Easy Way to Create an Alternate Reality Effect

Ditch boring one-dimensional videos and create a mesmerizing video with this alternative reality effect you can easily create using Wondershare Filmora.

This cool effect enables you to show a dream-like scene where two mirrored footages appear within the same frame using the Masking feature. But why stop there?

Keep reading to find out how you can use this style of effect to spice up your daily vlog bumper intro or even for your upcoming sci-fi content.

Preparing the footage

There are not many restrictions on preparing the footage for this effect. However, depending on the results you’re aiming for, you might need to consider a few things.

First, a wider view and some camera panning, or tilting will deliver a better result as it provides angle variations. This will later enhance the dynamic of the scene, making it feels even more uncanny.

Then, while you’re at it, you need to also figure out the purpose of the video itself. If you want to upload it to certain platforms where vertical videos are more popular, you will want to work on that as well. When you’re shooting your footage, make sure that you’re taking it at the correct angle that would fit the ratio you’re aiming for.

Last but not least, consider the length of the footage. If you’re planning to make a bumper video, you might want a quick yet comprehensive shot of the objects you want to highlight. You can always trim and adjust the timing later, but it is better to also plan it early.

Editing the video

If you have your footage or stock video ready, then you can start editing. Follow this simple step-by-step guide to create your own alternate reality using Filmora .

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Step 1: Drag and drop the video footage into the timeline - this will be the bottom part of the scene. Go to Effect > Utility > Image Mask. Drag and drop it onto the video footage.

Step 2: Adjust the mask by double-clicking the video footage. Go to Setting > Mask Setting and choose any shape you like. Set the feather number to 100.

Step 3: Scroll up the Setting > Transform. Adjust the position of the video footage on the x and y-axis to ensure that the mask shows the bottom of the landscape view. Click Ok.

Step 4: Drag and drop the same video footage onto the timeline next to the first video footage. Place an Image Mask as well on this footage. This will be the upper part of the scene.

Step 5: Double-click the second footage to open the Setting menu on the top left. Choose Transform > Vertical Flip.

Step 6: Scroll down the Setting menu to find the mask settings. Choose an opposing mask shape for this second footage then set the feather number to 100 as well.

Step 7: Adjust the video footage position by dragging the second footage to the second video track and aligning it with the first video footage.

Step 8: Double-click to open the Setting > Transform, then, adjust the x and y-axis numbers to ensure that the mask reveals only the top half of the landscape. Click Ok.

You can recheck the preview at this stage and just save it as it is if you’re already satisfied with the result. However, if you want a more dynamic alternate reality scene, continue reading to see advanced tips you can follow to make your video looks even more otherworldly.

Enhancing the effect with rotation keyframes

If you’re using stock videos or encountering limitations when making your footage, chances are your alternate reality is not looking as dynamic as you want it to be. Go all out by adding the rotation keyframes to the video footage so that the alternate reality looks more unreal.

Step 1: Double-click the video footage on the first video track to open the Animation Settings > Customize.

Step 2: Move the playhead to the beginning of the first video footage and add a keyframe by clicking on the Add button. Set the rotation of this keyframe at 0 and the scale at 100.

Step 3: Now move the playhead to the end of the video footage and add another keyframe. This time, set the rotation to 20 and adjust the scale number to 115.

Step 4: Do Steps 1 to 3 to the second video footage. Don’t forget to preview the result to see if both footages are rotated properly.

Your alternate reality is now more dynamic with more movement. You can also add more filters or effects to further enhance the sci-fi ambiance. Once you’re satisfied, you can export the file to a format that is compatible with your destination platform.

Conclusion

Wondershare Filmora aims to empower your inner video creator with its robust yet easy-to-use editing suite. You can easily mimic the scenes from the latest blockbuster superhero movies with some simple clicks.

Not only it offers a strapping video editing menu with simple visual effects plug-ins and beginner-friendly smart templates, but you can also access its rich royalty-free stock media library. You can operate the program on both Windows and Mac. Install the program and let it do wonders to your content.

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Step 1: Drag and drop the video footage into the timeline - this will be the bottom part of the scene. Go to Effect > Utility > Image Mask. Drag and drop it onto the video footage.

Step 2: Adjust the mask by double-clicking the video footage. Go to Setting > Mask Setting and choose any shape you like. Set the feather number to 100.

Step 3: Scroll up the Setting > Transform. Adjust the position of the video footage on the x and y-axis to ensure that the mask shows the bottom of the landscape view. Click Ok.

Step 4: Drag and drop the same video footage onto the timeline next to the first video footage. Place an Image Mask as well on this footage. This will be the upper part of the scene.

Step 5: Double-click the second footage to open the Setting menu on the top left. Choose Transform > Vertical Flip.

Step 6: Scroll down the Setting menu to find the mask settings. Choose an opposing mask shape for this second footage then set the feather number to 100 as well.

Step 7: Adjust the video footage position by dragging the second footage to the second video track and aligning it with the first video footage.

Step 8: Double-click to open the Setting > Transform, then, adjust the x and y-axis numbers to ensure that the mask reveals only the top half of the landscape. Click Ok.

You can recheck the preview at this stage and just save it as it is if you’re already satisfied with the result. However, if you want a more dynamic alternate reality scene, continue reading to see advanced tips you can follow to make your video looks even more otherworldly.

Enhancing the effect with rotation keyframes

If you’re using stock videos or encountering limitations when making your footage, chances are your alternate reality is not looking as dynamic as you want it to be. Go all out by adding the rotation keyframes to the video footage so that the alternate reality looks more unreal.

Step 1: Double-click the video footage on the first video track to open the Animation Settings > Customize.

Step 2: Move the playhead to the beginning of the first video footage and add a keyframe by clicking on the Add button. Set the rotation of this keyframe at 0 and the scale at 100.

Step 3: Now move the playhead to the end of the video footage and add another keyframe. This time, set the rotation to 20 and adjust the scale number to 115.

Step 4: Do Steps 1 to 3 to the second video footage. Don’t forget to preview the result to see if both footages are rotated properly.

Your alternate reality is now more dynamic with more movement. You can also add more filters or effects to further enhance the sci-fi ambiance. Once you’re satisfied, you can export the file to a format that is compatible with your destination platform.

Conclusion

Wondershare Filmora aims to empower your inner video creator with its robust yet easy-to-use editing suite. You can easily mimic the scenes from the latest blockbuster superhero movies with some simple clicks.

Not only it offers a strapping video editing menu with simple visual effects plug-ins and beginner-friendly smart templates, but you can also access its rich royalty-free stock media library. You can operate the program on both Windows and Mac. Install the program and let it do wonders to your content.

A Detailed Guid to Remove Background From a Video in Premier Pro

Adobe Premiere Pro is one of the leading video editing software. You can use to create or remove a video’s background. Advanced Chroma Key features such as Color Key and Ultra Key make it possible to produce background-free content quickly.

