*Truly* Updated TTS voices available via WebUpdater

I updated the American English "Jill" and "Jack" and found that the "max volume" is lower than it was before.

I drive a diesel Ford Excursion and would prefer that the volume levels be louder at Max volume.

I will be sending Garmin a quick email that I am sure that I will like having the most current voice updates, but having them louder would be preferred.

One can always turn the volume down if drving a quieter vehicle or not as hard of hearing as I am.

Try using TTS Voice Editor to increase the volume.

beachbumcook - you can increase the maximum volume with this free software http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/TTSVoiceEditor

...with a cheap gadget that Radio Shack and others sell, and you can jack up the volume a whole lot easier, and with no distortion (assuming you have a decent radio).

GC

Thanks for the info. What is it called by the way?

Thanks for the info, DorkusNimrod.

I usually ignore the voices too, but now that you brought it to my attention, I'll try downloading them.

An MP3 FM Audio Transmitter

Don't waste your money on an FM transmitter. Due to FCC regulations they are all underpowered and don't work very well. Unless you are willing to build your own transmitter!

I have tried 3 different units and none work very well.

I have tried a bunch over the years and none have worked very well. In a crowded market like Detroit it is almost impossible to find a really clear freq and the quality when I do is poor.
What works best for me is USB powered speakers. I have a 12 cig power adapter with a USB output meant to power cellphones or whatever. I use that to power the speakers and get a usable sound level that way. You will just have find a way to secure the speakers. The one I am using now is a one piece with about 10 inch separation in speakers when extended. No interference with FM radio stations that way.

Is a car radio with a line input.

Or add a line in to your car's audio system. Google "aux box".

And if you really want to get wild... if you're not into using a GPSr's MP3 player and prefer your iPod, or a satellite radio - you can add a mixer to the set-up to 'share' a in-dash radio's line-in so you can get your listening pleasure satisfied and not miss any directions from your GPSr.

wow thanks for the head up.

Where is this editor available

I stopped looking at the updates long ago. Now I have a reason to try them again.

The Editor and several other GPC utility programs written by POI Factory member TurboCCC can be found at his home page:

http://turboccc.wikispaces.com/

I dunno what the point was of making the voices softer; to hear them at all I already have to max out the volume. They're going the wrong way on these.

I hate the new voices too, but I suspect there are new models coming out with, hey guess what, updated voices that are louder! Go figure!

I hate the new voices too, but I suspect there are new models coming out with, hey guess what, updated voices that are louder! Go figure!

For those that are having problems with the volume of the new voices now being a lower level, you can easily correct them using TurboCCC's excellent TTSVoiceEditor linked to in posts a few above. It's quite easy to do. Just experiment with a backup of the one voice you'll be using. I have found the volume level of 80 to be good. If you go higher than that, you may introduce clipping/distortion.

I personally think the voices (at least Jill, the one I use) are now more natural sounding.

Yes, there is a fix but I also believe that the end-user should definitely not have to be fiddling with a third-party app (even if it is a very good one) to correct Garmin's "updates".

Am I crazy or does Jill v2.20 sound less ticked off when she has to recalculate?

Yes, Jill v2.20 is indeed less annoyed sounding when she recalculates...in fact, she now sounds pleasant about having to recalculate. That's one of the first things I noticed.

I like my 2ed wife Jill the way she is. My 1st wife Vangie Swing a mean frying pad and get's all my money and Jill tells me where to go when to get there and get mad at me when I do not obay he RECALULATING RECALULATING he he he.

Thanks for letting us know of the updates! I'll check them out...

Hmmm... I'm going to have to find my USB plug and do some downloading.

and American Jill sounds MUCH more realistic IMHO. The voice tone and pronunciation seem to be much better. I used TurboCCC's program to change the "recalculating" to something else and this worked fine as well.

And with the new updates, Garmin has taught British Daniel and Emily the Canadian pronunciation for "St." and "Dr.". I'll miss chuckling at the mis-pronounced "Saint"s and "Doctor"s

The biggest issue I have with this new Jill is that the word "left" (a fairly important word in GPS-lingo, I'd suggest) sounds completely unlike any word I've ever heard. Anyone else notice this? And I'm reminded of this every day I route myself home since Jill's final word to me is "left." "Arriving at Home....on %$#&."

British Emily stutters now on my 760- I think she needs more CPU than before. I've had to change to an Aussie voice to get my turns.

And with the new updates, Daniel and Emily now refer to ramps as "slip roads". Jack, Jill, Karen and Lee still call them ramps...

Updated voices for Australian and British English via webupdater

Yes, nickjr is right, the Australians are now updated: Karen to 1.80 and Lee to 1.50.
And the short-lived British updates--1.70 for Emily and 1.40 for Daniel--are now updated to 1.80 and 1.50 respectively.

