2016-09-18 20:23:06

Hi,
I created an eloquence 4.7 addon for nvda. Please note, if you are using the eloquence 3.3 addon, switch to a different synthesizer and restart nvda before using the eloquence 4.7 addon. http://grossgang.com/tts/synthesizers%2 … nvda-addon

2016-09-18 20:44:59

Oh, hey Datajake! This is just nice! if I'm not wrong, this version of eloquence was the one used with JAWS 3.5 or 3.2, I don't know. Its just nice to have this version of eloquence as an NVDA addon, ad least for my taste.
The spanish voices sounds quite similar to the actual eloquence we have right now, but heck, you can feel the difference in the way it pronounces sertain things, especially in the english voices. UH by the way! its nice how it pronounces your username hwehehehe!

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. he gives to the human being complete joy and happyness. Why don't you receive him today?

2016-09-18 21:18:57 (edited by Riad 2016-09-18 21:22:13)

Oh hello there. The add-on is great, I really missed the voices I used with jaws 3.5 back in 2002. I even think this is one of the IBM via voice versions which you posted a while ago as SAPI4. Keep it up! The add-on rocks!
I even noticed you can change the head size and roughness, and that has been never implemented in a previous NVDA add-on I think.

2016-09-18 21:30:04

what's the difference between this one and the one that we already had? I'm not actually sure what I'm using though because it just says eloquence

"You know nothing of death... allow me to teach you!" Dreadlich Tamsin
Download the latest version of my Bokura no Daibouken 3 guide here.

2016-09-18 21:54:35

This one is the one used in Jaws versions 3.3 through 4.0, when the new version was introduced.

2016-09-18 21:54:38

Well it has some spelling differences, don't know why the American 4.7 one sounds a bit British when pronouncing the R, but other than that, it doesn't crash whenever a crash word is used on it, and plus it will no longer be able of making its legendarhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhry urhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrhrrhrhrh, but that won't affect you unless you wanna hear them on purpose big_smile
Finally, it had less languages, at that time they haven't implemented the Canadian French, Brazilian Portuguese and Finish. You will be able, however, to change the voice's roughness and head size in the 4.7 version. The English version is similar to the actual one, but some languages have changed a bit. It's an intermediate between the old 3.3 eloquence and the actual one, though more similar to the latter.

2016-09-18 21:59:00

What's even more interesting is you can type embedded commands like v12, v13, or v14, but it wraps around.

Oh no! Somebody released the h key! Everybody run and hide!

2016-09-18 22:28:01

this is the version used by versions 3.3 to 3.5 of jaws. prepare to back in time to the final days of Doctor Jaws.

be a hero and stop Coppa now!
https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Dkm … DkWZ8/edit
-id software, 1995

2016-09-19 01:09:47

Please relax while Dr. Jaws examines your system. This may take a couple of minutes. *spinning wheels*

Oh no! Somebody released the h key! Everybody run and hide!

2016-09-19 01:16:39

How legal is it? It doesn't matter how old it might be, if it isn't properly licensed, it's still software piracy, which I thought wasn't permitted on these forums.

2016-09-19 06:35:40

uh, Jees I'm planning to do something with this and upload to any audio hahaha, the person posting the doctorJAWS thinngy gave me an idea.
And, actually as spanish is my native language I tested, and I did not found any differences at all. Its just that it doesn't reads sertain things aproppriately, and for some very odd reason it reads some letter  combinations as achronims.
Other than that, this is just cool! and, you can notice a the  a lot in the english versiondifference

Jesus Christ is the way, the truth and the life. he gives to the human being complete joy and happyness. Why don't you receive him today?

2016-09-19 12:00:53

@Figment: from what I understand, the guys behind eloquence don't seem to be updating it anymore, it was companies like code factory that approached them and licensed it for mobile. I'm not even sure what's happening, desktop wise. I think the NVDA creators have, basically, said, use the addons at your own risk but if you record a podcast with NVDA, don't use the voice. Unfortunately, I have no full on proof right now though and wish I knew what the full story is.

2016-09-19 14:59:39

As far as I know, Eloquence is owned by Nuance, and it doesn't matter whether they are maintaining it or not, it isn't abandoned, so a license to use Eloquence with NVDA would be needed for it to be legal.

The remark about not recording a podcast with itseems to be an indication that this copy of Eloquence isn't legal.

2016-09-19 21:05:51

I still wonder how much of a pain in the neck it was to code Eloquence.

2016-09-19 21:55:24

@figment, I contacted nuance to ask them to let me sell these old eloquence versions for maybe $4 or $5. and you know what? they basically laughed in my face. so you know to be honest if they want to be jerks about it then fine I'll use your unsupported eloquence versions just out of spite. come on nuance you guys are not supporting these old eloquence versions anymore just let us use them or at the very least let me sell them for $5 or so so that way you can say you are getting something for them.

