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Infovox voices don't work on Big Sur

By Majid Almaadeed, 17 November, 2020

Forum
macOS and Mac Apps

Hi all,
I have installed Mac OS 11 as known as Big Sur and I have noticed that there is an issue in VoiceOver with InfoVox voices.
The issue simply is that when selecting one of the InfoVox voices VoiceOver stops responding completely and no sound comes from it.
I have four Acapela voices installed on my device, used them all and tried to reinstall them again but nothing changed.
Of course, the issue disappears completely when I switch back to one of the VoiceOver voices that are available like "Alex".
My questions, is there anybody who faced this issue? Is there a way that let me have the voices back?
I wish I could resolve this issue as soon as possible since I rely on InfoVox most of the time.
Wish you all the best,
Majid

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Comments

Ys yes I am going through…

By Maldalain

2 years 10 months ago

yes I am going through this and it is frustrating. Infovox should release update to solve compatibility issues withBig Sur. I would downgrade if this is possible.

Email the Developer

By Daniel Parker

2 years 10 months ago

Both of you should email the developer if you haven't already, otherwise they may not be aware of the problem.

P.S.: This is the first I've heard of these. I use some of these voices to read books with. Wish I'd known about them sooner, hopefully they'll fix it soon so I can try it out, but they won't if they don't know about the issue.

Wait for the next version to support MacOS11 Big Sur

By Nawaf Allohaibi

2 years 10 months ago

we must wait for developer to support macOS 11, I sent two email support team, they said to me: “Thank you for contacting AssistiveWare Support. We appreciate that you have taken the time to reach out to us about this issue.

Please know that we are working on an update to Infovox iVox that will bring Big Sur compatibility. However, I do not have a release date for it yet“.
I wish for the developer to support it soon…

Hi, I used to use these…

By Justin

2 years 10 months ago

Hi,
I used to use these voices, but I've since moved on from these. I used to use them for years, but they simply haven't done the trick since march of this year. I remember installing 10.15.4 or something, and they just never worked since then. I had to get sighted assistance to make it work again, since i got no speech...

Update regarding Infovox Ivox voices

By VivekP

2 years 10 months ago

Hi all,
I had wrote to the developers about this known issue and they just wrote back to me to let me know that the problem is fixed.
Please head over to the assistive ware website and download the version 4.6 and install it. It should work as expected.
Cheers!

v4.6 is out

By Nawaf

2 years 10 months ago

hi Majid and all reader, Infovox iVox Version4.6 is released to support MacOS11 Big Sur, to update open Infovox iVox Voice Manager Press VOKey + m to go on the menu bar, select Infovox iVox Voice Manager menu, and choose check for update.
If you don't have the application you can download it from the website…

Confirmed: Discontinuation of Infovox iVox for Mac

By Eileen😷

2 years 10 months ago

I just received the following from AssistiveWare

Saying goodbye is never easy, but we are thankful to have you as a friend on this journey. After a long talk and much thought, AssistiveWare and Acapela Group have decided to discontinue development of Infovox iVox due to a shrinking user base and increasing development and support costs. This was not an easy decision, but with the current pandemic economic crisis, the fact that macOS allows you to download free multilingual voices, and AssistiveWare’s shifted focus toward AAC, we were compelled to bring up the topic we could no longer ignore.

To make this change as easy as possible, here are the details you need to know:

  • You can purchase additional voice credits until 31 December 2020.
  • Remaining voice credits can be used to activate voices until 31 August 2021.
  • Without a positive voice credit balance, you can no longer start a demo period for voices.
  • Infovox iVox version 4.6 (recently released) will support macOS 11 (Big Sur) but only on Intel based Macs, and not on the Apple Silicon (M1) processors.
  • Support for Infovox iVox will end on 31 August 2021.
  • Installed Infovox iVox voices will remain active/usable on current software/hardware combinations as long as possible, allowing users to re-install their voices on compatible macOS versions.

Just to be clear, the Acapela voices are not going away. Infovox 4 on Windows is not being discontinued. So if you are looking for a screenreader using Acapela voices or a way to convert text to audio using Acapela voices, you may want to check out Infovox 4 on PC. In addition, for people looking to create short audio files for a commercial project using Acapela voices, the Acapela Box web service offers access to the same voices found in Infovox iVox at an affordable rate. Finally, Acapela voices will remain available in our AAC solutions for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. 


