Forum Discussion
Text to speech software recommendations?
Hi,
I'm looking for recommendations on good (free/cheap) text to speech software with a couple of different voice options and the abilitly to save as audio files such as .MP3 or .WAV that I can import to Articulate Storyline.
Any recommendations?
Many thanks!
Elena
60 Replies
Thanks for sharing Sarah! I appreciate you mentioning your position as well.
I have just found this free tool that allows you to download the MP3 audio from Google Translate simply by typing what you want to hear - up to 100 characters - and hit submit.http://soundoftext.com/.
Hi Joao!
Thanks for popping in to share. I'm sure this could assist users in the future.
My pleasure and happy new year, Leslie!
Hello,
I've been testing a lot of TTS Engines lately, I've been trying to find an as naturally sounding voice as possible to human. Been browsing the forum for weeks now and I have to say that the free ones are pretty far behind from the paid ones.
Thanks to Manuel, I believe I found one of the best engines out there at iSpeech, the others are not bad either... but if you need quality, they are the way to go.
Hi,
As I understand it there are a couple components in a TTS reader. A
speech synthesiser that does the voice and the software that you put the
text into. (The reader if you will) I am using Zabaware TTS reader with MS
Anna. It's not as good as the Naturally Speaking voices, but it's free.If you are creating a course, you might have to read the license on the
software you use. My understanding is the if you are selling the resulting
product you have to get a different license then if you are using it for
your own reading.Good luck hope this helps.
Harry
If you need "quality"... use a real person. just sayin' ;)
Well Jonathon I am not sure if you are aware of costs between a TTS software and hiring somebody to do the voiceover, it costs a lot more and sometimes that's not the best quality either..
For someone who does not have English as first language many times a TTS software is the most cost effective choice.
just sayin' ;)
I get it... not taking a jab at you. sometimes you have to use what you can and get by with it (we all do).
I frequently see people discuss "robot voice" and it is usually followed with "not too bad" or "pretty natural sounding". Robot voice makes my ears hurt (as do poor voice overs) and I completely shut out the audio of courses when it is used. I would rather just read the text on screen if given the option (and think learners should have that option).
As training professionals we spend so much time trying to make a course "engaging" or "interactive" and in some cases we end up just giving the learner a headache with poor audio or visual quality.
It is just a general observation. A quality "human" voice-over can really make a difference in the learners experience and can be worth the extra effort and even cost.
I worry that people think "robot voice" is a good choice for a quality course. My opinion is it should be the last choice.
I get that in your situation it is the necessary option, and you are tyring to get the best robot voice possible, which I commend you for.
There's a free software, "TextToWav". It lets me convert to either Wav or Mp3. Also It give my the option change voices. I compare it to other converter and this one save it to a small size with great quality. However, make sure you have virus protection at all times when you dowload. Here's the link: or you can search for it at cnet.com
http://download.cnet.com/windows/smart-butler-com/3260-20_4-86370.html?tag=rb_content;contentBody
Works great with me because I had bought the voices, Kate and Paul, a few years back. And most of all, it's time saving. Don't have to record, edit and so on...
I know this sounds stupid to say in an Articulate forum, but I have both Storyline and Captivate. Captivate has two great voices that don't sound robotic they are Julie & Paul. We use those and export the MP4 into Storyline.
No worries Cindy :) Thanks for sharing.
