FlightSim.Com Review: Voice Buddy 2

At the International Flightsim Convention (IFC), we previewed the new Voice Buddy 2 (VB2) upgrade in our seminar on voice control for flightsimming. The conventioneers in Blackpool were the first to see and fly with the new VB2. Now, that I've had time to fly with it I can sum the new upgrade up in a single word: WOW! Coincidentally, that was the same reception VB2 received from the several thousand flightsimmers who experienced it at the IFC.

If you read my exclusive review of Voice Buddy 1.0, you know how impressed I was with the world's first voice control for flightsimming that actually worked. Well, the wizards at eDimensional were not satisfied with creating just one hit. They went back to the drawing board and made it a whole lot better. Best of all, they've introduced an exciting new surprise feature that all flightsimmers have been demanding and we were completely unaware of when we previewed it at the IFC.

Voice Buddy 2 is a FREE Upgrade for Current Users

What's more, the VB2 Upgrade will automatically convert all customizations you may have made to VB 1.0 and install them in the new version. It even hunts down the previous installation folder if you put it somewhere other than the default location. How's that for convenient! I had personally lobbied for these features, "Give our fellow flightsimmers a break," I explained, "Make the installation and migration mouse-click simple." And, to their credit, the folks at eDimensional did just that.

For those of you who missed the first revelation, or did not attend Mike DeCastro's standing-room-only packed voice control seminars at the IFC -- this review will walk you through all the cool features that VB2 now offers. There are ten major improvements and new features added to Voice Buddy version 2 making it an absolute must-have upgrade. If you're a current Voice Buddy 1.0 user and in a big hurry to see what's hot in the upgrade, scroll down to the bottom half of this article.

For those of you who have never heard of Voice Buddy and missed my first review of version 1.0, read on.

My New Best Friend on the Flight Deck Gets a Complete Makeover, Times Seven: Voice Buddy 2.

When I first reviewed Voice Buddy, I was impressed with a voice control add-on that works flawlessly with both FS2004 and FS2002 to give you true, interactive voice control over the hundreds of keyboard commands we use for flightsimming. I've been flying with it ever since I first saw it. Unlike many other products, Voice Buddy is not shelfware. It's "must-have ware". I only wish I could use it with all my games and business applications, too. Frankly, I miss Microsoft Mary's voice in other games. She's become my simming sidekick.

Just What is Voice Buddy?

Voice Buddy adds voice control and voice synthesis to your PC for flightsimming and also many other games. With the release of version 2, Voice Buddy now comes in two parts: the core engine which provides voice recognition and synthesis and the game edition which provide the specific commands and other features for each game. Together, these two components give you complete voice control over all the keyboard commands in your flightsim or other game applications. eDimensional is kicking off the Voice Buddy system with seven flightsim editions. They will expand it to include over 70 other hit game titles later this year in time for the 2004 holiday season. So, whether you're into flightsimming, racing, first-person shooters, role-playing games, strategy or sports -- you can easily get the competitive edge in the game by simply adding a Voice Buddy game edition for your favorite titles.

Its simplicity belies the powerful software and hardware technology at work with Voice Buddy. You simply speak voice commands. Voice Buddy gives you a verbal response that acknowledges the command and Flight Simulator performs the action. I came to think of Voice Buddy as my co-pilot sitting in the right-hand seat. Voice Buddy gives you a choice of many different male and female computer voices. My personal favorite was "Mary". These are not just recorded messages that are played back but the computer is actually talking to you and responding to your orders.

Getting the Voice Control Advantage

After flying with voice control since last December, and testing Voice Buddy editions for the combat flight sims and other games, I'm feeling pretty cocky with my voice control advantage. Voice Buddy lets you concentrate on controlling the sim or other games by keeping your hands on the flight or game controller and forgetting about the keyboard. In busy airspace, this is a big advantage when you need to concentrate on ATC and controlling the airplane and don't want to be distracted by the keyboard. In a fast paced action setting such as combat flightsimming, voice control can make the difference between winning and losing. Voice Buddy reacts instantly to your commands with no lag at all. You can issue commands simultaneously while listening to voice responses. You can issue strings of commands that execute sequentially at computer speed, not fumbling-with-the-keyboard human speed. And, you can instantly cancel commands at any time (new in Voice Buddy 2). What's more, there's an exciting new feature that actually coaches you through tight spots.

What this all means is that I instantly was more confident about controlling FS2004 and every other game I tried it with. I found it a lot easier to remember voice commands than to fiddle with the keyboard. And, eDimensional uses command language that is common across similar games. "Flaps up" is the same in all of the Flightsim Seven games, even though each one uses a different keyboard command. Now, complex simming and gaming is a whole lot more fun for this veteran flightsimmer.

How to Use Voice Buddy

Voice Buddy is the world's first truly interactive voice recognition flight simulation companion. Voice Buddy offers much more than speech recognition. Through extensive programming and proprietary speech technology, Voice Buddy is trained to recognize proper commands and execute them with precision, all while providing you with confirmation that the command has been executed. With Voice Buddy, you no longer need to type keyboard commands since every single keyboard command in every game edition can be controlled by a voice command.

Using Voice Buddy is simple. Just speak the voice commands. See the game edition Help for a complete listing of voice commands for each game.

How to Start Voice Buddy and Your Game

To get started, first start your game application. Then start the Voice Buddy edition for that game. You will need a Voice Buddy edition for each game where you want to issue voice commands. When you start the Voice Buddy Launcher, you can choose any game edition that you have installed on your system. If this is the first time you are using an edition after installing it, you may be asked to enter that edition's registration key. Registration keys are case sensitive.

How To Issue Voice Commands

Voice Buddy provides all the voice commands you will need for every single keyboard command in Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004: A Century of Flight. It also installs a full set of Voice Buddy enhanced interactive checklists for all FS2004 stock aircraft. It does the same for FS2002, all in one package.

FS2004 has a kneeboard browser that supports HTML files. Voice Buddy installs new, customized interactive kneeboard files for checklists on each stock aircraft and the kneeboard key commands reference. The original files are backed up and will be reinstated if you ever uninstall Voice Buddy.

Your new Voice Buddy enhanced aircraft checklists and the kneeboard keys reference page will now appear in the kneeboard browser. Your previous files have been safely backed up during installation. They can be found in your FS2004 aircraft folder in a new folder called VBBACKUP.

To use Voice Buddy with FS2004, start Flight Simulator 2004 first and then launch Voice Buddy. Voice Buddy will automatically detect the start of Flight Simulator and activate the correct game edition.

Start your flight as you normally would. Once started, you may control the action with voice commands. You will start in Pause mode. Say “Resume flight” to activate the flight.

You may access the FS2004 options menu by saying, "Display menu." You must use the mouse and keyboard to navigate and use the options menu items.

Voice Buddy only issues commands while in flight mode. It does not issue commands while you are using the Learning Center, Settings, or other FS2004 features. When you fly Learning Center flights, Voice Buddy can be used to control the aircraft just as it would in any other flight situation.

