Download programs to read aloud. Which speech synthesizer should you choose? The best online talkers

Voiceover of text using 5 proven services, choose the best one for yourself. We read books, newspapers, posts on social networks, at work, on the road and on vacation. It is impossible to do without reading. There are just moments when it’s not very convenient to read. In addition to the visual display of texts, there may be a need to voice the text. After all, a situation may arise when you need audio text for a video clip or for a website.

Voice over text online or through a program?

This is where online voice engines and computer programs come to our aid. As it turned out, finding voice over text online is quite difficult. Of course, there are enough services, but they are not professional enough. In this article I will tell you what online voiceover is and how to use it.

Voice-over of text online in Russian and more - functionality of services

Voice-over of online text in Minsk voice is standard on almost all services; you upload your text and receive monotonous audio playback. Unfortunately, no services at all allow you to upload large texts; in most cases there is a limit of 200 - 300 characters. For a short video this is just right, for example for the Dudley video.

If you still need professional voiceover of the text, you will have to pay from 300 rubles. In this article we will look at a couple of services that, in my opinion, are more suitable for work.

A template with such sites looks like this; You go to the site, choose desired language, which voice to use - male or female, enter the text in the window and press play. The service reads your text, and you decide whether to work with it further or not.

Online voiceover services

Acapela service

This service is aimed at reproducing text by voice online. This engine has a fairly high-quality sound level and has male and female voices. (Russian is provided only by female Alena). The processing volume of free text is 300 characters and you will have to pay extra for more.

In order to use the service, go to it
in the window on the left, switch the language (Select a language) to Russian (Russian), then enter your text “type your text here”, check the box to the left of “I agree with terms and condition”. To start playing, click on the “Listen” button below. Find out how to create a professional hand-drawn video on this site!

Voiceover of English text online

Google Translator service

Voice-over of online text in Russian is also done using translators from the famous search engine Google. Its advantage is that you can enter several hundred characters without restrictions and plus it is free. The downside is that you cannot download the voiced text. And of course, the quality may be inferior to paid resources.

To work with this translator and voice over text online, go to voice over text

Enter your text and then click on the speaker in the lower left corner.

Google Translate is useful in many ways. Here you can transcribe the text to your video if you are a little smart. You can also press the microphone to write articles by simple dictation and do not need to type. The only thing you need later is text.

Linguatec Service

This is another online talker that differs from its colleagues in that it has input restrictions! Only 250 characters (you'll have to pay extra for more). And the quality is average. Voice text online, to play the text go to the service .

in the language setting, instead of Deutsch, select Russian.

Select a female (Milena) or male (Yuri) voice, then enter your text and press the Play button.

Text-to-Speech Service

You can reproduce up to 1000 characters in it, the quality is much higher here compared to Linguatec. To use the service, just go HERE for a pleasant experience. Everything on this service is clear intuitively; when I got to this service, everything was clear as is. In any case, select Russian from the drop-down menu, enter the text and then click on “Say it”

IVONA service

And the last service

which, in my opinion, has the highest quality engine of the above listed ones: IVONA. Again, the disadvantage of this service is that it is paid. The developers have even removed the ability to online play text in voice over a couple of lines, which was only recently available in IVONA.

While looking through services for online voicing of text in Russian, I came across programs that read text just as well. From all that I was able to find, in the meantime I searched and downloaded whatever was slipped in instead of programs. Up to the American antivirus. So…

Of all the downloaded products, I would note such products as Govorilka and Sacrament Talker.

Govorilka program

A small program that can read your text and at the same time allows you to download it in two formats: wav and mp3. The size of the read file is limited to 2 gigabytes, there is a voice speed control, there is a volume control, highlighting of the read text and much more useful for reproducing the text online. You can download it directly from the SITE.

Sacrament Talker Program

Voiceover of text is also possible using the Sacrament Talker program. The program has its own Sakrament TTS Engine 3.0 and six (!) built-in Russian voices, works great with large files. But it was difficult to find this program, but I succeeded. For you, I posted it on my Yandex disk. If you don’t know how to create a Yandex disk, I talked about it in this article. It also tells you how to increase space on the cloud..

