TextToSpeech Kit

• Platform: NeXT Computers
• Description: The TextToSpeech Kit does unrestricted conversion of English text to synthesized speech in real-time. The user has control over speaking rate, median pitch, stereo balance, volume, and intonation type. Text of any length can be spoken, and messages can be queued up, from multiple applications if desired. Real-time controls such as pause, continue, and erase are included. Pronunciations are derived primarily by dictionary look-up. The Main Dictionary has nearly 100,000 hand-edited pronunciations which can be supplemented or overridden with the User and Application dictionaries. A number parser handles numbers in any form. A letter-to-sound knowledge base provides pronunciations for words not in the Main or customized dictionaries. Dictionary search order is under user control. Special modes of text input are available for spelling and emphasis of words or phrases. The actual conversion of text to speech is done by the TextToSpeech Server. The Server runs as an independent task in the background, and can handle up to 50 client connections.
• Misc: The TextToSpeech Kit comes in two packages: the Developer Kit and the User Kit. The Developer Kit enables developers to build and test applications which incorporate text-to-speech. It includes the TextToSpeech Server, the TextToSpeech Object, the pronunciation editor PrEditor, several example applications, phonetic fonts, example source code, and developer documentation. The User Kit provides support for applications which incorporate text-to-speech. It is a subset of the Developer Kit.
• Hardware: Uses standard NeXT Computer hardware.
• Cost:
  • TextToSpeech User Kit: $175 CDN ($145 US)
  • TextToSpeech Developer Kit: $350 CDN ($290 US)
  • Upgrade from User to Developer Kit: $175 CDN ($145 US)
• Availability: Trillium Sound Research
  1500, 112 - 4th Ave. S.W., Calgary, Alberta, Canada, T2P 0H3
  Tel: (403) 284-9278 Fax: (403) 282-6778
  Order Desk: 1-800-L-ORATOR (US and Canada only)
  Email: TTSInfo@trillium.ab.ca

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