Just discovered Voxcommando and can't wait to get started.

[litfoo]

Hi all,

My first post here and as mentioned, I have recently discovered Voxcommando and am excited to get it up and running.

Have been looking at automation with my Nexus 5 and Google Now/Open Mic/ Tasker/ Autovoice etc but was really impressed when I saw the Voxcommando/XBMC combination

Would appreciate it if I could get some comments on a few questions I have before I take the plunge:

• Would be looking to use the VoxWav app on my Nexus 5 - is this model a good smartphone for good mic performance?
• If I used the VoxWav app on my Nexus 5 android phone, how would I perform the speech recognition training? Do I do this on my smartphone or do I have to do it via my PC running Windows 7?
• I understand VoxWav mic app is activated via pressing a button or tilting the device - Can VoxWav be used in conjunction with 'OpenMic' or 'Autovoice' (both Andriod apps which try to create the 'hands free' experience?
• Will install the Voxcommando on a PC, that is always on, that I control remotely. XBMC is installed on a Raspberry Pi connected on the same LAN  - any issues that the PC is being controlled remotely and not currently connected to speakets etc.?
• On jitterjames YouTube videos, I noticed that a female voice responds with weather details, confirmation of actions and asks questions etc - sorry if this is a stupid question -  can someone explain where this voice is coming from and how do I set it up? Is this feature part of the Voxcommando program or something?

I am sure I will have more questions in the future, but would really appreciate some guidance to help me get started.

Cheers,

litfoo

[jitterjames]

Hi litfoo.  Welcome to VoxCommando.  I will attempt to answer your questions in order:

Would be looking to use the VoxWav app on my Nexus 5 - is this model a good smartphone for good mic performance?

Probably, but the best way to find out is to try it.  You can try both VoxCommando and VoxWav for FREE, and it sounds like you already own the phone.

If I used the VoxWav app on my Nexus 5 android phone, how would I perform the speech recognition training? Do I do this on my smartphone or do I have to do it via my PC running Windows 7?

Training must be done with a microphone connected to the PC.  You can't do training using VoxWav. Depending on your accent you might not need to do any training though.

I understand VoxWav mic app is activated via pressing a button or tilting the device - Can VoxWav be used in conjunction with 'OpenMic' or 'Autovoice' (both Andriod apps which try to create the 'hands free' experience?

I don't think so.  I am no familiar with those apps, but I assume they are using Google's cloud based speech recognition engine.  I'm not really sure what you mean by "in conjuction" though so maybe you need to explain a bit more what you had in mind. [Autumn 2014 edit: search forum for "autovoice" or "tasker" to see how users have been integrating VC with Tasker and Autovoice more recently]

Will install the Voxcommando on a PC, that is always on, that I control remotely. XBMC is installed on a Raspberry Pi connected on the same LAN  - any issues that the PC is being controlled remotely and not currently connected to speakets etc.?

Not really sure what you mean by "that I control remotely".  If you want to have TTS voice feedback from VoxCommando then you either need to have some kind of audio output connected to the machine running VoxCommando or you need to find some other way to send the audio.  VoxWav pro supports  Text to speech output, where any Text to speech performed by VoxCommando can be sent to your Android phone and it will be spoken using the audio output on your phone, and whichever Android based TTS voice you have installed on your phone.

On jitterjames YouTube videos, I noticed that a female voice responds with weather details, confirmation of actions and asks questions etc - sorry if this is a stupid question -  can someone explain where this voice is coming from and how do I set it up? Is this feature part of the Voxcommando program or something?

This is called Text-To-Speech or TTS.  The voice is coming from the machine running VoxCommando.  In my videos the machine running VoxCommando is connected to my Onkyo receiver.  XBMC is running on the same computer.  I recommend you read up a little bit on the forum, wiki etc. to familiarize yourself with this TTS concept.

[litfoo]

Thanks for the speedy response and for the clarification.

If I am setting the language and setting i to En-GB - will I improve accuracy if I do the training with the mic? I have a British accent but will do the training if it improves accuracy.

Open Mic is an app on the Google Play Store https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.RSen.OpenMic.Pheonix which creates the features available in the Moto X handset - creating an 'always on /always listening' smartphone/mic - I was thinking that if somehow OpenMic/Autovice could work with in conjunction with VoxCommando to be 'always listening' and therefore negate the need for a long press and/or tilt and the give a command to VC - would be cool not to have to physically touch a remote/smartphone to send a command to VC/XBMC

Sorry, when I said 'contol remotely' I meant that this PC is currently tucked away and not connected to a monitor - I access it via VNC/remote access.

So I would need to have speakers connected to this PC with VC installed to hear the TTS voice feedback? Sorry if stupid question.

I see - your XBMC is on the same computer and both are connected to your receiver - (under the same audio input i imagine)

With my setup, the XBMC will be on a Raspberry Pi - guess this means I can't get the TTS feedback to come back over the same speakers connected to my Yamaha amp (as no way to get them both on same audio input) makes sense?

Am gonna read the wiki and FAQ tonight 

Thanks for your help so far

litfoo

[jitterjames]

Yes you should set the engine to use en-GB

If you are using VoxWav then you are better off to try it without doing any training.  If you are planning on using a windows microphone, then it doesn't hurt to do a little bit of training.