The specifics of working with the program are similar to the previous analogue. You can download the program from my cloud storage

Balabolka- program

is intended for reading text files aloud. To play a speech synthesizer, any speech synthesizers can be used (for example, balabolka Russian voice). You can control speech playback using standard buttons.

Balabolka can read the contents of the clipboard and can show the text contained in documents. You can also change the colors and font. Manage the reading process from the system tray or using global keyboard shortcuts. Balabolka can also repeat text typed on the keyboard, check your spelling, divide a text file into smaller sizes, and search for homographs.

Balabolka can remove hyphenation marks

at the ends of lines this will avoid hesitation when reading words, supports AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EML, EPUB, FB2, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODS, ODT, PDB, PDF, PRC, RTF, TCR formats , WPD, XLS, XLSX.

The text can be saved as an audio file (supports WAV, MP3, MP4, OGG and WMA formats). The program can work with various versions of the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) package of speech functions. It allows you to change the speed and timbre of speech.

The balabolka program is an indispensable assistant on your computer. You can download balabolka from
–official website–
.

This article will be updated with new programs as they become available. If you know a decent program or service or voice speaking programs, please share them in the comments at the very bottom of this article.

Also, can someone tell me? good service for video transcription? I promise to place all the tools that you recommend in the comments in this article.

Another service that allows you to record your voice online. On this service you can try to voice your text yourself. Perhaps you can do this better than any announcer, which in turn will save your budget.

This service has extensive capabilities. This includes cutting, converting, video recording, Pdf tools, etc. - Sound recording -

The program "" is designed for reading text files aloud. Any speech synthesizers installed on a computer can be used to reproduce the sounds of the human voice. Speech playback can be controlled using standard buttons, similar to those found in any multimedia program (play, pause, stop). The application can read aloud the contents of the clipboard, show text contained in documents, change font and color settings, control the reading process from the system tray (notification area) or using global keyboard shortcuts, pronounce text typed on the keyboard, check spelling, divide a text file for several smaller files, look for homographs. "" provides the ability to remove all hyphens at the ends of lines from the text; This will avoid stuttering when reading words. Supported file formats: AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EML, EPUB, FB2, FB3, HTML, LIT, MOBI, ODP, ODS, ODT, PDB, PDF, PPT, PPTX, PRC, RTF, TCR, WPD, XLS, XLSX.

File size: MB
Version: History of changes
License type: Freeware
Operating system:
Interface languages:	Russian, English, Arabic, Armenian, Bulgarian, Hungarian, Vietnamese, Dutch, Greek, Spanish, Italian, Chinese, Korean, German, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Serbian, Slovenian, Turkish, Ukrainian, Finnish, Filipino, French, Croatian, Czech, Japanese
Help files:	Russian, English, Spanish, Italian, Korean, German, Ukrainian, French, Czech

Portable version: Download(MB)
The portable version of "Balabolka" does not require installation and can be launched from a flash drive.
At least one speech synthesizer (voice) must be installed on the computer.

Console Application: Download(KB)
The console application does not have GUI and runs in text mode.
The operating mode can be set using parameters command line or configuration file.

Utility for extracting text from files: Download(MB)
The program allows you to extract text from files of various formats.
The utility does not have a graphical interface and runs in text mode.

It’s still not clear why such a program is needed? Here useful links on this topic:

The program "" allows you to change its appearance using themes.

The program can use computer voices that support SAPI 4, SAPI 5 or Microsoft Speech Platform. There are free and paid (commercial) speech engines. The most high quality speech synthesis is provided by commercial voices.

Speech synthesizers produced by the company RealSpeak(free votes, were published on the Microsoft server):

• British English (19.4 MB)
• Spanish (21.7 MB)
• Italian (21.5 MB)
• German (20.7 MB)
• French (22.5 MB)

Olga Yakovleva developed a multilingual speech synthesizer with open source code RHVoice(Russian, English, Georgian, Kyrgyz, Tatar, Ukrainian languages and Esperanto):

• Description of the speech synthesizer
• Windows version

Yaroslav Kozak from Lviv created a Ukrainian speech synthesizer UkrVox. The voice of Ukrainian radio announcer Igor Murashko was taken as the basis.

