VO-BB - 20 YEARS OLD!

[LauraS]

Hi there

Does anyone using Vox Studio for phone prompt scripts know how to change an .xls file (column with prompt name and next column with prompt in it) to fit the txt format required for Vox Studio, without copying to txt and doing it one by one? I have an 8,000 prompt job and it's doing my head in.

Thanks in advance
Laura

[Bish]

Hi Laura,

I looked up the Vox Studio format and I've worked with Excel quite a lot, so ... fingers crossed. Just to make sure, I tested this procedure ... and it seems to work just fine. As you've got Excel, I'll assume you've got Word as well.

Vox Studio requires the following format (from their manual on-line):

Filename for prompt 1 (no extension) (CR/LF)
Short annotation or title for prompt 1 (CR/LF)
Text of prompt 1 on as many lines as needed (CR/LF)(CR/LF)
Filename for prompt 2 (no extension here) (CR/LF)
Short annotation or title for prompt 2 (CR/LF)
Text of prompt 2 on as many lines as needed (CR/LF)(CR/LF) etc.

The double (CR/LF) marks the end of one entry and the start of the next.

You've got a two column xls file - 1. prompt name - 2. text
First problem is that your .xls file is only giving the title and the text, so any conversion will leave you a field short. The first thing to do is to add a filename column in front of the prompt name column to give you three columns in total. If your filename needs to be the same as the prompt name, just copy over the text so both columns are the same.
So you end up with a three column xls file - 1. name 2. name 3. text

If you do a "save as" and select CSV (comma delimited) you should end up with a text file in the format:
name1, name1, text1, (CR/LF)
name2, name2, text2, (CR/LF)
etc.

Open the resulting .csv file in Word. You can then do a search and replace on the "," character and replace it with a CR/LF (enter as "^p" in the replace field), and end up with exactly the right format. Save the result as a straight text file (not a Word doc), and it should be just fine.

The only thing that may mess you up is a "," in the text field which will also be replaced. Just scan through the xls before you do this to see if it's going to be a problem (replace as required). The other caveat is that if the filename needs to be different from the given title. If you need just a sequential numbering scheme for the filename, then that's easily done with an n+1 routine on column 1.

Let me know if you need any more info.
Cheers
Peter
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Bish a.k.a. Bish
Smoke me a kipper... I'll be back for breakfast.
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[LauraS]

Wow, brilliant. Thanks so much for that, I'll try it now!
Laura

[Deirdre]

Wow this is a goldmine of info. I'm going to put your formula in a sticky in the LEARN section!
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[Lizden]

Hey all!
Sorry I was so late in responding to this....I was out

Here is a .pdf set of instructions that I have that might also be helpful...with pictures & everything

How to Create a VoxStudio script file from Excel
_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[Lizden]

As an FYI...this unwieldy way of setting up scripts in VoxStudio is why I now use Word2WAV to record/split/name my files and just use VoxStudio to convert them.

Word2WAV imports both WORD & .xls scripts easily/on its own without any of the finickiness of Vox Studio's system.

FWIW:
My process is:
Record in Word2WAV
Edit in SoundForge
Convert in VoxStudio.



_________________
Liz de Nesnera O.A.V. ~ Livin' The VO Dream!
English/French Bilingual VO w/ ISDN
HireLiz.com / liz@hireliz.com

[ConnieTerwilliger]

The find and replace feature works great for the two column Excel files that have to be converted to the Vox Studio format. And yes, as Liz says, Word2Wav can be used to reduce the initial text conversion part of the process.

One of my regular monthly clients sends Excel files with seven columns of data that need to be converted into two columns in order to feed either VS or W2W.

Basic Find and Replace couldn't help me there, so a friend used a Mac program called TextWrangler to create a little script that takes the seven fields and combines the last six fields into the prompt information and leaves the first field as the file name. There is probably a PC program that will do this as well. But the learning curve is pretty steep.

If my Mac ever poops out, I'll have to start from scratch again...or train them the send me the files already combined.
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[Deirdre]

That last idea sounds most reasonable.
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DBCooperVO.com
IMDB

[Hervé Chain]

Connie,

Unless I misunderstand your need, Word2WAV already has this feature built in. Look at "5.5 Content Formatted over Multiple Columns (Excel only)" in the manual.
If this is not what you need, let me know. I can probably add it.

Regards,

Hervé
Word2WAV

[Deirdre]

Hervé—

Thank you SO MUCH for your Word2Wav program— and for your time and attention!
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DBCooperVO.com
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[Diane Maggipinto]

and welcome aboard. enjoy your flight!
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sitting at #8, though not as present as I'd like to be. Hello!

www.d3voiceworks.com

[ConnieTerwilliger]

Herve!! You are the best! I am going to try that right now. I have 4 Excel spreadsheets with 7 columns sitting in front of me.
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Playing for a living...
www.voiceover-talent.com
YouTube Channel: http://youtube.com/connieterwilliger