[WriteLog] Comment about text-to-speech in WriteLog 12.93

[Wayne, W5XD]

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