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Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

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Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#31

Post by mherdeg »

yoda_sl wrote: post #27

Quite cool... But if this is generated by the text to speech engine from OS X, then I am afraid it is going beyond the license that come up with OS X. I remember reading through that license and it was clearly stated that using the OS X TTS was only for local usage on your Mac. So I am extremely curious to know the license behind this tts-api? Can the OP provide such info or provide some of the tech behind it?

In case anyone else is curious, the section you're thinking of is

""F. Voices. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you may use the system voices included in the Apple Software (“System Voices”) (i) while running the Apple Software and (ii) to create your own original content and projects for your personal, non-commercial use. No other use of the System Voices is permitted by this License, including but not limited to the use, reproduction, display, performance, recording, publishing or redistribution of any of the System Voices in a profit, non-profit, public sharing or commercial context.""

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#32

Post by jiggy2011 »

riobard wrote: post #21

For those who want to run their own copy of this, here's how to do it: 1. Find a Mac-based server (a co-located Mac Mini will be fine) 2. Run `say -o output.wav $TEXT` to generate the voice 3. Compress the WAVE file with `lame` or the system builtin `afconvert` to get the MP3 file. `say` command supports multiple languages and dialects, but you'll have to install the necessary voice engines in OS X 10.8. Man page for…

If you use Ubuntu or similar there is also eSpeak

espeak -w output.wav 'I love jiggy'

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#33

Post by yoda_sl »

mherdeg wrote: post #31
yoda_sl wrote: post #27

Quite cool... But if this is generated by the text to speech engine from OS X, then I am afraid it is going beyond the license that come up with OS X. I remember reading through that license and it was clearly stated that using the OS X TTS was only for local usage on your Mac. So I am extremely curious to know the license behind this tts-api? Can the OP provide such info or provide some of the tech behind it?

In case anyone else is curious, the section you're thinking of is ""F. Voices. Subject to the terms and conditions of this License, you may use the system voices included in the Apple Software (“System Voices”) (i) while running the Apple Software and (ii) to create your own original content and projects for your personal, non-commercial use. No other use of the System Voices is permitted by this License, including b…

Thank you! Exactly what I was referring to.

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#36

Post by kajecounterhack »

duiker101 wrote: post #10
bencevans wrote: post #9

There's an unofficial Google API that does the same job people may be interested in: http://translate.google.com/translate_tts?tl=en&q=Hello+...

limited to 150 characters IIRC

Bing's got an API -- you need to sign up for a key but you get a very large number of free uses and I dont think there's a char limit.

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#37

Post by archangel_one »

franze wrote: post #18

just wanted to add: you can now do this all in the browser (100% client side), too -> http://lalo.li/ (it's forkable)

Well, not really; the quality is nothing like as good. It's a nifty trick being able to do synthesis at all in Javascript, though.

And, of course, it presumably doesn't have the licensing issues this other approach would appear to, if it really is using Apple's voices.

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#38

Post by kajecounterhack »

davecap1 wrote: post #35

What about a speech-to-text API?

Speech to text is a far more computationally difficult problem. Google has an unofficial one -- you can curl flac voice files to them but even their transcription is not terrific. (They use it for automatic captions on youtube -- use that to judge...)

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#39

Post by ChrisKelly »

tantalor wrote: post #34

Does it support IPA or SSML[1]? I ask because AT&T's TTS API[2] does, but it kind of sucks! For example, [1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speech_Synthesis_Markup_Languag... [2] http://www2.research.att.com/~ttsweb/tts/demo.php

You might be able to do non-English pronunciations by trying phonetic spellings, which can be tricky. The best I could get for "felicidades" was this: fell isseedadesh.

Re: Show HN: TTS-API - Text-to-speech API

#40

Post by lobster_johnson »

This is a bit off topic, but a related question: I have been looking for a "bad" text to speech library that produces Stephen Hawking-style audio, similar to what's found in old 1970/80s electronics. Examples:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gh0fBwiE4cE

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vvYvCaAN3Jg

Anyone?

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