Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow?

Scott Ames · 10-28-2009, 10:31 AM

I find I have to talk at a slower pace than I would like so that Dragon can correctly put words on the screen. If I speak too fast, I find it either puts in the wrong words or gets so far behind that I forget where I am.

Is that just my computer being slow or is this normal?

Damien Roche · 10-28-2009, 01:04 PM

That's what I found. It gets better the more you use it which is quite ingenious in itself.

Also, it does use up resources one way or another and it sounds like your computer can't handle it with no doubt the plethora of other programs you have running

I don't ever remember having to slow down, it was very fast on my comp.

For me, the novelty wore off and it was taking too much time to use it without error.

Jacer · 10-28-2009, 01:05 PM

This is one of the main reasons that I stopped using it. I found that the speed I had to speak (for accuracy) was slower than the speed I could type at. I used it for nearly six months before giving up on it.

thenewevilisgood · 10-28-2009, 01:07 PM

What I've found is that MIC QUALITY really helps in translation and the better the mic, the better the sound pic up.

What I'm using lately is a studio condenser USB mic that I just got off one of the vendors at Amazon:

Samson Audio - C01U

And of course, the extra training really helps as well and a LOT of extra RAM in your machine...

Scott Ames · 11-02-2009, 12:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thenewevilisgood

What I've found is that MIC QUALITY really helps in translation and the better the mic, the better the sound pic up.

What I'm using lately is a studio condenser USB mic that I just got off one of the vendors at Amazon:

Samson Audio - C01U

And of course, the extra training really helps as well and a LOT of extra RAM in your machine...

I'll have to try a better mic then. I just use a cheapy.

tj · 11-02-2009, 12:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Scott Ames

I find I have to talk at a slower pace than I would like so that Dragon can correctly put words on the screen. If I speak too fast, I find it either puts in the wrong words or gets so far behind that I forget where I am.

Is that just my computer being slow or is this normal?

Scott, was Dragon faster in the beginning and then slowed down or was it always slow? As for Headsets - I use a Logitech headset like this one

Logitech ClearChat Pro USB Headset at TigerDirect.com (no Aff.Link)

Timo

Lawrh · 11-02-2009, 12:57 PM

For me, when I speak slowly it works like crap. When I speak normally or quickly it works great. I think the reason is that the program is able to do contextual analysis better if more is in the buffer. It looks strange as when I speak nothing is on the screen and then it spits it out perfectly.

TelegramSam · 11-02-2009, 01:56 PM

Try adding some more memory to your computer.

Doug Stewart Online · 11-04-2009, 05:55 AM

Apart from having to take time to pronounce the words properly, I found it either slowed my PC down or ocassionaly caused it to freeze and that's with a good size memory

Pragmites · 11-04-2009, 08:11 AM

Any thoughts on Accent recognition? Looking at giving it a shot in the coming week

HDRider · 11-04-2009, 12:24 PM

I finally have it working like I want, it uses a lot of memory, I have 2gig now and it works great.

I also found it will work better in some programs then others.

Not so good in office or open office but very accurate in Text Pad! Notepad comes in second.

Dee Scofield · 11-05-2009, 09:51 AM

I suppose because of its contextual analysis, accuracy is actually better when I speak at a more normal pace instead of slowly. Now I love DNS! BUT - it drove me crazy until I spent some time on 'training' it.

For anyone who hasn't done this yet, when you drill down under Help-->Improve My Accuracy you'll find various texts you can read aloud in order to train it to your voice. After I did this a few times there was a gigantic improvement. And if it repeatedly returns an error for certain words, use the Train button on the dialog box that pops up when you say "correct ____".

I also upgraded my mic, but not by much. I just have a $30 mic I got at RadioShack, but the mouthpiece is flexible so that I can place it right at the edge of my mouth.

In the beginning I was about ready to throw in the towel on DNS. But the investment of time I've spent on training it has been well worth it, and now I'd never want to do without it. I still have to do some minor editing, but its accuracy now compared to when I first got it is like night and day.

reapr · 11-05-2009, 10:22 AM

I found it a pain to train but it was well worth it.

When I had a gig for memory it was painfully slow. For many reasons other than DNS I pushe my memory up to 3 gig and it works fine.

Like any assistant and that is the way I look at DNS you do need to put in some training time. It took several hours of use and it does get better.

StephenJJackson · 08-31-2011, 11:32 AM

I’ve been using Dragon for quite some time now and found that it is a memory hog. However, this program is one of the most unique programs I have ever used when it comes to accurate speech recognition. I started out with a computer that was under-powered when it comes to processing speed and memory.

