I'm about to begin working on an ivr project to do database backed scheduling. I would like to use text to speech in some places. What are the differences in using festival vs. Cepstral? How are they similar, how are they different? Is one really better than the other? How and Why? Thanks, Eric -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20081202/d68d24c7/attachment.htm
In my experience cepstral has always had much nicer sounding voices, but I haven't tinkered too much with either. There is a reason one is pay and one free though J I believe cepstral is still offering demo's, I'd download each and see which one gives you the performance you're looking for. Thanks, Matt G : <http://www.voipphreak.ca> http://www.voipphreak.ca : <http://www.ratemydialplan.com> http://www.ratemydialplan.com : <http://www.asterisk-jobs.com> http://www.asterisk-jobs.com From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Eric Fort Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 3:53 AM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: [asterisk-users] cepstral vs festival I'm about to begin working on an ivr project to do database backed scheduling. I would like to use text to speech in some places. What are the differences in using festival vs. Cepstral? How are they similar, how are they different? Is one really better than the other? How and Why? Thanks, Eric -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20081202/1b78a9a9/attachment.htm
Which non-english language do you have in mind ? Both should differ on this. -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20081202/e640a7f5/attachment.htm
Festival is a free voice that sounds like a machine. Cepstral is a fee based "human" voice ($30 USD per voice per CPU). They are similar in that they both produce mechanically timed output. IMO, you should use festival if this isn't a customer based interface. If it is a CBI, use cepstral and if you don't like it, recreate the wav files it plays (The English language is only based on about 1700 sounds). Cepstral is your choice if your IVR is going to be "asterisk interlaced" since all asterisk voices are "Cepstral Allison" out of the can. _____ From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [mailto:asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Eric Fort Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 2:53 AM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: [asterisk-users] cepstral vs festival I'm about to begin working on an ivr project to do database backed scheduling. I would like to use text to speech in some places. What are the differences in using festival vs. Cepstral? How are they similar, how are they different? Is one really better than the other? How and Why? Thanks, Eric -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... URL: http://lists.digium.com/pipermail/asterisk-users/attachments/20081202/fdb87c55/attachment.htm
Festival sucks. Cepstral sucks less. The End. In my experience, it depends on the specific app, who's paying, and who's going to be the victim, err...user listening to it. This is the difference between domain/context specific phrases/words to pronounce vs. general stuff, a client on a tight budget or not, the users being internal vs. customers/public, and so on. Cepstral is a $30 TTS engine. It's not too bad, but you'll find mostly things like Realspeak deployed in large scale "professional" deployments, such as those used by the "big boys", telcos/banks/airlines. We deployed Cepstral recently for a client, for a phone-in service used by the general public, and I can tell you that there was quite a bit of work in "teaching" it with SSML how to pronounce stuff. Again, it really depends on your specific situation. You should definitely try out those two at least and also ensure that the client/stakeholders are aware of limitations. There's a certain expectation of "it will speak perfectly" these days, followed by disappointment and blame when reality hits them. Regards, -- Erik Caneris Tel: 647-723-6365 Fax: 647-723-5365 Toll-free: 1-866-827-0021 www.caneris.com ________________________________________ From: asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com [asterisk-users-bounces at lists.digium.com] On Behalf Of Eric Fort [eric.fort at gmail.com] Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 3:52 AM To: Asterisk Users Mailing List - Non-Commercial Discussion Subject: [asterisk-users] cepstral vs festival I'm about to begin working on an ivr project to do database backed scheduling. I would like to use text to speech in some places. What are the differences in using festival vs. Cepstral? How are they similar, how are they different? Is one really better than the other? How and Why? Thanks, Eric
-----BEGIN PGP SIGNED MESSAGE----- Hash: SHA1 This has been an interesting discussion about cepstral. My question is why it doesn't appear to be available for 1.6 yet? This thread has piqued my interest in the product but a visit to Digium's website seems to point to it being a product for Asterisk < 1.6. Barry -----BEGIN PGP SIGNATURE----- Version: GnuPG v1.4.5 (GNU/Linux) iD8DBQFJNdMwCFu3bIiwtTARAqqQAJ9mXLMyUCzI+UCiF3/1j4kuGE32ewCgpS2r 8IwCpap3Q1puuP4LZScVV00=4Cdn -----END PGP SIGNATURE-----