You can't combine it with open mic.  But if you intall the beta of VoxWav Pro you can try the always on feature.  This is a really good way to use up the battery on your phone quickly.

The fact that your PC is in a closet is not a problem in and of itself... as long as you are able to get your voice input to the machine somehow... also see the next point.

Yes you would need to have speakers connected to your PC if you want to use the Text to Speech features of VoxCommando.  Or if you are using VoxWav pro anyway then you are getting your OSD and TTS on the phone.  There is currently some question as to whether the TTS feature for VoxWav Pro works on Android 4.3 or higher though.  In theory you can create TTS commands that save the TTS to a wav file which you could then play on XBMC but you would need to create custom commands to do this since the default configurations only use the regular TTS actions sent directly to an audio output.

Even though I have XBMC and VoxCommando running on the same PC I personally connect my XBMC audio output to my amp using optical and send my TTS output from my pc to my TV using hdmi.  Different setups will require different solutions.  You could always buy a bluetooth speaker for you PC if you want.

[vulcanjedi]

litfoo,
VoxWav has options to keep alive and prevent sleeping, however I've never personally used them.
This could be interesting solution for those w/ spare / obsoleted phones to have a handsfree implementation, depending on performance. I'd just keep the phone plugged in. Ive been tempted to try but my integration was working so well for me I was not bothered to try yet but my living arangements will change so I will be investigating an alternative such as this likely soon myself.

As James suggests there a lot more to be had in the wikis / videos / forums.
It sounds like you already have the phone, Vox has the trial mode and VoxWav has the free version so you are certainly able to test w/o getting too invested in making any sort of 'plunge'. Not sure about this OpenMic thing, both it and AutoVoice from the app descriptions do not seem to include the functionality of VoxWav and having 2 voice apps concurrently running sounds more than problematic.

Welcome to one the best forums around, thanks to James and friends.

[litfoo]

litfoo,
VoxWav has options to keep alive and prevent sleeping, however I've never personally used them.
This could be interesting solution for those w/ spare / obsoleted phones to have a handsfree implementation, depending on performance. I'd just keep the phone plugged in. Ive been tempted to try but my integration was working so well for me I was not bothered to try yet but my living arangements will change so I will be investigating an alternative such as this likely soon myself.

As James suggests there a lot more to be had in the wikis / videos / forums.
It sounds like you already have the phone, Vox has the trial mode and VoxWav has the free version so you are certainly able to test w/o getting too invested in making any sort of 'plunge'. Not sure about this OpenMic thing, both it and AutoVoice from the app descriptions do not seem to include the functionality of VoxWav and having 2 voice apps concurrently running sounds more than problematic.

Welcome to one the best forums around, thanks to James and friends.

Thanks for the response.

If VoxWav has an option to 'keep alive' this means I do not have to tilt/touch the phone to send a command?

Am running latest version of Andorid Kitkat 4.4.2 so hopefully it will not be a showstopper.

Have printed out the wikis and will read on the train home.  

I agree - great forum with v helpful contributors

will let you all know how I get on.

[jitterjames]

Am running latest version of Andorid 4.2.2 so hopefully it will not be a showstopper.

This is a bit confusing to me.  4.2.2 is not the latest Android version.  You also said you wanted to use a Nexus 5, which I thought was running KitKat (4.4.2).  Some users have reported problems with the TTS on VoxWav using this version of Android.  I am still trying to figure it out.  It is difficult without have a 4.4.2 based device to test on.

The beta version of VoxWav Pro has this "always on" feature.  I have been lazy about bug testing etc. but I will probably push this version to the official release soon.  To get the beta version now you need to buy VoxWav Pro, and join the VoxCommando Google+ community so that you can sign up as a beta tester.

Here is a demo:

This "always on" technique is based on detecting the input volume level.  As soon as it detects any sound level louder than the minimum threshold it will begin streaming the audio data to VoxCommando.  When it hears 2 seconds of "silence" it will stop.

Personally I think the button technique works the best by far.  You said "long press" in a previous post.  I'm not 100% sure what you meant by that, but you can press the button and immediately start talking.  It is a long press in the sense that you hold it down until you are finished.  For hands free, I think a dect based wireless headset would be a better choice.

[vulcanjedi]

Ah I think I did come to the same conclusion, that because voxwav transfer the wav it wouldnt really be the kinda of hands free experience I was looking for...and trying to come to terms if the smaller footprint of perhaps a phone / tablet and such would be better than handsfree for me. Currently I just use the pinhole mic on my Macbook air but it wont always be around in the living room when I move...so I'll have to think of something.

[jitterjames]

I still think the Amulet is a great solution if you have an htpc and use VoxCommando a lot.

Their OEM version is only $70.00

I don't know how much longer these will be available to be honest so you may not want to wait too long!

[vulcanjedi]

Sure this seems really nice, I just couldn't justify it cause I already had a non cheap Harmony remote I was happy with and prefered the hands free Vox experience. But this may be my best alternative in the future.

[Kalle]

I will start recording a video demontration with a Android Smartwatch which has VoxWav installed. It works very well and can also used as handsfree solution with the tilt function in VoxWav.

Here is a first short video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STf1QFdmH7U

[AgileHumor]

Having used other voice recognition products in the past, I know a good microphone makes the system sing.

The Amulet is by far the best idea ever for voice as it's a local microphone that you actually might have near you when you watch tv.