ACE-TTS version history 4.4.0 February 1, 2004 1 - Compiled with latest version of various third party controls. ------------------------- 4.3.3 February 18, 2003 1 - Added a new feature that displays the status of the speech engine in the lower right hand corner of the main window and also writes this status to a file called "ttsstatus.txt" in the ACE-TTS folder. The status value will be 0 if the engine is ready (not speaking) and 1 if it is busy (speaking). A file called ttsbusy.flg is also created while speaking and then deleted when done speaking. You can simply test for the existence of this file in order to determine if ACE-TTS is speaking or not. ----------------------- 4.3.1 February 16, 2003 1 - Added 3 new api commands: STOP: PAUSE: RESUME: ----------------------- 4.3.0 February 13, 2003 1 - Fixed a problem that caused the IsXML option to not be checked even when it was active. 2 - Fixed a problem that would cause multiple "ttsdone:" messages to be sent to ACE Server. ---------------------- 4.2.4 February 4, 2003 1 - When done speaking, all text is un-selected (not highlighted). 2 - The "Say it!" button for Direct Text Entry is now the default button, which means you can press the ENTER key to speak the text in this field. ---------------------- 4.2.3 February 3, 2003 1 - Fixed a problem that caused text to sometimes be spoken out of order if several text strings were sent to ACE-TTS in rapid succession. There still seems to be a problem with strings being sent in very quick succession, but it is much better now. ---------------------- 4.2.2 January 31, 2003 1 - Fixed a problem when starting up that would display this error: "Error in InitSpeechSettings: 338:'Text' property is read-only" 2 - Changed the ACE-TTS main window caption back to "ACE-TTS". Somehow it had gotten set to "ACE-TTS2". --------------------- 4.2.1 January 1, 2003 1 - Multiple instances are no longer allowed. 2 - The icon has been changed to a mouth. 3 - There is now an option to start minimized. ------------------------ 4.2.0 October 18, 2002 1 - Added shortcut keys to all setup options on the main window and in the Preferences window. 2 - Added a new api command called SAYO (Say with Options). This command allows you to specify the voice to use, the format (sample rate/quality), and the output device. See api32.txt for details. 3 - Added tooltips (popup help tips) when hovering over any of the Speak Options. 4 - Items in Voice, Format, and Audio Output dropdown lists are now numbered. This should help to send keystrokes to ACE-TTS in order to select a desired item in the list. ----------------------- 4.1.0 August 27, 2002 1 - Added a CLEAR button to the debug window. 2 - Added error checking/trapping to the timer routine that checks for a command file to speak and then deletes it when found. These errors will be output to the debug window. -------------------- 4.0.11 May 11, 2002 1 - Fixed a problem that prevented the MUTE:0 command from working once ACE-TTS was muted. ------------------------ 4.0.10 BETA 5/1/2002 1 - Added enhanced error checking and reporting during startup. ------------------------- 4.0.9 BETA 4/27/2002 1 - Added error checking in the routines that modify the user dictionary. More informative error messages are now displayed and ACE-TTS does not crash. ------------------------- 4.0.8 BETA 4/26/2002 1 - Changed the way the custom pronunciation feature works that was added in 4.0.7. You must now tell ACE how to pronounce words by using phonemes. ------------------------- 4.0.7 BETA 4/25/2002 1 - Added a Setup/Pronunciation menu option that allows you to customize how the TTS engine will pronounce words. ------------------------- 4.0.6 BETA 4/23/2002 1 - Fixed a problem with ACE-TTS not accepting the registration code. ------------------------- 4.0.4 BETA 4/19/2002 1 - Supports SAPI 5.x compliant TTS engines and voices. 2 - Supports a secure network connection to ACE Server (not yet implemented). 3 - Will minimize to the system tray. 4 - *SHOULD* support all features of 2.3.1. 5 - Support for zones (not yet implemented). Zones will allow you to direct TTS only to certain pc's, much like you can do now with ACE Clients using the client ID. 6 - Can be used on same pc as ACE Server or ACE Client. Can also be used by itself and connect via TCP/IP to the ACE Server. 7 - Install to different folder than current ACE-TTS and then you can have both 2.x and 4.x on same pc. ------------------ 2.3.1 12/27/2001 1 - Added 2 new command line parameters. You can now specify the speech engine to use and the wav device to use. Format is: /engine=x /wav=y x=engine number to use, starting at 0 y=wav device to use, starting at 0 Examples: ace-tts /engine=1 /wav=0 ace-tts /wav=1 ace-tts /engine=3 You may need to specify the engine if you are getting an automation error 430 at startup. This error is due to a bug in the Microsoft tts engine and only occurs if you also have Lernaut & Hauspie voices installed (which can be if you have HAL 2000 installed or MS Agent voices installed). The old way (from version 2.1.5) to specify the wav device to use was to just include the wav device number on the command line. Thus, to use wav device number 2, you would start ACE-TTS like this: ace-tts 2 This wav device selection command line format IS STILL SUPPORTED. 