Program to Customize TTS Voices

Love it....LOL

Hi Bernie,

If you rename the VPM file on your GPS. make sure to change the extension to something different from .vpm (try .vpm1). Otherwise, this will confuse the GPS.

Then, edit the original VPM. You may change the screen name, but you need to save the VPM using the original name and copy it back to the GPS.

If you do this, it will work. Your are having problems because you left the original VPM with an extension .vpm.

Turbo

thanks!

Read through 10 pages of replies. All right, it was snowing again, all day, in Virginia so I read all of the replies in this thread. I downloaded the TTSVoiceEditor and added my own variations to the Garmin Australian Karen, like Hang a Right or Hang a Hang a left... took myself out to dinner to celebrate my birthday and laughed my butt off all the way there and back. I'm gonna have fun with this.. Thanks guys, and Ladies.

Happy B'Day, mate!

We have to find a way to tell people not to read all those 10 pages... LOL! Poor guy! At least, he had some fun in the end.

Happy B.

This is so funny..I missed it the first time around...Augusts are Really busy for me. and I love reading the 10 pages...too. some people got really creative...I can only wait to add this along with Dr Nightmares voice...lol

I've been changing what the Nuvi 660 says for over a month now.... I believe I've discovered what can and can't be done....

However, there are some phrases in TTS file that I've never heard before...

For example:
"Ready to Navagate"
"Welcome to Garmin"
"External power lost"
"Lost Satellite reception"
"searching for satellites"
"GPS is oph"
"Please go the highlighted route" (Instead of drive)

I've never heard these Phrases on a Nuvi 660..

If you have, during what activity?

Thanks

"Lost Satellite reception" - When you go into a long tunnel or underground parking.
"searching for satellites" - when you come out of a tunnel.
"Please go the highlighted route" (Instead of drive) - I get this when I'm in a parking lot or other area not showing streets.

Anyone know if there's something similar for those of us running Macs?

(Yeah, I know I could run bootcamp but then I have to buy Windows to run in bootcamp, etc.)

Or does anyone know if this could be run using Crossover? (http://www.codeweavers.com/)

This is a very long thread. I bumped it for new members that may have missed this fun software that allows you to change the TTS voices on your GPS. Tired of "Recalculating"? Have a look here:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/TTSVoiceEditor

It is pretty fool proof!

Turbo

agreed.....BTW I simply deleted the "recalculating" so now I can see some "off route" scenery without the constant "dummy" reminder!

Will this program run on Windows 7 64bit?

Will this program run on Windows 7 64 bit?

I have used it without a hitch.

I just started working with this program and find it a joy! One suggestion: make the file:open/save have a confirming option. (don't ask me why).

Change 68: recalculating
to:
(my name), you missed the freaking turn! OK fine. Do it your way.

Changed a few others too. Got a laugh out of my wife with one of my early versions where the GPS suggested that I let her drive (after missing a turn).

I'd like to see some other creative ideas others have come up with to replace some of the stock words/phrases.

Using Karen
nuvi 1690, v 3.60
Windows 7/64 bit

Thanks. Have to try it sometime.

The fun never stops with this!

Using the commas for dramatic pauses is great.

I've gotten a ton of laughs from changing the "recalculating" to similar funny sayings. I almost look for times to make a wrong turn intentionally when someone new is in the car just to see their reaction!

use multiple commas for longer pauses - I think periods help too. It may look a bit funny when typed, but sounds great when spoken

We refer to Dr. Nightmare as "Boris" in an off-handed tribute to one of the greatest horror film actors during the 50s and 60s, Boris Karloff. Recalculating has become Boris, magic book please. I have even more fun with U-turns, it now states Do the hokey-pokey and turn yourself about. The 'highlighted route' phrases have also been altered to variations of I put a magenta line on the map. Can you find it? Sometimes the line isn't displayed because it's on a road and you're in a large parking lot with a tight zoom.

Probably one of the better ones is Enter roundabout, and watch for idiots. I hate to say how many times i have been almost clipped because someone didn't yield to the car already in the circle.

Recalculating turned into "have it your way"

that's the most notable. Other small changed, and every month or so (when I drag the thing in for updates) I tweak something else.

Another nice thing about this program is that it allows you to change the volume of the selected voice. I'm still experimenting, but have changed Karen from 85 down to 40 in an attempt to find the right balance with BT audio. I think I may need to lower it some more.

Are all the different voices set to 85 for the default? Or does that depend on the GPS model?

There are some funny phrases/words others have come up with. I'd like to see a family friendly list.

One thing I thought of is that with the right phrases and appropriate pauses, you could simulate a conversation with the GPS... and amaze your passengers! But that would likely be a one shot deal and hardly worth the effort.

Tried to download the newest version 284, but Kaspersky wouldn't let me, saying it contains a backdoor virus. Tried to find a way to tell Turbo but couldn't find a way.
Be advised

Hi ralphy1,

Thank you for bringing this to my attention.

