at the lower left edge of the board to a different pair of pins on the jumper block make sure it remains oriented from left DoubleTalk requires two adjacent 1 0 the hexadecimal numbers printed on the the jumper block indicate the first base address black connector is placed in that position The 1 0 since it address is 29Eh not up and down in your computer of the The factory set configuring DoubleTalk to use addresses 29Eh and 29Fh As a last HINT resort try using another speaker if one is available If headphones are plugged into the speaker s headphone jack the speaker will be muted to allow priv
59. wn arrow keys do so in larger steps To return to the text entry box press Enter or click anywhere inside the box The F9 key will cause an Info box to be displayed indicating how many LPC and PCM words and sounds are currently loaded in memory as well as PCM encoding type etc The F7 key temporarily suspends SmartTalk and returns you to DOS without quitting SmartTalk You may use any DOS commands while in this mode The F10 or Esc key exits SmartTalk The four SmartTalk function windows TTS LPC PCM and TGN are described next TTS This window gives you access to DoubleTalk s text to speech synthesizer You can enter any word or phrase you wish and change any of the voice parameters by modifying the corresponding parameter field directly or by typing the equivalent commands in the text entry box A special View mode can be activated with the Mode field enabling you to actually s the phonemes DoubleTalk used to speak the text in the text entry box This can be a valuable tool in choosing the correct phonemes during the creation of an exception dictionary described in the Developer s Tools LPC The LPC window activates DoubleTalk s LPC synthesizer Two sample LPC data files WORDS1 and WORDS2 are supplied A list of the words contained in these files can be found in Appendix A DoubleTalk s T upports 5220 and D6 LPC 10 data formats and two speeds of playback he largest data file that ca
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