Checklists for Every Stock Aircraft in FS2004 and FS2002

Frankly, flightsimmers, I was quite impressed with all the work that went into creating the SOP (standard operating procedures) checklists that come with Voice Buddy 1.0. I am simply blown away by the huge expansion pack of new checklists for my favorite payware and freeware airplanes in Voice Buddy 2.

The developers created new checklists for full flight operations from pre-start through shutdown for every stock aircraft in both FS2004 and FS2002 plus dozens of additional payware airplanes from Flight 1, DreamFleet, FSD International, Captain Sim, Eaglesoft plus a long list of outstanding freeware favorites. This is an amazing bit of work. The checklists include the accurate challenge-response dialog between pilot and co-pilot plus both voice and keyboard commands. These checklists have been significantly expanded from what Microsoft put into Flight Simulator and they are accurate to the limitations of the sim. After all, no one has yet to activate every single cockpit control.

The stock checklists that are installed with FS2004 are replaced with enhanced Voice Buddy checklists that show you expanded standard operating procedures (SOP) for each aircraft plus voice and keyboard commands for each SOP action. These enhanced checklists will appear in the FS2004 kneeboard browser.

For FS2002, the enhanced checklists have been installed in each stock aircraft's folder. FS2002 does not support interactive HTML checklists so the default checklists in FS2002 have not been replaced. For the FS2002 installation, Voice Buddy places an enhanced HTML format checklist in each stock aircraft folder. You may view these using an application that accepts HTML format files such as Microsoft Internet Explorer, Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Front Page, etc.

When used with Microsoft Flight Simulator 2004, Voice Buddy's checklists replace the existing kneeboard checklists. Instead of inaccurate, inconsistent, downright boring checklists that come with FS2004, after installing Voice Buddy I saw vibrant, full-color, easy-to-read interactive standard operating procedure tables that gave me the ability to play back the Challenge-Response SOP anytime, section-by-section.

I use the checklists two ways. First, I trigger the Challenge-Response callouts by using the voice commands. If I said, "Lear 45 pre-start," I would hear callouts of the pre-start checklist for the Learjet 45. If I'm making my approach in the DC-3 and need prompts as to proper SOP, I just say, "DC-3 approach check." Voice Buddy then goes through the callouts for the approach checklist. There is a 2 second delay between the Challenge and the Response. That was just enough time for me to manually flip switches when I chose to interactively follow along with the checklist. Or, I can now issue voice command simultaneously when I hear the checklist challenge read by Voice Buddy. This is a new feature in VB2.

The pre-start is very handy to shut down your aircraft since Flight Simulator insists on auto-starting everything. I prefer to cold start the aircraft at the gate, push back, then taxi to the assigned runway. Sure, sometimes I like to just kick it and go. But, now that I'm hooked on voice control, starting from scratch isn't the pain in the neck that it used to be. If I forget the SOP, I just ask Voice Buddy.

eDimensional consulted with pilots from around the world who fly both the commercial heavies, turboprops, general aviation aircraft plus military aviators to get the best blend of real world accuracy that is conveniently modified to what you can actually do in Flight Simulator. The developers even remembered to open the cabin door or canopy when you get in, secure it before engine start, and then open and lock it when you exit after shutdown. Each aircraft's checklist is specific to what that airplane's actual SOP is in the real world. It's those little details that add to the realism.

Even with 300-plus commands, Flight Simulator does not have a keyboard function for every switch on the instrument panels. Since Voice Buddy controls the keyboard, and not the mouse, there are some switches that you'll just have to throw yourself. The checklists clearly identify which functions still require manual control. There aren't many, and you can fly the aircraft completely by voice control if you want to. I disconnected all my flight controllers and performed a flight under total voice control. Crashed a few times until I got the hang of it. Takeoffs are a little tricky. So, I would slew to altitude and then fly the rest using just my voice. Not as satisfying as laying hands on yoke and throttle, feet on the rudders, but impressive, nevertheless.

I walked Voice Buddy through the United Triple-7 cockpit video and was satisfied to see that the Voice Buddy SOP for the Triple-7 paid respect to actual real world SOP. Certainly close enough to have fun with Flight Simulator and not feel as though you were flying an arcade game.

Each SOP breaks the flight operations into fourteen separate checklists which include:

Cabin Announcements and Callouts.

In addition to the voice commands that replace keyboard commands, Voice Buddy also includes prompts for various cabin announcements and other SOP that don't necessarily involve Flight Simulator command actions. These add tremendous realism and situational awareness to your flight simming. For example, if you blow the approach at Vancouver International and have to go around, you can call for, "Go around power." Voice Buddy will then tell you to, "Set throttles to maintain two hundred feet per minute climb rate."

Your next SOP would be to, "Advise air traffic control we are going around." Voice Buddy will respond accordingly.

You may also make a wide variety of cabin calls which ad realism to your commercial jet flight such as “welcome aboard” or “ready for pushback”, “glideslope alive,” “ahead of schedule” and many more. Voice Buddy 2 comes with a long list of other announcements from the flight deck. It does not simulate any announcements that the cabin crew would make, which makes perfect sense. After all, "This is your Captain speaking..."

As I go through Voice Buddy's enhanced SOP checklists and issue the challenges, I hear "Mary" talking back to me with the correct responses and then I see the switches toggle, levers move, flight control surfaces trim out and display panels come and go as if by magic. Wait, it's Mary in the right-hand seat, not magic. Flightsimming with voice control let me concentrate on flying the plane and not fiddling with mouse and keyboard. What a welcome relief it was to just forget about all those annoying keyboard commands. I just said it, and Voice Buddy did it. Now, this was really exciting.

Ready-to-fly.

As with Voice Buddy 1.0, version 2 arrives ready to fly. Simply install it and go. You don't even need to retrain it or set up the microphone again. Although, as a best practice, I always do that whenever I install a Voice Buddy edition or change headsets.

Everything you need is already programmed into it. Voice Buddy replicates all the FS2004/FS2002 commands plus adds some exciting and useful new features to your FS2004 interactive kneeboard.

Same Easy-to-use Interface

Current VB users will notice only slight differences between VB 1.0 and 2. This is an extraordinary achievement by the eDimensional design team since they rebuilt Voice Buddy from the first line of code to the very last. Every line of code is brand spanking new. Yet, the user interface is as easy to use as the first version. It has been simplified by removing the SpeechX engine. Everything is now incorporated into a single comprehensive GUI.

Here's What's New in Version 2

Well, I'm happy to report that eDimensional has done it again. There are ten major new improvements plus additional features in Voice Buddy 2. In fact, it's a whole new program from the first line of code to the very last one. I have to give credit to the eDimensional management team. Most other companies would have charged for this upgrade. eDimensional is making it absolutely free for all Voice Buddy 1.0 users. This, along with many of the improvements and additional features, stands as a testament to a company that actually listens to the flightsim community. Every single improvement was the result of flightsimmer feedback. We spoke, eDimensional listened, and the result is a really useful and very cool product.

Here's a rundown on what's new in VB2 for those of you who read my first review and can't wait to see what's in store for you with this new free upgrade. Based on my experiences with it so far, I can only advise you to run, don't walk, over to eDimensional and download the upgrade right now.

