Install a new Text-to-Speech language in Windows 10 On any edition of Windows 10, click Start Settings, and then follow these steps: Select the Start button, then select Settings Time & Language Region & Language. Select Add a language and choose the language you want from the list. Microsoft Anna (born on June 13, 2000 (or November 2, 2004 (SamJoe) or November 8, 1996 (TheROFL98))) is a female text-to-speech voice that was introduced in Windows Vista. In the text-to-speech universe, she can be referred to as one of two female Text-To-Speech voices, both of which are identical twins and have the same name. Click here for the Mac voice list and information. We have a wide range of text-to-speech synthesised speech voices.This is a list of our current voices for Windows: however, iOS and Web Apps may have slightly different lists, and other voices are available for site licences and other special arrangements.
The Microsoft text-to-speech voices are speech synthesizers provided for use with applications that use the Microsoft Speech API (SAPI) or the Microsoft Speech Server Platform. There are client, server, and mobile versions of Microsoft text-to-speech voices. Client voices are shipped with Windows operating systems; server voices are available for download for use with server applications such as Speech Server, Lync etc. for both Windows client and server platforms, and mobile voices are often shipped with more recent versions of Windows Phone. Windows 10 also brings the mobile text to speech voices to the desktop starting with the Anniversary Update.
Voices[edit]
Windows 2000 and Windows XP[edit]
Microsoft Sam is the default text-to-speech male voice in Microsoft Windows 2000 and Windows XP. It is used by Narrator, the screen reader program built into the operating system.
Microsoft Mike and Microsoft Mary are optional male and female voices respectively, available for download from the Microsoft website. Michael and Michelle are also optional male and female voices licensed by Microsoft from Lernout & Hauspie, and available through Microsoft Office XP and Microsoft Office 2003 or Microsoft Reader.
There are both SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 versions of these text-to-speech voices. SAPI 4 voices are only available on Windows 2000 and later Windows NT-based operating systems. While SAPI 5 versions of Microsoft Mike and Microsoft Mary are downloadable only as a Merge Module,[1] the installable versions may be installed on end users' systems by speech applications such as Microsoft Reader. SAPI 4 redistributable versions are downloadable for Windows 9x, although no longer from the Microsoft website.
Microsoft Sam, Microsoft Mike and Microsoft Mary can be used on Windows Vista and later with a third-party program (like Speakonia and TTSReader) installed on the machine that supports these operating systems; however, the speech patterns differ from the Windows XP versions of these voices. In addition, LH Michael and LH Michelle can work on Windows 7 and later if Speakonia and the SAPI 4 version of the voices in British English is downloaded.
Windows Vista and Windows 7[edit]
Beginning with Windows Vista and Windows 7, Microsoft Anna is the default English voice. It is a SAPI5-only female voice and is designed to sound more natural than Microsoft Sam.[2]Microsoft Streets & Trips 2006 and later install the Microsoft Anna voice on Windows XP systems for the voice-prompt direction feature. There is no male voice shipping with Windows Vista and Windows 7. A female voice called Microsoft Lili that replaces the earlier male SAPI5 voice 'Microsoft Simplified Chinese' is available in Chinese versions of Windows Vista and Windows 7. It can also be obtained in non-Chinese versions of Windows 7 or Vista by installing the Chinese language pack.
In 2010, Microsoft released the newer Speech Platform compatible voices for Speech Recognition and Text-to-Speech for use with client and server applications. These voices are available in 26 languages[3] and can be installed on Windows client and server operating systems. Speech Platform voices, unlike SAPI 5 voices, are female-only; no male voices are released publicly yet.
Windows 8 and Windows 8.1[edit]
In Windows 8, there are three new client (desktop) voices - Microsoft David (US male), Hazel (UK female) and Zira (US female) which sound more natural than the now-eliminated Microsoft Anna. The server versions of these voices are available via above mentioned Speech Platform for operating systems earlier than Windows 8. Unlike Windows 7 or Vista, one cannot use any third-party program for Microsoft Anna because there is no Anna Voice API for download. Other voices are available for specific language versions of either Windows 8 or Windows 8.1.[4]
Windows 10 and later[edit]
In Windows 10, Microsoft Hazel was removed from the US English Language Pack and the Microsoft voices for Mobile (Phone/tablet) are available (Microsoft Mark and Microsoft Zira). These are the same voices found on Windows Phone 8, Windows Phone 8.1 and Windows 10 Mobile.
Also with these voices language packs are also available for a variety of voices similar to that of Windows 8 and 8.1. None of these voices match the Cortana text-to-speech voice which can be found on Windows Phone 8.1, Windows 10, and Windows 10 Mobile.
In an attempt to unify its software with Windows 10, all of Microsoft's current platforms use the same text-to-speech voices except for Microsoft David and a few others.
Mobile[edit]
Every mobile voice package has the combination of male/female, while most of the desktop voice packages have only female voices. All mobile voices have been made universal and any user who downloads the language pack of that choice will have one extra male and female voice per that package.
A hidden text-to-speech voice in Windows 10 called Microsoft Eva Mobile is present within the system. Users can download a pre-packaged registry file from the windowsreport.com website. Microsoft Eva is believed to be the early voice for Cortana until Microsoft replaced her with the voice of Jen Taylor in most areas.
These voices are updated with Windows to sound more natural than in the original version as seen in updated retail builds of Windows 10.
See also[edit]
References[edit]
- ^Speech SDK 5.1
- ^Chambers, Rob (August 29, 2006). 'Microsoft Anna - The new TTS voice in Vista'. MSDN Blogs. Microsoft. Retrieved June 26, 2015.
- ^http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/hh361572.aspx
- ^Free text-to-speech (TTS) or speech synthesizers in Microsoft Windows
External links[edit]
- Official website[dead link]
Feel free to use the generated audio for any of your projects (commercial or personal). It's free! Hope it's useful for you :)
Text To Voice Microsoft Sam Goanimate Free
This online tool lets you generate a Microsoft Samstyle voice (not the exact original) that you can play and download easily.
Just wait for it to load (it may take a minute or so as it's a 2mb piece of software) then type your text in the box and click 'Speak'. You can download the speech by clicking the link that will appear under the 'Speak' button.
Old-school text to speech is great fun to play around with. Try testing it on long or hard to pronounce words, use it to narrate your silly YouTube video, post it as a message to a friend's facebook wall - the possibilities are endless.
All thanks goes to @kripken for porting the library to JavaScript!
If there's anything I can do to improve 'Microsoft Sam Online', please let me know!
Note: I was alerted in the comments to the fact that this is not quite the Microsoft Sam voice! It's apparently the voice synthesizer used by Ubuntu. I'll keep my eye out for a JavaScript port of the actual Microsoft Sam voice and update this translator if I find it. Until then I hope that you found this page mainly looking for a general computerised voice rather than the exact Microsoft Sam accent. Sorry for the inconvenience!
Scary Voice Goanimate Text
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