Forum Discussion

GeraldCrumbley's avatar
GeraldCrumbley
Community Member
4 years ago

Text-to-speech. Options or updates for more realistic voices?

Is there, or will there be any more realistic options or upgrades for the text-to-speech voices in Storyline360?

  • 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!

  • Checking to see if there are additional voices available for speech-to-text?  Definitely in need of more natural, less robotic voices and I would prefer to not have to import other .mp3 voiceover files for the sake of future editing.  Also, is there a way within Storyline to generate transcription for imported .mp3 audio files?

  • 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!

  • Hi Gerald,

    I appreciate you sharing what you'd like to see!

    We're monitoring requests for more editing options with the text-to-speech feature, including humanizing the voices, so I'll share your voice with my team. Here's a look into our process:

    Let me know if there's anything else I can do!

  • DonSaunders's avatar
    DonSaunders
    Community Member

    I have an immediate need for the Text to Speech functionality in Storyline 360.  Do you have plans to add more voices and/or enhance the voice capabilities to be more human-like?

    • BeccaLevan's avatar
      BeccaLevan
      Community Member

      Thanks for following up, Don!

      I'm sorry, but I don't have any updates to share about this feature request at this moment.

      Now that you're subscribed to this thread, you'll get notified once there's any new news to spread. 

      • DonSaunders's avatar
        DonSaunders
        Community Member

        Hi Becca,

        Text to Speech would really come in handy during these times.

        My company is growing like crazy. We have rapidly switched over to doing a lot of remote training and testing. We don't have the time or resources to do every course or project with a professional voice-over.

        The voices that you guys have in your app are very basic and actually detract from the presentation. I cannot use the text to speech capability you offer because it sounds obviously fake/contrived.

        You folks at Articulate should do yourselves a favor and get text to speech fixed in your applications. I believe doing so would significantly differentiate your applications. I am certain I am not the only person/company out there needed this capability.

        Don Saunders
        Lead, Systems Engineer
        SpE Staff
        L3HARRIS CORP
        Cell: 321-480-3932

        [cid:image001.jpg@01D78872.68BF3650]
        PO Box 37 / Melbourne, FL 32902 / USA.
        Make data-driven decisions

         

        CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain material that is proprietary, confidential, privileged or otherwise legally protected or restricted under applicable government laws. Any review, disclosure, distributing or other use without expressed permission of the sender is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and delete all copies without reading, printing, or saving.

  • I appreciate you sharing your additional thoughts, Don. I've added this to our report.

    It looks like your email signature came through when you replied via email. You can remove that if needed by clicking ‘Edit’ beneath your response. Here’s a quick Peek video if you need help.

  • Lindaflynn's avatar
    Lindaflynn
    Community Member

    Checking to see if there is anything on the roadmap for more realistic text-to-speech voices. I love using Storyline, but find myself using other software because the voices are two robotic. Hoping with new AI technology that Storyline finds a way to integrate better options.  

    • StevenBenassi's avatar
      StevenBenassi
      Staff

      Hi Linda!

      Thanks for the feedback!

      I'm happy to share that we currently have more realistic text-to-speech voices logged as a feature request! I've included your voice in the report!

      I don't have a timeline to share, but when this makes it on our feature roadmap, I'll be sure to update this discussion.

      Have a great rest of your week!

  • DonSaunders's avatar
    DonSaunders
    Community Member

    There are so many reasons to use Text-to-Speech.  T-2-S has made significant improvements over the last year or so.  Many applications are so good now the synthesized voice can go undetected.  Recently I presented to a very large group using T-2-S.  Afterwards one of my senior co-workers asked me who in our department did the voice-over.  I responded that the "voice-over" was T-2-S.  They laughed and responded, "Sure.... Who was it?" 

    If properly constructed and deployed, voice tracks can be easily updated by changing the text and re-running the synthesis, then pasteing in the new voice track as required.  IMHO, if you are not already onboard with T-2-S you are behind the curve.  Come on.  I love Storyline.  I would love to see this feature get some of the Articulate developer's attention.  ☺

  • Hello, Everyone!  

    I'm happy to share that we have released a new update for Storyline 360 (v3.80.30988.0.).

    In this update, we included an enhancement for:

    • Support for NTTS or Neural Voices

    Please update to the latest version of Storyline 360 to see this improvement. Here's how:

    Update Authoring Apps

    If you have any questions, please let us know in this thread or privately in a support case.

    Have a great day! 

    • DonSaunders's avatar
      DonSaunders
      Community Member

      Good morning,

      I have reviewed the TTS update. The quality of the available voices has improved somewhat. "Mathew" seems to be the best selection currently.

      Still, to consider using this as part of my production work I feel the audio/voice editor falls short by not providing the ability to control the speed of the speech execution. This is not a minor shortcoming but a necessity.

      Thanks for listening.

      Don Saunders
      SpE Staff
      Lead, Systems Engineer
      L3HARRIS CORP
      Cell: 321-480-3932
      [cid:image001.jpg@01D9EAE8.AE00A390]
      PO Box 37 / Melbourne, FL 32902 / USA.

      CONFIDENTIALITY NOTICE: This email and any attachments are for the sole use of the intended recipient and may contain material that is proprietary, confidential, privileged or otherwise legally protected or restricted under applicable government laws. Any review, disclosure, distributing or other use without expressed permission of the sender is strictly prohibited. If you are not the intended recipient, please contact the sender and delete all copies without reading, printing, or saving.

      • EricSantos's avatar
        EricSantos
        Staff

        Hi Don,

        Thanks for your feedback and for sharing the additional features you'd like to see in Storyline! We have this logged as a feature request; I see that you're already added to the list for the ability to slow down or speed up the pace of text-to-speech voices. Here's a peek into our process for managing feature requests.

        Also, just a quick note that replying via email includes your signature here, so you are welcome to edit the post and remove that information if you wish!