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Text to voice downloads

Zap ZZap Z Posts: 60
edited December 1969 in Art Studio

I was just wondering if anyone had a link to a text to speech program. I want to add voice to my animations. But, I don't have the budget to hire actors. I would prefer something other than a robo voice.

Comments

  • argus1000argus1000 Posts: 701
    edited December 1969

    Zapboy said:
    I was just wondering if anyone had a link to a text to speech program. I want to add voice to my animations. But, I don't have the budget to hire actors. I would prefer something other than a robo voice.

    All text-to-speech programs sound robotic. A machine that reads cannot have the proper emotions. If you want authenticity and realism, there is no substitute for an actor.

    A real voice-over actor is not that expensive. For about 100 words, you can easily find one for $150, maybe $200. They record it themselves at their homes and send it to you as mp3 files by email. Just Google "voice-over actors". There is plenty of sites that advertize actors. That's how I found mine. A good start is: http://voice123.com/

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,226
    edited December 1969

    Morphvox/Screaming Bee not bad for altering your own voice and not very expensive.
    otherwise Microsoft has some new TTS voices for Win8 in their SAPI SDK you can play and export them with Balabolka

  • NoName99NoName99 Posts: 322
    edited December 1969

    I used cepstral a few years ago and thought they were ok, but I'm not sure how expensive they currently are:

    http://www.cepstral.com

    I don't use text-to-voice anymore, but when I did, I would import the recorded voice into an audio editing program and use a pitch shifter & pitch corrector to give it a more human feel. You can get surprisingly good results with this, but it's incredibly time consuming.

    That said, I have to agree that I don't think there is a replacement for human voice actors.

    If your stuff is good enough, you can probably find actors that are just starting out that will do it for free in exchange for the footage.
    They don't even have to live near you as long as they have good recording equipment.
    Being novice actors, they may not always be the best, but neither is a computer.

    Posting an ad on Craigslist usually works. You can usually post a casting notice at local colleges if they have an Acting/Film school too.

    It's an option worth considering.

  • Ken OBanionKen OBanion Posts: 1,447
    edited December 1969

    I have used Natural Reader (I think I got it for about $100, three or four years ago). It came with -- if memory serves -- about a half-dozen voices, of varying quality; those, plus the ones that ship with the Windows SAPI, provided a reasonably good variety.

    I did the same web search as everybody else, and arrived at the same conclusion: if you want even semi-decent quality voices, you're gonna have to suck it up and prepare to pay retail. There are damn few freebies out there, and the overwhelming majority of the ones that are, are pretty much crap. (You get what you pay for; in this case, at least, it is very true.)

    But you're right: the lack of inflection, even in an otherwise high-quality voice, makes it sound mechanical (or like Vanna White in that pile-of-crap movie she starred in years ago, Goddess of Love). And that, for me, was the deal-breaker.

    That said, I'm on the same page as the consensus here: there really is no replacement for an actual, breathing, pulse-possessing speaker. And I have found no shortage of volunteers -- family, friends, even the occasional casual acquaintance. For all of them, the experience has been something of a lark, a way to while away a couple of hours, doing something that, in some small, obscure way, just might immortalize them on YouTube.

    Ask around. You might be surprised.

  • WendyLuvsCatzWendyLuvsCatz Posts: 38,226
    edited December 1969

    Most those paid for text to speech programs have restrictions on the use of their voices too BTW.
    This is why I stick to the Microsoft ones which are in the resdistributable SDK.

  • Kevin SandersonKevin Sanderson Posts: 1,643
    edited April 2015

    You also have to remember to write the dialogue properly. It should be written in a natural style. Read it out loud first yourself and make corrections before you give it to a pro to read for a recording. Short sentences, with proper punctuation are a must. If you "hear" breaks or pauses in what you are writing in your head, be sure those breaks or pauses are in the script, such as the ever popular ... or (pause), or (wait a beat). If something should be emphasized, it should be in bold or underlined in the script.

    Proper use of punctuation will help a text-to-speech program sound a little better if you are stuck with that for a time before you can get real people.

    Post edited by Kevin Sanderson on
  • Steve KSteve K Posts: 3,235
    edited December 1969

    " [Harrison] Ford famously told George Lucas, concerning the clunky dialogue in 'Star Wars,' 'George, you can type this s***, but you sure has hell can't say it.' "

  • Moss_35089Moss_35089 Posts: 20
    edited December 1969

    if you live near a college or university with a drama department, possibly free or a pizza and few beers could get you few students willing to do voice work
    i've posted a notice a few times at local university, inside the drama faculty building on their bulletin board and basically for pizza and beer got some nice work for couple of goofy animations i did for grandkids

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