This is a long phrase script...
There are two possible ways that you can use Announce!:
You may have a few files that you wish to edit. In this case, the best approach is to open each file into a Voice Editor Window using the Open command, and then perform the required operations.
If you have a large number of phrases to record or edit, you will find that the Announce! phrase files will make this task far easier for you. A phrase file allows you to store all your phrases or voice files in one place, together with the script for each phrase and the destination filename for the compressed voice file. Cutting and pasting between phrases is simplified, and you can read your phrase script as you record your phrases. In addition, a phrase file enables you to perform repetitive operations such as gain control and silence trim with one command, rather than having to work with each file separately.
You can use phrase files as temporary storage for your files while you work on them. This simplifies cutting and pasting between prompts, and allows easy concatenation of prompts to check for smooth flow of phrases made up of several phrases. Once editing is complete, Announce! will save the phrases into the file format of your choice.
If this is the first time you have created voice prompts for your system, or if you wish to create a set of prompts from scratch, you will probably only have a list of the prompts, and possibly a list of file names that must contain the phrases. If you already have some voice prompts and wish to add to them or change them, see creating a new project using voice files.
To open a new project, select New from the File Menu, and select New List from the dialog. This will give you an empty phrase list window. This represents a file that will contain your phrases. These phrases can be saved to individual voice files once editing has been completed.
If you have a text file containing the scripts for your phrases, you can load the file into the phrase list using the Load Scripts from File item under the Phrase menu. Text files containing scripts and filenames should use a line for each script or filename. Blank lines are ignored. Each line of the file will create an entry for each recording that you have to make, as yet with no voice data attached.
Alternatively, you can create new (empty) phrases and attach scripts and filenames to them by choosing New from the File menu, and selecting the New Phrase button. You can set the new phrase name in the dialog, or it can be changed from the phrase list window by double clicking on the script field of the new phrase. Likewise, you can change the filename by double-clicking on the filename field.
Now record your phrases by pressing the record button. The record dialog will pop up. This dialog will be slightly different depending on whether you are using a sound card or a voice card for your recordings. With a sound card, you will have the option of automatically starting and stopping the record process for each phrase.
If you are recording with a voice card, you will have to start each recording by pressing the Record button. If you are using a sound card, you will have a AutoRecord button. This will step you through each phrase automatically, using speech detection and silence detection to start and stop each phrase.
The script for the phrase to be recorded will be shown in the phrase window.
Once recorded, you can move on the next phrase using the Next button. If you made a mistake while recording, you can press the Record button again to re-record it. If you change the script - e.g. by adding a 1: to the beginning, Announce! will keep the first version and create a new phrase at the end of the list containing the second recording. This way you can record several versions of a script and choose the best one later. Otherwise the previous copy will be erased when you re-record it.
You can add existing files to your project by dragging them from the File Manager onto the Announce! desktop or onto a Phrase List or Voice Editor window, or by using the Import Voice command from the Phrase menu. You can import VOX (compressed voice) files, or WAV (Windows Sound). Refer to Digitized File Types for different supported file types.
You may have already created your voice prompts, and you wish to import them into Announce! for further editing or additions. The easiest way to import a large number of prompts into Announce! is to use the drag-drop feature of File Manager.
Create an empty project by selecting New from the File Menu, and select New Phrase File from the dialog. An empty window will appear, into which you can add phrases.
First resize both File Manager and Announce! so that both your new phrase list window and the directory in File Manager where your phrases are stored are not overlapped. Select all the phrases you wish to import, using shift -click and /or control-click in the file manager window. Now click the mouse on one of your selected files and drag the files over to the phrase list window in Announce! and release the mouse button.
Announce! will load the files as phrases in the phrase list window. If Announce! is not sure of the file type, it will assume compressed voice file format of the type used by your voice card. You can import VOX (compressed voice) files and WAV files.
You can also add individual files to your project by using the Import Voice command from the Phrase menu.
