Sound/Text to Speech Agent

The Sound/Text-to Speech Agent in AlarmWorX Multimedia allows you to send alarm information using a sound-playing device (such as a speaker) to play prerecorded sounds and/or speech from text locally or remotely over a network. The sound message is specified in the sound template, where you can select a sound (.wav) file from the Sound Library or enter a text message to be converted to speech. Alarms are generated and spoken through speakers connected to a sound card.

The sound message is specified in the sound template, where you can select a sound (.wav) file from the Sound Library or enter a text message to be converted to speech. You can also add your own sound files to the Sound Library. For information about templates, please see Media Templates.

Note: Speech settings are configured in the Windows Control Panel.

For extra language support or better sounding voices, please go to www.microsoft.com/speech/evaluation/thirdparty/engines.mspx to see a list of available third-party text-to-speech engines.

The following configuration fields are available for the Sound/Text-to-Speech Agent:

Media Item Name: Enter a name for the Sound/Text-to-Speech Agent configuration.
Node: Enter the computer name or IP address of the remote computer on which you wish to play the sound. If this field is left blank, the sounds will be played on the computer running the Multimedia Server. Click the Browse button to search for a node. For additional information, refer to Running Multimedia Agents on Remote Nodes.
Description: Allows you to add comments to the agent configuration.
Media Template: You must choose a template to be used with the agent. The agent plays a sound that is specified in the sound template, where you can select a sound (.wav) file from the Sound Library. The Configurator already includes templates, called Default Sound Wav and Default Sound Speech, created for sending sound messages. For more information about templates, please see Media Templates.
TEST button: Plays a sound message to test your configuration.
Scheduling: If you are using scheduling, choose from the configured schedules on the drop-down list. See Schedules for more information.
Role: Select a role from the drop-down list. For information about roles, please see Working With Roles.
Enable Alarm Prioritization: When this check box is checked, the multimedia system processes alarms based on the severity level of the alarm. If the check box is not checked, alarms are processed only on a first-in-first-out basis.
Play: Plays the sound message a specified number of times.
Maximum Play Time: Sets a maximum time for the sound to be played (in minutes).
Apply button: Saves all changes to the configuration database.
Reset button: Clears all recently added information.
Refresh Button: Clears all recently added information.

NOTE: ICONICS AlarmWorX Multimedia supports third-party TTS voices that are SAPI-compliant and 32-bit compatible.