Subject: From: Date:

Re: [ECS] recommended microphone Gerry Duprey Thu, 8 Jul 1999 19:25:03 -0400 (EDT)

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On Thu, 8 Jul 1999, J Gary Mull wrote:

> I think I would consider using the home pbx.  While visiting sir David
> Kindred in Mary Land I watched as he simply picked up the phone and told
> HAL to turn on a lamp or give him the weather report.  Since I have a phone
> in every room I would not want to go to the expense to multiple microphones
> and an expensive mixer etc, I would go for a telephone link to VR.....

I don't use HAL, I use HomeVoice and a number of Crown PZM11 mics.
Thought I'd weigh in...

The PZM-11s look a lot like a light switch wall plate (and can mount in a
normal single gang box).  They use the entire wall as a sounding board and
are much more sensitive than a PC microphone.  They are also designed to
pick up voice and as such, cut out low frequencies (HVAC noise,
compressors, and such) as well as high frequency stuff.  In otherwords,
they are mostly about picking up only voice spectrum stuff (about 3Khz to
10Khz).

I use a Rolls 8 input mic mixer - cost about $250 and mixes 8 mics.  A 2
channel mic mixer at RatShack of similar quality is about $100, so this
really isnt a bad deal.  This is the unit HomeVoice "recommends" as well.

I also use a few Rolls 2 channel gate/limitors.  This is useful when you
have a number of mics because even if they are all in "quite" rooms, the
collective background noise can get high enough to make the voice
recognition software have some problems.  I'd recommend any install over 2
mics have one unit of these for every 2 mics (one unit can handle two
mics) and they should be configured so the mics go into the gate/limitor
and then the output of that goes into the mic mixer - not the other way
around.

The idea of mics with built in gate/limitors sounds very attractive.  The
price though seems a bit high (though I guess it's comparable with a
PZM-11 and 1/2 a gate/limitor).  I've not yet tried one out.

The ability to issue voice commands anywhere in a room by just speaking is
really great.  This is an area that HomeVoice seems to handle well -
efficiant/accurate voice recognition in open-air mic configurations.  The
software is very forgiving without causing false recognitions.

HAL says they support open air mics too and that they have installs, but
I've personally not encountered anyone succesfully using it with open air
mics.  I don't mean to discredit them in anyway, but since I've not heard
anyone report success, I have heard from a number of public posts of
success with HomeVoice, I've not had a chance myself and the fact that HAL
is marketed toward the phone handset crowd, I'd be sure to be able to test
a reasonable install before buying in.  Make sure it works for you - get
samples of the hardware and give it a try.  I'd love to hear back on
peoples success with it.  Personally, the idea of having to find and
activate a phone to just turn on a light seems like a step backward, after
you get used to just talking "out loud".

One thing - there are real limits to what is useful to control via voice.
Beyond just controlling lights and such, I also tried to use HomeVoice to
allow me to play albums from my CD jukebox (since switched to MP3) in the
house (I've got speakers/mics in many rooms).  Problem is, you just can't
remember the exact titles to every album or track (well, I couldn't at
least with 100 titles up).  You'd get close, but no cigar.  That sort of
thing seems better handled with other interfaces (touchscreens, etc).
Simple commands - like "stop", "pause", "next track" and such work well
though.

Hope that wasn't too much.  It's defaintly more than asked for and not
100% relavant to ECS (I've not had any experience with ECSs VR engine),
but for someone getting into voice control, I figure the more experiences
heard from, the better.

Gerry Duprey                     EMAIL: gerry@msage.com 
Micro Sage Software Systems      VOICE: (734) 663-0444
130 South First Street             WWW: http://www.msage.com/~gerry
Ann Arbor, MI 48104 USA

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