iGuidance 4 - TTS voice engine

Hi all, and thanks for creating this GPS forum.

I've read several threads on other forums in regards to iGuidance tweaks and mods, however the answer the this question is still out there

I like the full TTS option but would like to "force" IG to let go of the synthesized Samantha and use a better voice I have installed on the XP default speech.

IG is using it's TTS software from this folder:

C:\iNav iGuidance\ScanSoft\RealSpeakSolo\speech\components

So - Is there any way to make this work ?

Thanks

Hi Mister,

Welcome to Laptop GPS World.

I doubt very much anyone is going to find a workaround to force iGuidance 4 to use either a Window's built-in TTS voice, or another developer's TTS engine. Perhaps you could try to go to the website of the developer of RealSpeak Solo to see if they have free demo download of voices, and then try to substitute different voice files for the existing ones. I think there is a reasonable change it may work.

Hi Marvin, Thanks
I really admire your contribution to the GPS community and the forum looks nice and clean.

I am still looking for better RealSpeak voices. and then will try to use them.
I've already replaced the Snd files folder with my favorite voice.
Unfortunately every time Samantha joins the conversation she gives me the shivers LOL
Another problem is that Quebec has French street names that she (or any other English voice) mispronounces (by a mile) so the perfect combo would be
- Good Snd files in English and a French chick to announce the street names.

I'm on it

Heather (US English) from Acapela is the best I could find so far.
And non of the RealSpeak voices is as good.

Demos here: http://www.nextup.com/index.html

I've tried installing and replacing the files in the ScanSoft folders to no avail.

Not sure how it's installed and working:
- IG is using "Samantha" from the "RealSpeakSolo" Folder
- The second folder RealSpeakSolo4 contains "Jill" files that IG doesn't use ???
Simple replacement probably won't work without tweaking the IG exe (?)

I'm not sure, Mister, I've never played with it for too long myself. I just simply disabled the TTS, and opted for pre-recorded human voices only (just like it used to be in previous iGuidance versions). I'm happy with that. It can be done via the Registry, or with iGkeys.

Sent an email to iNav in regards to this "issue" and asked if there is a solution in the making to have a choice of TTS engine.

This is the reply from iNav:

~~~~~~~~~~

Hi :
Unfortunately, the TTS engine we use pronounce everything phonically, and since we only offer iGuidance voice in English, all the voice guidance will seem to be speaking in English for French street names. Unfortunately, at the current time, we are unable to customize it at individual level. However, there has been discussion of the need to add Frensh voice guidance but we don't know when that would materialize. yet.

We apologize for the inconvenience.
Customer Service
www.inavcorp.com

~~~~~~~~~
(They kinda missed my point so I replied):

Thank you for the reply.

There is no need to customize the software individually to allow other languages. All you need to do is allow IG to use the windows default TTS engine rather then IG specific TTS

When giving this option any user can use his own preference of voice AND language.

Thanks for trying.
~~~~~~~~~

No further reply on that.....

Thanks for sharing that! Yes, I think it would be a welcome feature, to be able to simply select a voice from Windows Control Panel > Speech > Text-To-Speech. The default Microsoft Sam or Microsoft Anna don't sound great, but people who desire better voices could just buy them from various vendors.