• UkrVox

• Nuance (demo)

Of commercial speech synthesizers of interest to Russian users The following voices represent:

• Alyona(Acapela Group)
• Katya, Milena And Yuri(Nuance)
• Nicholas(Digalo - Acapela Elan Speech Cube)
• Tatyana And Maxim(IVONA)

Microsoft Speech Platform

Microsoft Speech Platform (version 11.0) is a set of tools that allow developers to build solutions with voice recognition and text-to-speech conversion.

To use the speech synthesizer, you must download and install the following components:

1. Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime – the server part of the platform that provides an API for programs (file x86_SpeechPlatformRuntime\SpeechPlatformRuntime.msi).
2. Microsoft Speech Platform - Runtime Languages ​​– a set of languages ​​for the server side. On this moment Voices available for 26 languages, including Russian voice Elena(files whose names begin with "MSSpeech_TTS_").

The tags (control commands) that are used for SAPI 5 voices can also be used for Microsoft Speech Platform voices. But remember, SAPI 5 voices and Microsoft Speech Platform voices are incompatible with each other, so you cannot switch between them using the Voice or Lang tags.

Pronunciation correction

User can use special list substitutions to improve the quality of speech reproduction. This is useful in cases where there is a need to change the pronunciation of words or individual syllables; To do this, some expression in the text is replaced with the necessary readable expression. Regular expression syntax is used to write such replacement rules; lists of replacements are stored in files with the *.rex extension.

At the request of Russian users, support for dictionaries for correcting pronunciation with the *.dic extension has been added. This dictionary format was used in the Govorilka program. Simple rules replacements are applied to text faster than regular expressions.

The *.bxd format combines the advantages of the other two formats. The dictionary can contain both regular expressions and rules for simple text replacement. In a special editor, you can create separate dictionaries both for the selected computer voice and for a specific language.

Dictionary files are located in the folder " Documents\Balabolka" ("My documents\Balabolka" in Windows XP).

Spellchecking

The program "" supports Hunspell(hunspell.github.io). Hunspell is a spell checker designed for languages ​​with complex word formation and extensive morphology. Hunspell is used in the OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice office suites, as well as Mozilla browser Firefox.

Dictionaries for Windows can be downloaded from here:

Govorilka is a small program for reading texts by voice. She can read aloud the text you give her on different languages, any voice installed on the computer. Writes text to MP3 file.

See also:
Govorilka CP(command-line text-to-speech processor). This is Govorilka without an interface. Works from the command line.
ABM SubtitlesReader- a program for reading subtitles for films.

Main features of the Govorilka program.

Reading text by voice.
Record readable text V sound file (*.WAV, *.MP3) with increased speed* and divided into parts of a given size.
Adjust reading speed and voice pitch.
Automatically Scrolls the text on the screen so that the readable fragment is always visible (speech tracking). In this case, the readable text can be highlighted in color.
Refillable pronunciation dictionaries, which allows you to easily correct the pronunciation of individual words and phrases.
Opens big files in DOS and Windows encoding.
Opens texts from files Microsoft® Word And HTML(if MS Office is installed).
Readable text size up to 2 gigabytes.
Memorable text and cursor position when exiting the program.

Please note that the current version of the program is a test version (beta) - there may be errors.

Appearance programs.

Example of work.

You can listen to audio files created using Govorilka and the Digalo Russian speech engine (this is just one of the possible voices):
1 . Leonid Filatov. "About Fedot the Sagittarius"
fragment (mp3, 3 minutes, 534k).
2 . "Hedgehog in the Fog"
(mp3, 24kbit, 7 minutes, 1.2m).
3 . And there are craftsmen who “taught” Govorilka to sing:
www.realmusic.ru/govorilka
(author: Valery Tivchenko, www.midi.ru/home/124225, www.realmusic.ru/tiko)

How is Govorilka useful?

Govorilka protects your eyesight. With it, the texts of e-books can be listened to, rather than read from the monitor screen. You can find out how words and phrases sound in a foreign language. You can record books into MP3 files and listen to them on your MP3 player/smartphone. With the help of Govorilka, you can evaluate the capabilities of computer speech synthesis and teach your computer to talk.

Notes.

