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I installed Espeak on my Raspberry Pi according to the instructions from here. When I try to run the line:

espeak "HELLO WORLD"

(in the command line)

I get the following message:

ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.front.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM front
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.rear
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.center_lfe
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.side
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround51.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround21
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround51.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround21
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround40.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround40
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround51.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround41
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround51.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround50
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround51.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround51
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.surround71.0:CARD=0'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM surround71
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.iec958.0:CARD=0,AES0=4,AES1=130,AES2=0,AES3=2'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM iec958
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.iec958.0:CARD=0,AES0=4,AES1=130,AES2=0,AES3=2'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM spdif
ALSA lib confmisc.c:1286:(snd_func_refer) Unable to find definition 'cards.bcm2835.pcm.iec958.0:CARD=0,AES0=4,AES1=130,AES2=0,AES3=2'
ALSA lib conf.c:4259:(_snd_config_evaluate) function snd_func_refer returned error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib conf.c:4738:(snd_config_expand) Evaluate error: No such file or directory
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM spdif
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.hdmi
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.modem
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.modem
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.phoneline
ALSA lib pcm.c:2239:(snd_pcm_open_noupdate) Unknown PCM cards.pcm.phoneline
ALSA lib pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect: Connection refused

ALSA lib pulse.c:243:(pulse_connect) PulseAudio: Unable to connect: Connection refused

Cannot connect to server socket err = No such file or directory
Cannot connect to server request channel
jack server is not running or cannot be started

I learned from some research on web that if I write:

espeak "HELLO WORLD" 2>/dev/null

It does not show the error.

In both cases (whether the error is shown or not), Espeak tells the string ("Hello world") after a long time, that means that it takes Espeak about 10 seconds to start talking, I've used other tts engines which worked much faster (talked just after sending the command).

Can someone advise me how get Espeak start talking immediately after sending a command to it, for me it looks like the error message I get delays the talking.

Thank you, Dan.

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2
  • 2
    All that 2>/dev/null does is to throw the error messages that the ALSA library is throwing out - because something is going wrong - into the well known bit bucket that every (?) *nix system provides. It is equivalent to holding your hands over your eyes whenever the messages come up on screen in regards to solving the underlying problem! }8-) At a guess I'd say your ALSA (Advanced Linux Sound Architecture) sub-system is not configured correctly on the RPi...
    – SlySven
    Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 19:15
  • Oh, and Welcome to the Raspberry Pi flavoured corner of the Stack Exchange Network!
    – SlySven
    Commented Aug 7, 2016 at 19:16

1 Answer 1

Reset to default
1

I fixed this by executing pulseaudio -D in the terminal. The error messages stopped and espeak behaved.

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1
  • yes this worked!
    – AK_
    Commented Dec 14, 2022 at 18:48

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