Although both Keys work similarly, many users prefer to use the Ultra key for a better result in the video. This article will explain how to remove video background in Premiere Pro if you are a newbie.

Let’s get right to it and start the tutorial!

How to Use Premiere Pro to Remove Video Background?

Adobe Premiere Pro can remove video backgrounds quickly using the Ultra Key feature with the following steps:

Step1 In the first step, launch a browser, and download the appropriate Adobe Premiere Pro version for your Windows PC or Mac . Next, install the software on your system and launch it from your Desktop or Dock.

Step2 Now, use the Media Browser panel in the software to browse the video clips you want to import into the software. Next, right-click on your selected video file in which you want to remove the background and choose the “Import” option.

Step3 Click the “Effects” tab in the software panel and select Video Effects. Here, you will see the “Keying” option; select the Ultra Key, press and hold it to grab the key, and place it on your video clip.

Note: You can also search for the Ultra Key in the Adobe Premiere Pro search bar. Drag it to the video clip containing a background you want to remove.

Step4 As soon as you drop the Ultra Key to your footage, an Effects Control panel will pop up. Next, use the eyedropper tool in the Effects Control panel. Finally, select the background color on your video that you want to remove.

Step5 In the next step, click the drop-down menu next to the “Output” option, and select “Alpha Channel” from the list. This will reveal the details of your video and the edits. Also, click the “Setting” drop-down menu and select the Relaxed, Aggressive, or Custom option for the video effect.

Step6 Select the “Matte Generation“ below Key Color. Try different levels for Highlight, Shadow, Tolerance, Transparency, Pedestal, and other settings to further clean the matte for a premium effect.

Step7 In this step,choose the “Matte Cleanup” option to expand its settings and clean up the edges of your clip. You will see various options here, but the most important one is “Choke.” It will shrink the object’s borders and “Soften” to add fuzz.

If you see a background color spill on your video after playing with the above settings, click “Spill Suppression” beneath Matte Cleanup to expand its options and choose the desired settings to resolve this issue.

That’s about it! You have successfully removed the video background in Premiere Pro.

Step8 In the last step, you need to save, render, and export your video with the removed background. To do this, click the “File” option on the Premiere Pro Media Browser, and choose “Export” to explore the “Media” menu.

Choose the format in the Export Settings, as it is compatible with most devices. Next, choose a valid Preset and resolution, and click “Export” to begin the rendering process. Finally, save your edited background video again, and export the video to the desired destination.

Is There Any Best Alternative to Remove Video’s Background?

Although Adobe Premiere Pro is an excellent choice, the software can be a little overzealous for beginners. But don’t fret; there is an alternative for newbie to remove the video background.

Many video content creators recommended Wondershare Filmora as a user-friendly video editing software. This software loads with customization options and compact feature, including the Human Segmentation effect. With it, you can isolate objects from the background of a video without a green screen.

Let’s take a quick look at Filmora video editing marvel features:

• Comes with a free trial and is priced to meet most video designers’ production needs.
• Remove the video background with four quick steps.
• View the foreground of your video in real-time after background removal.
• Numerous customization options to add a different background or an image to the original content.
• Add the removed background as an overlay on top of another clip.
• Drag and drop a video clip to another track in the timeline for cutting, trimming, and elimination purposes.
• Using the “Human Segregation effect” in the AI Portrait on any imported video is simple.
• See objects isolated from the background in the Preview mode, which allows you to adjust the edges, feathers, and thickness accordingly.
• Easy export options supporting various compatible formats.

Additionally, we have provided you with a video tutorial about How to Remove and Change Video Background Without Green Screen with Filmora:

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide explains how to remove the video background in Premier Pro using the Ultra key instead of the Color Key.

We have also discussed an excellent alternative to Premier Pro that can eliminate any background in your video content within minutes.

This article helped solve your queries. As a result, you can now create quality video content for your audience without paying thousands of dollars to professional video editors to do the background removal for you.

Step4 As soon as you drop the Ultra Key to your footage, an Effects Control panel will pop up. Next, use the eyedropper tool in the Effects Control panel. Finally, select the background color on your video that you want to remove.

Step5 In the next step, click the drop-down menu next to the “Output” option, and select “Alpha Channel” from the list. This will reveal the details of your video and the edits. Also, click the “Setting” drop-down menu and select the Relaxed, Aggressive, or Custom option for the video effect.

Step6 Select the “Matte Generation“ below Key Color. Try different levels for Highlight, Shadow, Tolerance, Transparency, Pedestal, and other settings to further clean the matte for a premium effect.

Step7 In this step,choose the “Matte Cleanup” option to expand its settings and clean up the edges of your clip. You will see various options here, but the most important one is “Choke.” It will shrink the object’s borders and “Soften” to add fuzz.

If you see a background color spill on your video after playing with the above settings, click “Spill Suppression” beneath Matte Cleanup to expand its options and choose the desired settings to resolve this issue.

That’s about it! You have successfully removed the video background in Premiere Pro.

Step8 In the last step, you need to save, render, and export your video with the removed background. To do this, click the “File” option on the Premiere Pro Media Browser, and choose “Export” to explore the “Media” menu.

Choose the format in the Export Settings, as it is compatible with most devices. Next, choose a valid Preset and resolution, and click “Export” to begin the rendering process. Finally, save your edited background video again, and export the video to the desired destination.

Is There Any Best Alternative to Remove Video’s Background?

Although Adobe Premiere Pro is an excellent choice, the software can be a little overzealous for beginners. But don’t fret; there is an alternative for newbie to remove the video background.

Many video content creators recommended Wondershare Filmora as a user-friendly video editing software. This software loads with customization options and compact feature, including the Human Segmentation effect. With it, you can isolate objects from the background of a video without a green screen.

Let’s take a quick look at Filmora video editing marvel features:

• Comes with a free trial and is priced to meet most video designers’ production needs.
• Remove the video background with four quick steps.
• View the foreground of your video in real-time after background removal.
• Numerous customization options to add a different background or an image to the original content.
• Add the removed background as an overlay on top of another clip.
• Drag and drop a video clip to another track in the timeline for cutting, trimming, and elimination purposes.
• Using the “Human Segregation effect” in the AI Portrait on any imported video is simple.
• See objects isolated from the background in the Preview mode, which allows you to adjust the edges, feathers, and thickness accordingly.
• Easy export options supporting various compatible formats.

Additionally, we have provided you with a video tutorial about How to Remove and Change Video Background Without Green Screen with Filmora:

Free Download For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

Free Download For macOS 10.14 or later

Conclusion

This comprehensive guide explains how to remove the video background in Premier Pro using the Ultra key instead of the Color Key.

