Voice Control for Mac?

[tvick47]

I was just wondering if there is a complete voice control program for mac. I would like to be able to have as much control over my Mac as possible by speaking commands. I know there are some built in options but they're not very good, and I would ESPECIALLY like for the computer to always be monitoring voice input while plugged in for any commands, so that I don't have to push a key or anything.

Some main things would be to open applications, tell the time, log in/out, seek tracks in iTunes, etc. Speech to text isn't really necessary it's just for commands that I can use from across the room.

Price is no matter, I would just like a good piece of software that fulfills the requirements I ask. I want it to be a sort of autonomous ability to command the computer.

Thanks!

 

[medfordite]

Have you looked in the Speech Recognition tab in the Speech Pref Pane?

I have played with it and for being included in the OS, it is quite good.

 

[Slydude]

Have you looked in the Speech Recognition tab in the Speech Pref Pane?

I have played with it and for being included in the OS, it is quite good.

@OP With a little work it is even possible to extend the usefulness of the built in speech recognition. ATPM 15.11 - How To: Making Your Own Speakable Items. Also check out Nuance - Dragon Dictate for Mac - Dragon Dictate speech recognition for the Mac. It is not cheap but in addition to the speech to text function it can be used to control many other Mac functions.

 

[hw96Lgb]

There is also an easter egg with the Speech Recognition program. Ask it to tell a joke and it will!

 

[tvick47]

@OP With a little work it is even possible to extend the usefulness of the built in speech recognition. ATPM 15.11 - How To: Making Your Own Speakable Items. Also check out Nuance - Dragon Dictate for Mac - Dragon Dictate speech recognition for the Mac. It is not cheap but in addition to the speech to text function it can be used to control many other Mac functions.

Okay that sounds pretty cool!

Just one more thing, is there a way to make it like always listening? I would like to be able to speak commands from across the room, instead of having to hold the escape key, since it kind of defeats the purpose.

 

[Slydude]

Yes. I use it more for the speech to text function but you don't need to use the escape key all the time. They made some changes to the program recently and it has some issues with directly supporting some BT mics. I think the issue is the mics are tuned primarily to one frequency and the program is based on a different frequency for better accuracy. There is a work around that I think I saw on their site. If you have trouble finding it let me know.

 

[Slydude]

There is also an easter egg with the Speech Recognition program. Ask it to tell a joke and it will!

That little Easter egg has been around I think since the feature was introduced either in System 7 or 8. I was trying it out one day as my wife walked in from running an errand. I think she thought I had sot my mind.

If you are willing to play with AppleScript and the "say" command a bit you can teach it new jokes. It's not hard. AppleScript or Automator can also teach it how to voice control nee tasks/

 

[hw96Lgb]

That little Easter egg has been around I think since the feature was introduced either in System 7 or 8. I was trying it out one day as my wife walked in from running an errand. I think she thought I had sot my mind.

If you are willing to play with AppleScript and the "say" command a bit you can teach it new jokes. It's not hard. AppleScript or Automator can also teach it how to voice control nee tasks/

I'd like to learn how to create a possessed Mac using AppleScript. For example by teaching the computer to laugh maniacally and say "excellent..." when a user inputs a password.

 

[Slydude]

I know this is possible but I am not much of an AppleScripter. I have done most of my work in Automator. Apparently the tricky part is getting AppleScript to play the sound. Here's one way I have found but have not experimented with yet https://discussions.apple.com/message/11417465?messageID=11417465

After that the part about saying the word "excellent" should be easy enough using the Say command say "excellent". If you are going to use the speech function to trigger the script it must be saved so that the name of the script is the trigger word or phrase. I will experiment with this a bit later and get back to you.