Improve speed of TTS output

Scripts/bye-bye.ps1

@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 
 $Answer = "Good bye.", "See you.", "Bye bye." | Get-Random
 
-write-output "$Answer"
 & "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success

Scripts/good-bye.ps1

@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 
 $Answer = "Good bye.", "See you.", "Bye bye." | Get-Random
 
-write-output "$Answer"
 & "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success

Scripts/good-evening.ps1

@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 
 $Answer = "And a special good evening to you too."
 
-write-output "$Answer"
 & "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success

Scripts/good-morning.ps1

@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 
 $Answer = "Good morning.", "Good morning to you too.", "Well, good morning to you too.", "Good morning! How are you?", "Morning." | Get-Random
 
-write-output "$Answer"
 & "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success

Scripts/good-night.ps1

@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 
 $Answer = "Good night to you, too.", "Good night to you, my friend.", "Have a good night. Sleep well.", "Good night and sweet dreams." | Get-Random
 
-write-output "$Answer"
 & "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success

Scripts/how-are-you.ps1

@@ -11,10 +11,8 @@
 	https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell
 #>
 
-try {
+$Answer = "I'm fine, thanks."
-	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "I'm fine, thanks."
+
-	exit 0 # success
+& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
-} catch {
+write-output "$Answer"
-	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"
+exit 0 # success
-	exit 1
-}

Scripts/i-will-be-back.ps1

@@ -11,5 +11,8 @@
 	https://github.com/fleschutz/PowerShell
 #>
 
-& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "Hasta la vista, baby."
+$Answer = "Hasta la vista, baby."
+
+& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success

Scripts/say-date.ps1

@@ -16,7 +16,9 @@ try {
 	[system.threading.thread]::currentthread.currentculture=[system.globalization.cultureinfo]"en-US"
 	$Weekday = (Get-Date -format "dddd")
 	$CurrentDate = (Get-Date).ToShortDateString()
-	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "It's $Weekday, $CurrentDate"
+	$Answer = "It's $Weekday, $CurrentDate"
+	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+	write-output "$Answer"
 	exit 0 # success
 } catch {
 	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"

Scripts/say-time.ps1

@@ -15,7 +15,9 @@
 try {
 	[system.threading.thread]::currentThread.currentCulture=[system.globalization.cultureInfo]"en-US"
 	$CurrentTime = $((Get-Date).ToShortTimeString())
-	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "It's $CurrentTime"
+	$Answer = "It's $CurrentTime"
+	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+	write-output "$Answer"
 	exit 0 # success
 } catch {
 	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"

Scripts/speak-english.ps1

@@ -3,7 +3,6 @@
 	Speaks text with an English text-to-speech voice
 .DESCRIPTION
 	This scripts speaks the given text with an English text-to-speech (TTS) voice.
-	Requires that an English TTS voice is installed.
 .PARAMETER text
 	Specifies the text to speak
 .EXAMPLE
@@ -19,12 +18,11 @@ param([string]$text = "")
 try {
 	if ("$text" -eq "") { $text = read-host "Enter the English text to speak" }
 
-	$CurrentVoice = New-Object -ComObject SAPI.SPVoice
+	$TTSVoice = New-Object -ComObject SAPI.SPVoice
-	$Voices = $CurrentVoice.GetVoices()
+	foreach ($Voice in $TTSVoice.GetVoices()) {
-	foreach ($Voice in $Voices) {
 		if ($Voice.GetDescription() -notlike "*- English*") { continue }
-		$CurrentVoice.Voice = $Voice
+		$TTSVoice.Voice = $Voice
-		[void]$CurrentVoice.Speak($text)
+		[void]$TTSVoice.Speak($text)
 		exit 0 # success
 	}
 	throw "No English text-to-speech voice found - please install one"

Scripts/tell-joke.ps1

@@ -16,9 +16,10 @@ try {
 
 	$Generator = New-Object System.Random
 	$Index = [int]$Generator.next(0, $Table.Count - 1)
-	$Joke = $Table[$Index].Joke
+	$Answer = $Table[$Index].Joke
 
-	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Joke"
+	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+	write-output "$Answer"
 	exit 0 # success
 } catch {
 	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"

Scripts/tell-operating-system.ps1

@@ -13,15 +13,16 @@
 
 try {
 	if ($IsLinux) {
-		$details = (uname -sr)
+		$Answer = (uname -sr)
 	} else {
 		$OS = Get-WmiObject -class Win32_OperatingSystem
 		$OSname = $OS.Caption
 		$OSarchitecture = $OS.OSArchitecture
 		$OSversion = $OS.Version
-		$details = "$OSname for $OSarchitecture version $OSversion"
+		$Answer = "$OSname for $OSarchitecture version $OSversion"
 	} 
-	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$details"
+	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+	write-output "$Answer"
 	exit 0 # success
 } catch {
 	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"

Scripts/tell-quote.ps1

@@ -18,8 +18,10 @@ try {
 	$Index = [int]$Generator.next(0, $Table.Count - 1)
 	$Quote = $Table[$Index].Quote
 	$Author = $Table[$Index].Author
+	$Answer = "$Quote (by $Author)"
 
-	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Quote (by $Author)"
+	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+	write-output "$Answer"
 	exit 0 # success
 } catch {
 	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"

Scripts/tell-uptime.ps1

@@ -22,8 +22,8 @@ try {
 
 	$Answer = "I'm up for $($Uptime.Days) days, $($Uptime.Hours) hours and $($Uptime.Minutes) minutes."
 
-	write-output "$Answer"
 	& "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+	write-output "$Answer"
 	exit 0 # success
 } catch {
 	"⚠️ Error: $($Error[0]) ($($MyInvocation.MyCommand.Name):$($_.InvocationInfo.ScriptLineNumber))"

Scripts/thank-you.ps1

@@ -13,6 +13,6 @@
 
 $Answer = "It's a pleasure.", "Never mind." | Get-Random
 
-write-output "$Answer"
 & "$PSScriptRoot/speak-english.ps1" "$Answer"
+write-output "$Answer"
 exit 0 # success