tts-integration

Text-to-Speech Integration Skill

Expert knowledge in integrating multiple TTS providers with Remotion for video narration.

Overview

This skill covers integrating Text-to-Speech services with Remotion video projects, including Mac TTS, Google Cloud TTS, Azure TTS, and ElevenLabs.

TTS Provider Comparison

Mac TTS (Built-in)

• API: macOS say command
• Cost: FREE
• Quality: Good (7/10)
• Latency: Low (local)
• Languages: 40+
• Voices: 70+ including Siri voices
• Best voices: Zoe (US), Samantha (US), Alex (US), Anna (German)

Google Cloud TTS

• API: @google-cloud/text-to-speech
• Cost: $4 per 1M characters
• Quality: Very Good (8/10)
• Latency: Medium (cloud)
• Languages: 40+
• Voices: 400+ Neural2 voices
• Best for: Production, cost-effective

Azure TTS

• API: microsoft-cognitiveservices-speech-sdk
• Cost: $16 per 1M characters
• Quality: Very Good (8/10)
• Latency: Medium (cloud)
• Languages: 75+
• Voices: 400+ Neural voices
• Best for: Enterprise, Microsoft ecosystem

ElevenLabs

• API: elevenlabs SDK
• Cost: $5-99/month or ~$0.20/1K chars
• Quality: Excellent (10/10)
• Latency: Medium (cloud)
• Languages: 29+
• Voices: 100+ plus custom clones
• Best for: Premium quality, voice cloning

Mac TTS Integration

Basic Implementation

// src/utils/tts-mac.ts
import { execSync } from 'child_process';
import { existsSync, mkdirSync } from 'fs';
import path from 'path';

export interface MacTTSOptions {
  voice?: string;
  rate?: number;  // Words per minute (default: 180)
  quality?: number;  // 0-127 (default: 127)
  outputDir?: string;
}

export async function generateMacTTS(
  text: string,
  options: MacTTSOptions = {}
): Promise<string> {
  const {
    voice = 'Zoe',
    rate = 180,
    quality = 127,
    outputDir = './public/audio'
  } = options;
  
  // Ensure output directory exists
  if (!existsSync(outputDir)) {
    mkdirSync(outputDir, { recursive: true });
  }
  
  // Generate unique filename
  const timestamp = Date.now();
  const filename = `mac-tts-${timestamp}.aiff`;
  const outputPath = path.join(outputDir, filename);
  
  // Escape text for shell
  const escapedText = text.replace(/"/g, '\\"');
  
  // Generate audio
  try {
    execSync(
      `say -v "${voice}" -r ${rate} -o "${outputPath}" --quality=${quality} "${escapedText}"`,
      { stdio: 'pipe' }
    );
    
    // Convert AIFF to MP3 for better compatibility
    const mp3Path = outputPath.replace('.aiff', '.mp3');
    execSync(`ffmpeg -i "${outputPath}" -acodec libmp3lame -ab 192k "${mp3Path}"`, {
      stdio: 'pipe'
    });
    
    // Remove AIFF file
    execSync(`rm "${outputPath}"`);
    
    return mp3Path;
  } catch (error) {
    throw new Error(`Mac TTS generation failed: ${error.message}`);
  }
}

// Get available voices
export function getMacVoices(): string[] {
  try {
    const output = execSync('say -v "?"', { encoding: 'utf-8' });
    const voices = output
      .split('\n')
      .filter(line => line.trim())
      .map(line => line.split(/\s+/)[0]);
    return voices;
  } catch {
    return ['Zoe', 'Samantha', 'Alex']; // Fallback
  }
}

// Get audio duration
export function getAudioDuration(filePath: string): number {
  try {
    const output = execSync(
      `ffprobe -v error -show_entries format=duration -of default=noprint_wrappers=1:nokey=1 "${filePath}"`,
      { encoding: 'utf-8' }
    );
    return parseFloat(output.trim());
  } catch {
    return 0;
  }
}