[OBSOLETE] BigTalker 2.x

Open live logging in a new tab, then try to add an event group and see if you see an error being thrown in the logs at the same time.

Open live logging in a new tab, then try to open the Talk Now screen and see if you see an error being thrown in the logs at the same time.

If you are running in musicPlayer mode (Sonos, etc) you can use the phrase token %mp3(http://pathtosomesite.com/someurl/somefile.mp3)% to play a beep mp3. Just find one you can use online and plug that URL in. You cannot use any other text in the phrase when playing an mp3.

This is what I got when I tried to open Talk Now:

It appears the driver (device handler) for Echo Speaks doesnā€™t have playTrackAndRestore() implemented. Thatā€™s the issue. If that is implemented, this issue will go away.

Echo speaks needs big talker2 to be configured for speech synthesis devices rather than music player.

@rayzurbock is there any way to change the speech device mode after install?

Unfortunately, no, not at this time. Someday, Iā€™ll merge the two modes into one but thatā€™s going to be quite a bit of work/time.
The author of Echo Speaks has written many of the musicPlayer functions into the driver and also included the speechSynthesis function speak(). If they will add playTextAndRestore() you will not have to switch modes.

so how do I fix this?

The easiest way is to ask the author of Echo Speaks to implement the playTrackAndRestore() function and then update your Echo Speaks driver once they do.
The harder but likely quicker way is to uninstall BigTalker and then reinstall but ensure you move the switch to select speechSynthesis mode during install.

Ok. Thanks for the information.

Big Speaker is not working at all for me. I have tried installing multiple times. I cant anything to play my Alexa devices. I installed with Music and Voice synthesizer different times. Also, everytime I try the option to test a phrase nothing plays. Anyone else have these issues?

Whoops! Turns out I had found my way to a 3rd party installation page that failed to include the child SmartApp version of Bigtalker. Once i installed that it works perfectly!

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I have this installed for the first time to use it with Sonos speakers. Itā€™s great. One question: It does interrupt my Sonos playlist to play the alert, and it does restart the music. But it either plays the next song or in one case restarted the playlist. It was not a true ā€œpause and resumeā€. Is this a known issue, or can it be implemented, or did I miss a setting? Thanks!

Resumes actual function is handled in the device driver/handler used for your Sonos device. BigTalker asks for the driver/handler to playTextAndResume or playTrackAndResume and the device driver/handler does the rest in coordinating operation at the device level (is something playing. What is playing, etc). SmartThings would need to look into addressing that in their device driver/handler code. Sonos and these resume functions have been around for a while though so I wouldnā€™t expect a change anytime soon. Itā€™s how it operates at this time

Thanks for that explanation.

Hi, I set this up to announce when my driveway gate opens and closes via a Mimolite and magnetic contact sensor. Announcements work well and love the application.

BigTalker announces via multiple Sonos speakers in the house. I canā€™t seem to figure out why the volume is not the same across all speakers when announcing, it seems that one speaker is always louder than the rest and it changes which speaker is loudest. I tried playing around with the volume settings in the configuration but canā€™t find a solution that works across all speakers in a consistent manner. One speaker seems to get volume jacked up and then when music is started, that same speaker is always really loud.

Thanks and let me know if you have any ideas.

Can this work with AskAlexa and use Echo as the speaker? Has anyone managed to set that up? Iā€™m struggling with the set up.

If you set it up using the speech synthesizer you can use echo as a speaker with the Echo Speaks smart app:
https://community.smartthings.com/t/release-echo-speaks/142252

So no need to do AWS account setup like AskAlexa or Echo speaks also requires that?