2 - Errors during startup are now displayed in a popup error window that automatically closes after 4 seconds. All startup errors are logged to a file called startuplog.txt in the ACE-TTS folder. ----------------- 2.3.0 11/8/2001 1 - Added the ability to lock ACE-TTS so that config info can not be changed and the program can not be exited. 2 - If the command file option is enabled, ACE-TTS will also look for 5 other files named: acesay1.txt acesay2.txt acesay3.txt acesay4.txt acesay5.txt These files must be in the same folder as the command file specified on the main ACE-TTS window. This feature allows you to create different files in order to help prevent ACE and your program from trying to read or delete the file at the same time. ----------------- 2.2.2 3/14/2001 1 - Added the ability to mute all TTS sounds through a checkbox option on the main ACE-TTS window. 2 - Added a new api command called MUTE: to mute and unmute the ACE-TTS module. Format is MUTE:1 to mute, MUTE:0 to unmute. The checkbox on the main window will reflect the current mute status. 3 - Added 2 new api commands called SAY!: and FILE!:. These work exactly the same as the SAY: and FILE: commands, except that these new commands ignore the mute setting and so will ALWAYS be spoken. An example of using these new features would be to change all critical announcements to using the ! version of the SAY and FILE commands. Then you can use the mute feature, for example, if you take a nap in the middle of the day, so you will not be disturbed by unimportant announcements. The cid messages from ACE Server still use the SAY command, so muting ACE-TTS will mute all caller id announcements that use TTS. -------------- 2.2.1 3/3/2001 1 - Re-compiled with VB6 SP4 runtimes. -------------- 2.2.0 8/8/2000 1 - Changed from using the Microsoft socket control to the Catalyst socket control. 2 - Added the SC api command that allows you to specify which sound card ACE-TTS will use. Format is SC:x (x=sound card number, 0 is first card, 1 is second card, etc.). 3 - All INI type settings are no longer stored in the registry. They are now stored in a file called ace-tts.ini in the ACE-TTS folder. Thus, once you start ACE-TTS, you will need to re-enter your settings. -------------- 2.1.5 8/3/2000 1 - Added more extensive error checking and reporting during the startup phase of ACE-TTS in order to provide more info when troubleshooting TTS setup problems. 2 - You can now specify which WAV device to use when speaking by including the WAV device number in the command line. The first sound card is number 0. For example, starting ACE-TTS like this will make all speech go to the 2nd sound card in the PC: ace-tts 1 --------------- 2.1.1 8/28/99 1 - Errors are now logged to a file called acetts.log in the ace-tts directory. --------------------- 2.1.0 5/25/99 1 - Changed the functionality of the feature that sends an API command to ACE when ACE-TTS is done speaking. The new functionality sends the command over the network, not using DDE. The new functionality also ONLY sends the command to the ACE Server. If you want the API command to go to one or more ACE Clients then use a command header that looks like this: ACES:ACEC:0: or ACES:ACEC:2: --------------------- 2.0.9 5/24/99 1 - Removed an error (SCTA) message that might occur when sending the API command. -------------------- 2.0.8 5/22/99 1 - Added a new menu option called "Preferences" under the SETUP menu item. New features here allow you to send any API command when ACE-TTS is done speaking. ------------------- 2.0.5 5/6/99 1 - Added the ability to buffer text if the WAV device is busy. When a text string is received, ACE-TTS will try to speak it immediately. If an error occurs because the WAV device is busy, the text will be added to a buffer. The buffer is checked every 200 milliseconds. If text is in the buffer, ACE-TTS will try to speak it. If the WAV device is still busy, the text will be returned to the buffer. This process will continue until the text is spoken. The number of text strings in the buffer is displayed at the bottom left of the ACE-TTS main window. The first text string in the queue is displayed next to this number. --------------------- 2.0.1 4/14/99 Please read the README.TXT file that is included in the t201.zip file for complete installation instructions. 1 - This version uses a different TTS control that allows more control over the sound of the voice. It also ships with a network socket control for future network features. 2 - A new option has been added to direct the speech output to a WAV file instead of speaking the text over the speakers. This can be done from the ACE-TTS main window or by using the new FILE api command. See api.txt for details on the new FILE api command. 3 - Embedded command characters can now be used in the text string in order to have full control over how each part of the text string is spoken (volume, pitch, etc.). The file TTSTAGS.HTM lists all of the embedded commands available. 4 - A new menu option allows you to alter the way ACE-TTS pronounces any word. Once altered, the word will be spoken with the new pronunciation every time that word is encountered. ----------------------- 1.0.12 1/18/99 1 - Added a 'Share sound device with WinAMP' option. If this option is checked, ace-tts will first check to see if WinAMP is playing or paused before trying to speak. If WinAMP is playing or paused, ace-tts will save the current song's position, stop WinAMP, speak the string, and then re-start WinAMP at the last position.