Where can I get great sounding voices?
Last reviewed: 4/2/2012
HOW Article ID: H041203
The information in this article applies to:
- VoiceMarkupKit 4
Summary
It may be sound cliché, but people do judge a book by its cover, or in this case, a synthesizer by how it sounds. Other factors such as performance, footprint, and pronunciation are only considered if a voice first passes the sound test.
Vendors package and license their voices to accommodate a variety of deployment scenarios and platforms. Some license directly to the end-user like purchasing a font. Most license to ISVs who bundle the voices with their application or hosted solution.
Ideally, your application can function on a system that already has a preferred voice selected as well as on one where you deliver the voice with your application.
More Information
The following Text-to-Speech vendors offer a variety of voices and licensing options:
Acapela TTS SDKs and Runtimes
- Acapela TTS Windows
- Acapela TTS Windows Mobile
- Acapela TTS Windows Server
Acapela Group 33, Boulevard Dolez 7000 Mons, Belgium +32 (0)65 37 42 75 www.acapela-group.com susanne.magnusson@acapela-group.com
Cepstral TTS SDKs abd Runtimes
- Cepstral Windows
- Cepstral Telephony
- Cepstral Windows CE
Cepstral LLC 1801 East Carson Street, Second Floor Pittsburgh, PA 15203 412-432-0400 www.cepstral.com sales@cepstral.com
Microsoft TTS SDKs and Runtimes
- SAPI 5.1 (XP)
- SAPI 5.3+ (preinstalled on Vista+)
- Microsoft Speech Platform (Server 2003+, Vista+)
Microsoft Corporation One Microsoft Way Redmond, WA 98052-6399 (425) 882-8080 www.microsoft.com
Nuance TTS SDKs and Runtimes
- RealSpeak Solo
- Vocalizer Automotive
- Vocalizer Mobile
- Vocalizer Network
Nuance Communications, Inc. 1 Wayside Road Burlington, MA 01803 (781) 565-5000 (781) 565-5001 (fax) www.nuance.com