SpeechHub is designed to work in the background and consequently it is started automatically, if it is not running already, by an application that connects to it. One or more applications called 'clients' can use SpeechHub at the same time. When the last application closes the connection to SpeechHub, SpeechHub is shutdown automatically after approximately 15 minutes. This means that when a SpeechHub synthesizer is not selected, it does not use any resources on your computer.
After installation, start SpeakOn MediaSuite. In the Manager, bring the Main menu by pressing:
Global Settings > Syntesizer Settings
The Synthesizer settings task starts. SpeechHub synthesizers are clearly marked in the list control. Scroll down the list and select (press Enter) the synthesizer of your choice; the synthesizer you selected is loaded and starts to speak using its default voice.
Confirm your selection by bringing up the Main menu and selecting OK. You are placed back in the Manager.
To select another voice from the synthesizer you selected, in the Manager, bring the Main menu by pressing:
Global Settings > Voice Settings
The Voice Settings task starts. Select a voice from the list, and select any other parameters available in the usual way.
Confirm your selection by bringing up the Main menu and selecting OK. You are placed back in the Manager.
All the parameters available for selection in the Voice task are relevant with SpeechHub but note the following:
From the engines supplied with SpeechHub, only eSpeak supports variants and thus the variant list does not appear with other synthesizers.
Rate boost is provided by Sonic which is built into SpeechHub. But for the Microsoft speech API version 5 common driver all synthesizers support rate boost. MaryTTS and PicoTTS use Sonic permanently for rate and pitch control and therefore the rate boost check box is not available as these synthesizers are using it all the time (or in other words the check box cannot be unchecked).
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