Acapela TTS for iOS 1.201 released

July 1st, 2011

We’ve released an official update of our Text-to-Speech SDK.

Acapela TTS for iOS 1.201 is a Major Update

Here is the list of the main features of this revision:

  • Linguistic update of all voices (bug and pronunciation fixes, voice database improvement, etc …)
  • New voices and languages!!!
  • Voice Name Listen to a Sample
    Antoine (French male)
    Laia (Female)
    Rasmus (Danish Male)
    Tracy (USEnglish Female)
    Deepa (Indian English Female)
    Nizar (Arabic Male)
    NizarEng (Arabic English Male)
    Leila (Arabic Female)
    Mehdi (Arabic Male)
    Samuel (Swedish from Finland Male)

    (PS: Old Arabic Youssef male voice is removed)

  • Enhancement in API:
    • New functions: Lexicon management API (to manage user lexicons text files) with phoneme validity check
    • New textIndex parameter in queueSpeakingString function, passed to delegate when text is done, in order to make the synchronisation easier
    • New function: skipToNextText (to skip the current text and play directly the next one in text queue)
    • New function: attributesForCurrentVoice (to retrieve information about the currently loaded voice) + 5 new parameters into the returned NSArray of attributesForVoices
    • New functions: to set or get the voice shaping parameters (previously only with vct tag)
  • Voice Switching: Now possible with \vce\ tag
  • Updated TTSDemo sample code: Save/edit texts functionality + User dictionaries management added
  • New getter functions to retrieve AudioLevel value from AudioQueue when TTS is playing (useful to animate avatars based on sound level)
  • A lot of bug fixes

–> This update is available in the download page.

Please contact your dedicated sales manager for device libraries and voice database update.

Important Note 1:

  • We got a report of a problem with the new arabic voices. If you are using arabic voices, please continue to use the 1.105 version until a voice patch is available. (Probably a problem in data)

Important Note 2:

  • You should update the voice data. It is really not advised to use voice data from 1.1xx with library 1.2xx (and inversely). If you are implementing InAppPurchase, your updated app with 1.200 have to erase the old data and request a new (free) download from your end-users.

 

Meet Acapela at WWDC 2011

May 24th, 2011

Acapela Group will be present at The Apple Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC), the premier technical conference for developers innovating with Apple technologies, from June 6-10 in Moscone, San Francisco, California. Meet Acapela team and follow Acapela WWDC hot topics at http://twitter.com/Acapela_iPhone

If you want to schedule a short meeting with us (or simply meet during a lunch or a coffee pause), don’t hesitate to contact us through the contact form or through twitter.

1.200 version coming soon … What’s new?

April 11th, 2011

We are in the last testing phase of the new major revision of our TTS SDK for iOS. It will be probably available at the end of this month.

Here is the list of the main features of this revision:

  • Linguistic update of all voices (bug and pronunciation fixes, voice database improvement, etc …)
  • New voices and languages!!!
    Voice Name Listen to a Sample
    Antoine (French male)
    Laia (Female)
    Rasmus (Danish Male)
    Tracy (USEnglish Female)
    Deepa (Indian English Female)
    Nizar (Arabic Male)
    NizarEng (Arabic English Male)
    Leila (Arabic Female)
    Mehdi (Arabic Male)
    Samuel (Swedish from Finland Male)

    (PS: Old Arabic Youssef male voice is removed)

  • Enhancement in API:
    • New functions: Lexicon management API (to manage user lexicons text files) with phoneme validity check
    • New textIndex parameter in queueSpeakingString function, passed to delegate when text is done, in order to make the synchronisation easier
    • New function: skipToNextText (to skip the current text and play directly the next one in text queue)
    • New function: attributesForCurrentVoice (to retrieve information about the currently loaded voice) + 5 new parameters into the returned NSArray of attributesForVoices
    • New functions: to set or get the voice shaping parameters (previously only with vct tag)
  • Voice Switching: Now possible with \vce\ tag
  • Updated TTSDemo sample code: Save/edit texts functionality + User dictionaries management added
  • A lot of bug fixes

Stay tuned!