New! Voice Buddy 2 is Now Fully Compatible With Most VOIP Clients

Also known as Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP), clients such as Roger Wilco and Advanced Voice Client (used by VATSIM for online flightsimming with live ATC) enable you to talk to other people while playing multiplayer games over the Internet. If you flightsim in multiplayer with VATSIM , your virtual airline, aerobatic or combat squadrons; you probably use one of the VOIP applications to talk to other pilots. Roger Wilco is the post popular VOIP application. Now, Voice Buddy 2 is fully compatible with Roger Wilco and most other VOIP clients such as Advanced Voice Client, Microsoft Game Voice and Team Speak. You can use Voice Buddy and the VOIP client either simultaneously with both applications running under voice control; or by controlling either one, or both, using Push-To-Talk and Push-To-Mute buttons. You can also control Voice Buddy with just voice commands while the VOIP client is in voice activated mode. Simply tell Voice Buddy to "Go to sleep." when you want it to stop listening while you speak over your VOIP client. Tell Voice Buddy, "Voice Buddy wake up." When you want to control your game by voice control.

VOIP Compatibility is a Major Technological Achievement

Others have tried to do this, and failed to do it well, or at all. Applications such as Voice Pilot, Game Commander, Shoot, and Speech Buddy (absolutely no relation to Voice Buddy, only a naming coincidence) have all claimed to work with VOIP clients. I've tried them all. I can tell you that they either do not work as promised, or work very poorly due to the complex way these other programs attempt to interface with the VOIP client. Some use FSUIPC as an intermediary and that complicates the technology even more. What impressed me the most about eDimensional's solution to this complex technical challenge is that it works flawlessly, is very simple to use, and can run under complete voice control without requiring you to push any buttons.

Getting Two Warring Factions to Talk to Each Other

Enabling users to talk to their computers while simultaneously talking to other people using VOIP was a significant challenge. It required the software engineers to make peace between to factions who are at war over possession of the microphone. Roger Wilco, Advanced Voice Client, Team Speak and any other VOIP application usually collides with voice recognition applications. Both programs want the microphone. While the VOIP applications usually have the ability to set a key to toggle Push-To-Talk (PTT) and Push-To-Mute (PTM), these programs do not relinquish control of the microphone that is necessary for voice recognition to use even when the VOIP client is in PTT-PTM mode. . VOIP software does not comply with Microsoft speech API specifications that are used by voice recognition applications such as Voice Buddy, Via Voice or Dragon. What's more, voice recognition applications are always listening to your every word. If you speak phrases to your mates on the Internet using VOIP that the voice recognition program recognizes, it will take action. It will most likely be the wrong actions since the voice recognition application is trying to make sense of the VOIP conversation expecting your words to be voice commands. The results are not acceptable in this case.

The technologies for voice recognition and VOIP are evolving along different paths, for the moment. The eDimensional team met the challenge head-on and solved it. They made peace between two factions battling for one microphone. Without getting into the realm of trade secrets, I can report to you that they succeeded and you can now use Voice Buddy and a VOIP application at the same time.

Do Not Use a USB Headset!

If you have a USB headset, you won't want to use it with Voice Buddy 2. And, since USB headsets cost about 3-4 times more than analog headsets, this is very welcome news. I discovered that using a USB headset conflicts with VB2-VOIP technology due to the way USB headsets control the microphone. Using a USB headset will prevent Voice Buddy from working with VOIP clients such as Roger Wilco.

Use only analog headsets for full VB2-VOIP compatibility. Analog headsets certified by eDimensional for best results with Voice Buddy include the new eDimensional Audio FX (see details below) and Plantronics Audio 90. In order to enjoy the VB2-VOIP simultaneous communication feature, you will need an analog headset with a good quality microphone that is certified for voice recognition applications. For this review, I used both the Plantronics Audio 90 that came with Voice Buddy 1 and the new Audio FX that comes with Voice Buddy 2. Both worked perfectly. You don't want to use a USB headset because the USB interface is incompatible with simultaneously using Voice Buddy and Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP) clients such as Roger Wilco. We tested this fact using a top quality USB headset manufactured by Andrea, one of the very best producers of first class voice recognition headsets. There is nothing inherently bad about USB headsets. They just don't work with simultaneous voice recognition and VOIP.

A good quality headset is critically important for accurate voice recognition and USB headsets usually give you much better signal-to-noise ratios than analog (see our test results below). Cheap headsets are very noisy, have poor quality microphones with poor quality noise cancellation properties. A bad microphone will cause Voice Buddy to misinterpret your commands. With a good microphone and proper voice training and setup, I discovered Voice Buddy recognition is extremely high at well over 98% accuracy.

Here's How VB2 and Your VOIP Client Work Together

VB2 listens for and recognizes only your voice. This means that if the VATSIM controller gives you an ATC vector, you still must respond to it and control your aircraft yourself. After all, you are the pilot in command and have to fly the airplane. The same goes for combat action. As the pilot in command, you need to fly the airplane. You can now do it using voice control while chatting with your wingman to better coordinate your attack. What's more, you can simultaneously chat and voice control your airplane, under full voice activated control for the VOIP application as well as Voice Buddy. No buttons to push. Bottom line here is that you gain a significant gamer's edge when you use VB2 while flying online in multiplayer sessions. I found it very handy to manage the airplane during busy ATC sessions around major airports. I could focus on my flying and listening to ATC and instantly respond by controlling the airplane with my voice. As fast as I could think and say the action, it was done. No more delays while fumbling with the keyboard, or trying to remember which button was programmed to what function on my CH Products flight controllers. What a relief! Now, instead of avoiding busy airports, I said, "Bring it on!" Instead of a chore, VB2 and VOIP made flightsimming more fun than ever before.

I also tried it in combat flightsimming using CFS2, CFS3, WarBirds and IL-2 Sturmovik. While I normally leave blowing stuff up to the virtual fighter jocks like my colleague, Mad Max Merlin -- I still enjoyed a dogfight or two much better using VB2 and VOIP than I did before I became hooked on voice control for flightsimming. I enjoyed significantly faster responses from my fighter because I was able to rapidly issue voice commands to my airplane at the same time as I worked with my wingman. Let's just say that I finally managed to get my Corsair to turn on a Zero and smoke his sorry six using Mad Max's trim-n-turn technique plus VB2 voice control. I don't want to steal Mad Max's thunder here since he's working on an article that shows you how to get that combat flightsimmer's edge while engaging in online aerial combat for his upcoming articles on voice control for combat flightsimming.

Push To Mute & Push To Talk

Think of this feature as the button on a radio microphone that activates it when you wish to talk and mutes it when you release the microphone button. This feature is very important when using Voice Buddy while also running an Internet chat client.

