16 replies to this topic

[opus_rex]

I'm just getting started with MS, but I don't have a very good voice, nor do I have friends that would read copy for me. So I'm looking at some of the many Text to Speech programs.

Anyone here know of any free or at least under $50.00 TTS programs that they like?

[lucindamc123]

I'm just getting started with MS, but I don't have a very good voice, nor do I have friends that would read copy for me. So I'm looking at some of the many Text to Speech programs.

Anyone here know of any free or at least under $50.00 TTS programs that they like?

Not really free but you can use the demo version of AT & T's text to speech. It isn't bad at all. It is probably the best.

Here is the link

http://www2.research...eb/tts/demo.php

[squadronfilms]

I used this one for the voice of the Chief in my show but it does have better sounding voices.
http://www.naturalreaders.com/

But if you want voice actors just post in the forums, im sure there are lots of people that will be happy to help

[Robear]

You might consider morphing your own voice. With practice you can work up two or three different dialects and accents, then change the timber and pitch with voice morphing software like MorphVOX Pro.

Never as good as real actors, but a lot easier to direct.

[tree]

I'm just getting started with MS, but I don't have a very good voice, nor do I have friends that would read copy for me. So I'm looking at some of the many Text to Speech programs.

Anyone here know of any free or at least under $50.00 TTS programs that they like?

Don't let a good voice stop you from having fun with MS. Good voice-overs are important though usually just a small part of a moviestorm production. Why not voice them yourself? then put out a demo/intro of your movie and offer some MS points to attract voice-over Artists...? maybe they will be inspired and join your project. There is some really great voice talent on these forums.

Most people usually get turned off by TTS in movies. I had a go at it a while back july 2008: I even spent time to edit the tempo and structure of the output to try to put emotion into the voices... You think it worked?

It does get expensive if you want a full cast of TTS voices.
There are companies out their who will charge per minute of TTS audio of some pretty good voices, like paysite.com but it will probably go way over your 50$ to get all your needed voices lines recorded.

[steve3416]

I agree with Tree

I think some of those TTS voices ruin a movie with a robotic sound to it.
Now I have a horrible voice and cannot act at all and have been criticized for my southern accent but I keep trying anyway. With a decent program you can change the pitch of your voice to give it a different sound, if you did the character voices yourself.

I'm also sure if you made a posting on the forum, someone would be glad to help you out with voice overs

[reptor7]

In the first movie I made I used text-to-speech with less than desirable results. Haven't used it since then, unless it's an effect I wanted for a robot's voice. But don't let that stop you. You can make great movies that use no vocals at all, and it's a great exercise in telling a story visually.

[mos6507]

I think TTS can work but you can't ask the TTS to emote in ways that it can't. You have to alter the script and the characterizations to work with the way the TTS voice delivers its dialogue.

Also, bad voice acting will damage a video just as much as bad TTS. Having real voices just means you now have to get real people to emote properly, which is harder than you might think.

[borg1of1]

I've had much the same interest - to use TTS to create spoken dialog - since I do not have many options for voice actors. I did alot of research on this and found that AT&T, which pioneered TTS and holds patents to it, is very very very strict about its use to create anything that in anyway records or uses the sound produced by TTS even for non-commercial use. They require licenses be purchased for such usage. Even if you buy TTS Software, it does not give you legal rights to use, record, disseminate any sounds it produces without obtatiing special licensing to do so. And as some have pointed out, depending on the licensing model, this can become very expensive.

I think xtranormal must be able to allow you to create videos with their TTS feature because they must hold a special license that gives xtranormal users the right to do so.

I would like to see this feature added to moviestorm, but it would have to be something moviestorm negotiates with TTS licensing to allow us to use it. It would be far too costly, in my opinion, for the average moviestorm user to acquire the necessary licenses on their own.

Now, what I am unsure of, is can one use the TTS voices provided by default with Windows Assessibility Features to create dialog without running afoul of the licensing requirements. The default voices provided with Windows are not that good - very robotic.

[gspoutnik]

Hello,
do you know how change the voice of the characters.
I have always the same tts voice for both female & male. There are a lot of tts files in the moviestorm structure but i dont know how use it (modder's??)
Thanks

[Ben_S]

The text to speech in Moviestorm just has the one voice; you are still much better asking for voice actors on our forums (maybe in the collaberation forum.

[juancardenes]

It seems that many people hate TTS in here. Not all people can afford to have voiceovers from others. To make it worse, I read on another post that Moviestorm does not feature movies with TTS. Text to speech exist for something, don't you think? Or Moviestorm does not allow it?

[ms_amos]

I know the post that you are referring to, and I think it's a little misleading. I think what was meant by that post is that it is more difficult to create a convincing movie with text to speech, so not as many are featured.
I'm sure if we were presented with a movie that used TTS in an interesting or unique way, that enhanced the quality of the move instead of detracting from it, then I'm sure we would feature it.
Don't forget that there are a lot of very advanced 3rd party text to speech programs available, so it's simply a case of choosing the right tool for the right job.

[lucindamc123]

It seems that many people hate TTS in here. Not all people can afford to have voiceovers from others. To make it worse, I read on another post that Moviestorm does not feature movies with TTS. Text to speech exist for something, don't you think? Or Moviestorm does not allow it?

I know a lot of actors and they do voice overs for me for free. I also do voice overs so I could help you out too.

[RonStarc]

The current best text to speech software is Text Speaker. It has customizable pronunciation, reads anything on your screen, and it even has talking reminders. It is great for learning as it highlights the words as they are being read. The bundled voices are well priced and sound very human. Voices are available in English, French, Italian, Spanish, German, and more. Easily converts blogs, email, e-books, and more to MP3 or for listening instantly.

[sosberg]

Hi opus_rex,
most of my movies are text to speech and find it okay due to my movies been sci-fi.
so the lack of emotion and as one put it "robotic" sounding voices works.
I have been using TTS for years now and have a various array of voices.
From AT & T, Neospeech and IVONA. With a bit of tweaking some of the voices can sound quite good.
Of course I use real voice actors in the mix which levels out the dialogue a bit more.
My movies are available to watch for more ideas.


http://www.moviestor...nity/?u=sosberg

[spenayoung]

I'm just getting started with MS, but I don't have a very good voice, nor do I have friends that would read copy for me. So I'm looking at some of the many Text to Speech programs.

Anyone here know of any free or at least under $50.00 TTS programs that they like?

I prefer living actors. You can go to Fiverr.com and pay between $5-$25 for a convincing performance of your work. And there are lots of people that will record for free. Just be sure that they record at a high quality. You don't want to end up with good voices and fuzzy or bad recordings.