Recently I upgraded to a 3.1 dual processor and 4 gigs of ram, and this has completely changed the game. I can now write and edit 500 word articles in roughly 10 minutes whereas before it would take 30-45 minutes. The accuracy is incredible which translates to fewer mistakes, and overall makes life a whole lot easier.

For those that can't afford to upgrade their computers, you can go to your options and deselect functions that do not need to run. When installing and running Dragon the first time it will usually default to your current computer speed. Sometimes it won't, which means you can turn these functions off, which in turn will allow you to work much faster.

I love this program because it allows me the freedom to get work done in a 3rd of the time I could when I was typing. I use a Logitech ClearChat USB headset for those long hours of dictating, but I also use the wireless version as well. Out of all the wireless versions available, the Logitech ClearChat Wireless headset is by far the best.

I currently write about 8-12 700 word articles a day (single subject), and find that Dragon Naturallyspeaking helps me achieve this with little difficulty. I am currently using version 10, and I have trained it completely using all the articles in the training series. I have found that you can over train your Dragon so be careful when training over and over again when it doesn't need it.

Also run the optimization tools as frequently as you can because this will help a great deal. Avoid turning off the computer in an irregular fashion to prevent any corruption to your files. If you set your optimization settings to automatic, it will update itself when you aren't using it. You will find that a week of these optimization periods will have your Dragon performing at tip top levels.

If anyone has a question about Dragon, I feel I've been using it long enough to shed a little light.

Oh, one more thing. Always perform a backup of your files. If you start to use Dragon and it continues to act up, you will need to use the backed up files to restore it.

Hope this helps, and by the way - I used Dragon to write this in 4.6 minutes.

Stephen

timtanis · 08-31-2011, 02:26 PM

I too love it, mainly cause I type 8 words per minute...

cyberws · 09-01-2011, 03:28 AM

I use Dragon all the time and I talk at my normal speed. Actually, it seems more error prone if I speak slowly. I guess this is because of context - if you say "there/they're/their", Dragon doesn't know which word to use unless it's in a sentence or phrase. It definitely uses a lot of resources, though, and I don't have a lot of programs open when I'm dictating. It's one of my favorite all time programs.

mathman · 09-01-2011, 07:40 AM

I have the software as well and I find that I also have to slow down. Not really what I wanted =/

sadiecopywriter · 09-01-2011, 07:54 AM

I love my dragon. In fact I'm using it to type this right now (I really can't type.)

But I spent a long time training my dragon. And it still is and it still isn't always right all the time.

I add new words to it almost daily, and my first got it I read it every script it came with over a series of several days.

Did you know there's even a way for it to read the stuff you've written as a script and then read it back to the Dragon?

You have to spend time training it, you also have to learn to read the same way you talk, the same speed the same accents whatever.

That's how you train your Dragon. (And you probably do need a better mic and more memory.) also, it doesn't really like background noise like music or TV. It confuses it.

cypherslock · 09-01-2011, 10:19 AM

Sadie, best microphone is this : Blue Microphones | Yeti - The Ultimate Professional USB Microphone. Worth the money. I use it daily.

pokerpro · 09-01-2011, 04:46 PM

I see there are different versions.....are they alll slow?.....if not which version would be the best and were could i person go get this at a very reasonable price?

Shawn Darlin · 09-01-2011, 05:33 PM

I use Dragon Naturally Speaking ALL the time! It didn't work so great back when I had a slower machine and a cheap mic.

But yeah, I'd suggest you buy a good quality mic and add some RAM to your computer as well.

Shawn.

P.S This post was written with Dragon Naturally Speaking.

10-28-2009, 10:31 AM	#1
Scott Ames Senior Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: West of Rockies Posts: 5,560 Thanks: 377 Thanked 673 Times in 329 Posts	Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I find I have to talk at a slower pace than I would like so that Dragon can correctly put words on the screen. If I speak too fast, I find it either puts in the wrong words or gets so far behind that I forget where I am. Is that just my computer being slow or is this normal?

10-28-2009, 01:04 PM	#2
Damien Roche Ivory Rock Media War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Outside The Box Posts: 974 Thanks: 128 Thanked 93 Times in 63 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? That's what I found. It gets better the more you use it which is quite ingenious in itself. Also, it does use up resources one way or another and it sounds like your computer can't handle it with no doubt the plethora of other programs you have running I don't ever remember having to slow down, it was very fast on my comp. For me, the novelty wore off and it was taking too much time to use it without error.