We have also discussed an excellent alternative to Premier Pro that can eliminate any background in your video content within minutes.

This article helped solve your queries. As a result, you can now create quality video content for your audience without paying thousands of dollars to professional video editors to do the background removal for you.

How to Do Velocity Edits on PC

If you are wondering what is velocity edit? Well, velocity editing is a term used in music production and MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) programming. When we talk about the velocity edit app, “velocity” refers to the intensity or force with which a note is played on a MIDI instrument, such as a keyboard. Velocity in a velocity editor is a parameter that gives expression to a MIDI performance to make the music sound more dynamic and realistic.

Part1 Best 3 velocity edit softwares

There are many velocity edit apps available that you can use as your velocity video editor. However, not every velocity edit app comes with multiple features and an easy to use interface. We outline some of the best velocity editor apps that you can download to do your velocity edit online.

01 Filmora

Filmora is one of the best video editing software. You can use it to create, edit, and produce videos with a variety of features such as trimming, cropping, adding music, transitions, and special effects.

Filmora also has velocity editing option, which is a control feature within the software. Velocity editing, in this case, involves manipulating the playback speed of a video clip or a portion of a clip. You can use Filmora as your velocity app edit to speed up, slow down, or reverse clips to achieve different creative effects and to enhance the storytelling of your video.

Filmora offers a suite of video editing capabilities if you are a content creator. These features include Keyframing, Split Screen, and Motion Tracking, as well as user-friendly tools such as Instant Model, Preset Templates, and Auto Beat Sync for seamless editing.

• Great lifetime price deals

• Fast rendering of videos

• Supports multiple file formats

• Screen recording is available

• Monthly plans are expensive

02 Final Cut

Final Cut is a professional video editing software that is used by filmmakers, video editors, and content creators for editing movies, TV shows, and various other types of video content. You can use it to add effects and transitions, and for color grading and correction. Final Cut also has built-in tools for editing and enhancing audio within the software.

However, Final Cut Pro is for the high-end users who produce videos on a large scale. Similarly, the hardware requirements for Final Cut Pro are big and you need a Mac to use Final Cut Pro. If your system is running on Windows 10, or Linux, you can’t use the software.

• Fast performance

• Supports 360-degree footage

• No mobile app

• A one-time purchase required

03 Capcut

CapCut is a free, all-in-one velocity edit maker app for mobile video editing. CapCut is user-friendly and comes with a variety of velocity edit online features that make it suitable for creating short videos, especially for social media platforms. The intuitive graphical user interface makes it easier for users to use Capcut as a velocity editor.

• Rich copyrighted content which is free to use.

• A library of built-in templates.

• Available in multiple languages

• Advanced color grading tools are not well enough.

• Does not support higher frame rate than 60 FPS.

Part2 How to do velocity edit in filmora?

AI velocity edit For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

AI velocity edit For macOS 10.14 or later

1. Open Filmora and create a new project.
2. Import the video clip you want to edit into the media library.
3. Drag and drop the video clip onto the timeline.
4. Right-click on the video clip in the timeline and select “Speed” and choose “Speed Ramping.”
5. In the speed settings window, choose “Customize” and make changes to the speed by entering a speed multiplier or using the slider.
6. Preview the edit to see if it achieves the desired effect and make further adjustments as needed.
7. Once done with the velocity edit, export the video by clicking on the “Export” button, choosing the desired format and settings.

Conclusion

When it comes to video editing, velocity editing is a popular feature that content creators use frequently. A velocity editor lets you manipulate the speed and rhythm of video clips to create dynamic and engaging content. Various velocity edit apps have surfaced that offer a range of tools and features to enhance the video editing process. You can use these applications to alter the video velocity, create slow-motion effects, speed up scenes, or even reverse clips to suit the narrative flow of the content.

Choosing the right velocity edit maker helps you achieve the desired output in video projects, and there are many velocity app edit tools available online. Some applications like Filmora even offer the convenience of velocity edit online so that you can make quick adjustments to your videos without the need for extensive software installations. Fimora gives you the flexibility and accessibility of velocity editing, which makes it one of the best velocity editor tools for a streamlined and efficient editing process.

02 Final Cut

Final Cut is a professional video editing software that is used by filmmakers, video editors, and content creators for editing movies, TV shows, and various other types of video content. You can use it to add effects and transitions, and for color grading and correction. Final Cut also has built-in tools for editing and enhancing audio within the software.

However, Final Cut Pro is for the high-end users who produce videos on a large scale. Similarly, the hardware requirements for Final Cut Pro are big and you need a Mac to use Final Cut Pro. If your system is running on Windows 10, or Linux, you can’t use the software.

• Fast performance

• Supports 360-degree footage

• No mobile app

• A one-time purchase required

03 Capcut

CapCut is a free, all-in-one velocity edit maker app for mobile video editing. CapCut is user-friendly and comes with a variety of velocity edit online features that make it suitable for creating short videos, especially for social media platforms. The intuitive graphical user interface makes it easier for users to use Capcut as a velocity editor.

• Rich copyrighted content which is free to use.

• A library of built-in templates.

• Available in multiple languages

• Advanced color grading tools are not well enough.

• Does not support higher frame rate than 60 FPS.

Part2 How to do velocity edit in filmora?

AI velocity edit For Win 7 or later(64-bit)

AI velocity edit For macOS 10.14 or later

1. Open Filmora and create a new project.
2. Import the video clip you want to edit into the media library.
3. Drag and drop the video clip onto the timeline.
4. Right-click on the video clip in the timeline and select “Speed” and choose “Speed Ramping.”
5. In the speed settings window, choose “Customize” and make changes to the speed by entering a speed multiplier or using the slider.
6. Preview the edit to see if it achieves the desired effect and make further adjustments as needed.
7. Once done with the velocity edit, export the video by clicking on the “Export” button, choosing the desired format and settings.

Conclusion

When it comes to video editing, velocity editing is a popular feature that content creators use frequently. A velocity editor lets you manipulate the speed and rhythm of video clips to create dynamic and engaging content. Various velocity edit apps have surfaced that offer a range of tools and features to enhance the video editing process. You can use these applications to alter the video velocity, create slow-motion effects, speed up scenes, or even reverse clips to suit the narrative flow of the content.

Choosing the right velocity edit maker helps you achieve the desired output in video projects, and there are many velocity app edit tools available online. Some applications like Filmora even offer the convenience of velocity edit online so that you can make quick adjustments to your videos without the need for extensive software installations. Fimora gives you the flexibility and accessibility of velocity editing, which makes it one of the best velocity editor tools for a streamlined and efficient editing process.

10 Best Free Text to Speech Software [Windows, Mac，Android, iPhone & Online]

Best Text To Speech Converter and Video Editor

Filmora’s Text to Speech (TTS) function allows you to convert your text files to voiceover and bring more elements to enrich your video.