If you are using AssistiveWare’s Wrise or ConvenienceWare’s GhostReader and want to switch to the free macOS voices, you can do so by going to System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech, clicking the System Voice popup menu, and selecting Customize… at the bottom of the menu. Then select a checkbox for a voice you want to download and click the OK button to download the voice. (Depending the speed of your internet connection, it may take several minutes to download voices.) Finally, open your application and select the macOS voice you just downloaded.

Change is never easy. At the end of this journey, we are grateful for your use of Infovox iVox, support of our efforts, and understanding of this decision. From our hearts to yours, thank you.

Well that's a shame…

By KE7ZUM

2 years 10 months ago

Well that's a shame. Download high quality voices for mac OS? While I agree, the only ones I can think of are the ones that drop with apple and the ones you can choose in the voiceover voices manager.

infovox voices

By Jeffry Miller

2 years 10 months ago

They just came out with a new ersion yesterday it is available on the web site. it is 4.6 and they work.

No more acapela?

By Raul

2 years 10 months ago

So this means that we’ll have to stick to the standard voices? The spanish ones suck, and i still use acapela since 2010

They releaced an update for mac os big sir, however

By Igna Triay

2 years 10 months ago

I got this from a assistiveware email,
Dear Infovox iVox User,

Saying goodbye is never easy, but we are thankful to have you as a friend on this journey. After a long talk and much thought, AssistiveWare and Acapela Group have decided to discontinue development of Infovox iVox due to a shrinking user base and increasing development and support costs. This was not an easy decision, but with the current pandemic economic crisis, the fact that macOS allows you to download free multilingual voices, and AssistiveWare’s shifted focus toward AAC, we were compelled to bring up the topic we could no longer ignore.

To make this change as easy as possible, here are the details you need to know:

You can purchase additional voice credits until 31 December 2020.
Remaining voice credits can be used to activate voices until 31 August 2021.
Without a positive voice credit balance, you can no longer start a demo period for voices.
Infovox iVox version 4.6 (recently released) will support macOS 11 (Big Sur) but only on Intel based Macs, and not on the Apple Silicon (M1) processors.
Support for Infovox iVox will end on 31 August 2021.
Installed Infovox iVox voices will remain active/usable on current software/hardware combinations as long as possible, allowing users to re-install their voices on compatible macOS versions.

If you have any questions about this change, please reply to this email or send a message to support@assistiveware.com.

Just to be clear, the Acapela voices are not going away. Infovox 4 on Windows is not being discontinued. So if you are looking for a screenreader using Acapela voices or a way to convert text to audio using Acapela voices, you may want to check out Infovox 4 on PC. In addition, for people looking to create short audio files for a commercial project using Acapela voices, the Acapela Box web service offers access to the same voices found in Infovox iVox at an affordable rate. Finally, Acapela voices will remain available in our AAC solutions for iOS, iPadOS, and macOS. 


If you are using AssistiveWare’s Wrise or ConvenienceWare’s GhostReader and want to switch to the free macOS voices, you can do so by going to System Preferences > Accessibility > Speech, clicking the System Voice popup menu, and selecting Customize… at the bottom of the menu. Then select a checkbox for a voice you want to download and click the OK button to download the voice. (Depending the speed of your internet connection, it may take several minutes to download voices.) Finally, open your application and select the macOS voice you just downloaded.

Change is never easy. At the end of this journey, we are grateful for your use of Infovox iVox, support of our efforts, and understanding of this decision. From our hearts to yours, thank you.

The AssistiveWare Team

oops, double post

By layly

2 years 10 months ago

oops, double post

I emailed them (and apple)…

By layly

2 years 10 months ago

I emailed them (and apple) saying I hope they one day manage to coordinate so we can still get their voices and they replied saying
"We will let you know if we find a way to coordinate with Apple so Acapela voices are available"
so maybe there is still some hope for us.

They released a new update

By Majid Almaadeed

2 years 10 months ago

In reply to Hi, I used to use these… by Justin

Hi,
I have just notice that they released a new version that supports Big Sur.

I just got their email

By Majid Almaadeed

2 years 10 months ago

In reply to v4.6 is out by Nawaf

Many thnks. I have just got their email that they have sent over the weekend.

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