To the WriteLog user community.
The just announced version 12.93 update to WriteLog has a new
text-to-speech (TTS) feature. There is more to say about this feature
than I think appropriate in an email, so I wrote about it here:
https://writelog.com/piper1-tts
That page itself has links to more programs and scripts that might be of
interest. My own opinion about the technology is no on those pages. Take
this OM's opinion for what its worth!
It doesn't have to be perfect in order to replace the
record-a-bunch-of-wav files technology that WriteLog has supported for a
"long time" (a couple of decades?) It only has to be better in the
opinion of the individual contester (i.e. you). Both technologies
require you to sit down with your shack mic and laboriously record a
bunch of audio of yourself. I don't think either technology "wins" that
comparison, but I note that the details of what you record are quite
different between the two. And that TTS allows you to skip this step
altogether if using your own voice is not your requirement.
The TTS is definitely far easier to deploy. You install my
"piper_http_server" (see https://github.com/w5xd/piper_http_server for
details) and give it the "model" file for the voice you want to use
(large, but under 100MB in my test examples.)
Does either TTS or the old bunch-of-wav-files do better at attracting
robot-averse casual contesters to answer your CQ? I don't know. Neither
is perfect. However, the TTS technology is new and getting better. So
much better, in fact, that I suggest that if you use it, you should
treat a model file of your own voice as a very private secure asset, as
if it were the password to your checking account. Be sure your family
knows that, should they get a phone call from a voice that sounds
exactly like you telling you where to wire bail money to get you out of
jail, they need to know to be skeptical (unless, of course, you expect
to need it.)
Good luck,
Wayne, W5XD
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