Free Download Free Download Free Download Learn More >

Technology has always been in the business of amazing man with its extraordinary abilities. The brain of man has a role to play in this awe as these inventions are not without man’s input. As such, daily improvements are ensured to build upon the existing technology - the computer system.

We have always had one reason or the other to hire voiceover artistes. This could be for the purpose of storytelling and narration, advertisement and so on. As beautiful and reliable as that is in executing our tasks, many seem to consider it a waste of resources in terms of funds, energy and time. This is one of the reasons why the innovation of text-to-speech was established. It comes in handy when we do not need voiceover artistes as it serves as a perfect substitute.

Text-to-speech, which is also known as TTS, is a type of supportive technology that assists in reading digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology. The benefit of this technology cannot be overemphasised as it has gained a wide reach and global use across many devices such as computers and smartphones of different brands. With the help of softwares for computers (Windows and Mac), applications for smartphones (Android, iPhone, iPad) as well as online platforms, text-to-speech has been made possible and easy as technology keeps evolving.

Today, content creators are grateful for this life-saving innovation as it has dispelled the thoughts of having to do voiceovers themselves (which could be difficult for many). As such, this article comes in handy as it seeks to discuss ten applications or softwares and online platforms for TTS.

BALABOLKA

Balabolka is a Russian word; it can be translated as “chatterer” in English. It’s a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program that reads converts every written piece to audio. This program will install voices on your computer in different languages and deliver the lines in natural sounding voices. It really does a nice job of converting any text to speech. This software also helps with reading books aloud. In the case of reading a book, it can be converted to an audiobook by just copying and pasting it on the software while you select the voice and make necessary adjustments such as changing the range, pitch and volume control.

FEATURES

• Balabolka lets you customise fonts to your taste; this includes change of colour, background and font size and style.
• The program can extract content from documents, and it supports text file formats such as AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EML, EPUB, FB2, FB3, HTML, LIT, MD, MOBI, ODP, ODS, ODT, PDB, PRC, PDF, PPT, PPTX, RTF, TCR, WPD, XLS, XLSX.
• The software effortlessly converts texts to audio. Also, you can decide to save your audio in several file formats such as MP3, WAV, MPEG4 for free.
• Another good feature is that it echoes letters or words that you add in settings. More so, you can make Balabolka to pause between sentences.
• The spell check built-in operating system is functional in Balabolka. This feature is available in Windows beginning from Windows 8.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English, Arabic, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

PROS

• Audio can be changed and designed to your taste. Also, the part of the text you wish to begin from can be selected.
• Balabolka boasts of quality and flexibility, which is amazing for a free text-to-speech software. It has multiple voice options, file formats, and more!
• For starters or inexperienced users, Balabolka is straightforward in terms of installation as it takes seconds to have it on Windows PC. Also, no technical skill is needed to initiate the process.
• Balabolka comes with a timer, which provides you with more flexibility while listening to recordings. Since the program can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts, it helps save a good amount of time that you’d have spent trying to find your way through the interface.
• It has bookmarking tools that let you jump to a specific part of a text. This feature is useful when you are searching for a particular word in the text that is difficult to find especially in a bulky text. This could be for the purpose of editing or proofreading, or for picking up the audio from your place of choice.

CONS

• The voice available in the software is somewhat robotic and reads devoid of expression.
• It does not have an Android version.
• There are limited languages, which strikes the need for update in that respect.
• It lags sometimes as the workload involves colour grading, correction and others.

PANOPRETER

Panopreter is a text-to-speech and text-to-mp3 software program that reads text aloud with natural sounding voices, and converts the text to audio files in WAV, MP3, OGG and flac formats. In a nutshell, you can listen to your own writing without reading it out loud to yourself.

FEATURES

• You can turn the web into an audiobook using Panopreter. If you can copy and paste it, it is certainly possible to listen to it. This includes having a toolbar for Internet Explorer where reading on the web page is made easy. This does not leave Word document and other formats behind.
• The reading speed can be adjusted. Here, you’re given full control in deciding how fast or slow you want the reading to play out.
• Panopreter supports a wide variety of languages and voices to suit your taste as it opens you to multiple choices to choose from to make your user experience worth it.
• Files can be converted in batches. This will save time, rather than having to convert files one after the other. With Panopreter, more can be done in little time.
• Panopreter allows users to customize interface layout, font, text size, text color, highlight color, and background colour.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to highlight the word or sentence that is being read.
• Dictates in many languages and voices.
• It supports batch file conversion supported.
• It gives you a full command on the pitch, volume and speed
• It has keyboard shortcut keys.
• Music accompanies the end of the text reading.
• The inculcation of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word is a great feature that every other TTS software needs to have; Panopreter has made this advantageous.

CONS

• It does not have a mobile version.
• It is limited to Windows.

ZABAWARE

Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is a software that that makes it possible for your written documents to be read aloud. This program is unique as it makes reading and voiceovers efficient. It will save energy, time and resources especially when you’re considering spending lots of money to hire a voiceover artist for your content creation.

FEATURES

• The Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is more like a twin of the Windows program WordPad in that it opens any text file (.txt) or rich text file (.rtf). This program can be used to edit, format, and save text files. You can change font type, size, alignment and color using the controls in the toolbar and menu bar.
• Zabaware is capable of reading aloud any text you have copied to the Text-to-Speech Reader.
• The software can also convert text files to WAV format.
• The clipboard function of the Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader automatically monitors your

Clipboard for text changes. Every time you copy some text into the clipboard, this program will automatically read it out loud. This can be great for reading internet pages out loud and email messages.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to place validity on the work you engage.
• Speech error detection is easy by listening to the audio that is being rendered.
• Both male and female voices are available. It also offers the option of listening directly from the window instead of copying and pasting the content on the program.

CONS

• It is available only on Windows.
• It runs for free, but you won’t get the benefits such as better voices, more natural speech and realistic sounds advertised until you purchase the premium version.
• The voiceover gets activated even when it’s not needed. This causes disturbances while working
• The formats it supports are very limited.
• The voice selection is limited.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t merge multiple audio files to make one big audio file. You have to use your own computer.
• It has a poor storage organisation.
• It has only 3000 Characters per voiceover.
• You can’t use multiple voiceovers in a single script.

NOTEVIBES

NoteVibes is an online text to speech application and software that provides both free and paid options for users. It allows you convert your text to natural sounding voices with free MP3 download. In the free version, you have 5000 characters available for testing its functionality. This is good for personal use in working on small projects as it makes it possible for you to hear multiple sentences at once. Notevibes has over 18 languages and 177 unique voices; you won’t have a hard time reading your text due to its natural sounding voices.

