E-triloquist^tm is written for IBM or IBM compatible personal computers. It runs with Windows-98 or "higher", including Windows-2000/2003, Windows-XP, and Vista. If you are running Vista, be sure to download the version of E-triloquist "With No voices". The Microsoft Mike and Mary voices do not work on Vista and could cause problems. Vista comes pre-installed with the new "Anna" voice. If you prefer a Male voice, please see below for various commercially available (not free) voices. Be sure to download a trial version before you buy to make sure you like the voice and it works OK on your system. If you experience any problems with E-triloquist on Vista, please let us know.

A notebook computer is a good choice. It can easily be carried around the house, off to visit friends, or to meetings. An external speaker is a good idea for extra volume. Any multimedia notebook should work with E-triloquist.

Please note that E-triloquist does not run on handheld devices running Windows CE or Pocket PC operating systems. You'll need a tablet or laptop operating system such as Windows-XP or Vista. We would like to add a Pocket PC version in the future, but that is still a while off.

You will need to have a "speech engine". E-triloquist includes support for the Microsoft Speech API (Application Program Interface) versions 4 and 5, and optionally includes the Microsoft Speech Engine with Male and Female US English Voices for free (Mary, Mike, and Sam) on Microsoft Operating Systems other than Vista. If you would like a voice for a different language, or simply want a different U.S. English voice, check out some of the links below. In theory, all should work with E-triloquist. However, we have not tested all of them, and can not provide any guarantee that they will work. If you have questions, please feel free to Contact Us for help.

Free Voices

• Lernout & Hauspie
  These are older MS-Agent voices from L&H. Although they work OK with E- triloquist, there are some problems. If you decide to use these, you will need to go in to to "View" and then "Options" in E-triloquist and select the option to "Allow Speech to be Buffered". This means that E-triloquist will not be able to detect when the speaking has completed. It is a limitation with this particular set of voices, and there have been occasional reports of other issues as well. On the other hand - they're free, and that's not bad.
  You can download the following voices here:
  • US English (.99 mb)
  • British English (2.54MB)
  • Dutch (2.58MB)
  • French (2.24MB)
  • German (2.18MB)
  • Italian (1.97MB)
  • Japanese (3.00MB)
  • Korean (3.03MB)
  • Portuguese (2.39MB)
  • Russian (2.85MB)
  • Spanish (2.36MB)
• ModelTalker
  This is a really cool tool from A.I. duPont Hospital for Children and the University of Delaware which only became available to E-triloquist users with the release of E-triloquist V5.5. We have not actually tested ModelTalker with E-triloquist, but we know of at least 1 person who is using E-triloquist with a ModelTalker voice that he created. ModelTalker allows you, or someone you know, to record bits of speech into a database. It then uses those pieces to synthesize whatever you want to say in the voice of the person who recorded the speech. For people with ALS who have not yet lost their speech, this is a great way to "bank" their voice for later. When the time comes for an augmentative speech tool, they can continue to speak in their own voice. If it is too late for that, there is still the option of having a relative or friend record the voice for you. You will sound a little like them, but it will be a unique and distinctive voice (friends used to say "Hey - I heard your father in the parking garage the other day" because the automated parking payment machines used the same voice as Dad). Their website has a much better explanation than what I gave, and you can download the tools you need to try it out. There is also an interactive demo page of a potential future commercial version.

Commercial Voices

• Cepstral
  You can listen to a Demo on their web-site, or download an evaluation version to try before you buy (I highly recommend downloading the evaluation version and testing it with E-triloquist before you buy!!). E-triloquist does not run on a Pocket PC, so don't download the Handheld voices for use with E-triloquist. Voices cost around $30US each.
  Available voices include:
  • Americas Spanish
  • Canadian French
  • Italian
  • German
  • UK English
  • US English
  • Character (Silly?)
• AT&T Natural Voices
  Many people really love the AT&T Natural Voices. You can purchase them through NextUp along with TextAlound and their wide variety of other talking products, or you can just purchase the AT&T Natural Voices. You can listen to demos of many of the voices. You must purchase the AT&T Natural Voices Engine with Mike and Crystal in order to purchase any other voices - see their order page for details. There is also a European eCommerce provider if you prefer.
  Available voices include:
  • Canadian French
  • French
  • German
  • Indian Accent English
  • Latin American Spanish
  • UK English
  • US English
• NeoSpeech Voices
  The NeoSpeech voices are also available from NextUp. You can listen to demos of the voices.
  Available voices include:
  • Japanese
  • Korean
  • Mandarin Chinese
  • US English

Note: The speech engines are listed for your convenience - inclusion here does not imply an endorsement of any particular product, or any guarantee that the product will work with E-triloquist.

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