default read out loud voice

[nealsTNWRHO]

I  have noticed, that the default reader voice has been changed/updated to a female voice on acrobat. I need the former androgynous / non-gender computer voice again to work with. Could you please change that or is there a plugin to install?

[nealsTNWRHO]

does anyone of you experts still have this specific voice of my website on his/her computer? thx

[jane-e]

does anyone of you experts still have this specific voice of my website on his/her computer? thx

By @nealsTNWRHO

I listened to the voice on your website and it does not sound familiar to me — I'm sorry. Do you think you might have changed the setttings for the words per minute and/or the pitch?

Jane

[nealsTNWRHO]

Thx Jane

No i havent changed anything on the speed or the pitch. it was all on default, so whhen its on clicked on use default, you cant configurate the voice, its all standradized. 

[nealsTNWRHO]

*standardized

[nealsTNWRHO]

i changed it a bit on adobe premiere but what you are hearing on the website was about the same sound i was using on acrobat read out loud voice.

[nealsTNWRHO]

there is no voice exisiting that are similiar to that voice i used anymore

[nealsTNWRHO]

its really a shame but i thank you all for your help and your patience.

[ls_rbls]

Well, your best bet is to use the macOS Ventura User Guide:

• https://support.apple.com/guide/mac-help/change-the-voice-your-mac-uses-to-speak-text-mchlp2290/mac

In that guide it shows you how to add voices other than Siri, and it is done directly from Apple (Internet connection is required).

In addition, it seems like macOS X versions used to have all of these voices included, as shown in this video:

• https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=Z4hqUxb9MmY

They used to be  managed with "Dictation & Speech" preferences settings =>> Text to Speech.

[nealsTNWRHO]

Thank you. I know all of these types of voices already and none of them is the right one. Did acrobat ever had its own private types of voices or was it always linked to the macOS X versions? Secondly, do you have any ideas, where these default voice i was working with all these years on acrobat may have gone? thank you

[ls_rbls]

++EDITED REPLY, fixed many typos to clarify intent

No, if you dig some more about historical changes to the text-to-speech, narrator assistant, or in particular speech-to-text voices, Acrobat never had anything to do with having its own narrator assistant voice.

Both Microsoft Windows and Apple's macOS family of operating systems have their own distinct sets of application programming interface (API) libraries that controls what features are added, removed or hidden in later relases of each particular OS version(s).

In addition  what works on Microsoft Windows OS's doesn't work with Apple's macOS at all and vice versa; those libraries are not cross-platforms.

In fact, there are some assistive technologies that only exist for Microsoft Windows users and doesn't exist on macOS.

Now, to answer your other question, see this link:

• https://helpx.adobe.com/audition/using/text-to-speeech.html

Adobe Audition is an actual Adobe tool that enable users with the ability to download voices from third-party sources, generate, personalize and fully customize existing text-to-speech voices already shipped with their operating systems.

Note in the link above that Adobe Audition kind of sponsors (or refers the users) to use ReadSpeaker AI and Cepstral, while Apple offers a similar alternative for 

macOS through CereProcs:

• https://www.cereproc.com/en/storeosx?page=1

One important observation about these third-party assistant voice producers, is that some of them are not producing voices anymore and refer the users to go to another online provider, OR, as I learned recently, text-to-speech voices are also licensed (just like font type foundries).

In other words, if the voice producer vendor allows macOS users to download a free library for personal use, they may impose licensing restrictions that won't allow users to embed and mass-distribute a PDF document or use it in a website.

Assuming, and just assuming, that this is your case, since you were able to embed (somehow) the robovoice that you are referring to in your website, if I were you I would check first who was the producer (or which library of past macOS X it used to belong to), and see if it was discontinued, exchanged with a newer voice alternative, or if it was restricted by the vendor  unless the users pay a licensing fee.

In any case, I am gonna check one more thing for you and post back.

I am going try and help you find out which voice exactly is used in your website and see where it came from.

[ls_rbls]

++ UPDATE,

It is hard to tell what voice exactly did you use based on what is embedded in your website.

More specifically, because you embedded a sound track in an .mp4 format, which resembles a voice-over that was recorded with special effects using any macOS sound-recording utility at that time.

Here are the three .mp4 multimedia files that I was able to identify in your website:

What also caught my attention is shown in the slide below and  enclosed in a red rectangle "Zum Inhalt wechseln" (from German to English it means "Skip to Content":

Did you uploaded or created part of this content in Word Press?

I don't know, just curious... it seems like a referer, but the fact that it appeared in German makes me wonder if the original voice that you were using before is the Alex Voice, which used to be shipped in older macOS versions.

Now, the Alex Voice (German) is available for download for personal use at: https://www.cereproc.com/en/storeosx?page=1

And I have to correct something that I said in my last reply.

Cereproc do offer API libraries to employ these voices in both PC's with Microsoft Windows and macOS. But, like I also outlined earlier, it  seems like the Alex voice (which used to be pre-installed in older versions of macOS) is now a paid-for voice that Cereproc  allows to download for personal use but not for redistribution.

Anyway, I was able to download the mp4 files from your website and separated the sound layer from the video layer saving it to an mp3 sound file.

I am not able to decrypt the mp3 file any further to see what exactly are the sound effects that you applied with Adobe Premiere (as you indicated earlier in one of your replies), and to spot which voice were you using while recording the voice-over.

I played one of the mp3 tracks in a loop a hundreds times and carefully listened to it using headphones. And to be honest, aside from the old Alex voice,  the voice that resembles the closest match is "Daniel" English voice in macOS Ventura 13.

See here example on iPad with iOS: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U4ClOpYdC7w.

I was able to adjust the speed and elongate the pronounciation to a point that it matches the one you've used in your website.

Hopefully this feedback may point you in right direction.

Also, assuming that Alex voice is the voice that you're looking for, see if you can get access to an older mac and copy the desired voice library from that old computer's Voices folder;  see if you can save it to your macOS Ventura's Voices folder.

By the way, the voice libraries in the "Library" folder may appear as very large in file size. Nevertheless, they are stored in the following directory: /Library/Speech/Voices (see here: https://support.apple.com/guide/voiceover/change-voice-settings-unac009/mac )

Since, I got a macOS Ventura to practice with, when I read some of the macOS Ventura 13 guidelines on how to navigate through folders, I couldn't figure out how to find the Library folder; it is hidden by default.

If that is also your case,  check out these tips to unhide the Library folder:

• https://www.howtogeek.com/678112/how-to-find-your-library-folder-on-a-mac/

[JR Boulay]

Untick the "Use default voice" option to use Acrobat voices, tick this option to use OS voices.

[jane-e]

Untick the "Use default voice" option to use Acrobat voices, tick this option to use OS voices.

By @JR Boulay

This was suggested six days ago on March 4. It did not help.

Jane

[JR Boulay]

Yes, but I didn't see that this topic had several pages because it is badly indicated, it is only visible at the bottom of the page.
Besides, I never understood the point of dividing a topic into pages, it's not paper.
The web and HTML are all about scrolling!

[jane-e]

That makes sense @JR Boulay ! I've changed my Account Settings > Preferences to show 200 posts per page and only rarely see pages 🙂!

Jane