Editing Speakonia

"This is a test for Speakonia" -Speakonia's test quote.
[[File:Speakonia.png|thumb|Speakonia's Icon.]]

'''Speakonia''' is a free text-to-speech program that was created in the mid to late 90s by CFS Technologies and was discontinued in the early to mid 2000s. The program allows users to type out whatever they want and have a voice read it back, as well as adjusting the pitch, speed, and volume of the voice. Despite being discontinued, the program can still be downloaded at CNET, and additional voices can be added, such as the Microsoft TTS voices and British Male and Female voices. The program is basically the entire foundation of the whole [[The Speakonia Community|Speakonia Community]] and the [[The Barney Bunch|Barney Bunch]], as the voices are used for all the characters that appear in the videos. In recent years, however, many members have branched off and began using other TTS programs as well, such as TTSApp, Balibolka, Adpeca, and sites like Uberduck AI, though still use Speakonia to a degree however.

== The Basics ==
Below are some of the perks (and issues) present with Speakonia.

=== Pros ===
*Absolutely free. (Needs to be registered to export .wav files, but also completely free.)
*Easy to use text-to-speech interface.
*Exporting of sound as .wav files.
*A number of voices, some sporting filters.
*Adjustment of voice pitch, speed, and volume.
*The ability to add words to the program's dictionary.
*The ability to edit pronunciation of new and included words.

=== Cons ===
*Sometimes, and particularly on Microsoft Sam, Mike, and Mary voices, the pitch change doesn't work properly. This applies to the ones with the filters as well. A quick fix is to finely tune the pitch:
**For Mary, the highest pitch should be close to the right end of the pitch bar, but not at the end.
**For Mike and Sam, the highest pitch should be very close to the middle, a little to the left. They may still hit their highest pitch with the highest pitch setting for Mary.
*Sometimes numbers are pronounced wrong (Eg. The number "6942" is read as, "Sixty-Nine Forty-Two."). The easiest fix is to just type the number out in words. This issue is mainly present in the Default voices, as the Microsoft TTS voices do not have this problem.
*A common complaint is that the volume isn't loud enough, even when maxed out in Speakonia. A fix for this is to turn up the gain in an audio editing program such as Audacity or Adobe Audition. If the volume was highest in Speakonia, only an additional 2-5 dB are really needed if your volume is set to 50. (Referring to the volume settings in the task bar, not on your speakers/monitor.)
*Sometimes, the voice doesn't pronounce words properly, or the word needs to be added ( a common one is that the Microsoft trio sometimes pronounces "on" as "in"). To do so, you need to go into the voice's Lexicon to edit the pronunciation. Phonetics can be added to tune it properly. Some voices (Adult Male and Female for instance, as well as the MS Trio) share the same lexicon, so adding the words thrice or more isn't always necessary. Many members of the community tend to sometimes use the mispronounced words to their advantage, as it sometimes makes the words sound even funnier.

== Voices ==
By default, Speakonia is included with 10 voices (8 Male, 2 Female). Additional voices, such as the Microsoft Trio, Robosoft, special Mike/Mary voices, and British voices can be added to the program via downloading them. Below are a list of all the voices and the characters that the voices are primarily used for.

=== Default Voices ===
*'''Adult Male #1'''
Used for: Drew Pickles (early-mid 2000s), Ronald McDonald, Chaz Finster, Screw Pickles, Quaker Queer (first appearance), Pube Nerd, Odd Della Robbia, Boo Berry, Pube Disney, Pube Bird, Pube Pecker

*'''Adult Male #2'''
Used for: Dick the Clown, Howard DeVille, Pube Swedish Chef, Pube Telly, Captain Crunch, Drew Pickles Jr. and Barney Jr., Frute Brute, Riff, Pube Hare, Dipsy.

*'''Adult Male #3'''
Used for: Pube Muppet, Stu Pickles, Arthur, Elmo, Howard DeVille (bigboyrats), Embit, Yarny, Inspector Duck, Pube Elmo, BJ, Moss Muppet

*'''Adult Male #4'''
Used for: Barney, Lou Pickles, Pube Cookie Monster, Pube Puppy, Grimace, Count Chocula

*'''Adult Male #5'''
Used For: Barney, Fatty Bear, Lou Pickles, Pube Beaker, Sammy t3h Snake (Sammy Gets Censored: Part 5), Barry the Giraffe, Freak Monkey, The Pubic Grandparents

*'''Adult Male #6'''
Used for: Lou Pickles (Drew Pickles Goes To the Center of Barney), Rainbow Frog, Pox the Chicken, Scary Ape, Fruity Yummy Mummy, Dr. Nerd, Pube Fredrick, Pube Pecker (first apperance), Pubeasaurus Sex

*'''Adult Male #7'''
Used for: Stu Pickles (bigboyrats), Pube Jason, Ultra Parrot, Frankenberry, Kaa

*'''Adult Male #8'''
Used for: Captain Crunch, The Pubic Grandparents, The Saurus, Insane Gus, Hip Hop Harry, Pube Dumbass

*'''Adult Female #1'''
Used for: Charlotte Pickles, Didi Pickles, Velma Dinkly

*'''Adult Female #2'''
Used for: Pube Piggy, Sailor Mars

=== Microsoft TTS Voices ===
*'''Microsoft Sam'''
By far the most recognizable and most popular voice out of the bunch, even to those who aren't part of the Speakonia Community.