You can assign keys to act as switches to manually activate or mute the microphone. By default, Voice Buddy assigns the Number Pad / (forward slash) key for Push To Mute (PTM) and the Number Pad * (asterisk) key for Push To Talk (PTT). The default PTT and PTM key in Roger Wilco is F12. In order to achieve maximum compatibility with all games and VOIP clients, Voice Buddy gives you several options when assigning PTM and PTT keys. Using the pull-down menus for each field you can assign either a single key or a combination of keys that include:

Assign a single key to all PTM-PTT options. For example, you can assign the F12 key, or any other key on the pull-down menu, to PTM-PTT for both Voice Buddy and your VOIP client, such as Roger Wilco.

Assign different PTT-PTM keys for Voice Buddy and your VOIP client. In this case, you might assign the F10 key for Voice Buddy PTM, the F11 key for Voice Buddy PTT and the F12 key for Roger Wilco PTT.

Assign combinations of two keys for Voice Buddy PTT-PTM. This feature enable you to easily resolve any keyboard control conflicts that may arise with your games.

PTM and PTT can be used interchangeably with voice activated control. This feature does not override the Sleep mode. Once you tell Voice Buddy to "Go to sleep." it remains sleeping until you say, "Voice Buddy wake up." PTT and PTM will switch the microphone on or off, as desired, only when the microphone is either ON or OFF. People on the VOIP channel do not hear Voice Buddy's conversation with you but they will hear your conversation with Voice Buddy unless you mute the VOIP channel.

Recommended PTM-PTT Settings for Using Voice Buddy with Roger Wilco

I found that the easiest way to start using Voice Buddy 2 and Roger Wilco is to simply accept the default settings for both applications as shown in the image on the right.

It's Easy As 1-2-3

When using Voice Buddy with Roger Wilco, I recommend that you use the following default settings that are shown in the photo on the right:

New! Audio FX, the World's First Force Feedback Headset

Voice Buddy 2 has also introduced the world's first force feedback headset: The Audio FX from eDimensional which our ad guy affectionately called the 'headbanger.' The Audio FX has a force feedback system that synchronizes the vibration effects with the sound and brings new excitement to flightsimming, music, movies, gaming and any other audio experience.

Introducing the "Headbanger" Headset

The Audio FX allows you to turn on an amazing force feedback system that synchronizes the vibration effects with the sound. It's awesome when you crank up the rock-and-roll. OK, I'll admit to being a Baby Boomer rocker. When I cranked up George Thoroughgood's "Bad To The Bone" with this headset it gave a whole new meaning to the term "head rush." According to Our Man in Blackpool, it also thrilled IFC conventioneers when they cranked up the sounds for their favorite aircraft. Mike said, "I could tell by the beatific and wide-eyed looks on their faces that the headbanger effect was a big hit."

The eDimensional Audio FX headset has built-in noise cancellation that blocks unwanted ambient noise and prevents it from interfering with your voice commands. It has a high-quality, voice recognition certified microphone and a fully adjustable microphone boom. The boom, by the way, is a perfect place to put the TrackIR3 Pro tracking dot. Much better than on your forehead or cap.

Audio FX creates a unique force feedback envelope that is synchronized to the sound action of your game, music, DVD, or whatever sound comes though the headphones. It also has flashing lights on the headphones that scale to the sound intensity and vibration effects.

The overall feel of the Audio FX is surprisingly comfortable considering that it is larger than the Plantronics Audio 90. The Audio FX looks and feels more like an actual pilot headset. The ergonomic design, combined with the large padded headband and excellent balance make it very comfortable to wear for long flights. The soundproof padding on the headphones effectively blocks out all ambient noise. This immerses you into an audio envelope that is impressive to say the very least. It's hard to describe in so many words. You just have to try it and see for yourself. According to reports from conventioneers who used Audio FX at the International Flightsim Convention, the effect was "Amazing. Cool. Way cool! WOW!"

Combines the Best of Analog and USB Technologies

If you've ever priced USB headsets, you know how absurdly expensive they are, often costing over US$100. While costing much more, USB headsets sound the same to me as lower cost analog headsets. So, I don't get it. On the other hand, USB enables designers to supply power to USB connected devices. The Audio FX does not use batteries to power the force feedback system. The headset gets it power from your computer's USB port. So, it blends the economy and excellent sound/voice signal qualities of analog connections with the convenience of USB electrical power and still comes in at a very low price point. I think this is excellent engineering for price performance.

As shown in the photo, the Audio FX has three jacks:

The speaker jack is marked with an orange label and the letters SPK.
The microphone jack is marked with a pink label and the letters MIC.
The rectangular black jack is the USB connector which supplies the power for force feedback.

The Audio FX also has three controls on an inline switch console. From left to right:

Vibration control that enables you to adjust the energy of the sound produced that synchronizes with the vibration action and the flashing lights on each headphone. This thumbwheel controls the intensity of those combined effects. When using Voice Buddy, I recommend that you set the vibrations effects to a medium or low level.
Vibration On/Off switch which enables you to instantly turn the vibration effects on or off.
Volume control which adjusts the sound volume. Sound volume will also influence the synchronization of the vibration effects. The louder the sound, the greater the vibration effects. You can combine volume and vibration to achieve just the right balance of audio force feedback.

Audio FX Makes Voice Buddy a Unique Value.

Voice Buddy comes in two versions: software and Audio FX headset or software only. According to eDimensional executive, Michael Epstein, "You must make sure to use a top quality headset that is certified for voice control. Right now, we only certify two headsets: our new Audio FX and the original Plantronics Audio 90 that we shipped with Voice Buddy 1.0."

"Good voice control requires a very good microphone," Epstein explained. "We improved upon our original concept by creating the world's first force feedback headset. So now, you not only get excellent voice recognition qualities and stereo sound, but you also get an exciting new force feedback effect that gives new meaning to the term 'head rush'."

Once again, Epstein was right! The Audio FX vibration effects are quite amazing. At first, I cranked them to the max to get the feel of it all. I soon found that to be a bit too intense and dialed them down a bit to better suit the sound environment I wanted to create. Sound is very important on the flight deck. It tells you when all is good and also alerts you to impending doom.

The Audio FX alone is an excellent value. But, when you consider that it's included with Voice Buddy for the US$79.95 (approximately ₤43.45, €65.12, CAD 106.12, AUD 111.84) price, it's a real bargain.

Excellent Noise Cancellation

For good voice recognition, you need a top quality mic that is not too hot (sensitive) plus has good noise cancellation. The combination must yield a high signal-to-noise ratio. The greater the difference between the noise level, which should be low, and the signal, which should be high -- the better.

Signal-to-noise is the difference between the background noise generated by your PC, the audio card, hard drives, fan motors and the headset speakers and microphone -- and the signal which is your spoken voice. In order for the computer to accurately hear and recognize your voice, it must be able to discern your signal from all the other noise.

The noise canceling microphone feature blocks out some of the environmental noises and prevents ambient sound from interfering with your voice commands. Voice Buddy is always listening to what comes across the microphone and trying to decipher the sounds it hears into meaningful command phrases. Once it deciphers a voice command, it takes the appropriate action and confirms it with a verbal response. Your computer actually "talks" to you through Voice Buddy. It is not merely a compiled set of pre-recorded audio clips. This entire process depends on accurate recognition of the voice command in the first place.

