This is an application that would first record/capture the voice of a user. Perhaps the user would be instructed to repeat a few phrases. The software would 'learn' the user's normal tone, fluctuations, depth, accents, volume, etc. Next, once the user's voice has been captured and understood, the voice can then be applied and adapted to original songs and/or speeches. The application would also understand the distinct qualities of an original specified song or speech. As a result, a user may then listen to him/herself sing a particular song or give a certain speech. For instance, I could hear myself sing Madonna's "Like a Virgin" or an opera. Also, let's say I want to hear myself give one of JFK's speeches. After learning my voice, the software could then play JFK's speech, with the appropriate fluctuations/volume/depth/speed, with my voice. This application could be described as 'automatic karaoke' or 'voice syncing.'-- quam, Nov 03 2000 Rob Donovan's Trainable Speech Synthesis http://svr-www.eng....donovan_thesis.htmlThis sounded pretty realistic. Rob's working for IBM the last I heard, but haven't heard anything from Big Blue... [rmutt, Jan 08 2002, last modified Oct 04 2004] This would also be really fun hooked up to a vocorder or other voice synthesizer worn around the neck. Imagine giving yourself a Sean Connery or Kathleen Turner voice- or Bugs Bunny, Pee Wee Herman or Betty Boop, if you so desire.
On the downside, such a device could also be used to imitate a person's voice for nefarious purposes as well. Imagine if someone called in a few dozen bomb threats using your voice....-- BigThor, Nov 03 2000 PeeWee Herman imitating JFK and vice versa-now that I'm for.-- thumbwax, Nov 03 2000 Only if I can do [PeterSealy] saying "Baked!".-- phoenix, Jan 07 2002 The current state of the art in text-to-speech can (it is claimed) copy intonation, pauses, volume and pitch fluctuation from pre-recorded speech. (So you can have an excited voice for some speeches and a calm one for others.) Systems tend to restrict basic quality of the speaking voice (probably so their TTS system has a recognisable voice) although some systems let you choose from a library of a dozen or more different speakers.
I don't think there's anything quite this advanced, available. You can however do it in a more painstaking way by editing audio files on a PC, but that requires manipulation of individual words or even lower-level work. I don't think an instantaneous translation is possible, just because people speak at different speeds and put pauses in their speech in different ways,-- pottedstu, Jan 07 2002 In season 2 of "24" they use a technology like this as a plot device. I believe that was after the post.-- snikrepkire, Apr 29 2004 random, halfbakery