How to simulate Stephen Hawking computer voice?

[seanhupe]

Just curious if anyone had ideas how to simulate the computer sounding voice of Stephen Hawking?

What plug-ins, or hardware did you use?

Thanks
Sean

[BigRedButton]

Don't know if this helps but...

Within the MAC OS there's a utility that will "speak" anything you type. This was what Radiohead used on "Fitter, Happier" from Ok Computer. The default voice (the one radiohead used), sounds just like Hawking, but there are other voices to choose from. Pink floyd sampled Hawking on "Keep Talking" and it sounds just like the MAC voice.

Hope this helps!

[soundsurfr]

http://www.readplease.com/rpfree.php

[img]images/icons/smile.gif[/img]

[O.G. Killa]

http://www.lhsl.com/realspeak/

If you can find an older version of realspeak it will sound like Stephen Hawkins. The newer versions are too good and sounds more like a real voice.

You can also use a vocoder. Check out the Orange Vocoder or maybe Antares Kantos (I think it can do a vocoder). A vocoder can get that synth vocal sound. Think "California Love" by 2Pac. There are a bunch of parameters that you can tweak to make it sound more digital or more like a real voice. Another example of a vocoder is that Cher "Do You Believe In Love" kind of sound. Auto-Tune can kind of get a vocoder-type sound if you put both parameters to 0.

[semprini]

Fruityloops has a speech emulator that will do just what you want. Just type in what you want it to say. You can also adjust various parameters of the pitch and other things. Very cool!

http://www.fruityloops.com/

[ThatHitSound]

I second fruity loops.
It can actually sing stuff you type in.
Give the CHOIR BOY a try, it blew me away.

[basschair]

Originally posted by BigRedButton:
Don't know if this helps but...

Within the MAC OS there's a utility that will "speak" anything you type. This was what Radiohead used on "Fitter, Happier" from Ok Computer. The default voice (the one radiohead used), sounds just like Hawking, but there are other voices to choose from. Pink floyd sampled Hawking on "Keep Talking" and it sounds just like the MAC voice.

Hope this helps!

<font size="2" face="Verdana, Arial">I wish I could remember the name of this utility, but I just can't conjure it up from the rusty depths of my memory. If you get on a Mac, do a search for "Fred," which is the name of the synthesized voice (each voice has a name). It should show up under the name of the utility.

[seanhupe]

Thanks for the replies.

I found a decent program that works well for exporting the sound file to either MP3 or WAV format.

It is called TextAloud.
http://www.nextup.com/

The voice sounds pretty close to Stephen Hawkins.

Sean