TotalRecorder Breaks Speech and Causes Crashes

This article applies to:

• Kurzweil 1000

• Kurzweil 3000 for Windows

Symptoms

SAPI 4 voices fail to speak. Sometimes, the failure can happen the first time they try to speak. Other times, a voice might work for a while, then fail.

Cause

TotalRecorder is a virtual audio device, i.e. a piece of software that makes the system believe that it is an audio device. When TotalRecorder is set as the default audio device, all sounds get sent to it. TotalRecorder is then responsible for passing the sounds on to a real hardware audio device so that the user can hear them. TotalRecorder also a user to save the audio data to a disk file.

Subtle differences between TotalRecorder and real audio devices can cause trouble for applications that generate sound. Kurzweil products are among those that have problems when TotalRecorder is set as the default audio device.

Solution

TotalRecorder must not be selected as the default audio device. Go to the "Sounds and Audio Devices" control panel, select the "Audio" tab, look in the "Sound playback" area at the drop-down list box labeled "Default device". If it is set to "TotalRecorder", change it to something else. Close the dialog by clicking the OK button.

More Information

Other virtual audio devices on the market might cause similar problems.

History

Creation Date: October 25, 2005

Last Modified: October 25, 2005