You may find it helpful to set the scripts into the phrase list window so that you have a reminder of what should be said in each phrase. If you have a text file containing the scripts, you can load this into the file directly using the Load Scripts from File item in the Phrase menu. The file should contain a line for each phrase. Blank lines will be ignored.
You can also set the scripts by double-clicking on the script field. or choosing the Edit Script item in the Phrase menu.
You can also open phrases into a Voice Editor window, using the Open command, and selecting New Editor. From here, you can select all or part of the waveform, copy it to the clipboard using the Copy command (Control + Insert), and then the Paste command (Shift + Insert) to paste the phrase into your phrase file.
If you have a specific voice prompt that you wish to edit, choose Open from the File Menu, and select the appropriate file-type in the file type drop-down selection box. The default extensions for compressed voice files are VOX or VOI. Announce! will assume that the file has been compressed in the format used by your voice card. The default extension and voice file format can be changed in the Voicecard Setup item in the Setup menu.
Normally, there are two methods of recording phrases:
Recording from a pre-recorded tape, recorded in a studio by a professional announcer.
Recording each phrase yourself interactively in front of the computer.
Recording from tape allows high quality recordings to be made in a recording studio or other quiet location (away from computer fans and other extraneous noises), and then loaded into the computer later on. This also is an economical method to use when using professional announcers. This method does have the disadvantage that any flaws in the recording may require a new recording session. Your recordings should be made with pauses of at least 2 seconds between phrases to ensure that phrases can be recorded as intended.
Connect the tape machine into the appropriate input on your sound card.
Open a new phrase file window. (See New or Open command)
Select Record from the Sound Menu. (See Record command)
Start the tape playing and monitor sound levels. Sound levels should not exceed -6db to allow for peaks. The meter in the dialog will show incoming sound levels.
Use the silence detect scroll bar to set the silence detect threshold above the noise level between phrases, but well below the maximum phrase level. If the silence detect threshold is set too high, the start and end of phrases may get cut off. If the silence detect threshold is set too low, noise may be detected as speech with erroneous results.
Now start recording by pressing the AutoRecord button in the dialog. The silence detector should start searching for silence. Once a silence period has been detected, it will wait for the first non-silence and start recording the first phrase.
At the end of phrase it will load the phrase into the window display, and start searching for the next phrase. If the pauses between phrases are too close, the silence detector may not detect the silence and may record two phrases into one phrase in the file.
Reducing the silence detect time in the Sound Card Setup menu may also help. Note that phrases with multiple sentences (i.e. press 1 for this, <pause> press 2 for that) may have pauses that approach one second.
Once the system appears to be adjusted correctly, open a new phrase file, start record and start the tape running.
Allow several phrases to be recorded, then press the Stop button, and then OK to quit the dialog and return to the main window. You can now check for sound quality and correct phrase splitting. If the end of phrases are being cut off, try reducing the silence threshold.
Once your phrases are recorded, save the file, and you are then ready to start editing your phrases.
Each phrase must be recorded manually by starting and stopping both the record process in Announce! and the tape machine.
Recording prompts while interacting with Announce! is a useful method if you are using your own voice to record the prompts. You will be able to monitor progress and correct problems as you go.
The same procedure can be used for both voice cards and sound cards:
Select a list of phrases into the phrase listbox. For each phrase, press the Record button in the dialog to start the recording and Stop to terminate it. To rerecord a phrase, press Record again. If the recording was satisfactory, press next to move on the next phrase.
If you have a text file containing the prompts you wish to record, load the file into the window using the Files button. This will both prompt you for the required phrases, and will automatically name the phrases as you go.
You can set the maximum silence detect time so that the recording will automatically terminate after a predetermined number of seconds of silence. This will remove the requirement to press the stop button after each phrase.
To select a single phrase in a phrase file window, click on it.
To select a number of phrases, click on the first phrase in your desired selection, and the press the Shift key and click on the last phrase in your selection. All the phrases will now be selected.
Most phrase and effects commands will work both on single selections or multiple selections.
To un-select a selection, click again in the window.