FlightSim.Com's Lab Test Results for Signal-to-Noise Ratio

We engaged the help of an independent audio engineer to test eDimensional's Audio FX , the Plantronics Audio 90 from Voice Buddy 1.0 and compare them to a very expensive USB headset from Andrea, the Anti-noise USB NC-7100.

Test Procedure

The engineer recorded silence and a cell phone ring tone with each microphone, putting the cell phone about 7 cm away from the microphones. He used a PCM, 8 kHz, 16 bit format. Using this data he calculated mean value, maximum signal and noise values, and SNR (signal to noise ratio) based on the latter values for each microphone.

Results

eDimensional AudioFX Headset
Ring Tone signal in time domain for the eDimensional headset.

Mean Value: Should equal zero, if not, it means that the microphone and/or the sound card have an offset. In this case Mean Value = 3.1180 e-5.
Maximum Signal Value (S_max): Is the greatest value of the recorded ring tone shown above. In this case S_max = 0.3866.
Maximum Noise Value (N_max): Is the greatest value of the recorded silence. In this case N_max = 0.0773.
Signal to Noise Ratio in dB (SNR) = 20*Log₁₀ (S_max/ N_max) = 13.9816 dB

Plantronics .Audio Headset
Ring Tone signal in time domain for the Plantronics headset.

Mean Value = 1.7172 e-4
S_max = 0.2511
N_max = 0.0176
SNR = 23.0866 dB

Andrea Anti-noise USB NC-7100 Headset
Ring Tone signal in time domain for the ANDREA headset.

Mean Value = -2.5254 e-5
S_max = 0.2368
N_max = 0.0041
SNR = 35.2320 dB

Conclusions

USB microphones such as the Andrea, have lower signal-to-noise ratios because they avoid the sound card. Sound cards, especially the high end cards such as Audigy or Sound Blaster that we often use for flightsimming, generate a lot of noise and add it to the original signal.

While the Andrea headset retails for around $100, which is more than twice the retail price of the Audio FX or Audio 90, and it did have a significantly better SNR -- in a real world qualitative sense, I could not tell the difference between it and the less costly analog headsets. The practical differences between the analog and USB headsets were marginal even if the test results for the USB Andrea were much better. I simply could not detect an audible difference when using them. All three sounded excellent both for the microphones' recording capability and the headphones stereo sound playback quality. With its significantly higher price tag, we expected the Andrea USB headset to perform noticeably better considering the fact that its digital interface tends to be less influenced by sound card and other system electrical noise. The disparity between our quantitative lab results and practical qualitative experience showed otherwise. You may get what you pay for, but in this case paying twice as much for a headset only gets you outstanding lab results but marginally better real world qualitative performance while significantly depleting your bank account.

What’s more, it is important to understand that USB headsets interfere with Voice Buddy’s simultaneous voice recognition and VOIP technology. So, with a USB headset you cannot talk to your PC and your friends on the Internet at the same time.

In our lab tests, all three headsets maintained excellent signal-to-noise ratios. The Andrea NC-7100 was the quietest as you would expect from a USB digital headset. The Plantronics headset was a bit noisier. The Audio FX generated slightly more noise while the vibration effects were turned on. The force feedback vibration effects did not degrade the microphone's voice recognition capability or the quality of sound heard through the headphones. It was a very cool "head rush" however.

We found that both eDimensional's Audio FX and the Plantronics Audio 90 headsets offer nearly perfect voice recognition after a single training session. So, our recommendation is to put the money in your pocket and not spend the extra dollars for USB headsets. We confirmed eDimensional's certification that both their headset and Plantronics' are excellent for voice recognition and all other stereo sound applications and the lower SNR does not interfere with voice recognition. Bottom line? Buying the better value Audio FX or Audio 90 seems like the smart thing to do.

Torture Tested at the IFC

"Even with the extremely high ambient noise level in the IFC exhibition hall, Voice Buddy worked very well. I had trained it to recognize my American-accented voice. Yet, several thousand visitors tried it with accents from all over the United Kingdom and the world. Since Voice Buddy learns to recognize your voice as you use it, after a few voice commands, it could recognize most accents thrown at it including Welsh, English, Irish, Spanish, German, Italian, even Brazilian. It did have a little problem with a heavy Scottish brogue, but not much. After speaking a few command phrases, even the Scotsman was flying the Captain Sim Legendary F-104 Starfighter with excellent voice recognition control. Frankly, I was blown away! I would never have expected Voice Buddy to perform so well in these conditions.

"Visitors to our stand at the IFC were simply amazed at being able to fly while keeping their hands on the yoke and talking to the airplane instead of fumbling with the keyboard. People especially loved flying the freeware Connie by Mike Stone using MegaScenery 3 and controlling it all with voice commands. Ready for take-off on runway 1 right at KSFO, "Extend flaps...gear up...autopilot master switch on...flaps up...set heading hold on...trim up." And even novice flightsimmers were flying like veteran pilots in command."

New! Huge Expansion Pack

Voice Buddy 1.0 introduced us to interactive voice controlled checklists for aircraft standard operating procedures and provided checklists for all the stock FS2004 and FS2002 airplanes. VB2 kicks this feature up a notch. It delivers a total of 83 fully interactive, voice controlled checklists. eDimensional not only updated all the stock aircraft in both FS2004 and FS2002, but they added checklists for best-of-breed payware and freeware add-ons. The Expansion Pack checklists include:

Grand total with all the FS2004 and FS2002 stock aircraft: 83

While the stock aircraft checklists automatically install and VB2 backs up your existing checklists, the Expansion Pack is placed on your hard drive, but not installed. This gives you the choice of using the checklist that came with your original add-on airplane or installing the VB2 enhanced version. For some add-ons, it's just a matter of copying the new file over the old one. Some add-ons do not have any checklists at all and you must not only put them in the aircraft's folder but also edit the aircraft.cfg file to activate the checklist. I found that to be a very simple matter since VB2 gives you detailed instructions and a table that show exactly what to put where. Frankly, I liked this combination of auto installing to replace the lame Microsoft stock checklists and yet allowing me to control which add-ons I install. Regardless of whether you install the checklist so that it appears in the kneeboard, the voice commands still work for the interactive SOP.

A Bit of Professional Advice for All Add-on Developers

eDimensional invited all freeware and payware add-on developers to create Voice Buddy checklists for their aircraft. The smart ones, did. You can see them on the list above. As for the rest, all I can do is offer a bit of professional advice: Get with the program, guys! You're missing out on something that can really set your add-ons apart from the crowd. I flew every one of the Voice Buddy-enhanced airplanes and they are MUCH more exciting to fly with the VB2 enhanced SOP than without. Frankly, if I had a choice to spend my hard-earned money on an add-on without Voice Buddy enhancements, and one that had a VB2 checklist, there would be not a nanosecond of hesitation. I would go for the VB2-enhanced airplane. In fact, I do. I find myself now flying only the airplanes in my hangar that have VB2 enhanced checklists.

