Hello, moneyquest!
I have been trawling all over the web and have come up with various
options for you to consider. I know you are anxious to make some
decisions so I wanted to pass on what I have found. Please take your
time looking them over, making some phone calls if you need to, and
decide whether any are suitable. If yes, then great! If not, let me
know how you would like me to narrow down my search and I will be
happy to continue on to see what else is out there.
==
The first example is a real "maybe". I know you want to use your own
voice recording if possible, and though many sites are available which
host your own voice recordings for short website greetings, etc., this
site does allow up to an hour or more of recorded voice. You can also
host the audio on your own site. Therefore, it may be adaptable for
your online training courses, depending on how much audio you want to
include.
=================
MY WEBSITE TALKS
=================
http://www.mywebsitetalks.com/
FAQ's (read all questions and answers for comprehensive information)
http://www.mywebsitetalks.com/faq.htm
Q: What are the recording time limits?
A: You can record a message from a few seconds to over an hour. It
depends on the amount of disk space you have with your hosting
provider. A typical 3 minute voice message is approximately 2
Megabytes large.
Q: Can I try it before I buy?
A: Yes, you can download our free trial here. The trial will allow you
to explore the entire program, and even make some test recordings. In
order to publish your audio files, you'll need to purchase a license.
========================
MACROMEDIA AUTHORWARE 7 (includes text-to-speech capability)
========================
"Produce rich-media courseware for e-learning."
This software may do it all for you. The voice quality may not be up
to the level you want, but I spent quite a bit of time talking to
pre-sales tech support and they assured me that you can import other
voices into the program. You may want to call them yourself to talk
about the options. The technician also told me you could likely import
your own voice into Authorware. Again, it would be best if you call
pre-sales tech support since I had a very difficult time hearing the
technician and didn't have information about your operating system to
answer some of his questions.
Authorware 7
--------------
http://www.macromedia.com/software/authorware/
"Accessible Content"
Generate tab navigation and captions, and ** turn text into speech. **
You can click for a demo at the bottom of the page.
You might also be interested in the E-Learning Suite:
http://www.macromedia.com/software/elearningsuite/
If you are interested in the product, you might want to call customer
service and ask to speak to a pre-sales technical rep for some more
information:
Customer Service
US and Canada:
800-470-7211 (Toll Free)
Outside US and Canada:
+1-415-553-7186
======
PULSE
======
http://www.pulse3d.com/pulse/
(Click on the start arrow to make the "virtual woman" start talking)
Take a look the Pulse "Veepers" technology.
http://www.pulse3d.com/pulse/veepers.html
Veepers IDE
"Veepers Integrated Development Environment (IDE) 4.0 is a local,
CD-ROM based software application containing several integrated
modules. With Veepers IDE, custom virtual characters can be created
from any 2D image, provided with speech via either recorded audio or
(optional) text-to-speech, and integrated into a new or existing Web
page or other application in just a few minutes. Veepers IDE is
intended for enterprise applications such as e-learning, e-CRM and
some forms of online advertising."
Veeper Examples:
http://www.pulse3d.com/pulse/examples.html
* You might be interested in the following article:
"Pulse Shows Text-to-Speech, Automatic Lip-Synching Solution."
http://www.digitalanimators.com/2001/08_aug/news/pulse_sigg.htm
========
ODDCAST
========
http://vhost.oddcast.com/vhost_minisite/index.php?email=0
E-Learning
http://vhost.oddcast.com/vhost_minisite/
(Under Solutions Tab on top, "click on e-learning and training"
"Oddcast is the leader in character driven e-Learning, serving
millions of learning objects each month. This award-winning system
provides a consistent look and feel and an easy-to-use graphical
interface. The Oddcast [V]Host platform has become the authoring
platform of choice by meeting our clients' vision of rapid e-Learning
development and achieving results."
=============
ELAN SPEECH
=============
For Multimedia
http://www.elanspeech.com/applications/applications.html
"Inspiring more efficient, user-friendly work methods. Aid for reading
lessons and for learning languages, for disabled people, talking
characters, proof reading, translation tools, personal assistants,
personal solutions for e-mail and fax reading over the phone, on-line
spoken assistance, talking browsers and more."
