FIREFLY EPISODE DISCUSSIONS

From Deleted Scenes: Source of Computer Voice?

POSTED BY: TALVIN
UPDATED: Tuesday, April 27, 2004 09:11
SHORT URL:
VIEWED: 2841
PAGE 1 of 1

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 3:31 PM

TALVIN


Greetings!

I am a new recruit to the Browncoats and I may be posting something that is already common knowledge (though I did look first).

A brief bit of background: I am happily married to a lady who is studying Journalism in college. She is also totally blind.

When my best friend got me the Firefly Set, I was flipping through some of the extra features on Disc 4 when I came across the deleted scene where Simon is using his encyclopedia. I sat up straight in my chair and said, "Where the heck have I heard that voice before?"

"Dear? Could I borrow you for five minutes? I need you to ID a voice for me!"

She listened. It *seems* to be one of the programs used by the blind to read books and the like after scanning them in: Kurzweil 1000.

http://www.kurzweiledu.com

She is not 100% certain. But, we may have identified a guest "actor" on the show, and a bit of modern-day tech to go along with the Win2K screenshot.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, March 30, 2004 3:42 PM

SHINY


Many different programs/web sites may use the same "voice" for text-to-speech. I think 'Tash may have some experience with these programs, if memory serves...Tash?

Please help Haken keep this site running by occasionally clicking on some of the sponsored ad links on the side of the page!

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Wednesday, March 31, 2004 5:31 AM

TALVIN


Quote:

Originally posted by Shiny:
Many different programs/web sites may use the same "voice" for text-to-speech.



Not necessarily. Sad to say, alot of the stuff out there for the blind or visually impaired can be very, very proprietary (not to mention very, very expensive). With some, it is possible to customize the voices to a great degree, but the "stock" voices tend to be specific to a particular program or piece of hardware.

My wife says she thinks it is the "Jennifer" voice from the Kurzweil 1000, which is what they have at school. At home she uses Openbook, which has very different voices, so difficult for her to compare directly between the DVD and the product.

It will be interesting to see if they include any more talking computers (as opposed to pre-recorded messages like the O^2 warning in "Out of Gas") in the movie or the soon-to-be-revived series (yes, I am an optimist).

And I am sure this is boring everyone to tears, so I will hush now.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

Tuesday, April 27, 2004 9:11 AM

JERSEYBROWNCOAT


I'm fairly certain that it's one of the voices included in the Scriptware screenwriting program (I know I've heard it before), possibly put in as a temp track, as the audio was not completed at the time.

NOTIFY: Y   |  REPLY  |  REPLY WITH QUOTE  |  TOP  |  HOME  

YOUR OPTIONS

NEW POSTS TODAY

USERPOST DATE

OTHER TOPICS

DISCUSSIONS
Zoic studios best work on Firefly
Wed, February 14, 2024 07:12 - 1 posts
Other actors on Firefly.
Sun, January 14, 2024 14:18 - 91 posts
Firefly Honest Trailer
Tue, June 27, 2023 16:58 - 8 posts
Chronological Order of Episodes.
Sat, November 26, 2022 16:47 - 39 posts
The Unmade Episodes
Sun, June 12, 2022 14:39 - 1 posts
Episode sequence?
Wed, February 16, 2022 00:58 - 9 posts
I have lost all faith in the Oscars!
Wed, December 22, 2021 08:46 - 37 posts
Questions about Sound in Space
Mon, November 29, 2021 20:47 - 41 posts
Itinerary for Serenity during the 9 months of Firefly/Serenity.
Thu, June 20, 2019 20:39 - 21 posts
Map of the Verse discussion
Tue, June 4, 2019 20:51 - 170 posts
The Savant Crew
Wed, May 15, 2019 13:47 - 32 posts
Who Was Your Favorite Friend of Our BDH?
Wed, April 24, 2019 00:26 - 3 posts

FFF.NET SOCIAL