I believe that in addition to the voice updates the text to speech engine has been updated as well. I remember Webupdater doing this a week or so ok.I have noticed that the voices are much clearer since this update. I use American Jill that has been tweaked with the voice software from TurboCC

Will have to try the updates as my honey Karen the Australian voice is stuttering a little.

And she now knows, at least most of the time, that "BR" means Business Route, and not bridge or branch... and says the state name for state roads - at least the ones I was on today... like IA24 was "Iowa twenty-four"... but, poor girl - she now says the name of the town I went to wrong, but a bit charming...

thanks for the info

I updated mine to latest version on my 765. Now a street near my house "Westbrook Ave" which it (Jill)used to pronouce correctly, after the update now it pronounces it "westblook ave".

Is this hard to install? I'm not good with electronics.

Is probably best left to those who know how to take apart a dash and put it back together and not have a bunch of parts left over.

The mixer is a breeze as long as you know what plug goes where on the various cables.

I use an external speaker which I mounted under the dash on the drivers side. Works great! Clear and crisp. I went from a Garmin C550 which has two loud stereo speakers to the Nuvi 750.. I wasn't happy with the lack of volume plus the "tinny" sound. Although, the 750 has a built in xm transmitter, the down fall is that you lose your tunes! Try a cheap external speaker... worked great for me and sounds clear as a whistle

"take bus 75"(business route) or whatever the route # may be. If I look at the top green bar it also says "bus xxx."
However if it says BR xxx, at the top of the screen, he then pronounces it as business route.
I don't know why Garmin puts business routes in TTS two different ways(BUS and BR) such that it pronounces only one correctly.

I have been thru allot of MP3 FM Transmitters over the years. If I had to make a recommendation it would be for the MONSTER Brand RadioPlay Wireless MPC FM XMTR and I also had good luck with the IRIVER AFT-100 FM Transmitter. But I do agree it is a real crapshoot as others have stated. It depends on where your FM Transmitter is, in the Windshield, outside on the right or left fender or on the roof and where the antenna cable is snaked in the car between the radios ant jack and the antenna. Then you need to add in how busy the Radio Market you live in is. Rural areas will be better as less traffic and more open station frequenciesI can go on and on.

Make sure the store you get it from allows returns, that is your safest and best bet.

And PS, FORGET BELKIN TUNECAST, either version with ON/OFF Button only (TUNECAST)or the LCD Display version (TUNECAST II). There are tons of these laying around. Let them lie

British Jack and Emily have updated their voices via webupdater

British Daniel 1.50
Changes from version 1.50 to version 1.60:
Corrected an instability when navigating certain types of routes.
Changes from version 1.40 to version 1.50:
Corrected an instability when navigating certain types of routes.

British Emily 1.80
Changes from version 1.80 to version 1.90:
Corrected an instability when navigating certain types of routes.
Changes from version 1.70 to version 1.80:
Corrected an instability when navigating certain types of routes.

Good luck!!

I am just fine with the old version.

Ok I downloaded the new voices since my last comment. Cheers!

OK, so I got a new NUVI 765T, and found an empty FM frequency in the St. Louis area. My FM transmitter works awesome on it, but, do I have to leave the radio on that frequency, thereby negating listening to other FM stations? And, if I switch to AM, are my voices thru the FM XMTR gone, also?

i have the nuvi 750 and jack and jill still dont 'truely' update.. i called garmin. of course no solution.

As has been the case for quite a long time (beginning with the 7x0 series), there has been a bug where WebUpdater constantly displays voices that have already been updated. I did some experimenting and found that this bug *seems* to be triggered when the nuvi is plugged into the USB port while powered off (my normal procedure), then running WebUpdater. I just recently found (after the new voice updates that were recently released) that if immediately after the updates, you do NOT plug the nuvi into the USB port while powered off but rather power the nuvi on and let it boot to the Where To? screen BEFORE plugging it in and running WebUpdater. I've been through some 20 test cycles now and the 760 is no longer displaying the full list of voices needing updates.

As soon as I start using the "plug in to power on & connect" method is when the bug reappears.

The theory behind this is that when you boot the nuvi normally, this regenerates GarminDevice.xml and populates it correctly with the current nuvi update versions whereas "plug in to power on & connect" seems to not allow GarminDevice.xml to correctly regenerate and populate with the current nuvi settings that are stored internally. This is possibly because this method simply does not allow the nuvi to boot fully up to the Where To? screen and gives it time to populate the file. It may also explain the randomness of the bug...sometime I have done the "plug in to power on & connect" while other times, I have had the unit powered on and then connected.

Also, deleting GarminDevice .xml and then allowing the nuvi to fully boot will regenerate the file so if yours is still displaying all the "updated" voices in WebUpdater, you may want to delete it, then power-cycle the nuvi to generate a fresh copy. Then start using the "power on, then connect to USB" method.

So to avoid the bug, power on your nuvi first & let it boot to the Where To? screen, then connect it to the USB port, then run WebUpdater.

Have you ever been able to listen to an FM station while the radio was tuned to AM?