####### ##### ##### # # # # # # # # ##### ##### ##### # # # # # # # ####### ##### ####### release 1 -------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 A brief description of the ES2 database 2.0 Distribution 3.0 Installation, and tests 4.0 Acknowledgments -------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 A brief description of ES2 -------------------------------------------------------------- ES2 2.069 equalized release is a Spanish diphone database provided in the context of the MBROLA project (see http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis). It provides a Spanish male voice to be used with the MBROLA program. Input files use the SAMPA (SAM Phonetic Alphabet) notation as recommended by the EEC-SAM Project, but with some minor changes,as indicated. The following is derived from SAMPA for Spanish (J.C.Wells, UCL,London). SAMPA EXAMPLE TRANSCRIPTION p padre "paDre b vino "bino t tomo "tomo d donde "donde k casa "kasa g gata "gata tS mucho "mutSo jj hielo "jjelo w huele "wele (NOT sampa definition) f fácil "faTil T cinco "Tinko (Sorry, copied from /s/) s sala "sala x mujer mu"xer m mismo "mismo n nunca "nunka J año "aJo l lejos "lexos L caballo ka"baLo r puro "puro rr torre "torre i pico "piko e pero "pero a valle "baLe o toro "toro u duro "duro _ silence Limitations: ----------- The following are the original Sampa definitions left out. j rei rrej pie pje w deuda "dewDa muy mwi B cabra "kaBra (= /b/) D nada "naDa (= /d/) G luego "lweGo (= /g/) The original database was designed for American Spanish, and phoneme /T/ was left out. For compatibility sake we have included a diphone copy from /s/ to /T/, and yes this is obviously suboptimal. -------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 Distribution -------------------------------------------------------------- This distribution of mbrola contains the following files : es2 : the database itself es2.txt : This file license.txt : must read before using the database and a TEST directory containing .PHO files. Some of the .PHO files are automatically generates, some copy natural prosody. Additional languages and voices, as well as other example command files, are or will be available in the context of the MBROLA project. Please consult the MBROLA project homepage : http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis Registered users will automatically be notified of the availability of new databases. To freely register, simply send an email to mbrola-interest-request@tcts.fpms.ac.be with the word 'subscribe' in the message title. -------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 Installation and Tests -------------------------------------------------------------- If you have not copied the MBROLA software yet, please consult the MBROLA project homepage and get it. Copy es2.zip into the mbrola directory and unzip it : unzip es2.zip (or pkunzip on PC/DOS) (don't forget to delete the .zip file when this is done) Try mbrola es2 TEST/example1.pho test.wav to create a sound file. In this example the audio file follows the RIFF Wav format. But depending on the extension test.au, test.aif, or test.raw you can obtain other file formats. Listen to it with your favorite sound editor, and try other command files (*.pho) to have a better idea of the quality of speech you can synthesize with the MBROLA technique. On Unix systems you can pipe the audio ouput to the sound player as on a HP : mbrola es2 test.pho - | splayer -srate 16000 -l16 Also refer to the readme.txt file provided with the mbrola software for using it. -------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 Acknowledgements -------------------------------------------------------------- We could like to thank people at TCC Communications who permitted this release, especially Gordon Tischer and John Grayson. Diphone provided by TCC Communications CORP BOX 2400 SIDNEY, BC V8L343 CANADA tcc@tcc.bc.ca or www.teletranslator.com