The computer voice on next Trek TV series - actor

[jefferiestubes8]

There is new software by Adobe in development to synthesize and edit speech further giving my idea of using Majel Barret's thousands of hours of voiceover recordings for The Computer.

Adobe is developing a new audio software called Project VoCo to
synthesize and edit speech.

Project VoCo can produce the sound of someone saying something they didn’t actually say with unsettling realism.
a state-of-the-art audio editing application. Beyond your standard speech editing and noise-cancellation features, Project VoCo can also apparently generate new words using a speaker’s recorded voice.

VoCo tech ingests speech, deconstructs it, then creates new words from scratch.

Here is a 7 minute demo video

VoCo works by ingesting a large amount of voice data (about 20 minutes right now, but that'll be improved), breaking it down into phonemes (each of the distinct sounds that make up a spoken language), and then attempting to create a voice model of the speaker—presumably stuff like cadence, stresses, quirks, etc., but Adobe hasn't provided much detail yet.
Then, when you edit someone's speech, VoCo either finds that word somewhere within the 20-minute clip—or if the word hasn't been uttered, it is constructed out of raw phonemes. At around the 4:30 mark in the video you can hear the phase "three times" being constructed from scratch; if you listen carefully, it does sound a bit synthetic, but it's not awful. Copying and pasting existing words sounds better.

SOURCE 1 SOURCE 2


Adobe has yet to provide a release date or the cost of buying the software.
So CBS would have to create their own library unless they work with Adobe right now but it would be so cool to have the same computer voice we've mostly heard for TV Trek.

 

[Ronald Held]

Assuming the computers have a voice, it should sound like Majel.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

But they will meet other ships that use different voices.

 

[Jesse1066]

If the computerized Majel Barrett thing isn't successful (and I really hope it is), maybe they could use Jen Taylor. She has some experience with this sort of role. Or Judi Durand.

 

[Mr. Laser Beam]

How about Kate Mulgrew?

 

[Photoman15]

How about Kate Mulgrew?

NO! SThe computer voice(s) have always (after TOS) been smooth, soothing voices.

 

[Four Lights]

The actress who played Commodore Paris in Beyond - Shohreh Aghdashroo.

Her voice was just really awesome and distinct. It carried so much authority and seemed so calming. She would be perfect for the computer voice.

 

[Draculasaurus]

There's this actress named Jo Anne Worley who has some really similar vocal characteristics to Majel Barrett.
She did the voice of the Wardobe in the Disney Beauty and the Beast.
I actually thought it was Barrett until I looked it up.

Dug up my post from last year, but this time I bothered to track down some video.

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[RJDiogenes]

Jo Anne Worley! Good grief, I haven't seen her in years. What a nut.