From: barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.amiga.multimedia,comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Subject: Re: C= : Where's the Speech?
Date: 16 Dec 92 23:05:59 GMT
Reply-To: barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett)
Followup-To: comp.sys.amiga.advocacy
Organization: BLAZEMONGER INCORPORATED


(Followups to c.s.a.advocacy.)

>In article <57432@dime.cs.umass.edu> barrett@astro.cs.umass.edu (Daniel Barrett) writes:
>>	Marc once again has jumped to an illogical conclusion based on his
>>own paranoia and fantasies.  (No surprise.)  Just because speech synthesis
>>may "take advantage of... a DSP card" doesn't mean that it won't work on
>>a stock Amiga, idiot.

In article <Bz48IL.2su@news.iastate.edu> barrett@iastate.edu (Marc N. Barrett) writes:
>   Then why has Commodore removed the speech capability completely from 
>AmigaOS 2.1 and AmigaOS 3.0?
>... [This] is the most reasonable explanation to date for why Commodore did
>not bother updating their licesnse to keep the speech synthesis libraries in
>AmigaOS 2.1 and 3.0.

	It is?  Well gee... I guess we should ignore the explanation that a
Commodore employee posted on USENET, saying that continuing the license was
judged by the higher-ups to be too expensive.  We mustn't believe a
Commodore employee, must we?

>>	Marc, you clearly know absolutely nothing about speech synthesis.
>>Don't you think that having over 250 times the sample resolution and
>>who-knows-how-many-times the processing power will make a difference?!?
>>Have you ever compared an Ensoniq Mirage with an EPS-16+?  The difference
>>is *staggering*.

>Your problem is that you pay too much attention to raw numbers, and too
>little attention to reality.

	Marc, that is the funniest and most hypocritical thing you've said
in weeks!  Thanks for a great laugh, Mister "The A4000 sucks even though
I've never used one."

	No Marc, my "problem" is that I'm an expert on sound synthesis, with
nearly 15 years of real experience in it.  "Reality" means directly
comparing an 8-bit to a 16-bit sound system.  Have you done such a
comparison?  Well, I have, and so have thousands of other people.  Every
added bit *doubles* the sound resolution, and the difference in clarity is
immediately obvious.  It's like the difference between a compact disc and a
cheap cassette tape.

>Sure, a DSP can blow away the standard hardware in creating speech, ON
>PAPER.

	Not only on paper, Marc, but in actual reality.  I know this for
a fact, having heard it with my own ears.

	Why not post your opinions in rec.music.synth (now called
rec.music.makers.synth)?  Tell all those 16-bit sampler owners that the
sound quality of their instruments is "hardly improved" over the 8-bit
samplers'.  I can hear the laughter already.

>In other words, the speech is good enough already that I just don't see all
>that much room for improvement.

	Yes, it's clear that you don't see it.

>You can install an array of DSPs or even an array of Crays all dedicated to
>doing speech synthesis, and the speech would not be improved all that much.

	I've heard this kind of argument before in many forms.  (Remember
when people said similar things about single-tasking computers?  And how
floppies were good enough, so who needs hard drives?)  Just because you are
satisfied with current technology doesn't mean that any advances will be
insignificant.  

	I suggest that you get a hearing test.

	In conclusion -- it is certainly possible that Commodore will require
a DSP for speech synthesis.  I don't speak for them.  However, I have seen
no direct evidence that supports Marc's guesswork.  In addition, Marc's
comments about how a DSP would not improve the speech capabilities are pure
bunk, easily disproven by comparing 8 and 16-bit sound hardware.

	Followups are to c.s.a.advocacy.

                                                        Dan
							(no relation)

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