Free Scottish Computer Voice for Schools and Colleges
Page last updated: 24 June 2010

FAQs

General Questions

Technical Questions

General Questions:

1. What sort of computer does the voice work on?

  • Windows XP or above (Windows 2000 is not officially supported, but does work if SAPI has been upgraded to version 5)
  • 512Mb RAM
  • 1GHz Processor
  • 250Mb free disk space

2. What programs can use the voice?

The voice works with most text-to-speech Windows programs that use a SAPI 5 voice. She works with Browsealoud 4, Clicker 5.2, EasyReader, EasyConverter, PDFaloud 3, Penfriend XL, Read and Write Gold, The Grid, WordRead, and WordTalk.

She doesn't work with older programs that use SAPI 4 voices, such as: Clicker 4, and Textease.

3. Will there be a Mac version?

Yes, there is currently an Intel based version (10.4 or above) and a Power PC based Mac version (10.4 only).

4. Will there be a Male voice?

We hope so. We are trying to raise funds to create a male voice - if you have any suggestions about where we could get the money please let us know! We also need a voice actor to use to create the voice - any suggestions? (Ewan MacGregor......Billy Connolly?)

5. Can I use the voice on my home computer?

Yes, provided you can agree to the licence. You can use it at home if you are a pupil or student at a school or college, or if you are creating (non-commercial, non-profit) materials for use in schools or colleges.

6. Where was the voice created?

Heather was created by CereProc, a world leading speech synthesis company based in Edinburgh.

7. I'm not in Primary, Secondary or Further education, how can I get a copy of the voice?

For an individual user licence it costs £30 (Inclusive of VAT) and you can purchase this from the CALL online shop. If you require a site licence then please contact us.

8. Is the voice 'Heather the Weather'?

No, at least we don't think so.

9. Can I get her phone number?

Sorry, no.

10. I have a problem with the voice, how do I tell you about it?

Simply use the Contact Us page.

11. Do I need a school or college or local authority email address to download the voice?

Yes. We verify these against our database of school, college and local authority email addresses. This can take the form of admin@school.sch.uk, admin@localauthority.gov.uk, or your school's private email address. If your school or college or local authority email is not there then simply contact us using the contact form and we will add it.

If you are a pupil of a Scottish primary or secondary school or a student at a Scottish Further Education college and do not have a school/college email address then we can send you out a copy by post. Simply fill out the licence agreement form and post it to us. Once you are verified as a pupil or student we shall send out a copy to you on CD.



Technical Questions:

1. I can't get the voice to speak at all - what's wrong?

List of things to check:

  • Is it installed - and available to your profile if it's a network machine? To check this, go to Control Panel > Speech > Text To Speech. The voice should be in the pull down menu as 'CereVoice Heather – English (Scotland)'.
  • Is sound enabled on your machine?
  • Is the volume turned up?
  • Do you have your speaker plug in the right socket?
  • Do you have a SAPI 5 Text To Speech software? - see the SAPI5 list above

2. How can I adjust the pitch of the voice?

Unfortunately you can't.

3. How can I change the speed of the voice?

Within the voice settings of your 'Text To Speech' software there should be a speed control.

4. Can I change the way words are pronounced?

Some programs (like Clicker 5, Read and Write Gold) let you change the way a word is spoken. See the programs documentation for more details. If you find a word that Heather doesn't speak properly, please tell us so that we can improve her diction, by using the Contact Us page.

5. I hear a hissing on some applications, what's wrong?

On some software it seems to cut of the higher frequencies used by the voice which gives it a hissing effect.

6. How do I setup WordTalk so that it always uses the voice, by default?

On the WordTalk bar in Word, click on the setting icon (spanner). From the drop down menu under the Speech tab, click on 'CereVoice Heather – English (Scotland)' and press ok.

7. How do I use the voice with Microsoft Reader?

Go to Control Panel > Speech > Text To Speech. Select the voice in the pull down menu as 'CereVoice Heather – English (Scotland)'.