Used for: Drew Pickles, Barney, Dick the Clown (first voice), Sammy t3h Snake, Yogi Bear, Fatty Bear, Betty DeVille, Drew Pickles Jr., Brony Drew, Nega Drew, Dick Pickles, Baby, Swellmix, The Wiggles, Pube Pecker, Tinky Winky, Drake

*'''Microsoft Mike''' (as well as '''Mike (for Telephone), Mike in Hall, Mike in Stadium''', and '''Mike in Space''')
Used for: Barney, Ronald McDonald, Clifford, Satan, Stu Pickles, Chaz Finster, Robin Hood, Vin Diesel, Gurio Umino

*'''Microsoft Mary''' (as well as '''Mary (for Telephone), Mary in Hall, Mary in Stadium''', and '''Mary in Space''')
Used for: Betty DeVille, Charlotte Pickles, Angelica Pickles, Maid Marian, Snakette, Princess Molestia, Olga Pataki, Delia Ketchum, Laa-Laa, Po

*'''Male Whisper'''
This voice hasn't been used too much, save for a video where Drew loses his original voice.

*'''Female Whisper'''
Like Male Whisper, this one isn't used as much

*'''Robosoft One'''
The first of the Robosoft voices. These aren't used as much compared to the other voices due to their graining nature.

*'''Robosoft Two'''
Not used as much

*'''Robosoft Three'''
Perhaps the one Robosoft voice that is used prominently. Used for the Secret Missing Episode announcer, Elgardest the 1337 Computer, and Mechagodzilla

*'''Robosoft Four'''
Not used as much.

*'''Robosoft Five'''
Not used as much

*'''Robosoft Six'''
Not used as much.

=== Other Voices ===
*'''Adult Male #1 British English'''
Used for: Nigel Thornberry, Mr. Noseybonk, Mr. Peanut, Drew Pickles (Drew Pickles Gets EVEN GAYER! only), Caillou

*'''Adult Female #1 British English'''
Used for: Rita Repulsa

== Sounds ==
Speakonia is pretty well known for all the various sounds one can produce with the program by typing in certain letters. Most of these sounds only work best with the Sam voice.

=== Common Sounds ===
*hahahahahahahahaha - Common sex sound. It can also be used to simulate laughter (often shortened to hahahaha and reads as "hahemoha" or "hemoha"). For Sammy t3h Snake videos, the sound is used when Sammy fires his 1337 1337 Laser Beams.
*uh uh uh uh - Can be used for characters being pounded in the ass.
*raaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaah/a a a a a a a a a a a a - Common scream sound. Particularly for Drew.
*wuwuwuwu - Alternative masturbation sound. (Gender neutral.)
*shlikshlikshlikshlik - Common female masturbation sound.
*blurblurblurblurblurblur/glurglurglurglur - Common sucking sound.
*soisoisoisoi - Common orgasm sound. The sound is probably famous across the internet as the ROFLcopter
*smack smack smack smack - Mostly used with Drew. Used when a character beats up another character.
*bababababa/papapapapa - An alternative sound to the above.
*o o o o o o o o aw aw aw aw aw aw aw o o o o o o o o o o o o - Common sound used for a character using something as a dialdoh.

=== Miscellaneous Sounds ===
*ay ay ay ay - Screaming sound. Could be for either pleasure or pain.
*ah ah ah ah ah ah ah - Another common scream sound. Often used for Drew
*pisspisspisspiss/tstststststststststststspe - Sound for when a character urinates.
*espspspspsp - Alternative sound for when a character urinates.
*tststststststststspe - Alternate urination sound.
*poopoopoopoo - When a character takes a dump.
*auyauyauyauy - Can be randomly inserted during sex or using things as dildus.
*lublublublub/lululululululululululul- When a character uses something as lube (often anal lube).
*wawawawawawawawawa- When a character is crying or using something as dildus.
*yeyeyeye - Alternative sound when using a dialdoh.
*ouououou - Sound used when a character is in pain.
*cacacaca - Classic sound.
*lolololo - Classic sound. Can also be used when a character laughs.
*ijajijajija - Classic sound.
*wowowowow - Classic sound.
*yoyoyoyo - An extra sound for when someone uses something as a dialdo. Could also be used as a sex sound.
*Thomas the Tank Engine (inserted randomly, generally used only once per video).
*aXYXY - Replace X and Y with any two letters to make your own. The letter "a" can make sounds that wouldn't work normally, mostly ones with one consonant after another. For example, bfbfbf, plplpl, or jgjgjg. These would change to abfbfbf, aplplpl, and ajgjgjg respectively.

== External Links ==
*[https://download.cnet.com/Speakonia/3000-7239_4-10125328.html Speakonia Download]
*[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/1WBF25TeawdtxIvd3buxSSJsLkazAv3_I Additional Voice Downloads for Sam, Mike, and Mary]
*[https://drive.google.com/drive/folders/0B1pyWzHEkSqBfk1xZGtBWXpaS3BMamdVdVpVMkg1OU1mVXcwMy1HTXE5LTQydEpPT1pkQmc?resourcekey=0-Cw8Dp-WtBGcAGIVVz5oKlw Additional Voice Downloads for the British English voices (under the name Michael and Michelle L&H British English)]

[[Category: Software]]