I hate M$ Anna and I wanna change it!

[Nitsuki]

As the thread states, I want to find ways of getting rid of Micro$oft anna and use a better/clearer TTS voice. Not sure if it is actually possible or if there is some sort of 3rd party required to do so. But I'd def like to know.

OS: Windows 7 Pro x64

[Kohan]

This is the only option I know of off-hand, but I confess to not having looked into it deeply.

Also, if you've never downloaded from CNet before, be sure to look carefully—one link makes you download their intermediary downloader, and the other is direct. You should use the direct one, naturally. You can also look for software on oldversion.com.

[orinthia]

I just performed these steps myself and was able to get new voices in windows 7 x64. Sad how this was made so difficult when xp had it so simple, but there is a way at least. I got the instructions from here: https://forums.robertsspaceindustrie...h-win7-8-64bit

Copied whole post for posterity:

Spoiler: show

Be aware that BG adds spaces to long words, so there might be stray spaces in the directory listings below.

So if your sick of Microsoft Anna, here is how to get some alternatives:

!!!WARNING!!!

This involves manual edits to your registry. If you mess it up, don't blame me. Do at your own risk.

Step 1 --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Install the Speech Platform v11

a) go here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=27225
b) click "Download"
c) select the "x64_SpeechPlatformRuntime\SpeechPlatformRuntime.m si"
d) run the installer (duh )

Step 2: --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Get the alternate voices

a) go here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/downl....aspx?id=27224
b) click "Download"
c) select the voice files you want. They are the ones that have "TTS" in the file name. There are 6 English (all female). I have not listened to the other languages, so I dont know how they sound. GB_Hazel and US_ZiraPro are IMO the better sounding voices.
MSSpeech_TTS_en-CA_Heather
MSSpeech_TTS_en-GB_Hazel
MSSpeech_TTS_en-IN_Heera
MSSpeech_TTS_en-US_Helen
MSSpeech_TTS_en-US_ZiraPro
MSSpeech_TTS_en-AU_Hayley
d) run the installers for each (duh )

Step 3: --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extract the registry tokens

a) Open Regedit
b) Under - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Speech Server\v11.0\Voices - right click the "Tokens" folder and export. Save this file to your desktop as voices1.reg so it will be easy to find later.
b) Under - HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Microsoft\ Speech Server\v11.0\Voices - right click "Tokens" and again export it, again to the desktop. Call it voices2.reg.

Step 4: --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Edit the voices1/2 files

a) open Voices1.reg in Notepad.
b) press "cntrl + H"
c) enter \Speech Server\v11.0\ into the "Find What" field
d) enter \Speech\ into the "Replace With" field
e) click "Replace All"
f) Save File

g) Repeat a-f with the Voices2.reg file

Step 5: --------------------------------------------------------------------------

Merge the new Registry files into your registry

a) double click to "run" both Voices1.reg and Voices2.reg
b) Click "Yes" when it prompts

You should now have access to the new voices in Voice Attack, and in the Windows TTS options menu.

This process may also work with other voice packs. I have a couple others I will try when I get home and will edit this post if they are successful

I haven't tried with other TTS voices yet, but at least it's not Anna lol.

[Nitsuki]

i knew BG would deliver! Thank you!

[Nitsuki]

Aaaand sadly, the biggest reason i did this was to use clearer voices for custom triggers in ACT for ffxiv. But it seems like in windows 7, i can change the TTS voice just fine, but ACT still defaults to micro$oft anna. i don't think there's a solution to this except installing windows 8.1 which will never happen. Apparently ACT changes TTS just fine w/ windows 8.1

[Kohan]

Supposedly, people have been able to work around that, too.

http://www.reddit.com/r/ffxiv/commen...parser/cegipjz

However, I don't use ACT, nor do I play FFXIV at all, so I have no further advice.

[orinthia]

The link in that reddit post was one of the first search results I got in google that I looked at. The one I linked earlier is a slightly nicer form of what was presented further in that technet thread. The reddit post mentions ZiraPro, which is one of MS's voice packs you had to download.

I tried the TTS options in ventrilo, and noticed something. The extras showed up but didn't actually work. Anna is at the top of the list though, and does work. Ventrilo does recognize a default TTS setting as well, but still can't get sound out of it. ACT seems to ignore the default and just use anna, but has no option to change the voice it uses. Using C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl brings up the 32bit version of the windows TTS dialog. Those installed voices are there as well, but won't play. This is why ventrilo wasn't working with those voices: I had the 32bit version installed. Installed 64bit version of ventrilo and it worked perfectly with the new voices.

That's probably it, which means it might not work properly thanks to win7 having TTS as an afterthought. I tried a few things, got this program called eSpeak which includes a couple free low quality 32bit voices and got those to work with 32bit ventrilo, but they don't work with ACT. ACT makes no sound during the tests, meaning it's using the 32bit defaults (from C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl ) to no avail. Switching back to anna makes it work again...

Think I found something: instead of the x64 version of the Speech Platform - Runtime tools, get the x86 and install that. Then reinstall ZiraPro (just for certainty, it actually has no dialog). Upon doing this, and not modifying any registry settings, I was able to get ZiraPro to work in 32bit ventrilo where it did not before at all. Went and tried C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Speech\SpeechUX\sapi.cpl again, and ZiraPro and the others worked where they did not before. And finally, I set ZiraPro as default and tried ACT: it worked. Hopefully something in here works for you. I didn't uninstall anything during this; I just kept trying things.

Spoiler: show

I had way too much time to play with this lol.

[Nitsuki]

The good thing is, i have had the TTS working on vent and TS3right off the bat which is good. But my issue is ACT, i will try these things.

When you mentioned the sapi.cpl file, what exactly did you do with it again? Edit it w/ notepad?

edit* BG Delivers once again. GOD I LOVE YOU GUYS!!