Sometimes you need to voice a text that is written on a computer. But how to do that? It is necessary to use special software, which is called a speech synthesizer. With this utility you can turn written text into spoken language. In the vastness World Wide Web There are a bunch of desktop speech synthesizers. However, it is better to use online services. After all, in this case you won’t have to download software to your PC, thus clogging up the memory. In this article we will look at the best online talkers.
Speech synthesizers have quite wide range applications. First of all, such programs will be useful to people with disabled. For example, speech synthesizers were originally intended for people who have vision problems and cannot read text from a monitor.
Talkers can become a good helper in the learning process. For example, they can be used to listen to foreign speech and thus train perception. A speech synthesizer is also used to listen to books while doing household chores.
The best online talkers
Today, web talkers are in no way inferior to desktop programs in terms of playback quality. Internet utilities are capable of reading at different speeds, timbres, etc. Let's consider the most popular text-to-speech converters.
But first, it’s worth noting that most online synthesizer speech problems limit the possibility free play. Web utilities allow you to listen to a couple of hundred characters so that the user can evaluate the quality of the service. For full functionality you will have to pay a certain amount.
Acapela
Acapela is one of the most popular speech synthesizers. The web utility supports more than 30 languages. One of the main advantages of this online resource is great amount votes. For the same English, about 20 timbres are available (woman, man, child, teenager, joyful, etc.). Unfortunately, Russian language deprived. Only one female voice is available to reproduce text in Russian.
The web program has a minimum number of settings. Thanks to this, anyone can understand the controls. To reproduce the text you just need to:
- Click on the first field. A list will appear in which you need to select a playback language.
- Click on the next field. In the list you need to select one of the proposed tones.
- In the large field, enter the text that you want to turn into an audio track.
- Then you need to agree to the terms of service. To do this, check the box next to the appropriate item. A Listen button will appear, by clicking on which you can listen to the previously entered text.
The sound of the web program is quite decent. Maximum amount characters that can be spoken – 300.
Linguatec
It is also worth paying attention to a service called Linguatec. This is a German Internet resource that is extremely popular outside its homeland. And this is not at all surprising. The web service supports more than 40 languages (of course, Russian is one of them). Interestingly, Linguatec is capable of reproducing different dialects. For example, there are several versions of English: British, American, Australian, Irish, etc. Thanks to this feature, Linguatec is great program for those who want to know the correct pronunciation of a word in a foreign language. 
The text can be played in both male and female voices. The free play limit is 250 characters. To get full functionality, you will have to purchase a desktop speech synthesizer. Its cost is 30 euros.
How to use an online speech synthesizer? The following instructions must be followed:
- Click on the drop-down list under Voice Reader and select the playback language.
- In the drop-down list, which is located a little lower, define the voice. For example, for the German language there are only a few pronunciation options: male voices - Yannick and Markus, female voices - Petra and Anna.
- Now enter the text you want to play in the appropriate field. Remember that its size should not exceed 250 characters (including spaces).
- To convert symbols to audio, you need to click on the arrow button.
Oddcast
Oddcast is a fairly well-known company that creates interactive companions for various brands. The company also has its own speech synthesizer, which can be used to reproduce text. The web utility supports about 30 languages. Most have several variations of female and male voices. The program can reproduce text up to 170 characters.
Distinctive feature of this service– animated model. She follows the cursor and moves her lips as the text plays. The model does not contain any useful functionality. Its purpose is to demonstrate the capabilities of Oddcast. 
Working with Oddcast is very simple. It is necessary to configure the basic characteristics of the web utility. In total, the program provides 5 parameters:
- Enter Text. Here we write the text that needs to be converted into speech.
- Language. Here you need to select the language in which the text will be reproduced.
- Voice. Select a voice for reading (their number depends on the selected language).
- Effect. Oddcast allows you to add voice effects to spoken text. The choice is quite large. There is a function for acceleration, echo, pitch, etc.
