New "neural" voices (text to speech) - Low volume / different EQ and poor quality compared to previous voices

Nov 16, 2023

Do anyone of you found the same issues?

I am very disappointed for that, cause after the last updating, I am working on a project started time ago, and I am facing big differences between old slides and new ones in term of audio quality of text to speech, with reference to the same voice (English USA - Matthew).

Another question, Do anyone have problems with 60fps videos?

I have used some 60fps video instead of the standard 29fps, detecting several flickering problems during the playback of the project, both in the preview and after the publishing. Same video looks good and without flickering if played with any external video player.

Thanks in advance

Regards

Roberto

4 Replies
Jose Tansengco

Hello Roberto,

Sorry to hear that you ran into this snag. 

Would you be willing to share a copy of your project file here or in private by opening a support case so we can test the quality of the voices in your project? We'll delete it when we're done testing! In the mean time, consider downgrading your Storyline 360 installation to an earlier version which worked for you if you want to revert to the older voices.

We'll also test the flickering issue you're experiencing when we get your file, and we'll use a tool called Handbrake to see if re-encoding the video will help address the behavior. 

Looking forward to your response!

Roberto Mandelli

Hi Jose, thanks a lot for your reply!

To revert STORYLINE to the older version for skip the problem, in my opinion doesn't look good.. Possible to introduce both version of voices in different menu? In this case an user can choose what you need.

But really what is the advantage/benefit offered by the new "neural" voices? I have done some test and I am not so satisfy, mainly for the question of low volume and for the quality as well. 

For the matter of videos your suggestion is to re-encode with Handbrake? Will do cause I normally use it mainly to resize videos. Anyway I will be back to you asap.

An additional question for you, I have done  a lot of project by facing same problem related to audio quality. It seems during the preview the background music/music embedded in the videos sounds in stereo, as expected, by after a project has been published the general sounds are in MONO... Possible? 

I have done tons of experiment and also changed all settings available as well without the video compression, without find any solution for this... 
Could you please help me?

Thanks in advance!!
Regards
Roberto

Roberto Mandelli

Hi Jose,

just to inform you, I did some test by using handbrake, I have tried to convert the 60fps video in different ways but same result with the embedded ARTICULATE player. I have noticed that sometimes the video is quite good, and sometimes not, I cannot understand what is the variable.. 

PS: I have keep the fps at 60, cause convert 60 to 30fps normally does not work well especially when you have rapid image and framing changes..

waiting for your reply

Thanks

Roberto

Jose Tansengco

Hi Roberto, 

It sounds like you are experiencing quality issues with the neural voices and the audio and video files  in your course. I went ahead and opened a support case on your behalf so we can have our support engineers assist you with each of the concerns that you raised in this community post. You're in good hands, and someone from our team will be in touch shortly to help!