Forum Discussion
Text-to-Speech is awesome but has one serious flow.
I am very impressed with the Text-to-Speech engine now included in Storyline 360. I previously had to use a voice-over artist and this was costly and frustrating when you wanted to make minor changes to the dialogue.
Recording and modifying dialogue is a breeze with Text-to-Speech - except for one major flaw! It is not possible to include any "control" variables in your Text-to-Speech dialogue. By this I mean something like [Pause 5] or [emphasis]. I have read the discussions around getting the best out of Text-to-Speech and can manipulate "emphasis" to a certain degree using comma, etc.
The big frustration comes with inserting pauses. For this, I need to edit the Text-to-Speech sound track and insert the pauses using the Silence function. This is fine until you need to make any modification to the Text-to-Speech (such as adding a comma to improve emphasis), in which case all the silences I have inserted are deleted and I have to start over again.
As much as Text-to-Speech is saving me time and money, it is also wasting a huge amount of time with the rework of the Silences. It would be great if Articulate include the use of control variables i.e. [Pause 5] and [Emphasis] in the Text-to-Speech engine. I could include these variables directly into the Text-to-Speech dialogue.
Hi, everyone!
I have some great news to share. We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 83, we’ve included important fixes and new features!
One enhanced feature we’ve included:
Unlock new possibilities for text-to-speech audio. Use speech synthesis markup language (SSML) to adjust the speaking rate, modify pronunciation, emphasize words, add pauses, and more.
To take advantage of this update, launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here!
18 Replies
I have had a lot of success with inserting audio as small snippets, so I can manipulate them easily. For example, each sentence is usually its own file. If I have something like a list and want not only to manipulate the timing, but also coordinate interactions with the narration, using smaller snippets of sound makes that a breeze.
To maximize the benefit, I copy and paste the narration from the story board...
Hope this helps!
I see several different challenges going on in this post but I might have a solution for you? It requires going to the source that Storyline uses, Amazon Polly. To make things a bit simpler, I’ve created an application that addresses many of the things here:
- Adjust the overall speed of your files with one setting
- Adjust the overall pause duration for commas
- Add your own SSML tags to get more finer nuanced, naturally sounding results and as necessary, correct the pronunciation of words
- Neural voices
- Batch process your files
Here’s what you do:
- Get an Amazon Polly account (yes, there is some cost involved but doesn’t seem that prohibitive) (https://aws.amazon.com/polly/)
- Save your scripts as separate files (MS-Word or Text)
- Download HeroVoice TTS from the Microsoft Windows Store (fully functioning 15-day free trial)
- Encode your files with HeroVoice TTS – apply a global setting for speed and even comma duration so your files are consistent.
- Select the voice you want – these are the same as you’ll find in Storyline today including Neural voices (which aren’t currently available in Storyline)
- Load each audio file into Storyline
Hello: I am wondering if Articulate has added any of these text to speech functions. It seems that Articulate isn't invested in things like updates to text - to - speech or making Storyline available to Mac users.
That the community has to find these lengthy and costly work arounds, seems counter-productive to our continuing to utilize, with so many work arounds. This thread began 3 years ago. Can you please point out which, if any, of the suggestions, have been added?
Thanks
This discussion started 4 years ago, and still no updates?
Hi, everyone!
I have some great news to share. We just released another update for Storyline 360. In Update 83, we’ve included important fixes and new features!
One enhanced feature we’ve included:
Unlock new possibilities for text-to-speech audio. Use speech synthesis markup language (SSML) to adjust the speaking rate, modify pronunciation, emphasize words, add pauses, and more.
To take advantage of this update, launch the Articulate 360 desktop app on your computer, and click the Update button next to Storyline 360. You'll find our step-by-step instructions here!
