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Talk To Me! Part II
Speak Freely
By Kurt Giesselman
Why include a program that requires a second sound card to cooperate with games, and doesn't offer PTT? Simple, Speak Freely started it all. I remember the huge discussions on newsgroups during the heyday of Longbow 2 about how to get Speak Freely to cooperate with LB2. This was the birth of online cooperative simulation communications. The first time anyone experienced actually talking to a live wingman (wingperson?) instead of typing to him or her, we knew we would never go back. This program even has the source code in the public domain. It has versions that are compatible with OS2 and Unix. I have used it to call overseas. I will state for the record that the voice clarity is as good or better than any commercial program on the market. It is worth downloading just to use to call your sister in Nebraska.
Fig. 1. Speak Freely Logo
The flexibility of this software is over the top. It requires, like many of the newest combat simulations, a complete read of the included documentation to get the maximum performance from this software. It would not operate for me until I read through the setup procedures and tweaked two things to match my specific setup. A bit more tweaking improved the voice quality and 'voila' crystal clear Internet voice communications. I was not able to get a second audio card to function in my new computer so I could not test whether Speak Freely is still a viable option for online gaming communications. I can't imagine it is the best choice with so many other options today.
Fig. 2. Options Panel