Govorilka is a trial program.
Its development began in 1999 as the embodiment of ideas for using speech synthesis on a computer. It was intended only for personal home use and programming experiments (it didn’t even come up with a name - that’s how it became “Talker”). When it turned out that in terms of functionality and convenience Govorilka was ahead (at that time) of all existing programs for converting text into speech, a page was made for it on the Internet.
Please take the above into account and be lenient to the program's shortcomings.

Online speech synthesizers are a useful find that previously could only be dreamed of. They allow you to voice any text you specify by adjusting the voice, timbre, tempo, etc. Initially, the utility was designed for people with poor eyesight who do not have the ability to read text from the monitor. Nowadays it is often used as an auxiliary tool in studying foreign languages, allowing you to perceive speech by ear and get used to the correct placement of stress and intonation. Also, for convenience, you can use the synthesizer to listen to books while doing household chores.

On the Internet you can easily find a lot of such applications available for downloading on your PC. However, in order not to fill up your computer’s memory again and not to jeopardize the security of its operation, it is better to use online services. We will tell you about the three most convenient and multifunctional.

Acapela – the most famous online speech synthesizer

The Acapela website provides a huge selection of languages ​​and voices for voicing text. This is especially true for English - it can be heard in twenty different options: in a female voice, male, childish, senile, joyful, etc.

It’s convenient that all parameters can be configured immediately home page

Unfortunately, things are worse with Russian texts - they are voiced only in one voice - a certain Alena. But nevertheless, the result is quite worthy.

The settings here are very simple - just select the language and voice, enter the desired text, then agree to the terms of use of the resource and click the “Listen!” button.

The interface is designed in English, but even without translation it is quite clear what and how to click

The limit for audio playback is 300 characters. This is the main disadvantage of most online speech synthesizers, so if you need voice acting for a large file, this option is clearly not suitable. To use voiceover without restrictions, they offer to buy full version programs. It is available for all operating systems on PC and phone.

Google Translator: fast, easy, accessible

Speaking of playing text files, we cannot fail to mention the famous Google Translate. As the name suggests, this service is designed for translating texts. In addition, here you can also listen to files - this is done literally in one click.

Everything is designed in Russian, so it’s very easy to understand the interface

To listen to the file, you need to paste your text into the appropriate window and click on the megaphone icon in the lower left corner. It’s convenient that you can do this with both the original and the translation. Note that the limit here is much larger than in Acapela - 5000 characters. There are no extensions or paid versions provided.

Since this program was created for other purposes, the functionality here leaves much to be desired. Timbre, reading speed and other important parameters are not adjustable in any way. The voice acting is unnatural, with distinct “metallic” notes. Intonation, pauses, semantic stresses - all this is done unprofessionally, so in every sentence you feel like the words are unevenly “glued” together.

This application is convenient to use, for example, if you want to understand how the text you write is perceived by ear. For this, intonation and timbre are not particularly important, because the wording itself, the presence of tautologies and dissonant statements are interesting.

Among the advantages, one can only note a huge selection of languages, which, in fact, is quite logical for online translator

ServiceFromtexttospeech for voice playback of your text

The last application we want to talk about is Fromtexttospeech. Let's start with the fact that the restrictions on the number of characters here are the most flexible - up to 50,000. This is a serious competitive advantage, but let's figure out whether Fromtexttospeech has any other obvious advantages.

The algorithm of the program is approximately the same as that of Acapela:

• configure online speech synthesizer parameters: language, timbre and speed;
• click “Create Audio File”;
• download or simply listen to the finished file.

So, let's try. Copy a few sentences of your article and paste it onto fromtexttospeech.com. Just below the working panel the number of characters that we can still add is displayed.

It’s very convenient that you can choose the reading speed: slow, medium, fast and very fast

There’s nothing else to configure here, so let’s move on to the actual conversion to audio procedure. This process takes several minutes (depending on the file size), after which you can evaluate the result of the work in a separate window.

The ability to save the resulting audio file to your computer is a very convenient feature that distinguishes this service from many others.

To summarize, it is worth saying that all the services we reviewed are very individual and have their own characteristics. If you are interested in professional voice acting, then Acapela is perfect for these purposes. On the official website of the program you can test its operation, evaluate its sound and functionality in order to decide whether to purchase a full-fledged version. If the issue of quality is not too important for you, choose the good old Google Translator or Fromtexttospeech, which allow you to convert large text files in audio.

