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Originally Posted by KindleAZWorKFX
I have a question is it possible to use this plug in to access new voices that our new chrome edge has in windows 10 I would like to use calibre and this plugin to use these voices that somehow our new edge has access to, but for whatever reasons they didn't make it easy to access outside of read aloud in Microsoft new edge software I think. it would be great if I could access Jessa Online (natural) english voice from outside of edge, any ideas how I could go about making the normal tts access it under windows 10 without having to use edge's new chrome browser to access it, I can get it to read text in edge but have not been able to use it outside of that software yet. microsoft added neural text-to-speech which are based on this information about in below a link to a page on this new voices.
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An interesting question, which deserves a better answer than I'm able to give at the moment. All I know about making Windows-installed voices available to this plugin is in post #2, but it's not a user-friendly read, I know.
In the short term, the answer is 'No'. The last I heard about MS Edge was when MS removed the ability to use it to read EPUB files. If the new Edge voices are only available to those who sign up to the MS beta programme then I can confirm that this plugin won't work with them. I can't currently see them on my Win10 PC.
I don't know about longer term because I won't see them until they become part of standard Windows 10. However, I don't want to raise your hopes that it's only a matter of time. This extract from your link doesn't make me very hopeful (
bolding mine):
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It’s also worth noting that these voices have been exposed to developers through the JavaScript SpeechSynthesis API. This means that any web-based text to speech application can leverage them to create more configurable and human sounding experiences in the new version of Microsoft Edge!
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Sorry if the following is geek-speak but I don't know how to describe it any other way. This plugin is about as far from "web-based" or "Java-based" as it's possible to get. Nor do I have the in-depth technical skills to change that.
The plugin as-is has 3 components:
- The MS SAPI5 Text-to-Speech stuff which allows you to choose voices and create a .wav file on your local disk from a plain text string (in this case the text from a single chapter) fed to it.
- The lame.exe Windows program which converts a .wav file created by item 1. to a .mp3 file on your local disk
- The GUI and calibre-integration wrapped around items 1. & 2. to make them easy to use by non-technical users via simple point-and-click.
To do what you've asked for (
if it's even possible) I suspect that item 1. would need to be replaced with a brand new component using this new
JavaScript SpeechSynthesis API rather than the old
MS SAPI5 Text-to-Speech. Unfortunately the technical stuff in the existing item 1. was not even written by me. I re-used some existing code found in an old calibre Viewer TTS plugin. The user who actually wrote it (
and presumably understood it ) only visited MobileRead for a few days several years ago so I can't pick their brains now.
TL: DNR;
I'll take a closer look when these new voices become part of mainstream Windows 10 but without help from a volunteer technical guru, who fancies an interesting little side project, I'm not particularly hopeful.
