ASAW's MSAPI interface gives you access to software based synthesizers
that comply with the MSAPI speech specifications.  These synthesizers
include First Byte's Monolog 97 and AT&T's FlexTalk.

The speech engines do not work in Windows 3.1.  They are Windows95 and
NT specific.

If you obtained this set of files on our web site, you can unzip the
msapi.zip file directly into your ASAW directory, then run ASAW's setup
program and select MSAPI from the list of synthesizers.

To use with OpenBook, unzip MSAPI.ZIP into your OpenBook directory, then
run expapi.bat.  This is a batch file which expands the compressed files
and registers the server.  After that, change to your windows directory
and edit your tts_ctrl.ini file so the line that reads driver=xxx reads
driver=msapi.

If you had been using ASAW with msapi and you also want to use OpenBook
with it as well, get OpenBook going with msapi, then run ASAW once with
the ob command line parameter to tell ASAW to use the existing OpenBook
settings which will now, of course, be msapi.  Once you've done that one
time, you can go back to starting ASAW with the shortcut on the start
menu.

If you have more than one speech engine on your system, and you want to
change from one engine to another, you need to edit the msapi.syn file
by hand.  The [ssil] section of the file contains an entry called Engine
Name which might look like this:

Engine Name=AT&T

If you want to change to another engine, change the AT&T to the engine
you want to use.  You can get a list of the engines on your system by
looking in the [Available Engine Names] section of the file.  One you
change the msapi.syn file to reflect the name of the engine you want to
use, remove ASAW from memory then start ASAW again to start using the
newly selected engine.

Monolog Notes: The version of Monolog97 we have tested maxes its speed
at 288 even though it reports a maximum speed of 315.  If you try to
raise the reate above 288, however, it slows back down to the default
rate.  Monolog97 also does some strange things with trying to expand
abbreviations that we are trying to get First Byte to change.

Some versions of Monolog do not properly set the volume.  If you have
one of these, the volume will not be objectionable, and you can control
it by controlling the multimedia volume in Control Panel.

FlexTalk Notes:  By default, FlexTalk comes with only one voice.  You
may, however, add more voices by going to the FlexTalk entry in Control
Panel and providing the specifics about the voice you want to create.

DEC-Talk Notes:  Versions of DEC-Talk soft earler than 4.40 do not fully
impliment the MSAPI command set.  If you hear funny things like pit= or
spd= when your DEC-Talk speaks, check the version number and if it is
earlier than 4.40, contact Digital Equiptment Corporation for
information about updating your DEC-Talk software.