10-28-2009, 01:05 PM	#3
Jacer Offline Marketer War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 507 Thanks: 68 Thanked 125 Times in 80 Posts Contact Info	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? This is one of the main reasons that I stopped using it. I found that the speed I had to speak (for accuracy) was slower than the speed I could type at. I used it for nearly six months before giving up on it.

10-28-2009, 01:07 PM	#4
thenewevilisgood Warrior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Currently in outer space Posts: 22 Thanks: 0 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts Social Networking	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? What I've found is that MIC QUALITY really helps in translation and the better the mic, the better the sound pic up. What I'm using lately is a studio condenser USB mic that I just got off one of the vendors at Amazon: Samson Audio - C01U And of course, the extra training really helps as well and a LOT of extra RAM in your machine...

11-02-2009, 12:57 PM	#7
Lawrh Ronin War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: Near the River Posts: 268 Thanks: 206 Thanked 225 Times in 169 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? For me, when I speak slowly it works like crap. When I speak normally or quickly it works great. I think the reason is that the program is able to do contextual analysis better if more is in the buffer. It looks strange as when I speak nothing is on the screen and then it spits it out perfectly.

11-02-2009, 01:56 PM	#8
TelegramSam Battle Hardened Warrior Join Date: Apr 2009 Location: USA/UK Posts: 690 Thanks: 44 Thanked 166 Times in 89 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? Try adding some more memory to your computer.

11-04-2009, 05:55 AM	#9
Doug Stewart Online Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2009 Posts: 25 Thanks: 2 Thanked 9 Times in 8 Posts Social Networking	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? Apart from having to take time to pronounce the words properly, I found it either slowed my PC down or ocassionaly caused it to freeze and that's with a good size memory

11-04-2009, 08:11 AM	#10
Pragmites Warrior Member War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Pune, India Posts: 16 Thanks: 3 Thanked 0 Times in 0 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? Any thoughts on Accent recognition? Looking at giving it a shot in the coming week

11-04-2009, 12:24 PM	#11
HDRider Active Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Oct 2008 Location: SW Florida Posts: 75 Thanks: 11 Thanked 8 Times in 7 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I finally have it working like I want, it uses a lot of memory, I have 2gig now and it works great. I also found it will work better in some programs then others. Not so good in office or open office but very accurate in Text Pad! Notepad comes in second.

11-05-2009, 09:51 AM	#12
Dee Scofield HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2008 Posts: 333 Thanks: 13 Thanked 108 Times in 77 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I suppose because of its contextual analysis, accuracy is actually better when I speak at a more normal pace instead of slowly. Now I love DNS! BUT - it drove me crazy until I spent some time on 'training' it. For anyone who hasn't done this yet, when you drill down under Help-->Improve My Accuracy you'll find various texts you can read aloud in order to train it to your voice. After I did this a few times there was a gigantic improvement. And if it repeatedly returns an error for certain words, use the Train button on the dialog box that pops up when you say "correct ____". I also upgraded my mic, but not by much. I just have a $30 mic I got at RadioShack, but the mouthpiece is flexible so that I can place it right at the edge of my mouth. In the beginning I was about ready to throw in the towel on DNS. But the investment of time I've spent on training it has been well worth it, and now I'd never want to do without it. I still have to do some minor editing, but its accuracy now compared to when I first got it is like night and day.

11-05-2009, 10:22 AM	#13
reapr Redneck Warrior War Room Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: Pacific North West, WA, USA Posts: 997 Thanks: 52 Thanked 67 Times in 61 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I found it a pain to train but it was well worth it. When I had a gig for memory it was painfully slow. For many reasons other than DNS I pushe my memory up to 3 gig and it works fine. Like any assistant and that is the way I look at DNS you do need to put in some training time. It took several hours of use and it does get better.