Sayso Multimedia
http://www.elanspeech.com/products/fp_sayso_multimedia.html
Listen to Sayso Speech Samples: (good quality-sounds realistic)
http://www.elanspeech.com/demos/sayso.html#us
=
Tempo Multimedia
http://www.elanspeech.com/products/fp_tempo_multimedia.html
Listen to Elan Speech samples (sounds very robotic)
http://www.elanspeech.com/demos/tempo.html
================
INFORMA SYSTEMS
================
Please read the following Press Release about InformaQ software
http://www.informasystems.com/PressRelease2.htm
* "It also includes the ability to add text-to-speech capabilities
through the Microsoft Agent text to speech technology."
Overview:
http://www.informasystems.com/CorporateOverview.htm
* From this page, click on left-hand link for "Advantage Limitations"
to see all the features, including text-to-speech.
Why use us:
http://www.informasystems.com/WhyChooseUs.htm?target=/
Customer Samples:
http://www.informasystems.com/CustomerSamples.htm?target=/
===========
READ PLEASE (This is very similar to your example from Nextup)
===========
"The world's most popular text-to-speech software - and still free."
http://www.readplease.com/index.php
"ReadPlease shatters the myth that computers must sound robotic and
monotonous. Just imagine having web pages and e-mail read aloud to
you. If you are finding there is just too much on-screen reading with
all of this technology, then you will love using ReadPlease."
http://www.readplease.com/rplisten.php
Scroll down to "Natural Voices 16K - Rich"
AT&T Natural Voices
http://www.readplease.com/attdemo.html
I selected US English with Charles because it sounded most natural to me.
You might prefer the UK English version!!
Comparison Chart - See Features of Read Please Plus 2003
http://www.readplease.com/rpcompare.php
Order Page
http://readpleasestore.com/Browse_dept_items.asp?Shopper_id=244811322042448&Store_id=204&Page_id=17&categ_id=4&parent_ids=0
Basic download is free. CD-ROM version plus AT&T natural voices are extra.
==
To read more about AT&T Natural Voices, and phone contact numbers, see:
http://www.wizzardsoftware.com/voice/voicetools/naturalvoices_product.asp
http://www.wizzardsoftware.com/voice/voicetools/naturalvoices_ttsdatasheet.asp
===
I hope one or more of these options is workable! However, please
don't hesitate to ask for further help if you don't find what you
want. You are a pleasure to work with and I want you to find a
solution that will work for your company.
Sincerely,
umiat
Google Search Stratey
e-learning software text to speech
text to speech software
recording your voice to use on website
designing e-courses with speech component
adding speech file to text files
talking e-courses |
Clarification of Answer by
umiat-ga
on
16 Jan 2004 07:59 PST
Hello, moneyquest!
I have continued to research options for you and came across a UK
company yesterday that you might want to contact. The company is AZAM
International Technologies. Their website is located at www.azamit.com
"The powerful voice recording and management solution for improving
communication, avoiding misunderstandings and enhancing productivity."
I sent an email to the company, describing your desire to incorporate
your own voice recording into online courseware. I was sure to mention
that you might need to import a great deal of speech as opposed to
just a line or two. I am excerpting part of the email I just received:
"Azam can definitely be used to record voice for constructing online
courses. Azam also allows you to use pre-defined templates so that the
construction of the course can followed as planned . Also with the use
of Index Comments students can quickly and easily move to the part of
the course that requires revision. (a bit like jumping to a specific
track on a music CD) Azam is an audio recording software tool but
not a voice
recognition system. Furthermore Azam was not designed to import vast
amounts of text (small amounts, approx 250 chars, can be cut and
pasted into the keywords area of a recording for searching purposes.)
I would suggest two methods for using Azam in the manner planned:
1) If most of the lesson can be the actual recording of the tutor(s), with a
few lines of text, then Azam is perfect for the job.
2) If you need lots of online or printed documentation for course
participants, then it is best to create the lecture on Azam, index it, and
use the index names or keywords area to point the student to other
attachments such as PowerPoint or PDF files. An example can be seen on our
education page (screenshots link). It shows a history lesson being recorded,
but instead of using the keywords as shown, you could put comments such as
'For further documentation on The Trojan Horse refer to section 7 of your
course notes." (Please refer to http://www.azamit.com/recordlesson.htm for
the screenshots)
===
If you would like to contact the company, it is suggested that you
email the sales department at sales@azamit.com. I have listed further
contact information below:
Contact Information and emails:
http://www.azamit.com/contactinfo.htm
Azam International Technologies Limited
PO Box 9
High Wycombe
Bucks
HP11 2ZQ
England
Company Number: 4689764
==
umiat
|
