On 27 Nov, 20:46, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
"Boltar" wrote in message

...



On Nov 26, 11:21 pm, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube
November 26, 2007 12:39 PM EST

LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns London's
subway
commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling a newspaper she
thought
the transit network was dreadful.

Not many people could get away with publically slagging off the
company they do contract work for, even if in jest, and not get the
boot. She was rather naive IMO.

What I don't understand is why companies bother using recordings when
speech synthesizers cost buttons, are about the size of one and can
say anything you want - you don't have to pay some actor to record new
phrases if things change , you just type it in. Even in the 70s Texas
Instruments could do a 1 chip version and they sound a lot better
these days.

because better is still crap

tim

Blunt, to the point and spot on.

James Farrar wrote:
On Wed, 28 Nov 2007 00:37:00 -0800 (PST), MIG
wrote:

On Nov 28, 1:37 am, Barry Salter wrote:
Boltar wrote:
What I don't understand is why companies bother using recordings
when speech synthesizers cost buttons, are about the size of one
and can say anything you want - you don't have to pay some actor
to record new phrases if things change , you just type it in. Even
in the 70s Texas Instruments could do a 1 chip version and they
sound a lot better these days.

Because 99% of the time speech synthesisers are utter crap. Take
the one at King's Cross St. Pancras for example, which used to
announce a Good service on the Pick-addle-y Line when first
installed. (Though that's now been fixed).

The main problems being either mispronunciation or a complete lack
of inflection where you'd normally expect it. At least where
there's a (human) automated announcer it generally sounds more
"natural"...Though you can't beat a *properly trained* "live"
announcer.


A bizarre thing I heard on Southern recently was an obviously
synthesised voice saying "London Underground have informed me ...".

Oh, that winds me up, along with "I am sorry for the delay to this
service". You can't be sorry, you're a computer. "We are sorry" would
be far better.

Maybe it was Stephen Hawking.

Mizter T wrote:
On 27 Nov, 20:46, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
"Boltar" wrote in message

...



On Nov 26, 11:21 pm, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube
November 26, 2007 12:39 PM EST

LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns
London's subway
commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling a newspaper she
thought
the transit network was dreadful.

Not many people could get away with publically slagging off the
company they do contract work for, even if in jest, and not get the
boot. She was rather naive IMO.

What I don't understand is why companies bother using recordings
when speech synthesizers cost buttons, are about the size of one
and can say anything you want - you don't have to pay some actor to
record new phrases if things change , you just type it in. Even in
the 70s Texas Instruments could do a 1 chip version and they sound
a lot better these days.

because better is still crap

Blunt, to the point and spot on.

Crap at passing the Turing Test, but not crap at being understood, which is
its purpose. Since Emma can't say Highgate properly, and obviously belongs
to a certain class, I would think a synthesised voice would be superior, so
long as it's programmed with the correct phonemes (and isn't allowed to say
Green-witch or War-wick).

Boltar wrote:
On Nov 26, 11:21 pm, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube
November 26, 2007 12:39 PM EST

LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns
London's subway commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling
a newspaper she thought the transit network was dreadful.

Not many people could get away with publically slagging off the
company they do contract work for, even if in jest, and not get the
boot. She was rather naive IMO.

But TfL is not a company, it's the government. A government body should be
concerned only with whether she provides the right service at the right
price. Since the Labour Party policy is to gradually draw everyone into the
employ of the government, allowing government employees to be sacked for
criticising the government means that we end up with no-one allowed to
criticise the government.

This decision will cost us money. When Wood Lane station opens and Shepherds
Bush gets renamed, the whole line will now be revoiced instead of just two
stations. Allowing Emma to voice the other stations would be a permanent
reminder of the woman who was sacked for criticising the government. She
will be phased out ASAP on all lines for the flimsiest of excuses, just as
Trotsky was airbrushed out of the official pictures of Lenin.

John Rowland wrote:
Mizter T wrote:
On 27 Nov, 20:46, "tim \(not at home\)"
wrote:
"Boltar" wrote in message

What I don't understand is why companies bother using recordings
when speech synthesizers cost buttons, are about the size of one
and can say anything you want - you don't have to pay some actor to
record new phrases if things change , you just type it in. Even in
the 70s Texas Instruments could do a 1 chip version and they sound
a lot better these days.

because better is still crap

Blunt, to the point and spot on.

Crap at passing the Turing Test, but not crap at being understood,
which is its purpose. Since Emma can't say Highgate properly, and
obviously belongs to a certain class, I would think a synthesised
voice would be superior, so long as it's programmed with the correct
phonemes (and isn't allowed to say Green-witch or War-wick).

