FR7 -------------------------------------------------------------- Table of Contents -------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 License 2.0 A brief description of the FR7 database 3.0 Distribution 4.0 Installation, and tests 5.0 Acknowledgments -------------------------------------------------------------- 1.0 License -------------------------------------------------------------- This database is being provided to "You", the licensee, by Faculte Polytechnique de Mons-Alain Ruelle, under the following license. By obtaining, using and/or copying this database, you agree that you have read, understood, and will comply with these terms and conditions: Terms and conditions on the use of FR7 -------------------------------------- Permission is granted to use this database for synthesizing speech with and only with the Mbrola program made available from the MBROLA project www homepage : http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrola.html following the terms and conditions on the use of the Mbrola program. Terms and conditions for the distribution of FR7 ------------------------------------------------ The distribution of this database is submitted to the same terms and conditions as the distribution of the Mbrola program. In addition, this database may not be sold or incorporated into any product which is sold without prior permission from the Author of the Database. When no charge is made, this database may be copied and distributed freely, provided that this notice is copied and distributed with it. Disclaimer ---------- THIS DATABASE CARRIES NO WARRANTY, EXPRESSED OR IMPLIED. THE USER ASSUMES ALL RISKS, KNOWN OR UNKNOWN, DIRECT OR INDIRECT, WHICH INVOLVE THIS DATABASE IN ANY WAY. IN PARTICULAR, THE AUTHOR OF THE DATABASE DOES NOT TAKE ANY COMMITMENT IN VIEW OF ANY POSSIBLE THIRD PARTY RIGHTS. -------------------------------------------------------------- 2.0 A brief description of FR7 -------------------------------------------------------------- FR7-BE 2.00b release (alias SAMPA release ) is a French diphone database provided in the context of the MBROLA project (see http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis). It provides a French male voice (the author's one, actually) to be used with the MBROLA program. Input files use the SAMPA (SAM Phonetic Alphabet) notation as recommended by the EEC-SAM Project. Here is a list of the French phonemes it accounts for, with examples. (NB : the table below is encoded as ASCII ISO8859-1; use an ASCII editor to see it correctly ) SAMPA EXAMPLES i idiot, ami e ému, été E perdu, maison a alarme, patte A bâton, patte O obstacle, corps o auditeur, beau u coupable, loup y punir, élu 2 creuser, deux 9 malheureux, peur @ petite, fortement e~ peinture, matin a~ vantardise, temps o~ rondeur, bon 9~ lundi, brun j piétiner, choyer w quoi, fouine H huile, nuage p patte, repas, cap t tête, net k carte, écaille, bec b bête, habile, robe d dire, rondeur, chaud g gauche, égal, bague f feu, affiche, chef s soeur, assez, passe S chanter, machine, poche v vent, inventer, rêve z zéro, raisonner, rose Z jardin, manger, piège l long, élire, bal R rond, charriot, sentir m madame, aimer, pomme n nous, punir, bonne N jumping, smoking _ (silence marker) Limitations: ----------- Notice that SAMPA 'h' (halte,hop) is not accepted by MBROLA and that SAMPA 'J' (agneau, peigner, règne) should be entered as two separate phonemes : 'n' and 'y'. Note also that not all diphones are possible in French. Some "impossible" ones will trigger a replacement one: 9-a,9-@,9-i,9-O,9-y,9-o,9-u,9-e,9-E,9-9 9-2,9-a~,9-o~,9-e~,9-9~,9-k,9-S,9-d,9-j,9-m 9-s,9-t,9-z,9-ng,9-H,9-w,9-_ trigger their @-* equivalent. N-N (rather unlikely, isn't it ?) will trigger N-g H-@,H-y,H-u,H-b,H-k,H-S,H-d,H-f,H-g,H-l,H-m, H-n,H-p,H-R,H-s,H-t,H-v,H-z,H-N,H-H,H-w,H-j, H-_ will trigger y-* Of course those units may not have the quality you request, but we recommend not generating them from the start, in your TTS system. They potentially imply wrong vocalic hamonizations for 9-* and wrong rules with H-*. -------------------------------------------------------------- 3.0 Distribution -------------------------------------------------------------- This distribution of mbrola contains the following files : fr7 : the database itself fr7.txt : This file and a number of example .PHO files : bonjour.pho "bonjour" ceserait.pho "ce serait certes une invention considerable ... claire "a la claire fontaine, m'en allant promener ... coup.pho "qu'est-ce t'as la ... jaiete.pho "j'ai ete concu dans les laboratoires de la ... mavoix.pho "ma voix est synthetise grace a .... nouspouv.pho "nous pouvons definir le son comme un coup ... tagada.pho "tagada tagada, tsoin tsoin" trenet.pho "je chante, je chante soir et matin ... The file mbroli.ini, when used with the Mbroli pho play under windows platforms automatically set the database to fr7. It means you can double click on any of the .pho file and listen to the voice. Additional languages and voices, as well as other example command files, are or will be available in the context of the MBROLA project. Please consult the MBROLA project homepage : http://tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis Registered users will automatically be notified of the availability of new databases. To freely register, simply send an email to mbrola-interest-request@tcts.fpms.ac.be with the word 'subscribe' in the message title. -------------------------------------------------------------- 4.0 Installation and Tests -------------------------------------------------------------- If you have not copied the MBROLA software yet, please consult the MBROLA project homepage and get it. Copy fr7.zip into the mbrola directory and unzip it : unzip fr7.zip (or pkunzip on PC/DOS) (don't forget to delete the .zip file when this is done) Try mbrola fr7/fr7 TEST/bonjour.pho bonjour.wav to create a sound file for the word 'bonjour'. In this example the audio file follows the RIFF Wav format. But depending on the extension bonjour.au, bonjour.aif, or bonjour.raw you can obtain other file formats. Listen to it with your favorite sound editor, and try the other command files (*.pho) to have a better idea of the quality of speech you can synthesize with the MBROLA technique. On Unix systems you can pipe the audio ouput to the sound player as on a HP : mbrola fr7 bonjour.pho - | splayer -srate 16000 -l16 Also refer to the readme.txt file provided with the mbrola software for using it. -------------------------------------------------------------- 5.0 Acknowledgments -------------------------------------------------------------- We would like to thank Arnaud Fougere for segmenting this database. -------------------------------------------------------------- Alain Ruelle Faculte Polytechnique de Mons, TCTS Lab, 31, bvd Dolez, B-7000 Mons, Belgium. tel : /32/65/374133 fax : /32/65/374129 e-mail: mbrola@tcts.fpms.ac.be, for general information, questions on the installation of software and databases.