News for hackers. Stuff that matters.
Re:GPT‑Live by purpleidea on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @02:29PM (#48835550)
For many years, I've wanted ED-209 (robocop) voice from something like espeak or similar. Still can't find anything good.

Not for chat, just as a way to make notification messages that sound like ED-209.

Re:GPT‑Live by 100ms on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @02:32PM (#48835597)
I think that's mostly just a frequency shift :) You could probably recreate it with another model and some effects on top. Also, why the hell not for voice mode haha.
Re:GPT‑Live by bitwize on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @02:41PM (#48835727)
One popular speech synth from back in the day, I believe it was WillowTalk, had a voice called Colossus, which sounded like the voice module of the computer from Colossus: The Forbin Project. This voice was used for that of CATS in the famous "All your base are belong to us" Flash video.

Another WillowTalk voice was a clone of DECtalk's Perfect Paul good enough to be used as the voice in the MC Hawking rap recordings.

Re:GPT‑Live by pdntspa on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @03:45PM (#48836558)
I am having a hell of a time googling for WillowTalk, do you know any links/places where I can learn more? Maybe even download something?
Re:GPT‑Live by bitwize on Wednesday July 08, 2026 @09:00PM (#48839595)
It came from a company called Willow Pond Software. That seems to narrow searches down.

WillowTalk is apparently still of interest to Half-Life modders because another WillowTalk voice, possibly a clone of DECtalk's Huge Harry, was used as the Black Mesa VOX facility-wide announcement system in the original Half-Life.