Allow me a moment of editorializing here. I have long held that the weak spot in aircraft development has always been checklists. Whether from Microsoft, freeware or payware developers; until eDimensional came along, no one really made good use for interactive checklists of the wonderful HTML-enabled kneeboard browser Microsoft put into FS2004. I'm glad to see that situation has now changed.

New! Free Conversion Services for Flightsim and Game Developers

Once again, the management team at eDimensional listened to my grousing and came up with something that I think you developers out there (Microsoft included) are going to appreciate. As a service to both freeware and payware developers, eDimensional will convert your aircraft checklists to VB2 voice command code for you at no charge. This service is especially useful for developers to enhance their aircraft by offering customized Voice Buddy interactive voice control checklists. It is also very handy for virtual airlines, aerobatic teams and combat flight squadrons to create and distribute customized checklists and advanced training dialogs to their members. What's more, eDimensional has made it simple to do. No programming or other special skills are required. If you can read and write, you can take advantage of this freebie. I think they've been extremely generous with this service. And the free upgrade from VB1 to VB2 is even more generous. I think our friends at Microsoft should take a lesson from our pals at eDimensional.

To create and distribute a customized or completely new Voice Buddy checklist:

New! New Voice Command Manager

The command manager has been simplified and completely re-written. The Voice Buddy Command Manager is a powerful, yet easy-to-use, set of tools that enable you to completely customize every aspect of Voice Buddy's extensive command set. It enables you to:

Voice Buddy is trained to understand all keyboard commands for each individual game edition. No additional customization is required. It's ready-to-run as soon as you set up the microphone and do a single voice recognition training session. The Voice Command Manager is provided as a convenience for advanced users who may wish to create customized commands and voice responses. It gives you total control over all Voice Buddy functions and enables you to single out certain commands for additional recognition training if Voice Buddy has difficulty understanding the way you say certain phrases.

The Voice Command Manager also enables you to create your own fully customized command, responses, keyboard controls, the works. If you have customized your keyboard controls, you can easily customize VB2 to match them. This seems especially useful for combat squadrons, aerobatic teams and virtual airlines where you may want to customize SOP, commands or voice responses and then circulate them to all your team mates.

New! Help System and Software Developer Kit are Built Right In

VB2 has a totally new Help system with a built-in software developer kit manual. If you want to customize, eDimensional has given you everything you need to do it. The help system clearly describes the customization procedures and walks you through the special codes that are required. In my opinion, VB2 was so complete that I didn't need to change a thing.

Voice Buddy's commands are all ready-to-fly upon installation. Nevertheless, eDimensional included a full set of tools so you can customize every aspect of Voice Buddy's commands, responses, dialogs, even choose different voices for your virtual co-pilot. Today, you fly with Mary. Tomorrow it could be Michael, Sam, Michelle, or Mike.

Customizing the response codes is a snap. But, you have to be very careful to follow proper syntax and not leave out the codes necessary to make the response function properly. You can lengthen or shorten the delay for the checklists to give you a more convenient timeline to interactively follow them.

New! Program Code Means Much Higher Performance

If Voice Buddy 1.0 was rocket science, VB2 is Star Trek Federation Science. Every line of code was re-written. Instead of using Delphi, the development team decided they could create a much smaller application that ran much faster and used far less system resources if they re-wrote it using C++. The difference, in layperson's terms, is that Delphi adds a layer of interpretative code complexity between your PC's hardware and the voice recognition and synthesis engine. C++ eliminates that unnecessary layer and gets closer to the processing action, so to speak. The rest of the details I received from the programming team glazed my eyeballs and was way over my pay grade. The result is a speech recognition engine that achieves an amazing 98%+ recognition accuracy with a single training session of just about 8 minutes. It also runs by using a tiny fraction of the system resources.

Now Compatible with Windows 2000

This is the "good news, bad news" part of my review. The bad news is that Voice Buddy will not work with Windows 98. The good news is that VB2 is now fully compatible with Windows 2000 as well as all flavors of Windows XP, both Home and Professional. The even better news is that you don't need a monster PC to run it. If FS2004 runs well on your system with Windows XP or Windows 2000, so will Voice Buddy.

With more than 300, pre-programmed voice commands, Voice Buddy enables you to "extend flaps, raise gear, set heading, arm autothrottle, manage the flight director, talk to air traffics control, deploy spoilers" plus every other FS2004 and FS2002 command -- just by speaking the words. This proved to be particularly useful when flying through heavily congested airways while trying to manage a busy flight deck such as the FS2004 Douglas DC-3, while acknowledging a cranky air traffic controller.

According to what I was able to pry out of the tight-lipped developers at eDimensional, Voice Buddy 2 was designed from the first line of code up to take advantage of the latest breakthroughs in Microsoft speech recognition technology. These features are tightly integrated into Windows XP. As a result, Voice Buddy is extremely accurate at recognizing spoken commands and deciphering actions that result from those commands. It also is spot-on accurate at implementing FS2004 and FS2002 keyboard commands. So, if you needed one more reason to upgrade to Windows XP, this could be it.

New! Automatically Ports Over User Customizations

Version 2 completely replaces Voice Buddy version 1.0. It is incompatible with it and all VB 1.0 users should upgrade as soon as possible. However, since the developers at eDimensional are flightsimmers themselves and know how we love to tinker and customize things, they enabled VB2 to automatically port over and convert all your existing VB 1.0 customizations. There is nothing for you to do as it all happens automatically upon installation. VB2 also backs up all your existing stock aircraft checklists to retain any customizations you may have made to the HTML checklist files.

Installation is a Snap.

Updating to VB2 is the same procedure as installing it from scratch. It was very simple and uncomplicated. No system tweaks required. All the audio controls are built into the Voice Buddy console. It installs with the microphone turned on and the recognition window open. You can see your voice commands translated instantly to text in this window. It's useful as a diagnostic tool on the rare occasion that Voice Buddy doesn't recognize what you're saying.

You can start using Voice Buddy right away. But, voice recognition accuracy will be significantly better if you go through a short training session. Each training session lasts about 8 minutes. You simply read a few paragraphs of copy and Voice Buddy learns to recognize your personal speech patterns as you read. This is right out of Star Trek Federation Science, that's how cool it is.

The more training sessions you run, the higher the degree of speech recognition accuracy. Voice Buddy also learns on-the-fly as you use it. The more you use it, the better it gets. As a test, I wanted to see what the minimum amount of training would yield. I set up the mic, then ran a single training session and the voice recognition accuracy was fabulous. After a second training session, it was perfect for me. Since every person has different speech inflections, accent and pronunciation; your results may require more or less training. In any event, we are talking minutes, not hours here. Woohoo!

The Differences Between FS2004 and FS2002 Installations.

Since the key commands are the same for both FS2004 and FS2002, Voice Buddy works perfectly in both sims. It contains checklists for all the aircraft that are both common and unique to each sim. The differences lie in the advanced features of FS2004. FS2002's kneeboard is not an HTML-enabled browser. So, Voice Buddy's gorgeous checklists do not replace the FS2002 checklists. They install in the same aircraft folders but in FS2002, you won't see the Voice Buddy checklists when you call for the kneeboard. You'll have to print them which is easy since you just open each checklist HTML file with your Internet browser and print the pages from Internet Explorer.

