MAGE --A Platform for Tangible Speech Synthesis

Maria Astrinaki, Nicolas d'Alessandro, and Thierry Dutoit

Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression

Abstract

In this paper, we describe our pioneering work in developing speech synthesis beyond the Text-To-Speech paradigm. We introduce tangible speech synthesis as an alternate way of envisioning how artificial speech content can be produced. Tangible speech synthesis refers to the ability, for a given system, to provide some physicality and interactivity to important speech production parameters. We present MAGE, our new software platform for high-quality reactive speech synthesis, based on statistical parametric modeling and more particularly hidden Markov models. We also introduce a new HandSketch-based musical instrument. This instrument brings pen and posture based interaction on the top of MAGE, and demonstrates a first proof of concept.

Citation

Maria Astrinaki, Nicolas d'Alessandro, and Thierry Dutoit. 2012. MAGE --A Platform for Tangible Speech Synthesis. Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression. DOI: 10.5281/zenodo.1178207

BibTeX Entry

@inproceedings{Astrinaki2012,
 abstract = {In this paper, we describe our pioneering work in developing speech synthesis beyond the Text-To-Speech paradigm. We introduce tangible speech synthesis as an alternate way of envisioning how artificial speech content can be produced. Tangible speech synthesis refers to the ability, for a given system, to provide some physicality and interactivity to important speech production parameters. We present MAGE, our new software platform for high-quality reactive speech synthesis, based on statistical parametric modeling and more particularly hidden Markov models. We also introduce a new HandSketch-based musical instrument. This instrument brings pen and posture based interaction on the top of MAGE, and demonstrates a first proof of concept.},
 address = {Ann Arbor, Michigan},
 author = {Maria Astrinaki and Nicolas d'Alessandro and Thierry Dutoit},
 booktitle = {Proceedings of the International Conference on New Interfaces for Musical Expression},
 doi = {10.5281/zenodo.1178207},
 issn = {2220-4806},
 keywords = {speech synthesis, Hidden Markov Models, tangible interaction, software library, MAGE, HTS, performative},
 publisher = {University of Michigan},
 title = {MAGE --A Platform for Tangible Speech Synthesis},
 url = {http://www.nime.org/proceedings/2012/nime2012_164.pdf},
 year = {2012}
}