- Level. Allows you to customize the selected effect. For example, if you use acceleration, then using of this field you can set how fast the text will play.
By changing the characteristics to suit your needs, you can launch the talker. To do this, click on the Say it button.
iSpeech
Another service that is worth paying attention to is iSpeech. The web utility has a good voice engine, which has a positive effect on audio quality. The service supports about 30 languages. The maximum number of characters that can be spoken is 150.
The service interface is designed in a minimalist style. Everything is done very clearly. To select a language, click on the corresponding flag. If you need to determine the timbre, click on the female or male icon. In addition, the program has three playback modes. You can listen to the text at a slow, normal or accelerated pace. Having installed required parameters, you need to click on the Play button. The text to speech conversion will begin. 
iSpeech is ideal for learning foreign languages. During playback, the utility highlights the words that were spoken out loud. Thanks to this you can find out the correct sound specific word without distracting from the topic of the text. Another feature of the service is that the voiced fragment can be downloaded to your PC as an audio track. However, this service is only available to owners paid accounts, the cost of which is quite high. The cheapest subscription costs $500.
Text-To-Speech
Text-To-Speech is a speech synthesizer that boasts a good voice engine. The Internet utility has a very simple, uncomplicated interface. The program supports about 10 of the most popular languages. Of course, this includes Russian. To work with this web resource it is enough:
- Select options for reading text. There are only two of them. To select a language, click on the drop-down list next to Language. Nearby you can see the Speed parameter. It is responsible for reading speed and is installed in a similar way.
- Now you need to enter the text in the appropriate field. The web utility is capable of processing fragments whose size does not exceed 1000 characters.
- Next, you need to click on the Say it button. The program will produce an audio file with your text. You can listen to it directly on the website.
Google Translate
A web service called Google Translate includes a talker. It's very easy to use. You must enter the text in the appropriate field and click on the speaker icon. Voila - the robot read the specified fragment. Google Translate has a limit on the size of the text. You cannot enter more than 5000 characters. 
Main advantage Google programs The translator is that it supports a huge number of languages. However, there was a fly in the ointment. Firstly, you cannot change the voice timbre, reading speed and other parameters. Secondly, the playback quality leaves much to be desired.
From-Text-To-Speech
A large amount of text can be processed by a web service called From-Text-To-Speech. The utility is capable of converting up to 50 thousand characters at a time. This is an order of magnitude higher than that of competitors. The web program supports 10 languages, which are the most popular. These include Russian. 
To use the web service, you first need to configure the voiceover settings. Luckily there aren't many of them here. First of all, you need to set the language and determine the voice that will read the text. For Russians, only one timbre is available - female. Then you need to adjust the reading speed. There are four options in total: slow, normal, fast and very fast. Having set the appropriate parameters, you need to click on the Create Audio File button.
The conversion process will begin. As a rule, this takes no more than a minute. Upon completion of the transformation there will be a transition to new page. There will be a hyperlink in the form of the inscription Download audio file. You need to right-click on it and select the “Save link as” option from the drop-down list. Choose a location on your PC and download audio. The file is saved in MP3 format.
2 ears
It is impossible not to mention domestic services for converting text into audio. One of the best at this is a website called 2ukha. The main advantage of the service is the ability to work with large volumes of text. If other resources voice small fragments of up to 200-300 characters, then 2ukha is capable of processing 100 KB of text. This is about 100 thousand characters. And, most importantly, everything is completely free.
How to work with the 2ukha website? Everything is very simple. To convert text into spoken language you just need to:
This service definitely deserves attention. The quality of the voiced text is at a quite decent level. And the ability to process huge files is also good news. However, the 2x web service also has disadvantages. For example, the quantity available languages. The service only works with Russian.
While at the computer, you need to take care of your eyesight. It is common knowledge that the eyes get most tired when working with text. Of course, if you have to do business correspondence or work with numbers, then you should take frequent breaks, but if you do not look up from your PC for a long time while reading, then it is better to take the strain off your eyes by putting it on a special free program called Govorilka.