Voice Brief: Listen To Gmail, Twitter, Facebook and Calendar On Your iPhone

March 17th, 2011

No need of long speech … this short video will tell you everything about the new Voice Brief wonderful application.

A new AAC app: OneVoice

March 17th, 2011

Legend have released a new AAC app for the iPad, with Acapela TTS: OneVoice.

OneVoice is designed to be easily understood by all ages. The main goal was not to have every possible feature, but to make it easy to use.

Features include:

- 4 High Quality Voices (2 male and 2 female)
- Over 100 custom made icons
- Drag and drop organization of phrases and categories
- Choose and crop your own photos from the iPad photo gallery or your camera.
- Simple, focused application. Users won’t get lost in many levels of categories and be unable to find their way back

You can download it on AppStore here.

New version 1.200 coming soon …

March 3rd, 2011

… with new voices and languages, updated voices and languages, and a lot of new features.

Stay tuned!

Proloquo2Go shown as part of a video on the iPad 2 during Apple Special Event!

March 3rd, 2011

During the Apple’s iPad 2 event of this 2nd March of 2011, the introduction video about 2010, the year of the iPad, Proloquo2Go was shown, used by a child.

Proloquo2Go is a powerful AAC application that uses Acapela TTS for iPhone and iPad voices.

This is the consecration for Proloquo2Go, after Apple has included Proloquo2Go on the iPads on display in Apple Stores worldwide, and also after the 2011 BETT award received in January.

Congratulation to AssistiveWare!

Update: Here is the video. Proloquo2Go is featured aroung 4:05 – 4:010, in the section on how the iPad makes a difference to kids with autism. You will see several kids using Proloquo2Go.

Motion-X GPS Drive is using Acapela TTS

January 26th, 2011

2 new apps into the Gallery: Motion-X GPS Drive and Motion-X GPS Drive HD (for iPad), from Fullpower Technologies, Inc.

From version 8.0, you have now the possibility to replace the recorded voice by Heather, the Acapela TTS USEnglish female voice.

If you sign-up for a live-guidance subscription, Heather will read i.e the street names of USA or Canada …

This short video will show you all the possibilities of  this wonderful on-line and always uptodate app.

More than 50 iOS apps are using Acapela TTS!

January 20th, 2011

Education, Translation, Navigation, AAC and accessibility, productivity or fun … There is plenty of possibility to use Acapela Text-to-Speech into an app!

And more and more speech-powered apps are coming!

The 51st and the 52nd apps added into the gallery are Study Fly and Study Fly Spanish !
These new applications from theraTech Solutions (makers of Talking Flashcards).

Study Fly accesses over 3 million free flashcards sets at Quizlet.com covering every possible subject and speaks it, so you can study on the fly, in English or Spanish.

Acapela TTS also for the Mac App Store!

January 18th, 2011

There is currently more than 50 apps that are using Acapela TTS for iPhone and iPad!

But Acapela Group produces also Text To Speech SDK’s and products for other OS than iOS… including Mac OS X!

There is indeed already several applications for Mac OS X that are using our TTS: GhostReader and Proloquo, WordQ and SpeechQ, Clicker 5 and WriteOnline, ReadOutLoud, … and of course our product Infovox iVox, which adds Acapela system-wide voices available for all Mac OS X applications using Apple Speech Synthesis Manager

Mac App Store

Mac App Store

Two weeks ago, Apple released the Mac App Store … and I’m glad to announce that our customer FutureApps have successfully adapted its iOS success to the Mac App Store:

SpeakIt! for the Mac: simply enter the text you want to say, and press the “Speak it! button
Four high quality voices are included: American Male, American Female, British Male, British Female.

Available on the Mac App Store

iSpeak Translator for the Mac: Translates between any combination of the following languages: English, French, German, Italian, and Spanish. (More coming soon), using really high quality voices from Acapela

iSpeak Translator is also available on the Mac App Store

And you?

If you have a great iOS application and want to port it to the Mac App Store, contact us for more information!