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Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

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Re: Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

#61
post #33

I don't mind so much the size in MB, the fact that it's pure CPU and the quality, what I do mind however is the latency. I hope it's fast. Aside: Are there any models for understanding voice to text, fully offline, without training? I will be very impressed when we will be able to have a conversation with an AI at a natural rate and not "probe, space, response"

Any idea what factors play into latency in TTS models?

Re: Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

#62
Most of these comments were originally posted to a different thread (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=44806543). I've moved them hither because on HN we always prefer to give the project creators credit for their work.

(it does however explain how many of these comments are older than the thread they are now children of)

Re: Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

#64
post #11
post #8

Web version: https://clowerweb.github.io/kitten-tts-web-demo/ It sounds ok, but impressive for the size.

Does anybody find it funny that sci-fi movies have to heavily distort "robot voices" to make them sound "convincingly robotic"? A robotic, explicitly non-natural voice would be perfectly acceptable, and even desirable, in many situations. I don't expect a smart toaster to talk like a BBC host; it'd be enough is the speech if easy to recognize.

A robotic, explicitly non-natural voice would be perfectly acceptable, and even desirable, in many situations[...]it'd be enough is the speech if easy to recognize.

We've had formant synths for several decades, and they're perfectly understandable and require a tiny amount of computing power, but people tend not to want to listen to them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_Automatic_Mouth

https://simulationcorner.net/index.php?page=sam (try it yourself to hear what it sounds like)

Re: Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

#66
post #11
post #8

Web version: https://clowerweb.github.io/kitten-tts-web-demo/ It sounds ok, but impressive for the size.

Does anybody find it funny that sci-fi movies have to heavily distort "robot voices" to make them sound "convincingly robotic"? A robotic, explicitly non-natural voice would be perfectly acceptable, and even desirable, in many situations. I don't expect a smart toaster to talk like a BBC host; it'd be enough is the speech if easy to recognize.

> I don't expect a smart toaster to talk like a BBC host;

Well sure, the BBC have already established that it's supposed to sound like a brit doing an impersonation of an American: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LRq_SAuQDec

Re: Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

#69
Good TTS feels like it is something that should be natively built into every consumer device. So the user can decide if they want to read or listen to the text at hand.

I'm surprised that phone manufacturers do not include good TTS models in their browser APIs for example. So that websites can build good audio interfaces.

I for one would love to build a text editor that the user can use completely via audio. Text input might already be feasible via the "speak to type" feature, both Android and iOS offer.

But there seems to be no good way to output spoken text without doing round-trips to a server and generate the audio there.

The interface I would like would offer a way to talk to write and then commands like "Ok editor, read the last paragraph" or "Ok editor, delete the last sentence".

It could be cool to do writing this way while walking. Just with a headset connected to a phone that sits in one's pocket.

Re: Show HN: Kitten TTS – 25MB CPU-Only, Open-Source TTS Model

#70
post #33

I don't mind so much the size in MB, the fact that it's pure CPU and the quality, what I do mind however is the latency. I hope it's fast. Aside: Are there any models for understanding voice to text, fully offline, without training? I will be very impressed when we will be able to have a conversation with an AI at a natural rate and not "probe, space, response"

"The brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.."

Average duration per generation: 1.28 seconds

Characters processed per second: 30.35

--

"Um"

Average duration per generation: 0.22 seconds

Characters processed per second: 9.23

--

"The brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.. The brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.."

Average duration per generation: 2.25 seconds

Characters processed per second: 35.04

--

processor : 0

vendor_id : AuthenticAMD

cpu family : 25

model : 80

model name : AMD Ryzen 7 5800H with Radeon Graphics

stepping : 0

microcode : 0xa50000c

cpu MHz : 1397.397

cache size : 512 KB

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