support for speech synthesizer in calibre linux

bheeshmpita · 05-12-2022, 02:06 PM

@kovidgoyal and others, can the coqui tts https://github.com/coqui-ai/TTS be used as speech synthesizer in read aloud for linux systems as the espeak one doesnt sound natural.
Secondly, the browser tts extensions also cant access the content to read while reading in browser over content server of calibre. Basically any good/natural speech synthesis doesnt seems to be an options for linux systems.

kovidgoyal · 05-12-2022, 10:10 PM

1) TTS on Linux sucks

2) Browsers dont allow that access in the speech apis.

bheeshmpita · 05-13-2022, 12:29 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

1) TTS on Linux sucks

hi Kovid, if you haven't checked the TTS project i mentioned, please do check it out its samples https://erogol.github.io/ddc-samples/, i think it can give some good results.
So can this be used for tts in calibre at present? If not, please do give a thought to make calibre compatible with it.
Please do leave a reply regarding its current compatibility status.

kovidgoyal · 05-13-2022, 05:07 AM

I'm afraid I am not going to write compatibility code for every TTS implementation out there. Get your favortie tts engine to add support for speec-dispatcher and calibre will pick it up automatically.

aborel · 05-13-2022, 08:15 AM

I found the compatibility list for speech-dispatcher here:
https://freebsoft.org/speechd-in-detail

@bheeshmpita have you tested the other ones besides Espeak? Maybe one of them will sound better for you.

bheeshmpita · 05-13-2022, 08:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kovidgoyal

Get your favortie tts engine to add support for speec-dispatcher and calibre will pick it up automatically.

just wanted to get this thing little bit explained. what to look for while searching speech synthesizer conpatible with calibre as i downloaded the earlier mentioned one but it doesnt show up in read aloud settings.
As i am just a regular user so i didnt catch up the technical terms you mentioned in your comment, please bear with me.

aborel · 05-17-2022, 01:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bheeshmpita

As i am just a regular user so i didnt catch up the technical terms you mentioned in your comment, please bear with me.

Maybe I should rephrase my previous message, sorry if I was unclear.
And my answer might not be authoritative, as I am not using text-to-speech (on Linux or otherwise).

calibre doesn't directly support TTS engines on Linux, it interacts with speech-dispatcher that acts sort of like a neutral translation layer in the process (at least this is how I understand kovidgoyal's answer)
speech-d itself can communicate with various TTS engines. The list is given on the page I suggested
You do not like Espeak, this is fine as you have several other possible choices in the compatibility list. Pick one on the list and decide if it is better, if not try another one and hopefully one will meet your needs

I hope this helps. If not do not hesitate to ask about the details that are problematic to you.

bheeshmpita · 05-20-2022, 09:47 AM

Thanks @aborel for being so helpful. I tried to go through the list and find what can be useful. Though except one or 2 i cant find any details of them but in the meantime i have found an alternative that is simpler. 2 chrome extensions https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...kbiadflb?hl=en
&
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...gimiaplp?hl=en
they can be used together to read the ebooks without much of a hassle

05-12-2022, 02:06 PM	#1
bheeshmpita Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2022 Device: android tablet	support for speech synthesizer in calibre linux @kovidgoyal and others, can the coqui tts https://github.com/coqui-ai/TTS be used as speech synthesizer in read aloud for linux systems as the espeak one doesnt sound natural. Secondly, the browser tts extensions also cant access the content to read while reading in browser over content server of calibre. Basically any good/natural speech synthesis doesnt seems to be an options for linux systems.

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05-12-2022, 10:10 PM	#2
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	1) TTS on Linux sucks 2) Browsers dont allow that access in the speech apis.

05-13-2022, 05:07 AM	#4
kovidgoyal creator of calibre Posts: 45,345 Karma: 27182818 Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Mumbai, India Device: Various	I'm afraid I am not going to write compatibility code for every TTS implementation out there. Get your favortie tts engine to add support for speec-dispatcher and calibre will pick it up automatically.

05-13-2022, 08:15 AM	#5
aborel Enthusiast Posts: 29 Karma: 98 Join Date: Dec 2013 Device: Kobo Aura	I found the compatibility list for speech-dispatcher here: https://freebsoft.org/speechd-in-detail @bheeshmpita have you tested the other ones besides Espeak? Maybe one of them will sound better for you.

05-20-2022, 09:47 AM	#8
bheeshmpita Enthusiast Posts: 31 Karma: 10 Join Date: Apr 2022 Device: android tablet	Thanks @aborel for being so helpful. I tried to go through the list and find what can be useful. Though except one or 2 i cant find any details of them but in the meantime i have found an alternative that is simpler. 2 chrome extensions https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...kbiadflb?hl=en & https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...gimiaplp?hl=en they can be used together to read the ebooks without much of a hassle

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