The software uses your Operating Systems built in Text To Speech capabilities to announce various things during a race such as time remaining, ranks, best laps and the count down.
MAC OS X: On a Mac the Text To Speech settings are located in the System Preferences in the System heading under the Speech option. Within this preference pane you can change things such as the voice used and speed of the speaking rate.
Windows: In Windows to configure Text To Speech settings you must go to your control panel and then go to the Speech applet. Within this applet you can choose different voices and change the speed of the speaking rate.
Linux: For Linux the software is using kttsd for the Text To Speech. You must install and configure kttsmgr management utility and an appropriate Text To Speech engine for Text To Speech to operate in Linux. Festival is a common TTS engine used in Linux and will work with kttsmgr.
The default voices in some versions of the various operating systems do not sound very good. You can get third party voices that will work and sound much better. Here are a few options.
Microsoft Mary and Mike English voices for free can be downloaded here, www.imptec.com/SpeechXP.exe.
A list of various third party voices that you must purchase can be found here, www.microsoft.com/speech/evaluation/thirdparty/engines.mspx. Some of these companies such as AT&T and Cepstral have voices that will also work in Mac and Linux.
Free French and German voices for Windows can be downloaded from here, www.microsoft.com/reader/developers/downloads/tts.aspx. You must install the Microsoft Reader from here, www.microsoft.com/reader/downloads/pc.aspx before installing the French and German voices.
Various clubs have been happy with the sound of the third party AT&T voices.