I really wish Apple would reduce the lag in some of the other voices as well. I’d love to be able to use Eva again. Also, I just stick to Alex and have done so for a while since he use to be the only voice who could read emojis
> On Feb 8, 2015, at 9:16 PM, Alex Hall <mehg...@icloud.com> wrote: > > Yes, this is Yosemite. As I said in my original message, speech synthesis is > one of the most subjective things about accessibility software. For instance, > I'm in that crazy minority that love ESpeak and KeynoteGold. <smile> >> On Feb 9, 2015, at 12:01 AM, Traci Duncan <our4p...@gmail.com >> <mailto:our4p...@gmail.com>> wrote: >> >> I take it, this new Alex is in Yosimity only? I have consistently used >> Compact Samantha on my Mac. I have mostly found Alex difficult to >> understand after long periods of reading. He seems to blur his words >> together. I was using him on my iPad mini for a while, but ended up going >> back to trusty Compact Samantha. >> >> When I upgrade to Yosimity, maybe I’ll give Alex another whirl. :) >> >> Traci >> PS. Compact Samantha says OS X correctly. As in OS Ten. :) >> >> >> On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:27 PM, Devin Prater <d.pra...@me.com >> <mailto:d.pra...@me.com>> wrote: >> >>> I've had the studdering issue for a while now, but I'd always use Fred and >>> forget about it. >>> >>> Sent from my iPhone >>> >>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 9:04 PM, Alex Hall <mehg...@icloud.com >>> <mailto:mehg...@icloud.com>> wrote: >>> >>>> Thanks for the confirmation, everyone. I never thought I'd say it, but I >>>> plan on keeping Alex as my primary voice for the foreseeable future. Of >>>> course, that's assuming some genius doesn't port ESpeak over to the Mac. :) >>>> >>>> Odd that you're encountering suttering, Devin. Nuance voices would >>>> definitely stutter and lag, even in the latest Yosemite, but Alex has no >>>> such problems. In fact, VoiceOver with Alex is way more responsive, and I >>>> often feel like I have that immediate response the Mac has been lacking >>>> for so long. It used to be that a Windows screen reader had the immediacy >>>> down - hit a key, hear speech, no delays at all - but now the Mac is >>>> getting there too. Alex is the only voice to offer it, though; the Nuance >>>> voices I've tried still have a bit of lag to them in all situations, and >>>> can lag terribly every so often. >>>>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 9:56 PM, Devin Prater <d.pra...@me.com >>>>> <mailto:d.pra...@me.com>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>> The only thing I don't like is that Alex seems to studder and skip a >>>>> little on the mac, but he doesn't do that on the iPhone. So I use Fred on >>>>> the mac because of that. >>>>> >>>>> Sent from my iPhone >>>>> >>>>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:59 PM, Jessica Moss <junglebookfa...@gmail.com >>>>> <mailto:junglebookfa...@gmail.com>> wrote: >>>>> >>>>>> What words did you find he ran together? I use him as my default all >>>>>> the time, and only thing I've found that sounds really weird, is when >>>>>> you try to log in anywhere and go to the usual "remember me," checkbox, >>>>>> when he speaks the "remember me," he sounds like he either has his teeth >>>>>> clenched, or has something in his mouth, which always makes me cringe, >>>>>> and I've always thought it really weird that he sounds like that. >>>>>> On Feb 8, 2015, at 7:41 PM, Alex Hall <mehg...@icloud.com >>>>>> <mailto:mehg...@icloud.com>> wrote: >>>>>> >>>>>>> Hi all, >>>>>>> First, yes, this is about a speech synthesizer, and will thus be very >>>>>>> subjective. I wanted to see, though, if anyone else might have come to >>>>>>> the same conclusion I have. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> I got a Mac in the days of Lion, and quickly switched to the Vocalizer >>>>>>> voices (Serena or Lee, mostly). When we got new ones in Mavericks, I >>>>>>> favored Ava, and she is still among the best voices I know of, except a >>>>>>> couple from Ivona. In testing things for Yosemite, I kept switching >>>>>>> from Ava to Alex, just to see if any problems were being caused by the >>>>>>> use of Nuance voices. I accidentally made a startling discovery: Alex >>>>>>> used to be pretty bad a few years ago, but now, he's quite good. I've >>>>>>> always liked the breathing thing, but Alex would constantly run words >>>>>>> together, mispronounce syllables, and have other small problems that >>>>>>> made him hard to understand, especially at higher speeds. The more I >>>>>>> use him in Yosemite, though, the more I look for reasons to switch back >>>>>>> to Ava, but the more those reasons allude me. Ava misses the period >>>>>>> after certain words, like "app", Alex doesn't; Ava says "capital" >>>>>>> before uppercase letters, although that setting is disabled, and Alex >>>>>>> doesn't; VoiceOver has delays when opening the VO Utility or bringing >>>>>>> up VO menus while using Nuance voices, but with Alex, I find no such >>>>>>> delays; and more. >>>>>>> >>>>>>> So, is it just me, or has Alex gotten way better? I don't mean "better" >>>>>>> in that VoiceOver runs faster while using Alex, although it certainly >>>>>>> does. I mean "better" in that, compared to a few years ago, he's far >>>>>>> clearer when speaking and makes far fewer mistakes. Maybe I'm >>>>>>> misremembering, or maybe I'm the only one to notice, since the change >>>>>>> was likely gradual and thus invisible to those who have used Alex all >>>>>>> along. Either way, I'm interested in hearing your thoughts, and I'm >>>>>>> more eager than ever to obtain a 64-bit iPhone so I can start using >>>>>>> Alex there as well. My only complaint about Alex is that he doesn't >>>>>>> speed up very well - sure, he can go crazy fast, but I find I miss >>>>>>> things at more than 70% speaking rate. Anyway, what do you all think? >>>>>>> If you haven't used Alex in a long time, give him another chance. If >>>>>>> you use him all the time, have you noticed anything? >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> Have a great day, >>>>>>> Alex Hall >>>>>>> mehg...@icloud.com <mailto:mehg...@icloud.com> >>>>>>> >>>>>>> -- >>>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>>>> an email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>>>> <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >>>>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>>>> <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. >>>>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>>>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>>>>> >>>>>> >>>>>> -- >>>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google >>>>>> Groups "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send >>>>>> an email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>>> <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >>>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>>> <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. >>>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>>>> >>>>> >>>>> -- >>>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>>> <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >>>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>>> <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. >>>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>>> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> Have a great day, >>>> Alex Hall >>>> mehg...@icloud.com <mailto:mehg...@icloud.com> >>>> >>>> -- >>>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>>> <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >>>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>>> <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. >>>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >>> >>> >>> -- >>> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >>> "MacVisionaries" group. >>> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >>> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >>> <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >>> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >>> <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. >>> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >>> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >>> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >>> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. >> >> >> -- >> You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups >> "MacVisionaries" group. >> To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an >> email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com >> <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. >> To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com >> <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. >> Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries >> <http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries>. >> For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout >> <https://groups.google.com/d/optout>. > > > -- > Have a great day, > Alex Hall > mehg...@icloud.com <mailto:mehg...@icloud.com> > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "MacVisionaries" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com > <mailto:macvisionaries+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com>. > To post to this group, send email to macvisionaries@googlegroups.com > <mailto:macvisionaries@googlegroups.com>. > Visit this group at 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