DECtalk, The Famous Singing Speech Synthesizer of The 80s

[Snickerdoodle]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/kHlQl5B.gif[/IMG]

[B]What is DECtalk?[/B]
[QUOTE=en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DECtalk]DECtalk was a speech synthesizer and text-to-speech technology developed by Digital Equipment Corporation in the early 1980s, based largely on the work of Dennis Klatt at MIT, whose source-filter algorithm was variously known as KlattTalk or MITalk.
...
DECtalk can be used as part of a speech generating device for those unable to speak. A notable user is Stephen Hawking, who is unable to speak due to a combination of severe disabilities caused by ALS as well as an emergency tracheotomy. [B]Hawking has used a version of the DECtalk voice synthesizer for several years and has come to be associated with the unique voice of the device.[/B] In 2011, Hawking's research assistant Sam Blackburn said Hawking still used a version of DECtalk identified on its board as the "Calltext 5010" manufactured in 1988 by SpeechPlus, Inc., because he identified with it and had not heard a voice he likes better. The CallText 5010 is still listed on Hawking's site as of 2013.[/QUOTE]

[B]Why is DECtalk neat?[/B]
DECtalk is a classic speech synthesizer made popular by Stephen Hawking and, more recently, a game made by NASA known as Moonbase Alpha. DECtalk is capable of singing by a specific set of instructions based on phonemes and frequencies instead of words. Take this for instance:

[video=youtube;78X9I9ZeYcw]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=78X9I9ZeYcw[/video]

[B]Where do I get it?[/B]
Obviously playing Moonbase Alpha just for the engine is a bit impractical, so use this DECtalk application to start playing around with the synthesizer.

[URL]http://www.theflameofhope.co/dectalk/dectalk440.zip[/URL]

[B]How do I use it?[/B]
Basic speech is rather easy to accomplish. Simply type a desired sentence and click play. If a word doesn't sound right, try misspelling the word in a way that DECtalk would have to say it right.

[B]How do I sing with DECtalk?[/B]
Singing and more advanced phonetic sounds are a bit more difficult to accomplish, but is well worth the trouble.

(explanations and tutorials from [URL]https://www.msu.edu/course/asc/232/song_project/dectalk_pages/DECtalk Singing.html[/URL])
[QUOTE]DECtalk Software can be used to sing songs or make various sounds associated with singing and musical tones. The Tone table provides the pitch numbers, associated notes, and frequencies that you need to code a phonemic sequence to produce musical sounds. [/QUOTE]
The example that follows is the code for the song, "Happy Birthday."

[:phoneme on]
[hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,12>th<100>dey<600,10> tuw<600,15> yu<1200,14>_<120>]
[hxae<300,10>piy<300,10> brr<600,12>th<100>dey<600,10> tuw<600,17> yu<1200,15>_<120>]
[hxae<300,10>piy<300,10>
brr<600,22>th<100>dey<600,19>dih<600,15>rdeh<600,14>ktao<600,12>k_<120>_<120>]
[hxae<300,20>piy<300,20> brr<600,19>th<100>dey<600,15> tuw<600,17> yu<1200,15>]

[QUOTE]The command syntax for coding musical sequences is:
[phoneme<duration, pitch number>]
Each word or syllable is defined phonemically. The first number following a phoneme is the duration in milliseconds, and the second number is the pitch in Hertz. Vowels and consonants not assigned a pitch remain at the same pitch as preceding segments. You can intersperse silence phonemes if you wish. DECtalk stays exactly on pitch when the pitch is specified in Hertz (Hz). You can add vibrato (to give a more realistic singing quality) by specifying notes with pitch values from 1 to 37. Note 1 is C2 and 37 is C5 on an equal tempered scale (A4 = 440 Hz) as shown below. C2 is the second C below middle C on a piano, C4 is middle C, and so on.

An added feature of DECtalk is the ability to specify notes by their coded value equivalent (below). The coded value is simpler to write and is the exact equivalent of the pitch in Hertz.
When notes are specified, DECtalk reaches the desired pitch within about 100 ms after the start of the phoneme and adds vibrato after changing to this pitch. When you give a specific non-sung pitch, DECtalk reaches the pitch target at the very end of the phoneme with no vibrato. [/QUOTE]
The following example makes DECtalk "sing" the first four notes of Beethoven's Fifth Symphony.

