TomTom Accent Icons

[Jay2TheRescue]

I have Ozzy Osbourne swearing as one of my voices... At the end of the effin' road, turn right..."

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Doesn't that get old after a while? I contacted a voice actor about doing a HAL 9000 voice (on his own, not with me) and I suggested he not put in Dave references or anything since I'd expect super specific gags to wear poorly. It's too bad the TomTom can't have multiple entries for each command and then randomly select between them to add variety. I guess it's not probably something they planned for originally.

Still looking for a sexy female voice with a Scottish accent.

[theholycow]

Originally Posted by maximilian

It's too bad the TomTom can't have multiple entries for each command and then randomly select between them to add variety. I guess it's not probably something they planned for originally.

Wait, you just gave me an idea...I was thinking "Well, you could at least use different voices for different directions", which would give you variety though "left" would always be spoken by the same voice. Then I realized that that would actually be useful. You would eventually learn what each voice means and you'd get the direction faster than having to wait for it to finish talking!

[GasSavers_maximilian]

An interesting thought, with all sorts of odd possibilities. Different characters from a movie or play or whatever so there's still a common theme. Be tough to get right. I'm sure you're right about response time, although I have to wonder what sort of driving you're doing that requires such quick actions...

Here's the TomTom command list, just as a point of interest. Obviously some of them could be altered. I'm tempted to write haikus for some. Be too long, but the idea is amusing.

2ndLeft.ogg - 'Take the second left'
2ndRight.ogg - 'Take the second right'
3rdLeft.ogg - 'Take the third left'
3rdRight.ogg - 'Take the third right'
50.ogg - '50'
80.ogg - '80'
100.ogg - '100'
200.ogg - '200'
300.ogg - '300'
400.ogg - '400'
500.ogg - '500'
600.ogg - '600'
700.ogg - '700'
800.ogg - '800'
After.ogg - 'After'
AhExit.ogg - 'Exit ahead'
AhExitLeft.ogg - 'ahead, Exit left'
AhExitRight.ogg - 'ahead, Exit right'
AhFerry.ogg - 'Ferry ahead'
AhKeepLeft.ogg - 'Ahead, keep left'
AhKeepRight.ogg - 'Ahead, keep right'
AhLeftTurn.ogg - 'Left turn ahead'
AhRightTurn.ogg - 'Right turn ahead'
AhUTurn.ogg - 'U-turn ahead'
Arrive.ogg - 'You have reached your destination'
BearLeft.ogg - 'Bear left'
BearRight.ogg - 'Bear right'
Charge.ogg - 'Congestion charge'
Depart.ogg - 'Depart' (only heard when you tap Test when selecting a voice)
KeepLeft.ogg - 'Keep left'
KeepRight.ogg - 'Keep right'
LnLeft.ogg - 'Stay in the left lane'
LnRight.ogg - 'Stay in the right lane'
Meters.ogg - 'Metres'
MwEnter.ogg - 'Take the motorway'
MwExit.ogg - 'Leave the motorway'
MwExitLeft.ogg - 'Leave the motorway at the exit on the left'
MwExitRight.ogg - 'Leave the motorway at the exit on the right'
RbBack.ogg - 'Go around the roundabout'
RbCross.ogg - 'Cross the roundabout'
RbExit1.ogg - 'First exit'
RbExit2.ogg - 'Second exit'
RbExit3.ogg - 'Third exit'
RbExit4.ogg - 'Fourth exit'
RbExit5.ogg - 'Fifth exit'
RbExit6.ogg - 'Sixth exit'
RbLeft.ogg - 'Go left on the roundabout'
RbRight.ogg - 'Go right on the roundabout'
RoadEnd.ogg - 'At the end of the road'
SharpLeft.ogg - 'Sharp left'
SharpRight.ogg - 'Sharp right'
Straight.ogg - 'Go straight on'
TakeFerry.ogg - 'Take the ferry'
Then.ogg - 'Then'
TryUTurn.ogg - 'Turn around when possible'
TurnLeft.ogg - 'Turn left'
TurnRight.ogg - 'Turn Right'
UTurn.ogg - 'Make a U-turn'
Yards.ogg - 'Yards'

[Jay2TheRescue]

I'l use the specialty voices once in a while, but I usually am using the female English UK voice. I have a couple of friends the live "alternative lifestyles" and they like the male English Australian voice, so I usually select that one when they're in the car. Most of the specialty voices suck. I have Darth Vader, KITT fron Knight Rider, Homer Simpson, and George Bush, but none of those voices sound anywhere near right.

If KITT sounded right I'd probably use that one all the time.

-Jay

[GasSavers_maximilian]

I'm ashamed to admit I watched 2001 and 2010 over the weekend and typed in all HAL's dialogue with rough timestamps (most of the longer scenes I found online already typed out, fortunately). He says 545 unique words (not counting distorted ones as he's slowing down or homonyms). Serious missing vocabulary and it'd be too much work to combine them, but it was worth looking at.

The English female voice is what I'm using too.

[theholycow]

It's not the necessary response time that would be useful, so much as not having to listen while the thing endlessly drones on. I hate waiting for the instruction to finish so I can know what I'm doing next.

Do you ever see electronic signs that you have to stare at for way too long, taking your eyes off the road and waiting for the message to scroll to finish? I hate that, and the same sort of thing applies to the voice. I want to hear it and get back to concentrating on other things. If it talks too fast I might miss it, but with different voices for each instruction...

I have the same issue with my Sirius radio display. It scrolls incredibly slow. I might want to know what song is on, and I have to glance at it repeatedly for 30 seconds or more. If the song is ending I may never know what it was. It's not a problem anymore because I no longer subscribe (had to cut that luxury) but that used to be a big peeve.

[GasSavers_maximilian]

Verbosity = low.

Looking at those phrases, they could be cut down. My mp3 radio scrolls the titles so slow it's basically worthless as well.