What does "obviously belongs to a certain class" mean? Emma is a Mancunian
which you can tell from her natural voice, but as a good actress will adopt
whatever accent and pronunciation her client wants. On her website she used
to tell of the various ways of pronouncing Marylebone that she had to do,
with LU making the final choice.

Is it in fact Emma on the Northern Line? Her website says she's on "pretty
much everything except the Jubilee Line, the Northern Line and Docklands
Light Railway" (though the PA on the Piccadilly doesn't sound like her).
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

Boltar wrote:
On Nov 26, 11:21 pm, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube
November 26, 2007 12:39 PM EST

LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns
London's subway commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling
a newspaper she thought the transit network was dreadful.

Not many people could get away with publically slagging off the
company they do contract work for, even if in jest, and not get the
boot. She was rather naive IMO.

No, it's people who believed the Mail on Sunday who were naive. It's worth
reading her blog entry at
http://www.emmaclarke.com/blogs/2007...as-like-for-me
which includes this:
" I told him the thought of being in a tube carriage, hearing nothing but my
voice would be a dreadful experience for me, sitting with strangers who were
all wishing I'd shut up and give them some peace. I said it's a bit like
when I ring a company only to discover my voice on the on-hold system
telling me to 'press 3 for accounts' or like being woken up by my radio
alarm broadcasting a commercial I've recorded about pre-Christmas
ample-free-parking retail opportunities. Hearing one's own voice slammed
full in one's face is a disconcerting experience, let me tell you.

But that isn't what was published in the press. ... The piece said that I
thought tube trains were 'dreadful' and that I avoided them 'at all costs'.
It also alleged my experience of the tube was practically trauma-inducing."

Apparently TfL haven't bothered to contact Emma. They are prepared to
"fire" someone on the strength of a Mail on Sunday report, or copies of it
that other gullible media have repeated. Disgraceful.
--
Richard J.
(to email me, swap 'uk' and 'yon' in address)

"Richard J." wrote in message
.uk
Boltar wrote:
On Nov 26, 11:21 pm, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube
November 26, 2007 12:39 PM EST

LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns
London's subway commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling
a newspaper she thought the transit network was dreadful.

Not many people could get away with publically slagging off the
company they do contract work for, even if in jest, and not get the
boot. She was rather naive IMO.

No, it's people who believed the Mail on Sunday who were naive. It's
worth reading her blog entry at
http://www.emmaclarke.com/blogs/2007...as-like-for-me
which includes this:

Thanks for posting that -- her blog is quite a good read. I suspect that
she'll probably do quite well out of all the attention she's getting,
and good luck to her. Hopefully TfL will see sense.

John Rowland wrote:

Since Emma can't say Highgate properly, and obviously belongs
to a certain class,

Snobbery is never attractive.

--

Stephen

I haven’t been this excited since Madonna just dropped by
Total Request Live.

On Wed, 28 Nov 2007, John Rowland wrote:

Boltar wrote:
On Nov 26, 11:21 pm, "Rev. CMOT TMPV"
wrote:
London PA Voice Fired for Slamming Tube
November 26, 2007 12:39 PM EST

LONDON - The woman behind the gentle, even voice which warns
London's subway commuters to "Mind the gap" was fired after telling
a newspaper she thought the transit network was dreadful.

Not many people could get away with publically slagging off the
company they do contract work for, even if in jest, and not get the
boot. She was rather naive IMO.

But TfL is not a company, it's the government. A government body should be
concerned only with whether she provides the right service at the right
price. Since the Labour Party policy is to gradually draw everyone into the
employ of the government, allowing government employees to be sacked for
criticising the government means that we end up with no-one allowed to
criticise the government.

This decision will cost us money. When Wood Lane station opens and Shepherds
Bush gets renamed, the whole line will now be revoiced instead of just two
stations. Allowing Emma to voice the other stations would be a permanent
reminder of the woman who was sacked for criticising the government. She
will be phased out ASAP on all lines for the flimsiest of excuses, just as
Trotsky was airbrushed out of the official pictures of Lenin.

One of your best yet, John!

tom

--
Caps lock is like cruise control for cool.

On Nov 28, 1:37 am, Barry Salter wrote:
Because 99% of the time speech synthesisers are utter crap. Take the one
at King's Cross St. Pancras for example, which used to announce a Good
service on the Pick-addle-y Line when first installed. (Though that's
now been fixed).

That wasn't a synthesizer , that was just reassembling pre recorded
words and phrases. Theres a difference between synthesising a voice
and just playing back a sequence of .wav files. Modern synthesizers
admittedly don't sound truly natural but for train announcements who
gives a toss - its to provide information , not audition for Macbeth.
Half the time I can't even understand them anyway when they're done by
the station staff or driver. A computer couldn't do any worse. "This
hmmftta is delahhmfffdff behhmmmfhfhfh hmmfmmfmfm...".

B2003