FEATURES

• It has 17 languages and 177 voices.
• You can easily add a Background Music.
• It has a DJ voice creation feature.
• You can add pauses, pitch and change the speed of your audio along with emphasis and voice control.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS, ANDROID

PROS

• Its editor is very advanced, and the user has luxury of control over so many things.
• A specific portion of the script can be emphasised; the volume can also be controlled alongside rate and pitch for the specific parts as well. Only few text-to-speech softwares have this feature. This one feature therefore makes it stand out from others. Its voice quality is no different from others.
• Notevibes also lets you make dialogue videos where you can use more than one voice to create a voiceover. Your narration then sounds more creative and captivating when this feature well utilised. There are total 201 voices available in NoteVibes.

CONS

• It has issues with speed, and also produces a highly concentrated robotic sound. Coming along these is its very expensive commercial options. Notevibes can also not read from PDF and docs.
• There is no preview in NoteVibes; you can’t listen to the voice preview of the script; rather, the voiceover has to be generated to listen and to know how a speaker sounds.
• Demos are unavailable. On the homepage, demo can be found and played, but while generating voiceovers, no demo will be found.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t combine multiple audio files to make it one. Almost all major text-to-speech tools have a merge feature, but, Notevibes lags in this respect.
• Voiceover & Editor Page is different. There is one specific page for generating the voiceover and one page for downloading audio files. Switching between both of them will consume time. If you have a big project, switching between both pages will be tiring.
• No Project-Based Structure: This is another feature that you need when you have big project. Keep multiple files in one place can create a mess. You can’t create any project inside Notevibes. This is a very immature structure.

LANGUAGES SUPPORTED

English (us, UK, AU, IN), Spanish, German, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

MAC OS TTS

Mac OS X is a built-in text-to-speech software for Mac. This can be used to read your written content aloud anywhere on your computer from Notes app and other formats. This means it has the ability to dictate to you what you have written in order to bring your writing to life. This could come in form of an audiobook, trailer, ads, videogames, tutorials and many more. It has a ton of voices and languages to select from alongside different accents in English language.

FEATURES

• A lot of languages are included other than English and there are a lot of voices to choose along with languages. Although some voices are very robotic, there is a few which aren’t and sound more like a human.
• Text-to-speech on Mac also supports converting your text into audio files.

PROS

• A lot of voice options are available for you to play around to get familiar with.
• Texts can be easily converted to iTunes track.

CONS

• It does not have Pause/Play option.
• For all the words to be read, they have to be selected manually.
• The software is very basic and does not have the feature of picking up or continuing from where it stopped reading like other TTS softwares have.

TTS MP3.com

It is an online software which is very easy to use. TTS MP3 Which converts your text to the English language. It has a variety of preset voices and languages which are related to different countries. This gives you flexibility as it concerns your language choice. The software is user friendly. You can easily gain access to it by visiting www.TTSMP3.com , and it’s free.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: ONLINE

FEATURES

• With TTSMP3.com, you can easily convert text to audio, change speech and pitch, or even whisper.
• A lot of languages are available for you to explore.

PROS

• It supports both Hindi and English languages.

CONS

• The software does not support formats such as DOC, TXT, FB2, DOCX, PDF, RTF, and HTML.

READ ALOUD

Read Aloud is not exactly a stand-alone Mac software but instead, a Chrome extension which might be appealing to some people. When we put to heart how articles and posts are read on the internet every day, Read Aloud had to be devised to come in handy in making reading easier and less stressful. It is completely free and once it is installed, its icon will be displayed in the extension bar which can now be use to read any webpage or any article found online just by a single click. When it is in use, you get a play/pause button alongside a forward or rewind button which can be useful in advancing or backtracking paragraphs. Considering the fact that it is free to use, the voice options are really good and sound very natural.

FEATURES

• It can extract texts online to convert them into audio files.
• It possesses an exceptional feature of backtracking paragraphs.
• It helps you listen to audio files at your own pace, speed in natural sounding voices and different accents. Text typed in the app and text extracted from any photo uploaded is converted to an audio file.

PROS

• It has a great natural voice.
• It is completely secure as it ensures confidentiality. This is useful for people who would love to keep their data private.
• It helps people with social needs to listen to any text in different languages. This is very useful for those who are limited in language varieties.

CONS

• It can work only on Chrome.

SPEAK4ME

As its name implies, Speak4me literally speaks for you! Like other TTS softwares and apps, Speak4Me works as an instrument of text conversion into audio. One advantage this application has is that it can enhance multitasking. When you have to read and make tea or coffee, or cook at the same time, you don’t have to move around with the text material; all you have to do is to allow Speak4me to do what it was made to do. This is therefore a software to consider in turning your writing to speaking without much stress. With amazing features like changing the rate and pitch of the voice alongside volume control and an array of voices to choose from which comes with a variety of languages, it affords you flexibility regarding your choice of usage. It also allows you to share your audio on the social media, and you can decide to save them locally for later use.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD

FEATURES

• With Speak4Me, you can easily navigate the control speech generator volume, pitch and rate of speech.
• It filters all the PDFs easily; it highlights the text as you go along too.
• It has a fully customizable reading experience: Adjustment font size, font and background colours, alignment, line spacing to best suit your preference and much more is available on the software.
• Speak4Me can speak PDF in languages such as English and Hindi.

PROS

• It comes with a Night Mode functionality to facilitate a comfortable reading in dark environments.
• The software has smooth navigation, auto scroll and can search for words to jump to a point in your text. This feature comes in handy especially when you have a bulky text to work on.
• With Speak4Me, your eyes are guarded from smartphone light rays.

CONS

• The languages are limited.
• If your device does not have a TTS engine of that language, speaking will not be supported.

NATURAL READER

Natural Reader is a text-to-speech app that covers your text, webpages, eBooks, and webpages aloud to you with quality and natural-sounding voices. NaturalReader is a useful tool for those who have dyslexia and other reading difficulties. 50 voices in over 20 languages are therefore available for you to open up your ears to.

FEATURES

• Adjustment of speaker’s speed: This feature enables you to adjust the speed of a selected speaker. This gives you control on how slow or fast you want the speech to be rendered.
• It is able to read email attachments; it also grants access to Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive.

PROS

• The pronunciation editor gives you control on how you want certain words to be pronounced. This way, you can fine-tune the pronunciation of new or unusual words, or improve the readability of acronyms.

CONS

• Access can only be gained to additional features when you upgrade to the pro version.
• The application crashes lags a bit when there is too much text pasted for the application to process.
• It sometimes skips lines.
• Its sound becomes unpleasant when volume is too high.

NARRATOR’S VOICE

This application helps convert text to speech with a wide variety of voices in many languages. Narrator’s Voice app lets you create and share amusing messages using a narrator’s voice of your choice with a wide range of languages and reliable, pleasant sound voices. The end result is a customised narration of your original message, which you can share as desired. Videos are one of the hottest projects for Narrator’s Voice, letting the narrator explain or comment on whatever is happening on the screen. In fact, many people have been using the Narrator’s Voice app to add audio to their YouTube and TikTok videos, giving them a distinct voice that enhances the overall video’s vibe.

