How do I get more voices for Text-to-speech?
Text-to-speech (TTS) is a technology that converts written text into spoken audio output using synthesized voices. With TTS, digital text can be read aloud by a computer generated voice. The main benefit of having multiple voices for TTS is to provide options for different contexts, characters, and preferences. Some voices are designed to sound more human-like, while others have a more robotic tone. The variety allows users to pick a voice that best suits their needs or personal taste. This article will explore the different options available for getting more voices for TTS systems and services. Topics covered include default voices, purchasing additional voices, using third party apps and services, downloading free voices, creating custom voices, hiring voice actors, online TTS services, and future voice options.
Default Voices Included
Most text-to-speech software and devices come with a set of built-in voices. The quality and naturalness of these default voices can vary significantly across platforms.
For example, the default Microsoft Windows text-to-speech voices like David, Zira, etc. tend to sound robotic and unnatural. According to reviews, the built-in macOS voices also leave much to be desired. On the other hand, Amazon Polly’s neural voices like Matthew and Joanna are considered more human-like even though they are default.
Google’s Cloud Text-to-Speech service provides very natural-sounding WaveNet voices that have been trained on thousands of hours of speech data. However, Google provides only two male and two female default voices in English.[Compare text-to-speech voices across platforms.](https://play.ht/blog/amazon-polly-vs-google-wavenet/)
Overall, depending on the software, default voices may range from very robotic and artificial sounding to relatively human-like. But even the best default voices have limitations in tone, expression and accuracy. For more options, custom voices or third party services are often required.
Purchase Additional Voices
One option to get more voices for text-to-speech is to purchase additional high-quality voices from vendors. Companies like CereProc and Nuance offer a wide selection of natural-sounding voices in many languages and accents.
CereProc offers voices starting at $99 for a single voice. Bulk discounts are available for purchasing multiple voices. CereProc is known for producing very natural and expressive sounding voices through advanced text-to-speech technology. They offer voices in over 30 languages.
Nuance also provides high-quality voices that sound very human-like. Their voices start at around $100 per voice and volume discounts apply. They currently offer voices in 53 languages. The quality of the Nuance voices is considered very good, though some find CereProc voices to have a slight edge in naturalness.
When choosing between these vendors, consider factors like price, number of voices/accents offered, voice quality, languages supported, and ease of integration. Both CereProc and Nuance provide APIs for integrating the voices into applications. Purchasing additional high-quality voices from vendors like these is a great option to expand and enhance text-to-speech capabilities.
Use Third-Party Apps and Services
There are many third-party apps and services that offer additional text-to-speech voices beyond what’s included by default. Popular options include:
Amazon Polly – Offers over 70 voices across over 25 languages. Polly is a service by Amazon Web Services that uses advanced deep learning technologies to synthesize natural sounding speech. Polly voices can be used in various third-party apps.
Google Cloud Text-to-Speech – Provides over 180 voices across over 50 languages and variants. Easy to integrate Google’s text-to-speech API into apps. Competitively priced based on usage.
Third-party text-to-speech apps like NaturalReaders, ReadLoud, and TextAloud generally offer access to premium voices for an additional fee. These apps can then use the voices in other programs.
When evaluating third-party text-to-speech services, it’s important to compare the voice selection, naturalness of voices, languages and accents offered, pricing model, and how easy it is to integrate the voices into your desired apps.
Download Free Voices
One way to get additional voices for text-to-speech is to download free options. Several websites offer text-to-speech voices that can be downloaded and used either online or offline. When downloading free voices, it’s important to be aware of licensing restrictions and voice quality.
Many free text-to-speech voices are available through open source projects. For example, eSpeak is an open source speech synthesizer for Linux, Windows and other platforms. It includes voices in multiple languages that can be used for free. However, the voice quality is not as natural or human-sounding as some commercial options.
There are also some decent quality voices available for free download if you search online forums and websites. Reddit threads like this one sometimes include links to free voice packs people have created. You can also find free voices for platforms like Balabolka on sites like Zero2000. Just be sure to vet the sources, check licensing, and scan for viruses before downloading.
