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I can't find a decent text to voice software / service

by phil.wheatley
16 replies
Hi Guys

I've been trying for ages to find a really decent sounding text to voice program. They either sound like a computer or have a really weird accent. I don't mind paying for one as most of the free ones seem rubbish.

PLEASE NOTE: Text to VOICE, not voice to text

I want it for the purpose of doing short voice overs without having to record my voice every time. Any suggestions???

Many thanks
Phil
#decent #find #service #software #text #voice
  • Profile picture of the author eugenedm
    Do you have a mac? Macs already have it internally:
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202584

    If you don't have a mac, you can do it on the iPhone:
    https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201936

    Just open your notes, click on the mic and start talking...

    I really don't know about Windows systems...

    I hope this helps. I wish you luck!
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    • Profile picture of the author phil.wheatley
      Originally Posted by eugenedm View Post

      Do you have a mac? Macs already have it internally:
      https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT202584

      If you don't have a mac, you can do it on the iPhone:
      https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201936

      Just open your notes, click on the mic and start talking...

      I really don't know about Windows systems...

      I hope this helps. I wish you luck!
      Hi Gene

      Thanks for your suggestions. I'm afraid I don't have a Mac or iPhone, I'm Mr Windows and Android...oh well. To clarify, I want text to voice, not the other way around.

      Cheers
      Phil
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  • Profile picture of the author joshua301
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  • Profile picture of the author eugenedm
    Opps sorry I misread... but sorry to disappoint you again... the mac has text->voice function as well...


    But let's google it... I think there are a few:

    Let me google that for you
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    • Profile picture of the author phil.wheatley
      Originally Posted by eugenedm View Post

      Opps sorry I misread... but sorry to disappoint you again... the mac has text->voice function as well...


      But let's google it... I think there are a few:

      Let me google that for you
      Haha, "let's google it". Yep, I did that and spent a lot of time going through all the options and couldn't find any decent ones. So I was wondering if anybody here knew of any good ones.

      Oh well....this is why I don't come back here often any more
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      • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
        Banned
        Ask over at the VideoMakerFX FB page. I'm sure someone there could help you.

        Personally, I have never heard one that I would use, due to the issues you mention.

        If they are simple 30 to 60 second VO's you can get them at Fiverr for $5 to $10.

        Cheers. - Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author HDRider
    Look at this one, English Text To Speech, TTS: English, Spanish, French, Russian, Italian, German, Portuguese, Korean, Japanese, Chinese I used it before. Sounds pretty good compared to most of them.

    Type or paste something in the box and try it.
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    • Profile picture of the author BigFrank
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      Originally Posted by HDRider View Post

      Type or paste something in the box and try it.
      Totally unacceptable for even semi-professional use. Personally, I'd be embarrassed to use that on anything that I produced. We all have different needs, though.

      Cheers. - Frank
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  • Profile picture of the author phil.wheatley
    Thanks both for your suggestions.

    Yep, agreed Frank, I've been using fiverr gigs up until now but at the rate I'm doing them, it would be nice if I could bang them out via text...but it looks like I may have to stick with that method if the computer gen ones are still not quite up to scratch.
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  • Profile picture of the author stoltingmediagroup
    Originally Posted by phil.wheatley View Post

    I want it for the purpose of doing short voice overs without having to record my voice every time.

    Is there any particular reason as to "why" you don't simply do it yourself?
    Technical setup issues? Don't like your voice? You're too shy?
    You're too picky in choosing the right take, or takes too long to edit....
    None of my business?....

    Just thought I'd ask, maybe we can get past your challenge.
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    • Profile picture of the author phil.wheatley
      Originally Posted by stoltingmediagroup View Post

      Is there any particular reason as to "why" you don't simply do it yourself?
      Technical setup issues? Don't like your voice? You're too shy?
      You're too picky in choosing the right take, or takes too long to edit....
      None of my business?....