FEATURES SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD AND WINDOWS

• It executes your tasks with voices alongside effects in many languages.
• New voices have been added, which makes it +380 voices in total.
• It has waveform graphics for your to monitor the height and depth of the sound of your audio.

PROS

• Theme can be changed to Dark or Light.
• It has the ability to turn images to text.

CONS

• Too many ads roll out in the free version.
• The sound and vocal is not loud enough.

Technology has always been in the business of amazing man with its extraordinary abilities. The brain of man has a role to play in this awe as these inventions are not without man’s input. As such, daily improvements are ensured to build upon the existing technology - the computer system.

We have always had one reason or the other to hire voiceover artistes. This could be for the purpose of storytelling and narration, advertisement and so on. As beautiful and reliable as that is in executing our tasks, many seem to consider it a waste of resources in terms of funds, energy and time. This is one of the reasons why the innovation of text-to-speech was established. It comes in handy when we do not need voiceover artistes as it serves as a perfect substitute.

Text-to-speech, which is also known as TTS, is a type of supportive technology that assists in reading digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology. The benefit of this technology cannot be overemphasised as it has gained a wide reach and global use across many devices such as computers and smartphones of different brands. With the help of softwares for computers (Windows and Mac), applications for smartphones (Android, iPhone, iPad) as well as online platforms, text-to-speech has been made possible and easy as technology keeps evolving.

Today, content creators are grateful for this life-saving innovation as it has dispelled the thoughts of having to do voiceovers themselves (which could be difficult for many). As such, this article comes in handy as it seeks to discuss ten applications or softwares and online platforms for TTS.

BALABOLKA

Balabolka is a Russian word; it can be translated as “chatterer” in English. It’s a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program that reads converts every written piece to audio. This program will install voices on your computer in different languages and deliver the lines in natural sounding voices. It really does a nice job of converting any text to speech. This software also helps with reading books aloud. In the case of reading a book, it can be converted to an audiobook by just copying and pasting it on the software while you select the voice and make necessary adjustments such as changing the range, pitch and volume control.

FEATURES

• Balabolka lets you customise fonts to your taste; this includes change of colour, background and font size and style.
• The program can extract content from documents, and it supports text file formats such as AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EML, EPUB, FB2, FB3, HTML, LIT, MD, MOBI, ODP, ODS, ODT, PDB, PRC, PDF, PPT, PPTX, RTF, TCR, WPD, XLS, XLSX.
• The software effortlessly converts texts to audio. Also, you can decide to save your audio in several file formats such as MP3, WAV, MPEG4 for free.
• Another good feature is that it echoes letters or words that you add in settings. More so, you can make Balabolka to pause between sentences.
• The spell check built-in operating system is functional in Balabolka. This feature is available in Windows beginning from Windows 8.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English, Arabic, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

PROS

• Audio can be changed and designed to your taste. Also, the part of the text you wish to begin from can be selected.
• Balabolka boasts of quality and flexibility, which is amazing for a free text-to-speech software. It has multiple voice options, file formats, and more!
• For starters or inexperienced users, Balabolka is straightforward in terms of installation as it takes seconds to have it on Windows PC. Also, no technical skill is needed to initiate the process.
• Balabolka comes with a timer, which provides you with more flexibility while listening to recordings. Since the program can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts, it helps save a good amount of time that you’d have spent trying to find your way through the interface.
• It has bookmarking tools that let you jump to a specific part of a text. This feature is useful when you are searching for a particular word in the text that is difficult to find especially in a bulky text. This could be for the purpose of editing or proofreading, or for picking up the audio from your place of choice.

CONS

• The voice available in the software is somewhat robotic and reads devoid of expression.
• It does not have an Android version.
• There are limited languages, which strikes the need for update in that respect.
• It lags sometimes as the workload involves colour grading, correction and others.

PANOPRETER

Panopreter is a text-to-speech and text-to-mp3 software program that reads text aloud with natural sounding voices, and converts the text to audio files in WAV, MP3, OGG and flac formats. In a nutshell, you can listen to your own writing without reading it out loud to yourself.

FEATURES

• You can turn the web into an audiobook using Panopreter. If you can copy and paste it, it is certainly possible to listen to it. This includes having a toolbar for Internet Explorer where reading on the web page is made easy. This does not leave Word document and other formats behind.
• The reading speed can be adjusted. Here, you’re given full control in deciding how fast or slow you want the reading to play out.
• Panopreter supports a wide variety of languages and voices to suit your taste as it opens you to multiple choices to choose from to make your user experience worth it.
• Files can be converted in batches. This will save time, rather than having to convert files one after the other. With Panopreter, more can be done in little time.
• Panopreter allows users to customize interface layout, font, text size, text color, highlight color, and background colour.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to highlight the word or sentence that is being read.
• Dictates in many languages and voices.
• It supports batch file conversion supported.
• It gives you a full command on the pitch, volume and speed
• It has keyboard shortcut keys.
• Music accompanies the end of the text reading.
• The inculcation of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word is a great feature that every other TTS software needs to have; Panopreter has made this advantageous.

CONS

• It does not have a mobile version.
• It is limited to Windows.

ZABAWARE

Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is a software that that makes it possible for your written documents to be read aloud. This program is unique as it makes reading and voiceovers efficient. It will save energy, time and resources especially when you’re considering spending lots of money to hire a voiceover artist for your content creation.

FEATURES

• The Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is more like a twin of the Windows program WordPad in that it opens any text file (.txt) or rich text file (.rtf). This program can be used to edit, format, and save text files. You can change font type, size, alignment and color using the controls in the toolbar and menu bar.
• Zabaware is capable of reading aloud any text you have copied to the Text-to-Speech Reader.
• The software can also convert text files to WAV format.
• The clipboard function of the Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader automatically monitors your

Clipboard for text changes. Every time you copy some text into the clipboard, this program will automatically read it out loud. This can be great for reading internet pages out loud and email messages.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to place validity on the work you engage.
• Speech error detection is easy by listening to the audio that is being rendered.
• Both male and female voices are available. It also offers the option of listening directly from the window instead of copying and pasting the content on the program.

CONS

• It is available only on Windows.
• It runs for free, but you won’t get the benefits such as better voices, more natural speech and realistic sounds advertised until you purchase the premium version.
• The voiceover gets activated even when it’s not needed. This causes disturbances while working
• The formats it supports are very limited.
• The voice selection is limited.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t merge multiple audio files to make one big audio file. You have to use your own computer.
• It has a poor storage organisation.
• It has only 3000 Characters per voiceover.
• You can’t use multiple voiceovers in a single script.

