Issue with espeak{,-ng}-mbrola-generic

[Didier Spaier]

Hello,

I am using:
https://github.com/mbrola/mbrola-bin/raw/master/amd64linux/mbrola
with:
http://www.tcts.fpms.ac.be/synthesis/mbrola/dba/fr1/fr1-990204.zip

and speech-dispatcher from git @ commit 3e2e409d.

I have espeak-ng-1.49.2 installed, not espeak (but espeak-ng set as a drop-in 
replacement for espeakup). 

First, the good news: this mbrola binary file works as is on a pure x86_64 
system:
didier[/dev/shm/didier/speech-dispatcher/log]$ file /usr/bin/mbrola 
/usr/bin/mbrola: ELF 64-bit LSB executable, x86-64, version 1 (SYSV), 
dynamically linked, interpreter /lib64/ld-linux-x86-64.so.2, 
BuildID[sha1]=4e69bc71e6a91c9e6211465bd9653fd55f9ef4fb, not stripped

However, using either espeak-ng-mbrola-generic or espeak-mbrola-generic when 
orca starts just after login in mate 1.18 I just hear noise.

Nothing to worry about in speech-dispatcher.log, without debug I get in 
espeak-mbrola-generic.log messages like this:

Lecture donn?es brutes 'stdin' : Unsigned 8 bit, Fr?quence 8000 Hz, Mono
Saturation on l-E
Saturation on E-k
Saturation on E-k
Saturation on t-9
Saturation on t-9
Saturation on t-9
Saturation on 9-R
Saturation on 9-R
Saturation on 9-R
Saturation on 9-R
Saturation on d-e
Saturation on e-k
Saturation on e-k
Saturation on R-a~
Saturation on a~-a
Saturation on v-e

With debug on I get the command issued, for instance:
echo 'Lecteur d??cran activ?.' | espeak -v mb-fr1 -s 147 -p 55   -q --stdin 
--pho | mbrola -v 2.00 -e /usr/share/mbrola/fr1/fr1 - -.au | aplay

Of course if I try to run it I get the same results (just noise and saturation 
messages).

However, if I just type:
echo 'Lecteur d??cran activ?.' | espeak -v mb-fr1 -s 147 -p 55   -q --stdin 
--pho | mbrola -v 2.00 -e /usr/share/mbrola/fr1/fr1 - -.au > msg.wav
I have the same error messages but then:
aplay msg.wav
gives:Lecture Sparc Audio 'msg.wav' : Signed 16 bit Big Endian, Fr?quence 16000 
Hz, Mono
and I do hear: "Lecteur d'?cran activ?"

Does that give any clue?

I just add this for your information:

mbrola -h

 USAGE: mbrola [COMMAND LINE OPTIONS] database pho_file+ output_file

A - instead of pho_file or output_file means stdin or stdout
Extension of output_file ( raw, au, wav, aiff ) tells the wanted audio format

Options can be any of the following:
-i    = display the database information if any
-e    = IGNORE fatal errors on unkown diphone
-c CC = set COMMENT char (escape sequence in pho files)
-F FC = set FLUSH command name
-v VR = VOLUME ratio, float ratio applied to ouput samples
-f FR = FREQ ratio, float ratio applied to pitch points
-t TR = TIME ratio, float ratio applied to phone durations
-l VF = VOICE freq, target freq for voice quality
-R RL = Phoneme RENAME list of the form a A b B ...
-C CL = Phoneme CLONE list of the form a A b B ...

-I IF = Initialization file containing one command per line
        CLONE, RENAME, VOICE, TIME, FREQ, VOLUME, FLUSH, COMMENT,
        and IGNORE are available
-W    = store the datbase in ROM format
-w    = the database in a ROM dump
-d    = Show list of diphones in the database

Didier