      Just thought I'd ask, maybe we can get past your challenge.
      Hey there

      Yeah, that's the other option, my challenge with that is finding time and a quiet space to do it. Also, my voice is ok but doesn't quite have the velvet tones of a proper voice over man, if you know what I mean"

      Originally Posted by chrisnos View Post

      I use NeoSpeech with the Kate voice and run it on TextAloud

      You won't find anything perfect (yet), but here's a preview:

      Neospeech english Kate voice - YouTube
      Many thanks, I'll take a look at this now.

      Cheers
      Phil
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      • Profile picture of the author stoltingmediagroup
        Originally Posted by phil.wheatley View Post

        my challenge with that is finding time and a quiet space to do it
        Deciding on if / how / where to set this up, comes down to how frequently you need to record these short voice overs in relation to your product/service.

        If you find it's almost becoming an actual part of daily duties, then maybe it's time to set yourself up somewhere. There are tons of ways (products, or home made remedies) to combat a not so quiet space when recording at home etc.

        Also, my voice is ok but doesn't quite have the velvet tones of a proper voice over man, if you know what I mean"
        You'd be the first of thousands of folks crossing my path over the years if you said that you liked your own voice in a recording. There's a whole science behind that, but that's another thread.

        Just act it out. Allot of voices you hear are acted. Not natural. Trust me on this one. (Just close your eyes and think "velvet tones".

        Text to voice has improved over the years but most still can't get the intonation and emphasis right. And if that's what you listen for, (I do) you'll never be happy, no matter if you bought the most expensive product on the market today.
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        "I LOVE The Song! The Vibe Is Positive And Firm!" - Kymani Marley. (Son of Bob Marley).
        "Very High Quality!" Jeremy Harding - Manager / Producer. Sean Paul.
        "They Are FANTASTIC!" - Willie Crawford.
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  • Profile picture of the author chrisnos
    I use NeoSpeech with the Kate voice and run it on TextAloud

    You won't find anything perfect (yet), but here's a preview:

    Signature
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    If you are wanting to use the voices on your YT videos and/or your website --> commercial/broadcast rights on the top quality professional voices can get expensive depending on which way you go. The voices that were recommended above (NeoSpeech etc.) are cheap for personal use ONLY (and some others are free for personal non-commercial, non-broadcast, no distro licenses).

    I have contacted many of the companies that provide high quality TTS voices with regards to commercial use and broadcast licensing.

    NeoSpeech:

    Limited rights / use for audio output: NeoSpeech grants the end user, a non-transferable, limited, non-exclusive, terminable license to use the Audio Output for personal and non-commercial use only. To obtain a commercial, non-profit, institutional license, please contact NeoSpeech
    My inquiry directly to real people at NeoSpeech:

    Personal users CAN put personal videos as a private link but NOT to be shown to general public. If this is the case then it is allowed.

    If the video is reachable on Youtube, then it is public and commercial, and not permitted under the usage agreement.

    Thank you,

    Trevor P. Shephard
    Sales Executiv    e
    NeoSpeech Text-to-Speech voices | Interactive TTS Demo | TTS SDK | Office Direct: 408-496-1250 | Fax:408-914-2710
    So I asked how much for one voice to use publicly on YouTube

    The software package you would require for this project starts at $950 per year.
    $950 bucks a year to use a NeoSpeech voice on YT.

    Ivona appears to be much the same as the standard voice license is for personal use only and does not include a commercial, distribution or a broadcast license.

    Non-commercial materials for personal use
    Just to distribute to your employess you need to pay $650 bucks a voice.

    Standard license - for distribution of speech content to your employees only
    e-learning and training materials, corporate presentations, multimedia materials
    To distribute publicly on YouTube etc. the price is so high it's not even listed on their website...you must submit a form to get a price.

    Extended license - for users who want to publish created speech files in various products or services publications, multimedia materials, IVR voice prompts, public announcement recordings
    IVONA Studio | IVONA Text-to-speech

    Cepstral only wants $1200 a year for a distribution license.

