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- List of applications#Speech synthesizers

RHVoice is a multilingual speech synthesizer. It uses statistical parametric synthesis and relies on existing open-source speech technologies (mainly HTS and related software).

## Installation

Install the rhvoice package. Also install necessary #Languages and #Voices.

## Languages

Initially, RHVoice could speak only Russian. But now it supports many other languages.

Available languages list you can get by command:

    $ pacman -Ss rhvoice-lang

Package name | Language
--- | ---
rhvoice-language-albanian | Albanian
rhvoice-language-brazilian-portuguese | Portuguese
rhvoice-language-english | English
rhvoice-language-esperanto | Esperanto
rhvoice-language-georgian | Georgian
rhvoice-language-kyrgyz | Kyrgyz
rhvoice-language-macedonian | Macedonian
rhvoice-language-polish | Polish
rhvoice-language-russian | Russian
rhvoice-language-tatar | Tatar
rhvoice-language-ukrainian | Ukrainian

## Voices

Voices are built from recordings of natural speech. They have small footprints, because only statistical models are stored on users' computers. And though the voices lack the naturalness of the synthesizers which generate speech by combining segments of the recordings themselves, they are still very intelligible and resemble the speakers who recorded the source material.

Available voices list you can get by command:

    $ pacman -Ss rhvoice-voice

Package name | Language | Note
--- | --- | ---
rhvoice-voice-hana | Albanian |
rhvoice-voice-leticia-f123 | Portuguese |
rhvoice-voice-alan | English | Scottish English
rhvoice-voice-bdl |
rhvoice-voice-clb |
rhvoice-voice-evgeniy-eng | Evgeniy Chebatkov (StandUp comedian, voice actor)
rhvoice-voice-lyubov | Lyubov Sablina (teacher at the language center "Lingua Belle")
rhvoice-voice-slt |
rhvoice-voice-spomenka | Esperanto |
rhvoice-voice-natia | Georgian |
rhvoice-voice-azamat | Kyrgyz |
rhvoice-voice-nazgul |
rhvoice-voice-kiko | Macedonian | Developed by LouderPages
rhvoice-voice-suze | Developed by Branislav Gerazov
rhvoice-voice-magda | Polish |
rhvoice-voice-natan |
rhvoice-voice-aleksandr | Russian | Aleksandr Karlov (TV and radio host, audiobook reader). The current version of the HQ voice has a higher quality than the previous version, their sound is different, so the new version is temporarily separated into a separate voice to collect feedback. This version may contain issues that are not present in the original voice. Since the speech base is open, we will be happy for your participation in improving the voice.
rhvoice-voice-aleksandr-hq
rhvoice-voice-anna |
rhvoice-voice-arina | Arina Syukkya (event organizer, designer)
rhvoice-voice-artemiy | Artemiy Lebedev (designer, blogger, traveler)
rhvoice-voice-elena |
rhvoice-voice-evgeniy-rus | Evgeniy Chebatkov (StandUp comedian, voice actor)
rhvoice-voice-irina |
rhvoice-voice-mikhail | Mikhail Sokolov (news anchor on Autoradio)
rhvoice-voice-pavel | Pavel Klyachenko (psychologist, tiflopsychologist)
rhvoice-voice-tatiana | Tatiana Kruk (host of broadcasts on «Tiflo Info»)
rhvoice-voice-victoria | Natalya Arsenyeva (radio host and author of the travel blog "I was there")
rhvoice-voice-vitaliy | Vitaliy Chuvaev (brand voice of Russia Today TV channel)
rhvoice-voice-yuriy | Yuriy Zaborovsky (Soviet and Russian actor, audiobook reader)
rhvoice-voice-talgat | Tatar
rhvoice-voice-anatol | Ukrainian |
rhvoice-voice-marianna | Marianna Firtka (radio presenter)
rhvoice-voice-natalia |
rhvoice-voice-volodymyr | Volodymyr Beglov (journalist, radio host, lecturer)

### Synthesis example

You can listen to examples of speech synthesis for different voices here and here.

## Configuration

Configuration file located at: `/etc/RHVoice/RHVoice.conf`.

File format and available settings are detail described in official documentation.

### Speech-dispatcher

RHVoice includes module for speech-dispatcher.

Everything should work out of the box without additional settings. But if you want to set RHVoice as the default synthesizer for speech-dispatcher, use the `spd-conf` utility or change the configuration file manually (if you want to change per-user configuration, edit `~/.config/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf` instead):

    /etc/speech-dispatcher/speechd.conf

    # -----OUTPUT MODULES CONFIGURATION-----
    ...
    DefaultModule rhvoice
    ...

## Usage

If configuration you made is correct, the following commands will allow you to start the synthesis (for voice `aleksandr-hq`):

    $ echo "test" | RHVoice-test -p "aleksandr-hq"
    $ spd-say -o rhvoice -y aleksandr-hq "test"

## Dictionaries

User dictionaries must be created in the `/etc/RHVoice/dicts/` directory, for example, for the English language: `/etc/RHVoice/dicts/English/`.

## See also

- RHVoice home page.
- Project RHVoice in GitHub.
- Official documentation.
- RHVoice Lab - Lab for creating new voices

Categories:

- Accessibility
- Multimedia