In FS2004, the new checklists replace the old ones. Voice Buddy backs up the old checklists for you. It also replaces the kneeboard key commands reference, backing up that file, too. Without a doubt, if you have not yet upgraded to FS2004, Voice Buddy gives you yet another reason to do that right now.

New! More Accurate Voice Recognition and Speech Synthesis Engine Now with Asynchronous Command, Control and Response

Voice Buddy has been re-written to eliminate the need for a separate SpeechX module. Now, Voice Buddy comes in two parts:

What's more, Voice Buddy continues to learn to better recognize your voice as you use it. The more you use it, the better it gets.

Asynchronous Command, Control, Response Lets You Easily Multitask

"Voice Buddy, Shut Up!"

New! Saving the Best for Last: VBIT, the Voice Buddy Interactive Trainer

The Voice Buddy Interactive Trainer (VBIT) is your virtual in-game instructor. Each Voice Buddy game edition contains VBIT conversations that are specific to each game. When you issue the appropriate VBIT voice commands, Voice Buddy talks you through the desired game action. Each VBIT voice command begins with "Teach me..." Such as "Teach me an Immelmann." You then hear Voice Buddy interactively walk you through flying an Immelmann.

I was completely mesmerized by this new feature. When flying FS2004 aerobatics in an Extra 300, I commanded Voice Buddy 2 to, "Teach me a Lomcevak." And it walked me thought this very difficult advanced aerobatic maneuver saying"

Voice Buddy Interactive Trainer
VOICE COMMANDS (Say this...)	VOICE RESPONSES (Hear this...)
Teach me an Aircraft Carrier Landing	Landing on a carrier is often called a controlled crash...
Teach me an Aircraft Carrier Takeoff	A carrier takeoff requires extreme power…
Teach me an Aileron Roll	An aileron roll turns the aircraft wing over wing about the central axis...
Teach me a Barrel Roll	A barrel roll corkscrews your airplane through the sky and bleeds off airspeed...
Teach me a Boom and Zoom	This maneuver uses your attacking aircraft’s energy advantage …
Teach me a Chandelle	The Chandelle is a maximum performance climbing turn...
Teach me a Cobra Maneuver	A Cobra can only be flown in a jet with vectored thrust...
Teach me a Cuban Eight	A Cuban Eight is two three-quarter loops…
Teach me a Dive Bombing	Dive bombing starts at 10000 to 15000 feet...
Just a brief sample of the many VBIT training sessions that can be called by voice and guide you through tricky maneuvers.

I was so stoked! So, I loaded up LOMAC (Lock-on Modern Air Combat) and the beta version of Voice Buddy for LOMAC. I have always admired this modern jet flightsim but found the myriad keyboard commands used to control the jet, in lieu of working panels, a huge pain in the six. But I just love flying the fast-movers. "Mo' fasta, mo' betta'" is my motto. Within seven minutes, I was easily booming-and-zooming in an F-15 Eagle under voice control. Engaging the AI MiG-29, I quickly found myself defensive and needed to live to fight another day. "Teach me a Defensive Spiral," I commanded VB2 for Lock-on. It was just like having a veteran combat flight instructor in the back seat when Voice Buddy came back with:

I bugged out of that tight spot thanks to my new best friend in the LOMAC cockpit.

The Flightsim Seven

Not only has eDimensional provided a significant upgrade to the Voice Buddy for Flight Simulator 2004/2002, but they also showed me The Flightsim Seven. These are a total of seven Voice Buddy editions for all the top flightsims including:

eDimensional will also release editions for the full range of Jane's flightsims that run under Windows XP. Older titles such as Flanker and Falcon 4 will not be supported because they only run correctly under Windows 98.

We will be reviewing the rest of The Flightsim Seven as they are released. According to eDimensional executive, Michael Epstein, "We are going to release 120 or more Voice Buddy 2 editions in the coming months. We'll cover nearly every hot game, in every genre on the market including simulations, strategy, sports, first-person shooters, role playing games, massively multiplayer online games and even puzzle games. I expect that by this time next year, the world's savvy gamers will all be talking to their computers instead of fiddling with the keyboard."

I know that I will. Once I got hooked on Voice Buddy, any game that was not supported by voice control suddenly became very uninteresting to me.

Let me just end by teasing you CFS3, CFS2, IL-2 Sturmovik and LOMAC flightsimmers out there. You guys are going to go crazy over the Voice Buddy 2 editions for your favorite combat flightsims. The IL-2 and LOMAC communities will be especially thrilled. Watch for Mad Max Merlin's review and you'll soon find out why.

For registered VB1 users, click here to get your free Voice Buddy 2 upgrade.

Or, you can simply click here to send a blank email to eDimensional's upgrade auto response system which will instantly send you your new software key to unlock the upgrade.

My System Specs for this Review

The full system specs of the Area-51 Extreme used for this review include:

Processor: Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.2 GHz with Hyper-Threading Technology Extreme Edition.
Motherboard: ASUS P4C800-E Deluxe with the Intel 875P chipset.
Memory: 1GB DDR SDRAM PC-3200 in two, 512MB modules.
Video Card: Alienware Extreme Edition GeForce FX 5950 Ultra 256MB 8X AGP with DVI and S-Video, integrated NVIDIA TV Encoder for TV-Out, Video In and Video Out. Card uses one AGP and one PCI slot.
Cooling System: Set of 5 cooling fans including the AlienIce Video Cooling System.
System & Storage Drives: two 36.7 GB Western Digital Raptor Serial ATA (SATA) 10,000 RPM 8MB Cache in a RAID 0 Array. SATA Drives have up to 150 MB/s data transfer rate. System supports both SATA and Ultra/133 ATA drives. RAID controllers provide for Raid0, Raid1, and Raid 0+1 configurations.
Optical Drives: Lite-On 52x32x52 CD-RW plus Plextor PX-708A BX DVD-+/-R/W
Floppy Drive: 3.5", 1.44 MB Floppy Disk
Drive bays: Total of 8
Sound Card: Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS 7.1
Network Adapter: I integrated High Performance Intel Gigabit Ethernet Adapter
Monitor: NEC 19" Multisync FE991SB flat CRT
Ports: 8, USB 2.0. 2, IEEE 1394. 1, AGP. 7, PCI. SPDIF out connector, 1 external parallel port, 1 external serial port, 1 RJ-45 Network port. Video Card has Analog and Digital output connectors, 1 game port. There are 3, free PCI slots after installing the video card and Audigy 2 ZS sound card.
Speakers: Creative GigaWorks S750-7.1 700 Watts
Keyboard: Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard
Mouse: Microsoft IntelliMouse Explorer USB.
Operating System: Windows XP Professional with DirectX 9b
Software used for this review: FS2004, Voice Buddy 2, MegaScenery Vol. 3: Northern California, add-on aircraft from Flight 1/DreamFleet, Captain Sim, Eaglesoft, and FSD plus freeware from Mike Stone, SGA, Shigeru Tanaka and others supported by Voice Buddy 2 Expansion Pack checklists.
Flight Controllers: CH Products USB Yoke, Fighterstick, Pro Pedals, Pro Throttle.