08-31-2011, 11:32 AM	#14
StephenJJackson StephenJJackson.com War Room Member Join Date: Feb 2011 Location: Oregon Posts: 28 Thanks: 4,294,967,295 Thanked 5 Times in 5 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I’ve been using Dragon for quite some time now and found that it is a memory hog. However, this program is one of the most unique programs I have ever used when it comes to accurate speech recognition. I started out with a computer that was under-powered when it comes to processing speed and memory. Recently I upgraded to a 3.1 dual processor and 4 gigs of ram, and this has completely changed the game. I can now write and edit 500 word articles in roughly 10 minutes whereas before it would take 30-45 minutes. The accuracy is incredible which translates to fewer mistakes, and overall makes life a whole lot easier. For those that can't afford to upgrade their computers, you can go to your options and deselect functions that do not need to run. When installing and running Dragon the first time it will usually default to your current computer speed. Sometimes it won't, which means you can turn these functions off, which in turn will allow you to work much faster. I love this program because it allows me the freedom to get work done in a 3rd of the time I could when I was typing. I use a Logitech ClearChat USB headset for those long hours of dictating, but I also use the wireless version as well. Out of all the wireless versions available, the Logitech ClearChat Wireless headset is by far the best. I currently write about 8-12 700 word articles a day (single subject), and find that Dragon Naturallyspeaking helps me achieve this with little difficulty. I am currently using version 10, and I have trained it completely using all the articles in the training series. I have found that you can over train your Dragon so be careful when training over and over again when it doesn't need it. Also run the optimization tools as frequently as you can because this will help a great deal. Avoid turning off the computer in an irregular fashion to prevent any corruption to your files. If you set your optimization settings to automatic, it will update itself when you aren't using it. You will find that a week of these optimization periods will have your Dragon performing at tip top levels. If anyone has a question about Dragon, I feel I've been using it long enough to shed a little light. Oh, one more thing. Always perform a backup of your files. If you start to use Dragon and it continues to act up, you will need to use the backed up files to restore it. Hope this helps, and by the way - I used Dragon to write this in 4.6 minutes. Stephen

08-31-2011, 02:26 PM	#15
timtanis Active Warrior Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: , , USA. Posts: 47 Thanks: 0 Thanked 10 Times in 8 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I too love it, mainly cause I type 8 words per minute...

09-01-2011, 03:28 AM	#16
cyberws HyperActive Warrior War Room Member Join Date: Jul 2008 Location: Lilburn, GA Posts: 460 Thanks: 370 Thanked 119 Times in 88 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I use Dragon all the time and I talk at my normal speed. Actually, it seems more error prone if I speak slowly. I guess this is because of context - if you say "there/they're/their", Dragon doesn't know which word to use unless it's in a sentence or phrase. It definitely uses a lot of resources, though, and I don't have a lot of programs open when I'm dictating. It's one of my favorite all time programs.

09-01-2011, 07:40 AM	#17
mathman Active Warrior Join Date: Aug 2011 Posts: 66 Thanks: 0 Thanked 6 Times in 6 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I have the software as well and I find that I also have to slow down. Not really what I wanted =/

09-01-2011, 07:54 AM	#18
sadiecopywriter Mercedes Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 228 Thanks: 219 Thanked 30 Times in 25 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I love my dragon. In fact I'm using it to type this right now (I really can't type.) But I spent a long time training my dragon. And it still is and it still isn't always right all the time. I add new words to it almost daily, and my first got it I read it every script it came with over a series of several days. Did you know there's even a way for it to read the stuff you've written as a script and then read it back to the Dragon? You have to spend time training it, you also have to learn to read the same way you talk, the same speed the same accents whatever. That's how you train your Dragon. (And you probably do need a better mic and more memory.) also, it doesn't really like background noise like music or TV. It confuses it.

09-01-2011, 10:19 AM	#19
cypherslock Always be learning War Room Member Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Kitchener, Ontario, Canada. Posts: 1,993 Blog Entries: 2 Thanks: 373 Thanked 449 Times in 333 Posts Social Networking Contact Info	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? Sadie, best microphone is this : Blue Microphones \| Yeti - The Ultimate Professional USB Microphone. Worth the money. I use it daily.

09-01-2011, 04:46 PM	#20
pokerpro Active Warrior Join Date: Aug 2011 Location: Canada Posts: 59 Thanks: 12 Thanked 15 Times in 12 Posts	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I see there are different versions.....are they alll slow?.....if not which version would be the best and were could i person go get this at a very reasonable price?

09-01-2011, 05:33 PM	#21
Shawn Darlin Marketing Maniac War Room Member Join Date: Aug 2010 Location: NYC Posts: 77 Thanks: 1 Thanked 13 Times in 12 Posts Contact Info	Re: Dragon Naturally Speaking ... slow? I use Dragon Naturally Speaking ALL the time! It didn't work so great back when I had a slower machine and a cheap mic. But yeah, I'd suggest you buy a good quality mic and add some RAM to your computer as well. Shawn. P.S This post was written with Dragon Naturally Speaking.