How to create voice files for EuroScope voice ATIS for free

[Merik Nanish 1184142]

I recently updated all voice files used by the voice ATIS functionality in EuroScope for my ARTCC (ZNY), and I thought it would be useful for others to know how to do this using only free software and tools. Site admins please feel free to make this post a sticky.

 

Step 1: Find what files you will need

I will not explain this in detail, because it depends on whether you use an online service to generate the text ATIS automatically (such as uniatis.net) or if you type it in manually. In short, you have to prepare a list of all the files that you need.

 

You can start with all the terms that are already defined in your atisfiles.txt file (which you find in the ATIS subdirectory of your EuroScope config directory). The format of that file is like this:

 

...
RECORD:b:bravo.wav
RECORD:belmont visual:belmont-vis.wav
RECORD:between:between.wav
RECORD:blowing:blowing.wav
RECORD:broken:broken.wav
RECORD:c:charlie.wav
...

 

In the above example, the second line shows that if EuroScope finds a piece in the text ATIS that reads as "[belmont visual]", it will try to find the belmont-vis.wav file and play it. So your list of files will look like:

 

...
b
belmont visual
between
blowing
broken
c
...

 

Step 2 - From text to sound

 

Now you have to record a sound file for each of those terms. For instance, you need a file with the sound bravo in it, one with the sound charlie in it and so on.

 

Because I like all my files to sound alike, I used a free online text-to-speech solution. It can be found on the following address: http://ctrlq.org/listen/

 

Each time, type in one term or phrase (e.g. bravo) and hit the Listen button. In the next page, it will give you a link to the MP3 file that is generated with the help of Google's text-to-speech API. Download these files and save them with proper names (e.g. bravo.mp3) in a separate directory.

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to automate this process. You have to type (or copy-paste) each of these one-by-one and save the files. Moreover, that website will ask you to wait for 30 seconds every now and then if you are too fast. Just be patient!

 

(Alternatively, you can use another text-to-speech solution, whether online or as a software. As long as you end up with a set of MP3 files, you can do Step 3 with no change).

 

Step 3 - From MP3 to WAV

 

EuroScope cannot work with MP3 files. It only accepts WAV files with a certain bitrate. In order to convert the MP3 files from Step 2 to WAV format, I used the free software Audacity. You can download Audacity for free from http://audacity.sourceforge.net/download/. It can be run in Windows, Linux or Mac.

 

This part is tricky. Open Audacity. Then drag one of the MP3 files into Audacity window. You will see something like this screenshot:

 

 

On the bottom-left corner there is this box that reads as 16000. Chang that to 7350 (you have to type 7350 then press Enter).

 

Now go to File menu and select Export. From the "Save as type" dialog, select "WAV (Microsoft) signed 16 bit PCM". Make sure the file name is appropriate. Then press Save. In the next dialog (which is called "Edit Metadata") just press OK. Hurray! You just created a file in the format the EuroScope understands! Now close this file by clicking on the small X that you see next to its track (indicated by the blue arrow in the image below).

 

 

Redo this step for all the other files. Each time, make sure the file name is correct.

 

Unfortunately, there is no way to automate this process. Although Audacity theoretically supports opening all MP3 files at the same time and then using the Export Multiple function to convert them to WAV all at the same time, in practice that does not properly change the bit rate to 7350 for all files, and you will end up with files that EuroScope doesn't understand.

 

Step 4 - Updating atisfiles.txt

 

Make sure EuroScope is closed. Then go to your EuroScope config directory, then the ATIS subdirectory, and then open the file named atisfiles.txt using your text editor. If you have Windows, just double click on it to open it with Notepad.

 

Now update this file in such a way that each line of it is in the following format:

 

RECORD:***:^^^.wav

 

but replace *** with the term that can be found in the text ATIS (such as "b", or "ice pellets"), and replace ^^^ with the name of the corresponding WAV file (so if you have a file named "bravo.wav", the ^^^ for that line will be replaced with "bravo"). In most cases both of these are the same, such as:

 

...
RECORD:b:bravo.wav
RECORD:belmont visual:belmont-vis.wav
RECORD:between:between.wav
RECORD:blowing:blowing.wav
RECORD:broken:broken.wav
RECORD:c:charlie.wav
...

 

I am sure you get the idea.

 

Conclusion

 

This should be straightforward. However, please backup your ATIS directory before making any changes to it. If you have any questions or suggestions, feel free to comment below.

[Fahad Usmani]

Thank you so much, I really needed this

[Mike Freeman]

This is great, but I'm having a problem in Audacity getting it to save the changes I have made into a .wav file. Unfortunately my files are showing 32-bit and I can change them to 16-bit PCM but it doesn't save when I export the file and re-open it. Any idea how to get Audacity to save the changes?