NOTEVIBES

NoteVibes is an online text to speech application and software that provides both free and paid options for users. It allows you convert your text to natural sounding voices with free MP3 download. In the free version, you have 5000 characters available for testing its functionality. This is good for personal use in working on small projects as it makes it possible for you to hear multiple sentences at once. Notevibes has over 18 languages and 177 unique voices; you won’t have a hard time reading your text due to its natural sounding voices.

FEATURES

• It has 17 languages and 177 voices.
• You can easily add a Background Music.
• It has a DJ voice creation feature.
• You can add pauses, pitch and change the speed of your audio along with emphasis and voice control.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS, ANDROID

PROS

• Its editor is very advanced, and the user has luxury of control over so many things.
• A specific portion of the script can be emphasised; the volume can also be controlled alongside rate and pitch for the specific parts as well. Only few text-to-speech softwares have this feature. This one feature therefore makes it stand out from others. Its voice quality is no different from others.
• Notevibes also lets you make dialogue videos where you can use more than one voice to create a voiceover. Your narration then sounds more creative and captivating when this feature well utilised. There are total 201 voices available in NoteVibes.

CONS

• It has issues with speed, and also produces a highly concentrated robotic sound. Coming along these is its very expensive commercial options. Notevibes can also not read from PDF and docs.
• There is no preview in NoteVibes; you can’t listen to the voice preview of the script; rather, the voiceover has to be generated to listen and to know how a speaker sounds.
• Demos are unavailable. On the homepage, demo can be found and played, but while generating voiceovers, no demo will be found.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t combine multiple audio files to make it one. Almost all major text-to-speech tools have a merge feature, but, Notevibes lags in this respect.
• Voiceover & Editor Page is different. There is one specific page for generating the voiceover and one page for downloading audio files. Switching between both of them will consume time. If you have a big project, switching between both pages will be tiring.
• No Project-Based Structure: This is another feature that you need when you have big project. Keep multiple files in one place can create a mess. You can’t create any project inside Notevibes. This is a very immature structure.

LANGUAGES SUPPORTED

English (us, UK, AU, IN), Spanish, German, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

MAC OS TTS

Mac OS X is a built-in text-to-speech software for Mac. This can be used to read your written content aloud anywhere on your computer from Notes app and other formats. This means it has the ability to dictate to you what you have written in order to bring your writing to life. This could come in form of an audiobook, trailer, ads, videogames, tutorials and many more. It has a ton of voices and languages to select from alongside different accents in English language.

FEATURES

• A lot of languages are included other than English and there are a lot of voices to choose along with languages. Although some voices are very robotic, there is a few which aren’t and sound more like a human.
• Text-to-speech on Mac also supports converting your text into audio files.

PROS

• A lot of voice options are available for you to play around to get familiar with.
• Texts can be easily converted to iTunes track.

CONS

• It does not have Pause/Play option.
• For all the words to be read, they have to be selected manually.
• The software is very basic and does not have the feature of picking up or continuing from where it stopped reading like other TTS softwares have.

TTS MP3.com

It is an online software which is very easy to use. TTS MP3 Which converts your text to the English language. It has a variety of preset voices and languages which are related to different countries. This gives you flexibility as it concerns your language choice. The software is user friendly. You can easily gain access to it by visiting www.TTSMP3.com , and it’s free.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: ONLINE

FEATURES

• With TTSMP3.com, you can easily convert text to audio, change speech and pitch, or even whisper.
• A lot of languages are available for you to explore.

PROS

• It supports both Hindi and English languages.

CONS

• The software does not support formats such as DOC, TXT, FB2, DOCX, PDF, RTF, and HTML.

READ ALOUD

Read Aloud is not exactly a stand-alone Mac software but instead, a Chrome extension which might be appealing to some people. When we put to heart how articles and posts are read on the internet every day, Read Aloud had to be devised to come in handy in making reading easier and less stressful. It is completely free and once it is installed, its icon will be displayed in the extension bar which can now be use to read any webpage or any article found online just by a single click. When it is in use, you get a play/pause button alongside a forward or rewind button which can be useful in advancing or backtracking paragraphs. Considering the fact that it is free to use, the voice options are really good and sound very natural.

FEATURES

• It can extract texts online to convert them into audio files.
• It possesses an exceptional feature of backtracking paragraphs.
• It helps you listen to audio files at your own pace, speed in natural sounding voices and different accents. Text typed in the app and text extracted from any photo uploaded is converted to an audio file.

PROS

• It has a great natural voice.
• It is completely secure as it ensures confidentiality. This is useful for people who would love to keep their data private.
• It helps people with social needs to listen to any text in different languages. This is very useful for those who are limited in language varieties.

CONS

• It can work only on Chrome.

SPEAK4ME

As its name implies, Speak4me literally speaks for you! Like other TTS softwares and apps, Speak4Me works as an instrument of text conversion into audio. One advantage this application has is that it can enhance multitasking. When you have to read and make tea or coffee, or cook at the same time, you don’t have to move around with the text material; all you have to do is to allow Speak4me to do what it was made to do. This is therefore a software to consider in turning your writing to speaking without much stress. With amazing features like changing the rate and pitch of the voice alongside volume control and an array of voices to choose from which comes with a variety of languages, it affords you flexibility regarding your choice of usage. It also allows you to share your audio on the social media, and you can decide to save them locally for later use.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD

FEATURES

• With Speak4Me, you can easily navigate the control speech generator volume, pitch and rate of speech.
• It filters all the PDFs easily; it highlights the text as you go along too.
• It has a fully customizable reading experience: Adjustment font size, font and background colours, alignment, line spacing to best suit your preference and much more is available on the software.
• Speak4Me can speak PDF in languages such as English and Hindi.

PROS

• It comes with a Night Mode functionality to facilitate a comfortable reading in dark environments.
• The software has smooth navigation, auto scroll and can search for words to jump to a point in your text. This feature comes in handy especially when you have a bulky text to work on.
• With Speak4Me, your eyes are guarded from smartphone light rays.

CONS

• The languages are limited.
• If your device does not have a TTS engine of that language, speaking will not be supported.

NATURAL READER

Natural Reader is a text-to-speech app that covers your text, webpages, eBooks, and webpages aloud to you with quality and natural-sounding voices. NaturalReader is a useful tool for those who have dyslexia and other reading difficulties. 50 voices in over 20 languages are therefore available for you to open up your ears to.

FEATURES

• Adjustment of speaker’s speed: This feature enables you to adjust the speed of a selected speaker. This gives you control on how slow or fast you want the speech to be rendered.
• It is able to read email attachments; it also grants access to Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive.

PROS

• The pronunciation editor gives you control on how you want certain words to be pronounced. This way, you can fine-tune the pronunciation of new or unusual words, or improve the readability of acronyms.

