Announcements

[Jonald]

Hi

I have just viewed the previous topic regarding this and have now managed to work out how to put the station announcements into the route files and was wondering if there was a site or sites that have the announcements that I could implement into the file? Or maybe there isn't due to copyright protection?

If not, could anyone recommend a good text-to-speech site to use for free?

Cheers

 

[Jordy]

Which route are you wanting to add to?

 

[Jonald]

Just the LUL ones without sounds - victoria, district and picadilly.

Thanks

 

[christopher]

Try this one you might have to get permission to use them,

http://www.haltestellenansage.de/ansagen/u/london/victoria_en.htm

 

[Andrew Tiffin]

I try doing annoucements on my microphone. That would work.

 

[P156KWJ]

doesn't microphone on the computer save as a WMA format? if it does then you need to convert 'em to WAV

 

[NSEFAN]

Depends what version of sound recorder you use.

Vista: saves to WMA
XP or older: saves to WAV
Anything non-Windows / other software: I don't have a clue

 

[danw2007]

Just a word of warning- BVE is very picky over which format of announcements that it accepts. I have some copyright free ones that I recorded myself- so if anybody knows the format that BVE accepts, I would be happy to send the announcements to them.

Many Thanks,
Dan

 

[Jonald]

Hey Dan... Yeah wouldn't mind them if thats ok.
Would I still need to get permission to use them if i'm not going to republish the route - just for my personal use?

And yeah, I tried to do them myself, but just sounded funny ya know :grin:

 

[danw2007]

No you wouldn't need permission from me, because I would give that to you. You will however may need permission from the person that created the route, but they may be interested to re-release the route with the additon of announcements. Which route were you looking for in particular?

Many Thanks,
Dan

 

[Jordy]

As mentioned earlier

Just the LUL ones without sounds - victoria, district and picadilly.

 

[danw2007]

Yes I know that, but what I am saying is that maybe someone should try and contact the original authors of the route.
Plus- Does anybody know what format the annoncements need to be for BVE for them to work?

Many Thanks,
Dan

 

[dan_atki]

If the route is not being republished and not released into the public domain I don't think such permission would need to be sought. It should be understood, though, that such edits of route files will not be supported by the respective authors so, in other words, if it goes all wrong and nothing works any more then because you editted the route then it is your fault.

To answer your question, Dan, on the necessary file format for BVE announcements. The only format that seems to work without failure is the IMA ADPCM waveform specification.

To cut a long story short, if you wish to convert files into this format then please download Total Recorder (some minor compatibility issues in Vista, such as it changing your sound scheme upon exit but apart from that a program I highly recommend).

Total Recorder will also tell you which type of .wav you have (there are a lot more different types than you would ever imagine) upon opening the file.

 

[Jonald]

Ok thanks.

Is there any way that you can put two announcements in? I have the 'this station is...' announcement and I also want to put in the destination wav as well.

Is there anyway that you can put in two announcements at the station or do I have to put the files together into 1 sound? I used Nero sound editor before to do something like that but being thousands of miles away from home, is there any other software that i can download that will do this?

Thanks for all your help.

 

[dan_atki]

I'm afraid that BVE will only play one file and not two in the way you describe so you'll have to put them together into one file.

Another piece of software to enable you to do this is Audacity.

I have found that if you use this and Total Recorder together you have a very powerful suite of audio editting software at your disposal. All my recordings are processed using nothing other than these two programs.

 

[danw2007]

danatki..
would it be possible for you to convert some sound files for me?

thanks,
dan

 

[dan_atki]

danatki..
would it be possible for you to convert some sound files for me?

thanks,
dan

Yes, it'd be possible - please check the e-mail I sent to you before regarding the Bakerloo Line announcements and this can be arranged.

 

[danw2007]

Ok. Can you PM me your e-mail address?

 

[me123]

There's a much easier option: Microsoft Sam!

 

[danw2007]

Yes... but it does sound better, and I think that the Emma Clarke announcements would sound alot better!