Piper Text-to-Speech in Windows 10/11
reddit / selfhosted

----------------------------------------------------------------------
whohaseyestosee · 2023-09-29 22:41

This is how I enabled Piper TTS to read aloud highlighted text - for
example news articles. I’m posting here as the voice are hosted
locally and for anyone else that is interested. Feedback welcome.

**Note: Scripts were created with the help of a ChatGPT/GPT-4.**

* Enable Virtual Machine Platform’ via Windows Features and install
WSL (I use Arch linux in this tutorial, but any distro should work)

* Install pulseaudio-alsa: sudo pacman -S pulseaudio-alsa

* Download the repo: https://github.com/rhasspy/piper.git

* Download latest Linux binary:
https://github.com/rhasspy/piper/releases/tag/2023.9.27-1

* Download your preferred voice: https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-
voices/tree/v1.0.0
(Hear samples: https://rhasspy.github.io/piper-samples)

* Place [clipboard_tts.sh](https://drive.google.com/file/d/11bGiz8Vdz3
F2UZsUSTXREoDVbkiv7kTu/view?usp=sharing) in Piper directory, along
with [kill_tts.sh](https://drive.google.com/file/d/14wmIPPBH9tx0GP1rbm
E6eqDq2iHqwwUI/view?usp=sharing) if you wish to stop reading via a key
combination.

> sudo chmod +x clipboard_tts4.sh
> sudo chmod +x kill_tts.sh

I used an autohotkey script making ALT + Q stop the TTS talking:

> #NoEnv
> SendMode Input
>
> !q::
>     Run, wsl bash -c "/home//piper/kill_tts.sh",, Hide
> Return

I did a bunch of other steps, but I’m unsure if they are needed. Let
me know if you have issues with these instructions and I will try to
resolve them and update the guide.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxmix · 2023-11-16 05:30

Windows equivalent?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
whohaseyestosee · 2023-11-16 23:13

The Piper for Windows binary got updated 2 days ago, fixing a major
bug and making it now possible to avoid much of the above tutorial.
I'm working on a new script for Windows at the moment.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxmix · 2023-11-22 01:47

Any luck?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
whohaseyestosee · 2023-11-22 02:34

Yes, I added the Native Windows Version at the bottom of the tutorial.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
Oxmix · 2023-11-22 04:03

Thanks so much for sharing this! It works like a charm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------
dysfunctionalbrat · 2023-11-28 14:58

Could you explain how to use the binary?

----------------------------------------------------------------------
whohaseyestosee · 2023-11-28 16:34

(1) Download the zip - [piper_win_finalv3.zip](https://drive.google.co
m/file/d/1vPSs78y8lEYnzjVhc4P5JkZbnULG6_Tj/view?usp=sharing)

(2) Extract zip and add you preferred voice -
https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices/tree/v1.0.0 (both .onnx
and .json files required)

(3) Edit the clipboard_tts.bat included in the zip to match your
chosen model (look for the section '--model', save and run the .bat