I am not quite sure what to think, but just to change the binary, I recompiled TTSVoiceEditor with a new version number v285. I made the scan again and it seems to be clean. Please visit my site to get the latest version v285.

Best regards,

Turbo

Edit: I forgot to mention that the binary size did not change at all between v4.84 and v4.85 which leads me to conclude no virus was added to the file. In any cases, I removed any previous reference to v4.84.

Just saw this post today. Thanks

Thanks Turbo. Downloaded 285 with no problem.

I haven't downloaded a new version in a while, any new neat features?

No not really. I just added support for some new files. If you do not get an error and if you see the navigation prompt text, then no need to update.

Instead of creating your own files, are there any sets of pre-made tts files that one can download for free and use in their garmin gps?

No free pre-made TTS. They have to be designed to work with your Garmin GPS.

thanks.

so what about these websites selling the voices?

And can't be modified

turboccc,

I just started getting this backdoor notice a couple of days ago. I have submitted the file to Avira as a false positive and am waiting to hear back from them.

Meanwhile, here's a thread on the subject I started:
http://forums.gpsreview.net/viewtopic.php?t=20971

I received an email from Avira support this morning *confirming* that this is a False Positive. They are supposed to fix this in an upcoming update.

turboCCC... you can rest easy now.

Think this will work on a 755T or the 2360LTM....

I read that this seems to work with a Streetpilot 2730 probably because it has MP3 capability BUT what about the Streetpilot 2720 that has no MP3 capability.

I have never been able to see the files when connected to my PC with the USB cable so I am guessing that I can not modify the files on a 2720. Right?

@greenrl, correct.

@virus: great! I was out of idea.

I'm the only English speaker in the car...

I've been using all your software for a while now. All I can say is thank you. It has made a boring device into something I carry with me every time I drive, just because it is fun now.

Any ideas if there is a (free preferably) program that can take a voice recording and convert that into a TTS profile? I assume "they" have something, as they are using celebrity voices (or not) to create the TTS voices they are selling. I've been searching and all I see is "services" that do this (at a high price I may add).
Maybe this software is a highly guarded secret? I don't see any commercial versions either (maybe I haven't searched in the right places?)

@Thanos_of_MW,

Oh no! Creating TTS is not possible for us. Even Garmin buy the TTS engine from Nuances. Most probably Nuances provides some tools for Garmin to convert voices to TTS, but it is a very complicated process even for those who have the right tools.

First, you have to record voices and extract the phonems. It does not look like it, but there are more phonems than we may think. You need also to have the phonems at the right speech level. Just try to make a non-TTS voice for fun. You will see it is already very difficult to speak all the words correctly so it sounds nice when the GPS joins a few of those words together.

In conclusion, better to use the existing TTS voices. If you want to have fun, make your own non-TTS voice.

Best regards,

Turbo

No wonder all I see it is services with their own recording studios. Thanks for the explanation. I guess I'll have to go the non-TTS route.

I am anxious to try this. The voice on my garmin 660 is difficult to understand. When she says "left" it sounds more like "le". Am I the only one with this problem??

Thanks!

I have not had that problem, but I do notice some words that either sound awkward or are hard to understand. I've used this program to modify some words to sound the way they should. It may look a bit funny in when typed out in the program, but sounds great.

>>It sounds like you are changing to stock voice instructions file, not TTS. This should work for the 200 then, right?

I have the 200, and could not use custom voices. The only one I was able to add was an English male voice (can't remember where I downloaded it from).

Last night, NIS 2011 identified TTSVoiceEditor.exe as containing Trojan.Gen. It did not do that before (scanning twice a week). So today I downloaded version 2.89 and it passes the scan without problem so far. Why the virus detectors find a virus/trojan in these files but only after awhile is beyond me.

One more point about 2.89: The About window still says 2.85.

There's no virus, it's a false positive.

Yes, weird things are happening. I have another tool called RGN_Tool. Avira AntiVir was also accepting the file. Yesterday, it decided it was not good anymore. I wonder.

I received an email yesterday about TTS Voice Editor not working on the 295W. It seems that Garmin is now checking the file checksum with a value stored in the VPM. Any changes made to the VPM would make the file checksum different and the 295W reports a file corrupted message.

So far, this seems to happen only on the 295W model. I know where the checksum is stored. I am working on a fix. I just wanted to let you know.

Turbo

Thanks for posting this Gadget Guy!!! This program is fun and works great on my Garmin 1490LMT. Makes those routes a bit more entertaining and unique.

I keep meaning to make a few changes but never seem to get around to it.

My unit always calls the abbreviation BR "branch" rather than "Business Route".

I travel around Northern California for work and it always calls Holiday Inn Express "Holiday Inn Expressway".

I don't need to change "recalculating" to something longer. It's annoying enough as it is.

Maybe someday I'll get around to making the changes....

EDIT:
Bummer. Apparently I can't use this program to make those types of changes. I guess I'm just stuck with "branch", "expressway" and other mispronunciations of that sort.