You can listen to how fragments of the same text sound when performed by different voice engines in our video.

Technology is moving forward. A couple of centuries ago, books were a scarce commodity. With the development of printing production, books reached the masses. Psychologists have determined that people perceive the same information differently. And if it's easy for visual people to find printed edition, then auditory learners have a more difficult time. To enable people with an auditory type of perception to absorb information in a form convenient for them, audiobooks were invented. Nowadays, finding audio variations of a popular literary work is not a problem. But what to do when you need to voice a personally recorded text? We should not forget about people with limited abilities (visually disabled). Programs specializing in voice acting were invented specifically for such purposes. Below we will look at the main types of such programs.

Principle of operation

Voice acting programs have similar operating algorithms. The user is required enter document in a special window or select part of the document for reproduction. One utility is not enough. Any program specializing in voice acting uses a voice engine. It functions as a speech synthesizer. There are a huge number of voice engines on the Internet. Some of them are installed on the computer along with the operating system.

The software allows you to choose your voice and reading speed, which is a definite advantage for people with a visual type of information perception. Among the shortcomings highlight the imperfections of machine translation: incorrect accents and the unreadability of some words, especially slang ones.

Online voice-over services

Acapela

Acapela is a foreign service that can voice text in 35 languages ​​and dialects. It is noteworthy that the portal voices foreign words with a characteristic accent (for example, Russian words are read by an Englishman). The site contains a demo version of the product with a limited size of up to 300 characters. Another disadvantage is the requirement to agree to the terms of the site every time. For Russian localization, one option for voicing the text is offered - the Alyona voice engine.

Linguatec

The Linguatec service offers a demo version of the product. There are also up to 40 options for voiceover text. Compared to the previous site on Linguatec two voices represented: female “Milena” and male “Yuri”. The character limit in the demo version is 250 characters.

Text-to-Speech

Text-to-Speech is another portal that can read text online. It has more advanced settings: speaker speech speed, font size, machine translation. An on-screen keyboard is provided for people with disabilities. Unfortunately, for the Russian-speaking user only one female voice.

Google Translator

Google Translator is a proprietary translator from Google Corporation. One of the functions of the service is to voice a translated or original sentence. If you have a microphone, you can type words by voice. If you want to save the translation result and its audio to “favorites,” then log in to Gmail. Google service Translator translates and voices texts within 5000 characters. The only downside is the voice engine, which sounds more like a robot's speech.

IVONA

The IVONA website is a presentation page demonstrating voice engines. This service is a Polish development and offers four voice options. All languages ​​have 2-3 voices. In the Russian segment there are two voice engines “Maxim” and “Tatyana”. Unfortunately, there is no opportunity to try the service for free. The only thing a user can do without purchasing a subscription is to listen to a template greeting from voice engines.

Yandex translate

Yandex translator is a domestic analogue of Google translator. It has similar tools at its disposal: translation, voiceover and voice generator, on-screen keyboard and saving to favorites. The only thing that distinguishes Yandex translator from foreign analogue – maximum amount characters reaching 10,000 characters.

Oddcast

The Oddcast portal is the most interesting online speech synthesizer for dubbing from an interface point of view. Here, in addition to the dry sound there are animated speakers. In addition, virtual speakers follow the mouse pointer. Additionally, speech effects are regulated on the site. There is an option to partially change the sound. The Russian language in Oddcast is represented by three engines: “Dmitry”, “Milina” and “Olga”. The disadvantages include a limitation on the maximum number of characters of 300 characters and not the most convenient interface for input.

ISpeech

The ISpeech website has a minimalist interface that even a novice user can understand. All you need to do is enter a couple of sentences and select a language. Additionally, the speed of text reading by voice and the choice of voice engine are adjusted. If desired, the voiced result can be saved on a PC. The maximum number of characters is 150.

2 ears

2ukha is an interesting domestic site, where, in addition to a narrowly focused forum, there is a section on converting a document into an audio file, which is recorded in mp3 or awb format. In the settings, before processing the request, additional parameters are configured: reading speed, voice pitch, volume, type of voice engine and reading punctuation marks. The conversion result is sent to email in a few minutes. We recommend go through authorization through social media, so as not to have to enter the code before sending the request (check for a robot). The disadvantage of the portal is the inability to instantly read out the text in online mode.