This application can read the specified texts out loud, thanks to it you can step away from the computer and perceive by ear necessary information, while, of course, your eyes will rest. This is very convenient opportunity so you can relax and listen voice reading favorite book or other text information, for example, a popular newspaper, interesting article etc.
It is noteworthy that Govorilka supports texts of any size, typed in both Russian and foreign languages. In addition, the utility is equipped with very useful function, which allows you to record text read aloud into an MP3 audio file. This will be especially important for students, as they will be able to translate notes into sound file and instead of reading, listen to the desired educational material, resourceful, isn't it.
This product can read text from the clipboard or word processors and other applications, while reading, the text is synchronized with the voice and scrolls automatically; moreover, what is read can be highlighted in color. Plus, additional dictionaries are used for correct pronunciation. In addition, text is loaded into the reader from popular file formats, namely: doc, htm, html, rtf and txt.
To obtain powerful tool To read texts aloud, you should download Govorilka in Russian. The program allows you to adjust the pitch of your voice and reading speed, replenish dictionaries for more precise work, has a modest size, flexible settings, provides users with wide functionality and saves the position where reading stopped when exiting the application.
For correct operation this software runs on older versions of operating systems Microsoft systems Windows may need the speech recognition and synthesis library Speech API, as well as a voice engine, for example, Lernout & Hauspie TruVoice TTS, which contains male and female Russian-speaking voices by default. If necessary, you can download these add-ons for free using the appropriate links below.
Some users may need to voice the text male voice online. This can be any advertising text, fiction, other text genres and styles that need to be transformed according to the “text into voice” principle, without resorting to downloading to a PC various programs. In this material I will tell you what online talkers with a male voice exist in Russian, I will give a description of the corresponding network resources, and also explain how to work with them.
If you are interested in an online talker, then I will immediately note that in most cases the ability to reproduce text for free is limited to a few hundred characters in size, but for full functionality you will have to pay extra. It's connected with advertising in nature similar resources, designed, rather, to demonstrate the capabilities of the voice engine, rather than to fully voice huge volumes of user text in a male voice.
So, let's move on to directly listing and describing the capabilities of the network announcer resources we need.
Linguatec resource for reading text by voice
The first online talker with a male and female voice that I want to talk about is the German resource Linguatec. Maximum volume The text that can be voiced is limited to 250 characters, which, however, is quite enough to demonstrate the capabilities of the specified voice engine. For full functionality without restrictions, you will have to pay real money.
To take advantage of the resources of the resource, go to it, in the “Voice Reader” sign, select the Russian language (Russisch), and just below, from the presented voices, select the male voice (Yuri). Below, enter the text you need (up to 250 characters) and click the arrow button (Play).
Oddcast - online speech synthesizer
The Oddcast resource can also act as an online talker, and the size of the spoken text is limited to 170 characters.
- To work with this resource, go to it, in the language selection window (Language) select Russian, and in the male or female voice select male (Dmitri).
- In the “Enter text” window, enter your text, and then click on the “Say It” button.
- The “Effect” option included in the engine’s functionality will give you the opportunity to experiment with various sound effects(whisper, robotic voice, accelerated voice, etc.).
iSpeech - service reproduces text to speech
Another resource called iSpeech, which has a Russian voice engine, is quite good quality. At the same time, the volume of reproduced text is also limited to about 200 characters, allowing you to voice the Russian text in a male voice online.
To work with the resource, go to it, find “Russian Male” in the list of languages on the left, enter your text in the window on the right and click on the “Play” button (you will have to wait a few seconds while the system processes the text).
If the iSpeech service is not suitable for you, go to the article about or read further.
The IVONA resource reads any text out loud
Another online talker with a male voice in Russian is IVONA. This resource has one of the highest quality voice engines, and until recently, it was possible to pronounce a certain free volume text on this moment not available (may be available later)
However, the opportunity to demonstrate the capabilities of the existing voice engine remains. To do this you need to go to this resource Ivona, in the list of available languages, find “Russia”, click on the button on the right, and, selecting the male voice (Maxim), click on the button with the arrow (Play).
