CereProc Launches CereVoice 3.0

CereProc has launched version 3.0 of its core text-to-speech engine, CereVoice, with updates that enhance accessibility and performance, while offering voices with character and personality in more languages to extend its reach in global markets across multiple platforms.

CereProc has updated the service to enhance accessibility and performance. In a release designed to extend the product’s reach in global markets across multiple platforms, the company also added French, Spanish, and Italian to it language portfolio, which already included English and German. It also added male voices with U.S. and Scottish accents to its English line-up.

Also included in the latest version is support for the iPhone operating system, which brings the technology to mobile phones and tablets for the first time.

"We're delighted to be able to introduce CereVoice to a whole new international audience with the introduction of three major languages. Our mission has always been to make this an international offering, and this release is an important step forward in our strategy to offer a truly global solution," said CereProc CEO Paul Welham. "This is an exciting time for the company, and we're looking forward to talking with potential new partners in France and Italy who are interested in deploying or distributing high-quality text-to-speech systems in their local markets."

Some of the other new features and upgrades in CereVoice 3.0 include the following:

• Support for 64-bit versions of Windows, SAPI for .NET 4, and the latest version of OS X Lion; 
• New CereVoice  Software Development Kit (SDK) for Windows, OS X, and Linux, with a simplified speech API, allowing developers to integrate CereVoice into their application with just a few lines of code;
• A faster, more accurate text processing engine, with support for additional SSML and VoiceXML features;
• Improved cServer performance allowing more channels and faster speech synthesis, even on commodity hardware (up to 340 x real time performance on Intel Core i7);
• New MRCP standard (Media Resource Control Protocol, v1 and v2) cServer Connector, simplifying deployment of our robust, high performance, multi-channel cServer on telephony platforms; and
• Improved speech compression for crisper, clearer audio quality up to 48khz.

Although the new English, US and Scottish voices have been added to CereProc’s commercial library, the advanced speech technology experts have made the Scottish male voice available free to schools in Scotland via the Scottish Voice Web site at www.thescottishvoice.org.uk.

Welham added: "While the voices that bring their devices alive are the natural focus for our users, this release has also been very much about constantly improving the technology that makes it all run. These upgrades have been designed to make CereVoice an even more robust, more powerful tool."