Mickey Mouse TALKS!

[MickeysBestPal]

Uh, did you actually take time to look up and read the patent?

It doesn't work the way you think that it does.

[Mufasa]

It doesn't work the way you think that it does.

LOL... right... there's NO possible way I could know anything about how this works. Cepstral analysis? Fourier transforms?

[sarcasm filter] It is not like I've actually implemented a few projects using this approach or similar because of course that might make me somewhat qualified on the matter [/sarcasm filter off]

[BrerGnat]

My money is on you, Mufasa. Thank you for providing intimate, working knowledge of this technology. I knew it existed. it will be exciting when it's fully ready for prime time.

[Patricia]

Mufasa, I'll keep my money on you as well! That's the patent I was referring to.. It made complete sense to me.

[MickeysBestPal]

Mufasa, I'll keep my money on you as well! That's the patent I was referring to.. It made complete sense to me.

But, it's a patent from 1994.

Disney has not publicly used the technology in 18 years.
It just doesn't work well enough to get the voice "right."

What Disney is using on the "Conversation Mickey" is not this voice-changing technology.

[brivers222]

hoping its around in 36 days!!!

[Noah's Helper]

Sorry, Mufasa, I'm not buying it. That drawing in the patent doesn't look like Mickey Mouse at all.

[frakers]

I honestly couldn't care less about the technology behind it but I would love to have a talking, interactive Mickey Mouse, as well as the other characters. My youngest son is totally blind and, while touching Mickey's nose is fun and all, it does kind of become the same thing over and over. The characters are all great with him and show him incredible attention but it's a somewhat empty experience for him. He has asked before why Mickey doesn't talk.

I've often hoped that Disney would cater to kids with vision disabilities. No, Disney isn't purely visual and he loves the excitment and sounds, but he does miss out on a lot that plays such a huge role in the Disney experience.

[brivers222]

Also, this could really speed up the lines... I felt bad last october because Mickey and Minnie were trying to get us to pose with them... and not only was it awkward trying to decipher what his gestures were trying to get us to do, it was time consuming. however, we have a "family photo" of the four of us that is amazing!!!

[disneydementia]

If only Mickey could say, "Hey kid, you have to wait your turn just like everyone else!" Now that would be a good trick! HaHaHa!!!!!

[Buttercup]

Considering Mufasa is an Imagineer, I'm guessing he knows what technology that parks can and have used to do exactly this. My money's on him.

I'm by no means an expert. But I am married to a voiceover actor, and I imagine this is quite possible:

For instance, it could not make Pee Wee Herman's voice turn into James Earl Jones' voice.
Nor could it make James Earl Jones' voice turn into Pee Wee Herman's voice.

If PeeWee Herman could make his intonations and inflections the same, and pause in the same manner as James Earl Jones (with the only difference being the timber and baritone of JEJ's voice), a computer could easily take PeeWee and transform it into JEJ's voice.
For instance, I can pause and inflect my voice in the odd manor that William Shatner speaks (think: I'm doing an impression of him) but my voice will never be as deep as his. So, if I did my very best Captain Kirk, the computer could lower my voice to match his, and therefore I would come out sounding like him.

That's my guess anyway.
But regardless, I think this is great! My only concern is that my kids will say "How come Mickey can talk, but not Goofy?!?" We're always telling them that the characters are silent because they're saving their voices for a big singing show they're doing later in the day!

[Noah's Helper]

If only Mickey could say, "Hey kid, you have to wait your turn just like everyone else!" Now that would be a good trick! HaHaHa!!!!!

I've seen Mickey say this pretty clearly using sign language.

[MickeysBestPal]

As we found out from YouTube video, they did not use the voice-changing technology for the recent Mickey Mouse appearance at WDW.

The technology seen in the old 1994 patent does not work for the purposes of "creating" a realistic high quality voice of a well-known character like Mickey.