[d<100,17>aa<400> d<100,17>aa<400>]
[d<100,17>aa<400> d<120,13>aa<700>]

Here is a table with beat lengths with respective set talking speed (default speed is 200).

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/fmRl4r8.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://gyazo.com/fe2d44c8c3817e612e94adcc168b99e5.png[/IMG]

[IMG]http://gyazo.com/caade12a948a36f3148a1316b450ef52.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://gyazo.com/b99a68cba383739762d858de03810bc6.png[/IMG]
[B]Are there any premade songs I can just run in DECtalk?[/B]

Yes! Thanks to a hobbyist at theflameofhope.co, you can choose from a variety of songs to put into DECtalk with very little work on your part.

[URL="http://theflameofhope.co/dectalk speak window/CHRISTMAS/"]Christmas songs[/URL]
[URL="http://theflameofhope.co/dectalk speak window/COUNTRY/"]Country songs[/URL]
[URL="http://theflameofhope.co/dectalk speak window/CHILDRENS/"]Children's songs[/URL]
[URL="http://theflameofhope.co/dectalk speak window/GOSPEL/"]Gospel songs[/URL]
*[URL="http://theflameofhope.co/dectalk speak window/ROCK/"]Rock songs[/URL]

*A lot of the stuff in here isn't actually rock.

[B]Please, share whatever you create with DECtalk in this thread![/B]

[Fausty]

I started listening to creepypastas with this... Surprisingly effective at being terrifying.

[thisispain]

okay open up the programme four times, copy and paste i will always love you, and start each one staggered after the line if i should stay

bask in the DecTalk contrapuntal bliss

[editline]10th November 2013[/editline]

[media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2by8mzn7BmI[/media]

[pentium]

DECtalk modules and cards show up on ebay from time to time but the sellers are generally more retarded than the people the devices are used with. [url=http://www.ebay.ca/itm/Digital-DEC-DECTALK-PC-Module-5421155-5021154-01E1-L1-/150731250802?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item2318485c72]No fucking way I'm paying $300 for an ISA card.[/url] An untested one at that.

[MuThing]

Am I the only one who can't get speak.exe to even run?

[.𓃉𓁿𓂎𓁿𓃉.]

[QUOTE=Fausty;42816471]I started listening to creepypastas with this... Surprisingly effective at being terrifying.[/QUOTE]

i find terrible fanfiction works as well

[Snek]

Now I'm really curious as to what happens when you try and cover a Vocaloid song with DECTalk

[MuThing]

I figured out what I was doing wrong. As the readme says it has to be run from a folder in your C: drive.

[editline]10th November 2013[/editline]

[url]http://puu.sh/5e4J3.mp3[/url] Oh my fucking god this is so amazing and yet so stupid at the same time, I'll finish the whole thing at some point.

[Tinker Toy]

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;42817050]I figured out what I was doing wrong. As the readme says it has to be run from a folder in your C: drive.

[editline]10th November 2013[/editline]

[url]http://puu.sh/5e4J3.mp3[/url] Oh my fucking god this is so amazing and yet so stupid at the same time, I'll finish the whole thing at some point.[/QUOTE]

Next, make the piano backing with another speech synth.

[MuThing]

[QUOTE=Tinker Toy;42820431]Next, make the piano backing with another speech synth.[/QUOTE]

Let's not go crazy here, but I guess I could do at least a small part of it.

[Matoking]

[IMG]http://i.imgur.com/9NixDSa.png[/IMG]

I found this too amusing for some reason.

[27X]

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;42817050]I figured out what I was doing wrong. As the readme says it has to be run from a folder in your C: drive.

[editline]10th November 2013[/editline]

[url]http://puu.sh/5e4J3.mp3[/url] Oh my fucking god this is so amazing and yet so stupid at the same time, I'll finish the whole thing at some point.[/QUOTE]

Thou must finisheth.

[Tools]

[QUOTE=MasterFen006;42817050]I figured out what I was doing wrong. As the readme says it has to be run from a folder in your C: drive.

