Reminds me of this -- before Roger Ebert died, he tried to have his voice reconstructed by some company using audio from his TV show, etc., but alas, it was too difficult at the time, so he ended up using one of the Apple TTS voices instead.
After some searching, this is the best support I could find:
--snip
In early 2010, Ebert and Chaz announced on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” that they’d enlisted a Scottish company called CereProc to create a computerized voice that more closely resembled Ebert’s own by using snippets of his TV work, DVD commentaries and the like, but that never fully materialized. Alex stayed with him until the end.
--snip
Alex being the Apple TTS voice I mentioned earlier.
Thanks. Also a related effort in recent times is VocaliD. They are trying to create personalized voices from donor voices. The impact of such projects can be huge for those who need assistance.
Comments
This is very cool.
Reminds me of this -- before Roger Ebert died, he tried to have his voice reconstructed by some company using audio from his TV show, etc., but alas, it was too difficult at the time, so he ended up using one of the Apple TTS voices instead.
I believe you're mistaken. Here is its debut, and it's pretty amazing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=93jREDSWOYY#t=1m23s
Google "Cereproc" and "Roger Ebert" and you'll find that he was quite pleased with it.
After some searching, this is the best support I could find:
--snip
In early 2010, Ebert and Chaz announced on the “Oprah Winfrey Show” that they’d enlisted a Scottish company called CereProc to create a computerized voice that more closely resembled Ebert’s own by using snippets of his TV work, DVD commentaries and the like, but that never fully materialized. Alex stayed with him until the end.
--snip
Alex being the Apple TTS voice I mentioned earlier.
Source: http://voices.suntimes.com/arts-entertainment/the-daily-sizz...
Thanks. Also a related effort in recent times is VocaliD. They are trying to create personalized voices from donor voices. The impact of such projects can be huge for those who need assistance.