Programs for reproducing text by voice

Talker

Talker is a useful software for those who like to listen, but unfortunately it is not available online. Supports downloading additional speech engines and language library directly from the official website. Has useful features:

Sacrament Talker

What makes Sacrament Talker unique is that it runs on own sound system speech TTS Engine 3.0, where six Russian voices are available. Like other programs, it processes text from the browser, office applications, and also saves voice acting in MP3 format.

2nd Speech Center

2nd Speech Center is another assistant that protects your eyesight. It has the most intuitive user interface. Supports recording of spoken text in mp3/wav formats. Processes formats: .txt, .doc, .pdf, .eml, .rtf, .htm, .html.

Audiobook Recorder

Audiobook Recorder is more like an advanced audiobook than a traditional talker. Utility specializes in conversion text documents to MP3. Distinctive feature The program is served by the presence of the function “ Smart pause", improving the quality of reading.

TNR JayJay

Balabolka

Balabolka is a universal program for reading aloud, supporting a huge number of formats, ranging from browser pages to DjVu files. It has the functionality of a text editor and also saves the voiced text on the computer.

Govorun+

Govorun+ is a compact program that can read text aloud in Russian. It runs on a pre-installed speech synthesizer and uses built-in voice engines. Reads RTF and TXT files. Additionally available player for playback recorded sounds, notification system, tray work and editable interface. You will be pleasantly surprised by the animated characters who act as announcers.

Foxit Reader

Foxit Reader is a small text-to-speech utility focused on reading PDF files. It is distinguished by its fast data processing speed and low requirements for PC technical resources. The friendly user interface deserves special attention, where control of editing tools is mastered at an intuitive level.

Demagog

Project Demagog – useful utility, which is more like an advanced text editor. Thanks to its wide capabilities, it is suitable not only for reading and reproducing texts, but also copes with literary works. Will delight auditory listeners with the following functions:

ICE Book Reader

ICE Book Reader is a multifunctional speaker that not only voices recorded Russian and English text, but also converts some files. Specializes in reading books. Works well with most known formats, and also has several useful options:

RussAcc

The RussAcc project specializes in the reproduction of Russian speech. The presented program can correctly place accents during pronunciation, as well as emphasizes on the letter.

Additionally, RussAcc is used as a text editor (text formatting) and an FB2 to TXT converter. There is a system of bookmarks and remembering the fragment being read when exiting.

Reading engines

As you may have noticed, each of the presented programs or sites has a voice acting name. Each name is not a random name, but name of the speech engine. In some programs for voicing text, the function of loading a speech engine is available. Using this option, users can find or buy the voice they like best on the Internet and use it as a voiceover for the text. We bring to your attention the best free speech engines with support for the Russian language:

• “Voice” (Ukrainian language available).
• "Alena" (works only on "Balabolka").

Mobile applications

Before describing programs for speaking text on smartphones and tablets, I would like to clarify one detail. In order for the software to work, you need to download the voice engine Text-To-Speech For mobile devices. On new gadgets this function installed with the operating system. For older devices, you will need to download the engine from the Play Store. The user needs to enter their name in the Play Store: Google TTS, Acapela, Ivona or SVOX TTS. You can choose one of the engines or download them all at once. The presented engines are absolutely free for Android users.

SpeechText

SpeechText is an application that allows you to read the entered text on any available languages. If desired, the language library can be expanded independently. SpeechText offers the function of saving spoken text in audio format on a memory card.

Chatterbox

Chatterbox is a domestic program for speech reproduction. Initially, the utility was presented as a pocket secretary capable of recording or voicing thoughts. However, thanks to the updates, the function of translating and voicing text in many languages ​​has appeared. Additionally, the application can read emails, messages and play any selected fragment.

Speech to Text - Text to Speech

The presented mobile service is a convenient utility that has reverse conversion function. Thanks to this feature, you can not only listen to a voiced text document, but also dictate a sentence to convert it into text.

Voice Aloud Reader

Voice Aloud Reader is a multifunctional “speaker” capable of speaking text from third-party Android applications: browsers, news articles, received emails and processing formats for reading EPUB, FB2, PDF and others.