8. How do I get the voice to work with Clicker 5?

You need to upgrade to Clicker 5.2 in order to use SAPI 5 voices:

  • Click on the Start menu, click on Settings, click on Control Panel.
  • Double click on the "Add or Remove Programs" icon.
  • Uninstall 'Clicker 5'.
  • Restart the computer.
  • Install Clicker 5 using the original Clicker 5 CD.
  • Download and install the Clicker 5.20 Standalone update from the Crick website: (Only install the Clicker 5.20 update if you have Clicker 5 version 5.0 or version 5.10, the version number will be displayed on the CD)
  • Restart the computer.

9. Does the voice work with Don Johnston programs (Solo, Co:Writer, Read:Outloud; Write:Outloud; DraftBuilder?

No - these programs can only use the voices that are supplied with them. We've raised this issue with Don Johnston and they say they will look at it.

10. Browsealoud 4 does not see the Scottish Voice, what's wrong?

Browsealoud offers you voices from a list of 'safe voices' that have been tested with Browsealoud. This doesn't mean that the Scottish Voice won't work - it just means Texthelp haven't tested it yet.

You can add the Scottish Voice to the list of safe voices by:

  • opening the 'safevoices.ini' file that is usually to be found in C:\Documents and Settings\User\Application Data\Texthelp Systems\Browsealoud\4.0 (User=Who ever the PC is logged on as, i.e. User1. Also, 'Application Data' is a hidden folder so probably best pasting this link into 'My Computer')
  • Type in "CereVoice Heather - English (Scotland),301,1,-1,-1,-1" to the bottom of the list and then save it. The name of the voice must be exactly as it appears in the Speech tab of 'Speech' in the Windows Control Panel, and you must give it a unique number (as in 400, 401, 402 etc). Leave the other numbers - '1,-1,-1,-1' as they are. Example of a safevoices.ini file that you can copy into this directory.
  • Restart Browsealound.

 

11. Browsealoud 5 does not offer me the Scottish Voice - what's wrong?

Browsealoud 5 cannot use Heather yet. We have spoken to TextHelp Systems, the suppliers, and we hope that this will be remedied in the near future.

12. PDFaloud does not see the Scottish Voice, what's wrong?

As with Browsealound above, PDFaloud offers you voices from a list of 'safe voices'.

You can add the Scottish Voice to the list of safe voices by:

  • opening the 'safevoices.ini' file that is usually to be found in C:\Program Files\Adobe\Reader 8.0\Reader\plug_ins\texthelp (Note your version of Adobe Reader as in this example we are using 8.0)
  • Type in "CereVoice Heather - English (Scotland)" to the bottom of the list and then save it. The name of the voice must be exactly as it appears in the Speech tab of 'Speech' in the Windows Control Panel. Example of a safevoices.ini file that you can copy into this directory.
  • Restart Adobe Reader.

 

13. Read and Write Gold does not see the Scottish Voice, what's wrong?

On the icon bar there is Play icon and next to it a small arrow which activates a drop down menu. From this menu select Speech Options. Then:

  • Click the Search button
  • Tick the box next to CereVoice Heather - English (Scotland) and press OK
  • From the Select a voice menu, select CereVoice Heather - English (Scotland) and press OK.

14. I can see the voice in 'Control Panel - Speech' but can't hear it

An issue was identified which caused Heather to run silently on older machines below our recommended specification (1GHs CPU and 512Mb Ram minimum). There has been a fix for this and the new voice can be obtained via the download page.

 

PDFaloud does not see the Scottish Voice but it's in the safevoices.ini file, what's wrong?

If you have Read and Write Gold installed then there is an issue which causes PDFaloud not see The Scottish Voice even if it's in the safevoices.ini file. To solve this problem:

  1. Open Read and Write and go to Speech Options;
  2. In Speech Options, click on the 'Search' button and ensure CereProc Heather is selected;
  3. Click OK. CereProc Heather should now be available in Read and Write Speech Options;
  4. Click OK to close Speech Options;
  5. Close Read and Write;
  6. Open Adobe Reader. CereProc Heather should now be available in PDFaloud;