Voice Control Tab

 
Voice commands are an optional feature of the Quadstick.  There is more than one way to implement voice commands:
 
  • Dragon Naturally Speaking in combination with Natlink and Vocola 2.
  • Voice Attack
  • Auto Hot Key
     
    A common element of the three methods is they all communicate with a part of the Quadstick Manager Program that listens for commands and relays them to the Quadstick via a Serial, Bluetooth or USB connection.  The Voice Command Transcript contains the record of the commands and the responses from the Quadstick.  When the user says one or more words, the voice program recognizes and converts the phrase into the specific text used by the Quadstick.  It sends text to the QMP which relays the command to the Quadstick.  The phrases and the resulting command text is configurable by the user.
     

    Vocola:

     
    The Quadstick Manager Program works with Dragon Naturally Speaking through a pair of programs called Vocola and Natlink.  Both are free programs.  There is a signed installer for the Vocola/Natlink package on the Quadstick.com website. 
 
The lowest cost Home version of Dragon Naturally Speaking 12 through 15 may be used.
 
The QMP receives voice commands that have been converted from short phrases to a Quadstick specific commands that are defined in text files with the extension VCL and VCH.  VCL stands for Voice Control Language.  A VCL file is associated with a specific program by matching the name of the file with the name of the program that receives the text.  The QuadStick.vcl file, which was installed as part of the Vocola package, contains the voice commands for the QMP.  Individual game voice files are contained in VCH files which are imported by the VCL file. 
 
The commands are sent through a serial connection, either via Bluetooth, a serial cable connected to the Input jack or when “Commands over USB” is enabled, to the Quadstick from a Windows PC. 
 
When using Vocola, the commands that are available are always shown in the center column of the Voice tab in the QMP.
 
Voice Control Tab
1

Voice Control tab

1. Voice Control tab
 
2

Voice Command Transcript

2. Voice Command Transcript
 
Displays a list of the commands that have been issued.
 
3

Active Voice Commands

3. Active Voice Commands
 
Currently available voice commands.  The contents of this pane will change when different vocola files are active.
 
4

Program message transcript

4. Program message transcript
A serial connection (Bluetooth SSP or cable), is normally required for voice commands and, if one is found, the message "Found a serial connection to QuadStick" will display here.  If the Quadstick is connected to the PC via USB and "Enable Voice Commands over USB" is on in the Misc tab, voice commands may be used without a serial connection.  If the voice commands are to be used with a game console, then a serial connection is required.
 
5

Controller output status

5. Controller output status
 
When the Quadstick is connected to the PC, this table will display the current values of the outputs.  This can be used for troubleshooting configuration files.  "Enable CronusMax" must be enabled on the Misc tab for values to show up here.
 
 
 

Natlink Window:

 
The "Messages from Natlink" window will display when Dragon Naturally Speaking starts.  It should be inspected for any error messages:
 
 
It can be closed after DNS has finished starting up.