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Free Text-to-Speech Voice Resources! (self.Blind)
submitted by XiaoSpence
Hello,
As a student that struggled with reading and discovered TTS voices were the solution to my problem (especially at night), I was frustrated to find how little resources the internet has in 2019! So, I'm putting an end to this and compiling my own blog/site that makes TTS voices accessible to the public. It's absurd how many free voices exist in obscure places!
$1
As a student that struggled with reading and discovered TTS voices were the solution to my problem (especially at night), I was frustrated to find how little resources the internet has in 2019! So, I'm putting an end to this and compiling my own blog/site that makes TTS voices accessible to the public. It's absurd how many free voices exist in obscure places!
$1
LanceThunder 4 points 4y ago
good for you. this is a very worth while task you have taken up.
Superfreq2 3 points 4y ago
Awesome, thanks so much! Had no idea about rich and Jamal
Another couple you may not know about are "RH Voice" which you can find on github, I like "SLT" the best, and the "Microsoft Speech Platform" voices which are quite good.
Another couple you may not know about are "RH Voice" which you can find on github, I like "SLT" the best, and the "Microsoft Speech Platform" voices which are quite good.
poochbrah 3 points 4y ago
I can resonate with you. I had this problem growing up. I'll take a look at the website now - thanks.
Dan I ask have you found any good TTS applications that work with PDF documents?
Also what is your favourite voice to use on your phone/pc?
Dan I ask have you found any good TTS applications that work with PDF documents?
Also what is your favourite voice to use on your phone/pc?
-shacklebolt- 7 points 4y ago
Not free, but Voice Dream Reader (I use the iOS version) has a lot of voices you can sample before buying and can read PDFs (assuming they're text based and not just scanned pictures of course!) On the iOS version you can also use the iOS voices. The website says the Android version has fewer features, but I haven't tried it so I can't compare.
I really recommend it, and a lot of other people on this subreddit also use it. It supports a number of formats, importing from bookshare, and the ability to fine tune the audio and visual options is great if you use audio only or a mix of large print and audio (or a braille display.)
I really recommend it, and a lot of other people on this subreddit also use it. It supports a number of formats, importing from bookshare, and the ability to fine tune the audio and visual options is great if you use audio only or a mix of large print and audio (or a braille display.)
XiaoSpence [OP] 4 points 4y ago
I would advise downloading Balabolka, it's a great all-in-one TTS application that's compatible with many formats. Also, I would say my favorite voice to use is Rich.
WoodenCartoon 2 points 4y ago
I was literally just about to look this up. I'm not a huge fan of eSpeak, and the windows narrator voice has way too many gaps. I use JAWS eloquence at work, but I like the idea of each screen reader having it's own separate personality/voice
Superfreq2 1 points 4y ago
After trying the two windows voices, Jamal and Rich out I quite like Rich. He has a nice, soft voice, quite easy to understand and high quality, plus it can get pretty fast which I like. Unfortunately he does put weirdly long stress on some sounds, but that could be an engine thing and not do to the actor.
Also, the pitch slider's effect on that voice is all wonky with the programs I've tried it with, could be bad coding or just incompatibility issues with X64 based OS's. Regardless it seems to settle down when actually applying changes to the settings...
He is also a bit quiet, but that doesn't bother me. A pretty good reading voice!
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As for Jamal well, seems like he recorded his voice lines on a really crappy headset mic or something, so unfortunately it's distractingly low quality, at least for me. Maybe others wouldn't mind as much?
Pitch on that voice also doesn't sound very pretty, and I'm not a big fan of the accent but that's a personal thing.
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Another voice I forgot to mention is Espeak for Sapi5. It's highly robotic but is very customizable if you don't mind doing a bit of scripting, and has tons and tons of languages. Plus it can still be understood at incredibly fast speeds.
Also, the pitch slider's effect on that voice is all wonky with the programs I've tried it with, could be bad coding or just incompatibility issues with X64 based OS's. Regardless it seems to settle down when actually applying changes to the settings...
He is also a bit quiet, but that doesn't bother me. A pretty good reading voice!
​
As for Jamal well, seems like he recorded his voice lines on a really crappy headset mic or something, so unfortunately it's distractingly low quality, at least for me. Maybe others wouldn't mind as much?
Pitch on that voice also doesn't sound very pretty, and I'm not a big fan of the accent but that's a personal thing.
​
Another voice I forgot to mention is Espeak for Sapi5. It's highly robotic but is very customizable if you don't mind doing a bit of scripting, and has tons and tons of languages. Plus it can still be understood at incredibly fast speeds.
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