HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech\Voices\Tokens While the entry for Microsoft Anna was in a completely different branch: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\Speech\Voices\Tokens While looking for "Microsoft Mike" within the registry (not visible in the standard TTS config window, but visible in the WoW64 version), I found an entry in this branch of the registry: All I saw there was the same Microsoft Anna default voice, which to me was no good, so I did someĭigging on my own, and found this bit of information:
Until I went back to the Control Panel>Speech Recognition applet afterwards.
It is possible that TextAloud ($29.95) could also be used at the base program, but I haven't tested this approach.Loquendo base plus Kate is reported to be about $600.īy trying the method outlined above, I was able to change the default voice. This is the cost per computer for small volume licensing.
We obtained Heather by purchasing Acapela Group's InfoVox Desktop Pro base program with three voices for $190. Small quantity licensing is on a per machine basis. One installed, they can be accessed via any SAPI5 compliant program.
You cannot install the Voices without the base program being resident. Finally, all of the known vendors of high quality Voices require that one purchase a base program in addition to one or more Voices.
They are current available in 64 bit for the Snow Leopard OS, but not for Windows. Acapela Group has the next best quality Voices (in my opinion). You can find this on the Internet by doing a Google search for: "Loquendo Kate TTS Power Point Presentation". There is a fascinating Loquendo Power Point presentation that describes their sophisticated methodology for producing very high quality, naturally sounding TTS.
Their 64 bit "Kate" voice is probably the best available, but it is very expensive and is unavailable for small quantity licensing. The only other known current source is Loquendo. Microsoft has Voices other than Anna in their telecommunications package and these should be available in 64 bit. The problem of obtaining Voices is a frustrating one. Setting the system default is, incidentally, only essential if you want to change the Voice for a program like MapPoint which uses only the default Voice. I can set the default for a given application program, but still don't see the correct command to set the system default. There obviously must be a way to do this programatically via SAPI5. I checked this with Acapela's "Heather" and it works properly. Unlike the 64 bit speech window, you can make any of the Voices the system default Voice.
This is thanks to Michael on the Windows Seven Forums/Seven Forums/Software forum at: Executing Windows\sysWOW64\speech\SpeechUX\SAPI.cpl brings up a Window that displays all of the 32 bit Voices and the current single 64 bit Voice "Anna". There is finally a solution to the problem of selecting the default TTS Voice on Windows 7 64 bit or Windows Server 2008 R2. You cannot use this program to set the system default Voice. You can select a Voice of interest, change a number of parameters, and read textbox data. There is an interesting sample program called TTSAppVB that can be used to locate all the Voices that are installed on one's computer. We use Micosoft's SAPI 5.1 SDK to test the Voices and to link them with our application programs. There is an obvious business reason for this limitation, but it greatly increases the cost.
You can purchase the Voices separately, but they cannot be installed. Unfortunately, there is no known means of setting the default system Voice without it being in the Control Panel TTS listing.Ī second issue is that many of the TTS speech vendors require that one purchase their application program in addition to one or more compatible Voices. All of the SAPI 5+ Voices that we tested work properly on Windows 7 except for not being listed in the Control Panel TTS Speech section. There is an extensive description of the registry entries in an MSDN paper for SAPI 5.4 ((VS.85).aspx), but it doesn't cover all of the entries that are used by Microsoft Anna. We have not found a single Voice installer that makes the correct entries in this registry nor have we located anyone who knows the details of what is required. Windows 7 64 bit and Windows Server 2008 R2 require complex entries in the Speech Token section of the HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE registry. There is a work around that solves an issue with Vista. We have tested Voices from a number of vendors and all work properly as far as being listed in the TTS speech section of the Control Panel and selectable as a system default with Windows XT and Windows Server 2008.