To make a copy a phrase or list of phrases to a new location in the same phrase list, or in another phrase list, use the drag-drop feature of Announce!. Click the mouse over the phrase you want to move, drag the mouse to the new position, and release the mouse. Each new phrase will have a script Copy of ...<original script>. Scripts are of unlimited length.
Announce! will use the StatusBar information field to remind you as you drag the icon over the screen what the current effect will be when the mouse button is released.
Another method is to use the Copy command (Edit Menu) to copy the selection to the clipboard, move to the new location, and then select Paste to move the selection to the new location.
Using copy and paste will allow you to copy phrases into a Voice Editor window and to copy all or part of a phrase from a Voice Editor window into a new phrase in a Phrase File window.
You can also insert a phrase into a voice editor window by dragging it over the voice editor window. The phrase will be inserted at the cursor position.
To move a phrase to another location without copying it, you can use the drag-drop feature of Announce!. Click the mouse over the phrase you want to move, drag the mouse to the new position, press the Shift key and release the mouse.
You can move phrases both within a window, and between windows. In addition, if you drop a phrase onto the Announce! desktop, Announce! will open up a voice editor window on that phrase.
Announce! will use the StatusBar information field to remind you as you drag the icon over the screen what will happen when the mouse button is released at that point.
Another method is to use the Cut command (Edit Menu) to copy the selection to the clipboard, moving to the new location, and then selecting Paste (Edit Menu) to move the selection to the new location.
This is a long phrase script...
If a script does not fit in one line in the phrase list window, Announce! will show it terminated with ellipses. Click on the ellipses to see all of a phrase name that does not fit on one line.
To set the script for a single phrase, use the Edit Script menu command, or double click on the name.
If you have a large number of phrases, and you have a text file containing the scripts for these phrases, you can set the phrase scripts from the text file by using the Import Scripts command. Announce! will prompt you to select the text file, and will use successive lines of this text file as names for your phrases. This file can be created using a text editor such as Notepad, or you can save the existing names into a text file using the Save Names command.
To play a single phrase, select it with the mouse and click the play button, or double-click on the icon
To play a list of phrases, first select all the phrases you wish to hear, and then click on the play button or select Play from the Play/Record menu.
If the phrases you wish to hear are not in the order you wish, you can
reorder them in the source windows using drag-drop, or you can drop them
onto a new window in the desired order. To stop a play operation, click on
the Stop button 
, or select Stop
from the Play/Record Menu.
If using a voice card, you may need to make a connection from another phone into your voice card. You can do this by dialling into the voicecard line before starting Announce!, because Announce! will go offhook as it starts. If the "wait for ring before offhook" check box is set in the VoiceCard menu under Setup, Announce! will not go offhook until it sees an incoming ring.
Alternatively, you can select the menu item under the Sound menu at any time. Announce! will take the phone onhook and wait for an incoming ring and then answer the call.
Announce! gives you many tools to edit and modify your phrases. It also
provides bulk processing of all your phrases by allowing you to run the
same command on all the selected phrases. For detailed editing of a
waveform you can click the Edit Voice
button 
or choose Edit Voice from the Phrase Menu, or simply drag the phrase
onto the desktop.
The voice processing commands (in the Effects menu) that you will find most useful will be the Pad Silence and Clean Silence commands. The Pad Silence command will remove silence or add extra silence if required so that all your phrases have the same amount of silence at the start and end of each phrase. The Clean Silence command will scan your phrases for pauses between sub-phrases or words, and will remove noise from these pauses.
The Louder/Softer command will also be useful to set the correct amplitude for your phrases.
The echo command can be used to good effect. Often a slight echo (1 echo, delayed 50 ms, -10db decay) is enough to add more presence to your prompts. Like most of the effect commands, echo can be added to all of the phrases in a Phrase File window with one command.
For detailed editing. you can open up a voice editor window and use the loudness envelope command to fade in and out between words, and to adjust the level on a word-by-word basis.
Refer to the Effect Menu for more information.