[editline]10th November 2013[/editline]

[url]http://puu.sh/5e4J3.mp3[/url] Oh my fucking god this is so amazing and yet so stupid at the same time, I'll finish the whole thing at some point.[/QUOTE]

Imagine if this ends up as the last piece of information left behind by humans. :v:

[MuThing]

[QUOTE=27X;42822397]Thou must finisheth.[/QUOTE]

I got frustrated and Shift+Delete'd all of my files :c I'll probably start all over again anyway (from scratch and perfect to the original, instead of some shitty download version), I have a habit of doing stuff like this. Imagine the kind of shit I could do if I could finish the shit I start.

[Narry]

[url]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42169829/Moonbase%20Rhapsody.mp3[/url]

I kinda wanted to hear the second half of the song so I took a shot at it myself.

[Agoat]

If someone shows me how to find out pitch I'll totally make snake eater

[MuThing]

[QUOTE=Agoat;42826601]If someone shows me how to find out pitch I'll totally make snake eater[/QUOTE]

*phoneme*<*length in milliseconds*,*tone, set by numbers*>

Pretty much every phoneme is set like this, although if there's no tone or length it'll just use the previous variables until the next phoneme that uses different ones. There are charts in the OP for the tone, if you need a certain BPM you can find out the lengths in milliseconds by dividing the note value of the 60BPM notes (1000, 2000, 4000, 1500, 500, 250, etc) by however many hertz your BPM is (i.e 75BPM is 1.25Hz)

[editline]11th November 2013[/editline]

[QUOTE=Pw0nageXD;42824903][url]https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/42169829/Moonbase%20Rhapsody.mp3[/url]

I kinda wanted to hear the second half of the song so I took a shot at it myself.[/QUOTE]

Fucking awesome. So much better done than what I had, I'm gonna see if I can remake the entire thing including 4 vocal tracks much like the original.

[Revrus]

[IMG]http://zeldawiki.org/images/thumb/c/c2/KaeporaGaebora_OoT_3D.png/200px-KaeporaGaebora_OoT_3D.png[/IMG]
[url]http://pastebin.com/R4SKz4L8[/url]

Am I a bad person?

[Narry]

[QUOTE=ArcticRevrus;42836319][IMG]http://zeldawiki.org/images/thumb/c/c2/KaeporaGaebora_OoT_3D.png/200px-KaeporaGaebora_OoT_3D.png[/IMG]
[url]http://pastebin.com/R4SKz4L8[/url]

Am I a bad person?[/QUOTE]

No, you are simply amazing.

[Deleted359224]

How do I export them as sound files? The WAV options are greyed out for me.

[MuThing]

[QUOTE=Livewire2440;42843796]How do I export them as sound files? The WAV options are greyed out for me.[/QUOTE]

I just recorded the audio through OBS, must be a compatibility thing. That or they need certain codec files.

[Splarg]

[QUOTE=thisispain;42816614]okay open up the programme four times, copy and paste i will always love you, and start each one staggered after the line if i should stay

bask in the DecTalk contrapuntal bliss[/QUOTE]

Wow this is pretty crazy. Granted, treating something like a round will always make a few interesting sounds here and there but the end gets really trippy.

[circuitbawx]

I got far-ish

[URL="https://soundcloud.com/circuitbawx/dectalk-sings-the-beatles"]https://soundcloud.com/circuitbawx/dectalk-sings-the-beatles[/URL]

[editline]13th November 2013[/editline]

[QUOTE=Livewire2440;42843796]How do I export them as sound files? The WAV options are greyed out for me.[/QUOTE]

I'm using Virtual Audio Cable

[michaeldim]

This is the greatest thing ever made.

[kariko]

It's no fair cause I can play this song on the piano but here you go:

[url]http://pastebin.com/PyXmvMFz[/url]

[editline]dunkey[/editline]

Yay, jokes only some people will get:
[url]http://pastebin.com/yhFCitzC[/url]

[macotaco]

This moonbase alpha thread from the steam forum has tons of good stuff about DECtalk
[url]http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2859772[/url]

[Gmod_Fan77]

[video=youtube;zSgiXGELjbc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zSgiXGELjbc[/video]

I want to see this in DECtalk.

[Curls]

now we just need a voice to text program and this to autoplay on like, star trek or something

fox news with this

[GeneralMastiff]

Bump with a shitty attempt of making the voice rap.

[video=youtube;ftEKI9pW8aY]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftEKI9pW8aY[/video]

[Nanamil]

We need more songs guys