A little more about voice engine standards
As for the main voice engine standards available today, the two most common today are SAPI 4 and SAPI 5 (“SAPI” is an abbreviation for “Microsoft”) Speech API" - translated as "Speech Programming Interface from Microsoft"). SAPI 4 is an outdated standard, created back in 1998, and is now rarely used; SAPI 5 is more modern, has better pronunciation, the latest modification is SAPI 5.4 (while SAPI 5 free votes less than the legacy SAPI 4).
As for speech synthesis programs, one of the most popular of them is “Govorilka”, which allows you to voice quite well voluminous texts, and various options voices (both male and female). The installation version of the product usually contains a set of several built-in voices, but if they are not enough for the reader, you can download them on the program website additional voices to it (including high-quality paid options).
Conclusion
If you are interested in a speaker with a male voice in Russian, then I recommend paying attention to the list of network online resources listed above. At the same time, their disadvantages include the limited functionality of their free functionality, forcing the user to pay close attention to specialized programs(for example, “Talker”). The highest quality pronunciation among the listed resources is provided by the voice engine of the IVONA service, and it is precisely the phrases voiced by it that we quite often encounter in the Russian-language segment of the network.
In contact with
Govorilka or Govorilka – free program which will help you read required text aloud. All you need to do is simply select a file, open it and start playing. The utility can work in background, so you can start listening to a book on your computer while doing your usual things on your PC.
The utility interface is in Russian. It is compatible with Windows XP, Vista, 7, 8 and 10. Opens files with the extension *.txt, *.rtf, *.doc, *.htm, *.html, *.shtml. Can record voice into *.wav or *.mp3 files. The settings are very simple. The text being read is highlighted and the pages turn automatically. The program can read text in any language, provided that the required voice engine is installed on the computer.
You can download the Govorilka program for free using the link given at the end of the article from Yandex Disk. The archive will contain one folder with four files. We will use all of them: one is needed to install the program, the other three will be needed to install the female and male voice engines.
Installing the utility
First, let's install Govorilka. To do this, double-click on the file called “Govorilka222.exe”. The Installation Wizard window will open, in which click “Next”.
Then accept the terms license agreement by placing a marker in the appropriate field and click “Next”.
Read the information in the window and continue.
The field will suggest the folder where the program will be installed; if you want to change it, click “Browse”.
Next you will be prompted to install the “Microsoft SpeechAPI 4” component. If you are sure that you have it installed on your computer, then you can uncheck the box. If you are not sure, leave the checkbox and continue.
You can add a shortcut to your desktop and quick launch bar.
When all the parameters are selected, click “Install”.
After the installation process is complete, you can uncheck or leave the checkbox to run the program and click Finish.
How to use
Text speaker installed. The interface is extremely simple and clear. There are five tabs at the top. See what menu items are in each drop-down list.
To open a book, in the “File” tab, select “Open”.
In the Explorer window, find required file and click "Open". If the book or document is not displayed, then in the "File type" field or select suitable extension, or put “All files”.
You can start, pause or stop reading using the buttons located at the top. A little lower are "Additional settings". Here you can select a voice for the speaker from the drop-down list, set the speed, pitch and volume. It is also possible to highlight the text being read and enable tracking (auto-scrolling pages).
On the toolbar, in addition to the playback buttons, there are other buttons.
Button "Start recording to audio file". In the window that opens, specify the file into which the sound will be recorded and select the appropriate format (“Output file”). You can change other parameters and click OK.
Button « Additional settings» will help hide or display them on the screen.
Next comes the button "Current Text Window Settings". Please note that there are 8 of them in the program, and each can be configured differently. In the window that opens, you can select the voice, pitch and speed, monitor the speech, highlight the text or not. Again, there is a tab for setting the parameters for recording voice to file. A last tab“View” will allow you to change the appearance of the window in which plain text is displayed.