	(Checklist play back)	Beech Jet engine start check
Engine area	Clear
Door	Closed and secure	Close door	SHIFT+E
Engine start sequence 1-2	Start sequence is 1-2 or Autostart all engines	Engine autostart	CTRL+E
Right engine	Start (repeat for left engine)	Display Panel 3 Display panel 7 Engine Number one (... two) (Repeat for engine 2)	SHIFT+3 SHIFT-7 E1 ( E2)
Throttle	Idle cutoff	Display Panel 5 Hide Panel 5	SHIFT+5 SHIFT+5

Cabin Announcements from the Flight Deck
VOICE COMMANDS (Say this...)	VOICE RESPONSES (Hear this...)
Advise Air Traffic Control	Advising ATC
Ahead of schedule	...We have just recalculated our flight time and ... we will be arriving ahead of schedule.
Air Conditioning off	Air Conditioner off
Air Conditioning on	Air Conditioner on
APU off	Turning APU off
APU on	Turning APU on
Bad weather	... I'm turning on the seatbelt sign. We are approaching some turbulence up ahead...
Below the line	Left and right packs and pressures off and checked. We are ready for engine start
Begin approach	...We are starting our approach for landing. Please stow your loose items and return to your seats...
Cabin secured	Flight attendants prepare for takeoff

Freeware	Payware
Aero Commander 500	Captain Boeing 727-100
DeHavilland DHC6 Sea Otter	Captain Boeing 727-200
DeHavilland DHC6 Twin Otter	Captain Sim F-104 Starfighter
F4U1A Corsair	Captain Sim Yak-3
Lancair Legacy	DreamFleet Cessna 310
Lockheed L-1049 Super-G Constellation	DreamFleet Cessna Cardinal 177
Maule M/MT-7 Tricycle	DreamFleet Cessna Cardinal 177RG
Maule M/MT-7 Amphibian	Eaglesoft Beechjet 400
Maule M/MT-7 Taildragger	Eaglesoft Cessna Citation X
Maule M/MT-7 Spring Gear	Eaglesoft Hawker XP
Maule M/MT-7 Tundra Wheel	Flight One Cessna 421
Maule M/MT-7 Wheel-ski	Flight One Piper Archer
Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23A	Flight One Piper Meridian
P-38F Lightning	FSD Pilatus Porter amphibian
P-38G Lightning	FSD Pilatus Porter taildragger
P-38H Lightning	FSD Piper Cheyenne
P-38L-5 Lightning
P-51 Mustang by Shigeru Tanaka
SGA Airbus
SGA DC-10
SST 2010 North America by Shigeru Tanaka
SST 2010 Europe II by Shigeru Tanaka
Supreme Boeing 747 panel by Luis Kmentt

Voice Buddy 2 Expansion Pack Checklists	Ready-to-Run (No edits to aircraft.cfg required. Just copy the checklist to the aircraft folder, overwriting the existing checklist.)	Edit aircraft.cfg (Enter this code in place of the kb_checklists line)	Aircraft Folder Name
Payware
Captain Boeing 727-100	NO	kb_checklists=cs_b727_100_Check	legendary727_100
Captain Boeing 727-200	NO	kb_checklists=cs_b727_200_Check	legendary727_200
Captain Sim F-104 Starfighter	NO	kb_checklists=cs_f104_Check	Legendary_F104
Captain Sim Yak-3	NO	kb_checklists=cs_y003_Check	cs_Yak3
DreamFleet Cessna 310	YES		Flight One C310
DreamFleet Cessna Cardinal 177	YES		Flight One C177
DreamFleet Cessna Cardinal 177RG	YES		Flight One C177RG
Eaglesoft Beechjet 400	NO	kb_checklists=Beechjet400_check	Eaglesoft Beechjet400A
Eaglesoft Cessna Citation X	NO	kb_checklists=CitationX_check	Eaglesoft Citation X
Eaglesoft Hawker XP	NO	kb_checklists=HawkerXP_check	Eaglesoft Hawker 400XP
Flight One Cessna 421	NO	kb_checklists=C421_check	F1_Cessna_421
Flight One Piper Archer	NO	kb_checklists=DF181_CHECK	Flight One PA-28
Flight One Piper Meridian	NO	kb_checklists=F1_Meridian_Check	F1_Meridian
FSD Pilatus Porter on Floats	YES		FSD Porter on Floats
FSD Pilatus Porter on Wheels	YES		FSD Porter on Wheels
FSD Piper Cheyenne	YES		FSD Piper Cheyenne 400

Freeware All these aircraft can be downloaded for FREE from www.FlightSim.Com
Aero Commander 500	YES		ac500vc1
DeHavilland DHC6 Sea Otter	YES		DHC6_Short_Nose_LabAir_C-FAUS
DeHavilland DHC6 Twin Otter	YES		Dash6_LongNose_Winair_full_ver
F4U1A Corsair	YES		f4u1a_corsair
Lancair Legacy	YES		Legacy2000
Lockheed L-1049 Super-G Constellation	YES		L-1049 Connie
Maule M/MT-7 Tricycle	YES		Maule M7-260 Tri-cycle
Maule M/MT-7 Amphibian	YES		Maule M7-260 Amphibian
Maule M/MT-7 Taildragger	YES		Maule M7-260 Taildragger
Maule M/MT-7 Spring Gear	YES		Maule M7-260 Spring Gear
Maule M/MT-7 Tundra Wheel	YES		Maule M7-260 Tundra wheel
Maule M/MT-7 Wheel-ski	YES		Maule M7-260 Wheel-ski
Northrop/McDonnell Douglas YF-23A "Black Widow" II	YES		YF-23A
P-38F Lightning	YES		P-38F_Lightning
P-38G Lightning	YES		P-38G_Lightning
P-38H Lightning	YES		P-38H_Lightning
P-38L-5 Lightning	YES		P-38L-5_Lightning
P-51 Mustang Shigeru Tanaka	NO	kb_checklists=A-ST_P-51D_Whitehead_Eagle_CHECK	stp51d
SGA Airbus	NO	kb_checklists=airbus_A300_check	SGA_A300B4-200
SGA DC-10	NO	kb_checklists=DC-10-30_check	SGA DC1030F
SST 2010 North America by Shigeru Tanaka	NO	kb_checklists=A-ST_SST2010_CHECK	sst2010northamerica
SST 2010 Europe II	NO	kb_checklists=A-ST_SST2010_CHECK	sst2010europeII
Supreme Boeing 747 panel by Luis Kmentt	NO	kb_checklists=Supreme747-200_check	Put this in any Boeing 747-200/400 folder

The State-Of-The-Art In Voice Control For Flightsimming Takes Another Giant Leap Forward: Voice Buddy 2 Upgrade From eDimensional

By Cap Mason, Flight Simulation Editor (30 July 2004)