While free voices provide an easy way to get started with text-to-speech, they often have usage restrictions for commercial applications. And the voice quality can be noticeably robotic. For professional use or natural-sounding voices, purchasing options from major text-to-speech providers is recommended.
Create Custom Voices
One way to get more custom voices for text-to-speech is to create your own voices from scratch. This gives you full control to make a voice sound exactly like you want, whether mimicking your own voice or a celebrity. Tools like natural language processing allow you to train AI models on audio samples of a person talking to generate a custom synthetic voice. However, creating a high-quality and natural sounding custom voice requires significant technical skills, audio data, and compute power.
Services like Replica, Murf.ai, and WellSaid Labs offer custom voice creation aimed at consumers. You simply record yourself reading a set of scripts to provide audio data for training the AI model. However, these services can cost anywhere from $99 to thousands of dollars depending on voice quality and licensing. Overall, creating a fully customized voice from scratch provides the most flexibility but also requires time, expertise, and financial investment.
Consider Voice Actors
One way to get a more natural, custom voice for text-to-speech is to hire professional voice actors to record audio samples that can be adapted to text-to-speech. Many voice actors specialize in voice over work and would be able to provide high-quality recordings of scripts optimized for text-to-speech usage. There are sites like Voices.com and Fiverr where you can find and hire talented voice actors.
You would need to provide the voice actor with a script designed specifically to capture all the sounds and speech patterns needed to synthesize natural sounding speech. The script should contain all phonemes, common word combinations, punctuation usage, and speech cadences required. The voice actor can read through the script multiple times during the recording session to capture variations.
Once you have the high-quality audio recordings, you need to work with a text-to-speech company to process and adapt them into a usable voice model. Companies like Lyrebird specialize in creating custom voices from voice actor recordings. The process involves training the text-to-speech algorithm on the specific nuances and inflections of the voice actor to closely replicate their natural speech patterns and vocal qualities.
Although hiring voice actors requires more time and money up front, it enables you to get voices tailored to your specific needs and preferences. The customized voices can sound significantly more natural and human compared to generic text-to-speech voices.
Text-to-Speech Services
Many apps and services offer text-to-speech capabilities along with a variety of voice options. Here are some popular services that provide quality text-to-speech with a range of voices:
Nuance offers text-to-speech in 119 voices across dozens of languages. Their neural network voices aim to sound natural and human-like. Users can try Nuance TTS voices for free.
Amazon Polly is a cloud text-to-speech service with over 100 neural voices in over 25 languages. Polly can be easily integrated into apps and supports speech marks for more natural prosody.
The Legere Reader app includes high-quality text-to-speech voices for over 40 languages. It’s designed to help people with reading disabilities, fatigue, or other conditions.
These services allow you to input text and hear it spoken back naturally in a voice you select. With many options available, you can find text-to-speech with the perfect voice for your needs.
Future Voice Options
Research and innovation around new text-to-speech voices is rapidly advancing using generative AI models. As the technology improves, text-to-speech is sounding increasingly more natural and human-like.
According to The Future of Text-to-Speech Technology, new neural text-to-speech models can mimic voices with accuracy while also allowing for custom voice creation. This means more diverse and personalized options for users.
Some key innovations highlighted for the future include multi-speaker models capable of capturing subtle emotional variance and generative models that can create completely new voices based on limited samples from voice actors. Upcoming models aim to capture intricacies like breath sounds for a complete human experience.
Overall, text-to-speech technology is rapidly progressing to sound nearly indistinguishable from recorded human voices. With personalized voice cloning and enhanced realism on the horizon, the variety of voices and use cases for text-to-speech will continue expanding in remarkable ways.
Summary
There are several options available if you want to get more voices for text-to-speech purposes. The devices and software you use most likely come with some default voices, but you can expand your options by:
- Purchasing additional voices through your device or software provider
- Using third-party text-to-speech apps that offer a variety of voices
- Downloading free voice packs online to expand your options
- Creating custom voices using voice acting or voice cloning services
- Considering professional voice actors to record audio files or custom voices
- Subscribing to dedicated text-to-speech services that offer many natural voices
As technology progresses, we can expect even more advanced text-to-speech voices and options to become available. For now, there is a wide range of voices you can access, either for free or for purchase, to suit your text-to-speech needs.