2016-09-19 22:53:56 (edited by Figment 2016-09-19 22:58:25)

@Draq

I would Imagine that writing a TTS engine that does a fairly good job producing intelligible speech isn't something for even intermediate level programmers to tackle.

I consider myself to be an advanced level developer and I wouldn't have even the faintest idea of where to begin such a project.

@joshknnd1982

While Nuance's response may have been rather rude, Eloquence is still their intellectual property, and their response doesn't justify using it without a valid license.

2016-09-20 14:35:32

well all we can hope for then is that someday soon nuance will decide to make eloquence abandonware. or that espeak klatt voices will be improved a bit.

2016-09-20 14:51:19

@figment, question though... my dad has several old vehicles he bought from someone else or someone else bought for him way back in the early 1960s. They are mostly dodge vehicles I think. Is he breaking Dodge's copyright by taking those vehicles apart and rebuilding them so they work better than they did before? I'm sure if he took them to a dodge dealership today the people there would tell him, we don't support this model car anymore, so if you can fix it up and run it then do so but we won't support you on it. Why won't nuance do the same with their old unsupported eloquence versions? If my dad has the freedom to tinker with old cars and stuff. then why can we not have the same freedoms when it comes to tinkering with old software maybe making it run on modern systems if we can? And since ;it seems we currently do not have such freedoms legally. then I think laws really really need to be changed.

2016-09-20 14:58:06

Ahoy there

99% of the people don't really mind topics and softwares like these, at least I've seen topics similar to this one and hell the eloquence addon for nvda was initially posted by the developer or their friend on here without people having issues with
it.

at figment,
I won't argue/debate  with you when it comes to terminology and such, all I have got to say I have already in the sapi5 eloquence topic as it relates to you.

No eloquence sapi4.7 or older addon is sold, or newer for that matter,and that works as well as the modified eloquence, so nothing is being cracked and no one but a fat arsed corp who doesn't give a shit might be getting hurt,not even that because they refuse to sell. hell a product doesn't even exist to be sold, on top of that this is just for fun, and even the NVDA developers and contributers do not mind,so the forum doesn't,either

With that unpleasantness out of the way, I think I'm using the automatic language switching addon for nvda, will installing this one create any issues?
I hadn't even started using a computer back in the years of jaws 6 to 3 or whatever it was, the first I remember using was 7 I think.
So I have no clue how different or better eloquence was back then, and this should prove interesting, if nothing else!

Of all sad words of tongue or pen, the saddest are these, ‘It might have been.
Follow me on twitter

2016-09-20 15:53:46

This is a perfect example of one of the reasons why I've chosen to keep using JAWS and not to become a member of the NVDA user's community.

For the sole reason that you don't like Nuances attitude, you believe that justifies stealing their product. I'm sorry, but nothing that Nuance might have done justifies stealing from them, and I can't be a part of a community that willingly supports such illegal activities.

The reason Nuance no longer maintains Eloquence is because their Vocalizer Expressive voices superceeds it. Even Freedom Scientific feels that way, the primary reason they haven't removed Eloquence from JAWS is because it is the voice most users are used to.

2016-09-20 15:57:11

Hi guys, how to check which version of eloquence I am using for my NVDA? Downloaded this one and will try it soon. Oh, JAWS 3 exist few years before I started high school,just learning to use computer.

2016-09-20 16:13:20

I myself haven't been into software piracy in over a decade, and mostly, I agree with Figment here. For products that are currently supported and available, I  either choose to buy the product, or I choose not to buy it. For products that aren't currently supported, though, I won't say no to using them, if I don't have to patch the product, or download a key generator. The thing is, there is no DRM of any kind on the Eloquence DLL, so if you can figure out how to interface to it, you can use it. Sort of like my views on downloading movies and TV shows with description, instead of buying them. I can't buy what they won't sell.

2016-09-20 22:14:17

This is how I, personally, think things should work. Note that I know they don't work like this, and I'm sure there are some problems with this reasoning.

If a company discontinues or abandons a product and doesn't sell it to another company so it can be distributed, then people should be allowed to redistribute the product as long as it isn't being done for commercial gain. That part might be rather difficult to enforce though. I imagine all the copyright laws are there so people can make money from what they produce as that's how some people make a living. If they're no longer providing the product, then I see no real reason why they should have a problem with someone else copying it provided they're not making any money doing so. If they want money from it, then they should license someone else to distribute it.

If a company wishes to take legal action against people distributing a product under the above terms, then they should be required to distribute the product again. It seems only fair to everyone involved.

2016-09-21 16:00:14

That's great
I've always wanted to know how versioning worked, and how it differed from the previous add-on. I know not what version I have.
I'm also curious as to how the production was made.

Ulysses, KJ7ERC
She/they
Reedsy

2016-09-21 16:04:30

I remember when I first started using the Windows version of JAWS, at the state school for the blind, back in 5th grade. That was JAWS version 3.2, and Eloquence was really different back then. That must have been Eloquence 3.3. It'd be interesting to use that version with NVDA, just for the hell of it. Haha.