    My question to Cepstral support:

    So with the standard license (not a redistribution license) can I upload my videos using a Cepstral voice to youtube for personal use?

    How about doing a review video or promo video with the voice...is this allowed under the normal license? Or is the redistribution license any cheaper?

    Thanks for your time.
    The reply from Cepstral:

    09/06/2013 2:05 pm
    Don,

    You would need to purchase an Audio Distribution License yourself. The cost would be the same $1,200 per year.

    Patrick Dexter
    iSpeech wanted $200 for 4000 words on public videos (YouTube, Website, etc).


    Hi Don,

    Thanks for your email. Our personal accounts can only be used for dynamic
    text to speech which will not be shared publicly.
    If you need to store the audio in order to create a youtube video, that
    would be considered commercial use. You can purchase "static" tts credits
    which include a license to generate and distribute audio files (or make
    public). Pricing is based on the # of words you need.

    Once I have a better idea about the # words, I can provide pricing. To
    give you an idea, pricing starts at 4k words for $200.

    Best,
    Vanessa
    Cerepoc was about as cheap as I could find for standalone voices for an unlimited n.umber of words/characters.

    Personal use license was out for YouTube.

    Hi Don,

    The personal license only permits use by a single user on a single machine, so adding voices to videos on YouTube wouldn't be covered by that.

    Best regards,
    Graham
    If you wished to use the voices for commercial use, you would need a commercial license and an audio broadcast license to permit you to redistribute the audio with your animations. A commercial license would be £99 per voice per year and an audio broadcast license would be £395 per voice per year.

    If you have any further questions, then just get back to me.

    Best regards,
    Graham
    I have contacted several other standalone TTS voice providers as well...all were singing a similar tune. If you want to put the videos on YT for public display (or any other public site including your personal website) you are going to pay some serious cabbage.

    If you don't need a ton of TTS "time", you can find a few commercial broadcast TTS providers that will allow you to purchase by the minute or in blocks of minutes. Something like $29.95 for 1500 seconds, $79.95 for 6000 seconds etc.

    Here is a link to iSpeech...they are getting $500 for 10,000 words.

    https://www.ispeech.org/static (not an affiliate link)

    Another option would be to consider some of the recent TTS video software that has been released, while I have not seen any written documentation backing them up, a couple of the producers say they can be used commercially on public channels and the software is cheap. A few of the recent TTS releases by Jimmy Mancini (TTS Video Studio) come to mind that use relatively high quality voices. I have also contacted Adobe and they told the TTS voices provided in one or two of the programs within the eLearning Suite can be used commercially.

    The thing is if you don't invest in a system that incorporates comprehensive SSML it's difficult to get the inflection, emphasis etc. to sound realistic.

    This is a sample of one of the voices available with Jimmy's software...unfortunately the software does not incorporate advanced SSML...


    (I am not an affiliate and this YT channel has ZERO affiliate links.)

    Cheers

    -don
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  • Profile picture of the author winnermarketing
    Try to use oddcast,
    is a multilanguage text to speech software, very simple to use!
    ... and is for free
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  • Profile picture of the author ForumGuru
    Banned
    FTR --> The free version of Oddcast is free for personal non-commercial use only.

    Welcome to Oddcast! It is important that you review the terms and conditions of Oddcast along with our Privacy Policy. The terms of using the site may change from time to time and you should keep appraised of any changes made.

    The Oddcast product is provided for your personal, non-commercial use only. This means that you may not use Oddcast to sell a product or service, or to increase traffic to your website for commercial reasons, such as advertising sales. You may also not use Oddcast if you are a business and your website is used for generating revenue for your business.
    Cheers

    -don
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  • Profile picture of the author nmwf
    NextUp's TextAloud produces nice results when it's used with one of the higher quality voice files. I personally like the Crystal and Mike voices, but there are several others. Some even have accents.
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