Next button “Show/hide the list of dictionaries”. They are needed to improve the quality of reading and help the selected engine reproduce written text normally.
To select a dictionary, just check the box next to it. After this, all words added to the dictionary will be reproduced as needed.
If you notice that the speaker and the selected male or female voice misread some words, then you can add these words to the dictionary and indicate how to pronounce them correctly. So we teach voice engines, and they read the text more clearly.
To do this, select the dictionary you are using and click on the round button “View”. Will open separate window. It will say in which folder the dictionary is stored - “Dictionary”. Next, in the “Text” field, enter the incorrectly read word, and in the “Read as” field, write how it should be read. To listen to what happened, click “Test”. When everything is configured, click “Add” and “Save”.
The last button on the toolbar is "Program settings". Here you can choose to minimize the window to tray, specify paths for the folder with dictionaries and temporary files, add program integration to the Explorer menu, for files with selected extensions, and so on.
Installing the Nicolai engine
Since users are most often interested in the male voice of Nikolai, we will install it. To do this, from the downloaded archive (discussed at the very beginning of the article), run the file "Acapela-Elan-TTS-5.1-RUS-Nicolai-RainbowSky.ru.msi".
In the first installer window, click “Next”.
When everything is ready, click “Install”.
The completion of the process will be indicated by a window in which click “Finish”.
Next we take the file from the archive "Digalo Russian Nicolai.dic", open the folder in Explorer along the path: C:\Program Files\Govorilka\Dic(the path depends on which folder you installed the program in), and paste the file there.
Next, go to the Govorilka program and in the “Voice” field, select the newly installed Nikolai engine. Then open the block with dictionaries and check the box next to “Digalo Russian Nicolai”.
Female voice – Katerina
If the installed engines still do not suit you, let me show you how to install the Katerina engine. In the archive, run the file “RealSpeak_-_Katerina.exe”. Wait for the installation preparation to complete and do not click anything in this window.
When the Installation Wizard window opens, click “Next”.
The Govorilka 2.22 program is designed for reading aloud text files and recording them in audio format. The program can read aloud the contents of the clipboard, text typed on the keyboard, or the contents of downloaded files. DOC files, PDF, HTML, RTF, CHM, DjVu, EPUB, FB2 and ODT. You can control the reading process directly from the system tray or using keyboard shortcuts
This program works as follows. You add text to it that needs to be voiced. It will be ready Text Document or you decide to enter the text yourself, it's up to you. Next, make some settings, during which you should select the voice and reading speed you like. And voila - Balabolka reads the text added to it, and you just have to listen
One thing that should be especially emphasized is interesting feature programs: The speaker has the ability to correct pronunciation. For this purpose, a special pronunciation dictionary is being created - separately for each of the available voice engines. This dictionary is constantly updated as you work with the program. So, the user can easily set the pronunciation in this program certain words, and the pronunciation of phrases, and even how abbreviations and various abbreviations are pronounced. In short, the process of working with the program is very interesting and exciting. The program is perfect for those who perceive audio information better than those who like to read from a monitor screen. You should also consider options for saving your vision, which is susceptible to attacks from “monitor” texts, and the possibility of learning the sound of certain words and phrases spoken in English. foreign languages. Using this program, you no longer need to download audiobooks, because this program turns any text available at hand into an audiobook.
Main features:
— Record speech into an audio file (*.WAV, *.MP3) with increased speed.
— Russian version available.
— Adjustment of reading speed and voice pitch.
— Automatically scrolls the text on the screen so that the readable fragment is always visible (speech tracking). In this case, the readable text can be highlighted in color.
— Expandable pronunciation dictionaries that allow you to easily correct the pronunciation of individual words and phrases.
— Opens large files in DOS and Windows encoding. The size of the readable text is practically unlimited.
— Opens texts from MS Word and HTML files.
You can download the Russian version of the Govorilka 2.22 program for free using the link below this text. After installation, it is highly advisable to customize it to suit your needs.
