Different Warning Sounds for RLC and Speed Cameras?

You are on the right track. For newer nuvi's like yours you need to use .WAV files instead of MP3. And if you have a WIndows computer, you need the SOX sound conversion utility to use with POI Loader as described in the FAQ. The sound files do go in the same folder as the POI (.CSV or .GPX) file. Be sure to read the FAQ by Charlesd45 that details the procedure of adding custom alerts with .WAV files: http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730. (Note that this FAQ is linked in the FAQ by Motorcycle Mama that you referenced in your original post.)

Thank you.

I have a TomTom, not a Garmin, but my experience in the past has been that the two brands are pretty equivalent in terms of features. Since this is very easy to do on a TomTom, I would expect it to be easy to do on a Garmin once you can find the instructions.

- Tom -

After following alandb's link in setting up your new RLC & Speed Camera alerts you may want to select .wav files with different voices.

Just a thought, I myself use Jill on my 2460 as the default voice. For my RLC and Speed Camera voices I use a male voice. Whenever I hear a male voice it puts me on alert rather than expecting driving directions.

Be advised most of the alert sounds that are available at POI Factory are still in MP3 format. You will need to convert them to .wav for them to work on your 2460. These POI's created with.wav files may also be used on older units that play .mp3 files. Below is a link for a free online audio converter. You will need to rename the file when you save it to match both the .csv and .bmp files when you create your camera POI’s.

http://media.io/

There are a bunch of free apps out there to covert text to speech and some of them are very good. I used one created by AT&T to do exactly this. Two different voices for each flavor of camera. I picked a female voice that sounds exactly like the one on many OEM factory NAV systems. Just needed a litte tweeking of the spelling and spaces to get it sounding just right.

But I believe AT&T shut down that site a few months ago. It was my "go-to" for creating announcements I would put into some of my longer routes to just startle the others in the car. One fun one was when nearing a fuel point "I don't know about you, but I'm getting thirsty and my tires could use a rest." Everyone cracked up when this came out of the GPS.

Simple but effective

I think you are right.. I can't find it any longer either. It's too bad... with some slight adjustments you could make excellent voice-over files and they had a huge list of voices to pick from. I contributed the ones I created to this site, so if you poke around you should be able to find them.

At&T indeed has shut down the site. I too feel it was ann easy and excellent source to create sound files.

I see member jgermann has substituted the AT&T site link with a new one in his learning link:
http://www.poi-factory.com/node/37633

The site is: http://text2speech.us/

Although free,I don't like since after typing in the text I wanted, it does say it, however, at the end of the sound file it says "MY TEXT TO SPEECH DOT US". That's unacceptable to me.

The FAQ http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730 shows http://text2speech.us/ to make your own files.Don't recall that extra message being on the end of the text.Agree, not acceptable. I also noticed some of the sounds files converted not showing for Red Light cameras. I will email Jon about why they have not been posted.

Wonder when that extra tag got added. Agree that such is not acceptable. However, since it does have a male and female voice and optional languages, I will put a note in the Glossary of Terms and Links that you can get .mp3 or .wav files but they will require extra work in, say, Audacity to "trim" the file.

Also, I will put in a link to a portable, freeware package called DSpeech that I am currently using. It can be found at:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?q=dspeech&m=

I am not particularly pleased with the results of DSpeech but it does work and you can play around some to get a clearer result.

Sent change to Jon to use Balabolka at http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm for FAQ http://www.poi-factory.com/node/25730

After you have completed the download and have the program up.Input your text and Click file ,Save Audio File,then insert file name.For Save as type click down arrow and select wav or mp3

This package works well - better than what I was currently using.

However you might want to consider the "portable" version that makes no changes to your registry. Find this version at:
http://www.portablefreeware.com/index.php?q=balabolka&m=

I've updated the FAQ per Charles' request and included a note that regular and portable versions are both available for download from http://www.cross-plus-a.com/balabolka.htm

(The download link for the portable version is on the bottom half of the page.)

While searching Google for online wav creator I found this site http://www.text2speech.org/
It's the same company as http://www.text2speech.US
but it does NOT add the promo message at the end.

It will save your message in either mp3 or wav. The results are poor and I won't be using it.

I'll give Balabolka portable version a try.

Thanks Jon.Could you also add the one muell9k suggested http://www.text2speech.org/ since it is online with no download required for the program. A few options can't hurt.

One note to members. Windows 10 gives both male and female voice for Balabolka.According to post http://www.poi-factory.com/node/45056 jgermann posted Windows 7 only has one voice.Not sure if that may have changed or not.

Just checked Balabolka in the latest portable download using Win 7 home premium and it only has Anna.

Charlie, I was searching around to see about loading other "voices" and came across this site:
http://www.online-tech-tips.com/fun-stuff/make-your-computer...

This confirms that Win 10 comes with two voices but Win 7 only has one.

Now, if someone knows how to add voices to your operating system (under SAPI, please let us know.

Found some free downloads for voices at http://www.zero2000.com/free-text-to-speech-natural-voices.h...

To be compatible, I think they need to be SAPI 5.5 and be 64 bit for most of the newer computers.

By the way, when I tried to go to some of the download sites, I got "security" warnings.

No security warnings on PC and just tried on Android tablet for download with same results.

The site is showing more selections for WAV downloads now.

Thanks. Yesterday I used a .wav file from her on POI Factory, and converted an .mp3 file from here on POI Factory. Installed and working well.

Thanks all.

Sounds like you have your alerts all setup now. Looks like the WAV sounds available for the speed cameras very limited.

I use Chrome as my default browser. When I tried to download the Mary, Mike, and Sam voices, I got a "Security" warning about the file as I reported above. I later ran one of the other browsers I typically use, and it downloaded without any warning. The file was "microsoft-english-voices-sapi5.msi"

Just to be sure of what I was dealing with, I went to https://www.virustotal.com/ and did a scan to be sure the file was clean - and it was. So, I installed it and went into Balabolka. It recognized the new voices were there but produced error messages when I tried to use them.

I did some research and could not find a straightforward way to "register" the new voices. I did find several people who had made changes to their Registry and got voices to work. I felt that would not be appropriate for other members here who are not yet on Win 10 (which appears to give users both a male and female voice).

So, I continue to look for advice on adding voices for Balabolka to use.