Confirm correct installation by starting Kurzweil VoicePad Pro, adding yourself as a new user, checking sound levels, and adjusting the microphone gain as needed. Follow these steps:
A. Start Kurzweil VoicePad Pro. Add your name to the user list as a new user. Read the initial Help dialog,and click OK. The Start User screen appears. Select your name from the start user screen and click OK. If a message appears saying "Kurzweil VoicePad Pro cannot control the microphone gain," you will have to perform step C3, below.
B. Complete a sound levels check by saying "Sound Levels" and following the prompts on the screen. You will be prompted to record four seconds of silence and to say nine words: "testing, one, two, three...six, seven, eight."
C. Adjust the Microphone Gain as Needed:
1. If the difference between the level of silence and the level of your Kurzweil VoicePad Pro is not greater than two ticks on the sound levels meter, press the Mike Gain button and raise the gain level by 1. Continue to raise the gain until the level for your Kurzweil VoicePad Pro is in the appropriate range. For Windows 3.1x Users of Kurzweil VoicePad Pro, it may be necessary for you to set your microphone gain to 7 during your first Sound Levels check.
2. If the Sound Levels meter doesn't respond (even after you've raised the gain), check the following:
- Make sure the microphone plugs are connected to appropriate jacks on your sound board and then reset the microphone gain.
3. If the gain button is not present, the microphone gain must be set outside of Kurzweil VoicePad Pro. See "Adjusting the Microphone Gain Outside of Kurzweil VoicePad Pro" in online Help (search on the keyword "microphone").
4. If you still can't get a proper Sound Levels check, record a test sentence using the sound recorder icon in the Accessories program group to check the output sound quality of your sound board. See "Checking Sound Board Fidelity" (search on the keywords "sound board") in online Help for this procedure.
2. Sound Board Compatibility
Steps have been taken to insure that Kurzweil VoicePad Pro is compatible with a wide
range of 16-bit sound boards from Creative Labs as well as Windows-compatible, 16-bit sound boards. Kurzweil VoicePad Pro is NOT compatible with the Kurzweil APA sound board. If you experience recognition difficulty or find that the microphone doesn't hear anything you say, the problem may be due to one of the following:
A. Incorrect microphone gain. Because of the variations in microphone gain among sound boards,
Kurzweil VoicePad Pro's default microphone gain setting may be incorrect for your sound board. If recognition appears to be poor or erratic the first time you use Kurzweil VoicePad Pro, see "Adjusting Microphone Gain Inside Kurzweil VoicePad Pro" in online Help for information about correcting the problem (search on keyword "microphone").
B. Non-conforming sound board. You should be able to use Kurzweil VoicePad Pro to control your
microphone gain, but if your sound board does not conform to accepted Windows conventions, you may need to refer to "Adjusting Microphone Gain Outside Kurzweil VoicePad Pro" in online Help for
information about correcting the problem (search on keyword "microphone").
Kurzweil VoicePad Pro is compatible with most notebook computers running with built-in 16-bit Windows-compatible sound boards including PCMCIA boards. Just select "Sound Blaster 16 Compatible" as the type of sound board when you install the software. The notebook's CPU must meet the Kurzweil VoicePad Pro requirements (a Pentium microprocessor if you are running Windows 95; as well as 8 MB of DEDICATED RAM.) The exceptions to this rule are those members of the IBM ThinkPad family of notebooks with Mwave audio. By selecting "IBM ThinkPad" during setup, Kurzweil VoicePad Pro will take advantage of the additional processing power of the Mwave DSP to improve the accuracy and response time of the voice recognition function.
Kurzweil VoicePad Pro will not work well with the built-in microphone that comes with your notebook computer. To avoid interference and poor recognition performance, be sure that the notebook completely shuts off the built-in microphone when the Andrea microphone, which comes with Kurzweil VoicePad Pro, is installed.
Some Toshiba Techra notebook computers have a very high microphone gain. You can adjust the system parameters with the help of Kurzweil AI Customer Support. Call 1-800-380-1234.
KNOWN PROBLEMS AND WORKAROUNDS IN KURZWEIL VOICEPAD PRO
1. Minimizing Installation causes incomplete installation process
If you minimize the Install Shield application of VoicePad Pro on Windows '95, the Kurzweil setup icon remains minimized in the task bar and does not complete. Do NOT minimize installation.
2. Disks 8 and 9 are not needed for Windows 95 operation
If you install Kurzweil VoicePad Pro on Windows 95, the percent marker only gets to 94% before the installation completes. This is a normal operation. You do not have to install disks 8 and 9.
3. Disk drive spinning during Installation
You may hear prolonged spinning of the disk drive during your Installation of Kurzweil VoicePad Pro. Do not be concerned; it is part of the mechanics of the Install Shield.
4. First word may have no alternatives
It is possible, for the first session of a new user on a new Install, that you may not be able to correct the first word dictated via the alternative 'take-n' choices viewed in the Correct-That dialog. If this happens, please delete the first word and dictate again. Remember, that continued problems with a specific word can be corrected through the Recognition Wizard. See online Help for an explanation.
5. VoicePad Pro does not support Word 6.0 format files or Write files under Windows 3.1x
You cannot open Write files; nor can you open or save Word 6.0 format files using VoicePad Pro under Windows 3.1x. Please save all file as 'text' in Windows 3.1x installations.
6. Deleting a new file or directory causes a crash
If you use the right mouse button/delete function or the delete button, to delete a newly created or open file or directory from within VoicePad Pro your system will crash with an invalid page fault error. Do not delete these from within VoicePad Pro's File/Open browser dialog.
7. Print Preview screen is not voice-enabled
When you access the File menu/Print preview option in VoicePad Pro, you cannot navigate it by voice. It is necessary to use the mouse or keyboard to initiate an action in this window.
8. Active Words window becomes truncated when you exit the Print Preview screen.
When you close the print preview window, the scroll bar at the bottom of the Active Words window
disappears. To restore the scroll bar, resize the VoicePad Pro window or close and reopen the Active Words window.
9. Dialog boxes do not fit on the screen.
If your video resolution is set to 640x480 with large fonts, some dialog boxes will not fit on the screen.
10. Mouse pointer turns to an hourglass after changing font type and font size by voice
When you change the font type or font size by voice, the mouse pointer changes to an hourglass until you move the mouse or issue another voice command.
11. Long translations in Add Command 'Define Action' field
You may not add more than 128 characters to the 'Define Action' field when adding or editing a command.
12. Voice Alphabet Training
If you need to train the voice alphabet (e.g. 'Alpha') which is used in some dialogs [e.g. keyboard windows], do so from the Recognition Wizard's Does not recognize a word option. Click on 'Solve' and type 'ALPHA'.
13. Commands added during 'Stop-listening' mode will not work