CONS

• Access can only be gained to additional features when you upgrade to the pro version.
• The application crashes lags a bit when there is too much text pasted for the application to process.
• It sometimes skips lines.
• Its sound becomes unpleasant when volume is too high.

NARRATOR’S VOICE

This application helps convert text to speech with a wide variety of voices in many languages. Narrator’s Voice app lets you create and share amusing messages using a narrator’s voice of your choice with a wide range of languages and reliable, pleasant sound voices. The end result is a customised narration of your original message, which you can share as desired. Videos are one of the hottest projects for Narrator’s Voice, letting the narrator explain or comment on whatever is happening on the screen. In fact, many people have been using the Narrator’s Voice app to add audio to their YouTube and TikTok videos, giving them a distinct voice that enhances the overall video’s vibe.

FEATURES SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD AND WINDOWS

• It executes your tasks with voices alongside effects in many languages.
• New voices have been added, which makes it +380 voices in total.
• It has waveform graphics for your to monitor the height and depth of the sound of your audio.

PROS

• Theme can be changed to Dark or Light.
• It has the ability to turn images to text.

CONS

• Too many ads roll out in the free version.
• The sound and vocal is not loud enough.

Technology has always been in the business of amazing man with its extraordinary abilities. The brain of man has a role to play in this awe as these inventions are not without man’s input. As such, daily improvements are ensured to build upon the existing technology - the computer system.

We have always had one reason or the other to hire voiceover artistes. This could be for the purpose of storytelling and narration, advertisement and so on. As beautiful and reliable as that is in executing our tasks, many seem to consider it a waste of resources in terms of funds, energy and time. This is one of the reasons why the innovation of text-to-speech was established. It comes in handy when we do not need voiceover artistes as it serves as a perfect substitute.

Text-to-speech, which is also known as TTS, is a type of supportive technology that assists in reading digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology. The benefit of this technology cannot be overemphasised as it has gained a wide reach and global use across many devices such as computers and smartphones of different brands. With the help of softwares for computers (Windows and Mac), applications for smartphones (Android, iPhone, iPad) as well as online platforms, text-to-speech has been made possible and easy as technology keeps evolving.

Today, content creators are grateful for this life-saving innovation as it has dispelled the thoughts of having to do voiceovers themselves (which could be difficult for many). As such, this article comes in handy as it seeks to discuss ten applications or softwares and online platforms for TTS.

BALABOLKA

Balabolka is a Russian word; it can be translated as “chatterer” in English. It’s a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program that reads converts every written piece to audio. This program will install voices on your computer in different languages and deliver the lines in natural sounding voices. It really does a nice job of converting any text to speech. This software also helps with reading books aloud. In the case of reading a book, it can be converted to an audiobook by just copying and pasting it on the software while you select the voice and make necessary adjustments such as changing the range, pitch and volume control.

FEATURES

• Balabolka lets you customise fonts to your taste; this includes change of colour, background and font size and style.
• The program can extract content from documents, and it supports text file formats such as AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EML, EPUB, FB2, FB3, HTML, LIT, MD, MOBI, ODP, ODS, ODT, PDB, PRC, PDF, PPT, PPTX, RTF, TCR, WPD, XLS, XLSX.
• The software effortlessly converts texts to audio. Also, you can decide to save your audio in several file formats such as MP3, WAV, MPEG4 for free.
• Another good feature is that it echoes letters or words that you add in settings. More so, you can make Balabolka to pause between sentences.
• The spell check built-in operating system is functional in Balabolka. This feature is available in Windows beginning from Windows 8.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English, Arabic, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

PROS

• Audio can be changed and designed to your taste. Also, the part of the text you wish to begin from can be selected.
• Balabolka boasts of quality and flexibility, which is amazing for a free text-to-speech software. It has multiple voice options, file formats, and more!
• For starters or inexperienced users, Balabolka is straightforward in terms of installation as it takes seconds to have it on Windows PC. Also, no technical skill is needed to initiate the process.
• Balabolka comes with a timer, which provides you with more flexibility while listening to recordings. Since the program can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts, it helps save a good amount of time that you’d have spent trying to find your way through the interface.
• It has bookmarking tools that let you jump to a specific part of a text. This feature is useful when you are searching for a particular word in the text that is difficult to find especially in a bulky text. This could be for the purpose of editing or proofreading, or for picking up the audio from your place of choice.

CONS

• The voice available in the software is somewhat robotic and reads devoid of expression.
• It does not have an Android version.
• There are limited languages, which strikes the need for update in that respect.
• It lags sometimes as the workload involves colour grading, correction and others.

PANOPRETER

Panopreter is a text-to-speech and text-to-mp3 software program that reads text aloud with natural sounding voices, and converts the text to audio files in WAV, MP3, OGG and flac formats. In a nutshell, you can listen to your own writing without reading it out loud to yourself.

FEATURES

• You can turn the web into an audiobook using Panopreter. If you can copy and paste it, it is certainly possible to listen to it. This includes having a toolbar for Internet Explorer where reading on the web page is made easy. This does not leave Word document and other formats behind.
• The reading speed can be adjusted. Here, you’re given full control in deciding how fast or slow you want the reading to play out.
• Panopreter supports a wide variety of languages and voices to suit your taste as it opens you to multiple choices to choose from to make your user experience worth it.
• Files can be converted in batches. This will save time, rather than having to convert files one after the other. With Panopreter, more can be done in little time.
• Panopreter allows users to customize interface layout, font, text size, text color, highlight color, and background colour.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to highlight the word or sentence that is being read.
• Dictates in many languages and voices.
• It supports batch file conversion supported.
• It gives you a full command on the pitch, volume and speed
• It has keyboard shortcut keys.
• Music accompanies the end of the text reading.
• The inculcation of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word is a great feature that every other TTS software needs to have; Panopreter has made this advantageous.

CONS

• It does not have a mobile version.
• It is limited to Windows.

ZABAWARE

Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is a software that that makes it possible for your written documents to be read aloud. This program is unique as it makes reading and voiceovers efficient. It will save energy, time and resources especially when you’re considering spending lots of money to hire a voiceover artist for your content creation.

FEATURES

• The Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is more like a twin of the Windows program WordPad in that it opens any text file (.txt) or rich text file (.rtf). This program can be used to edit, format, and save text files. You can change font type, size, alignment and color using the controls in the toolbar and menu bar.
• Zabaware is capable of reading aloud any text you have copied to the Text-to-Speech Reader.
• The software can also convert text files to WAV format.
• The clipboard function of the Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader automatically monitors your

Clipboard for text changes. Every time you copy some text into the clipboard, this program will automatically read it out loud. This can be great for reading internet pages out loud and email messages.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to place validity on the work you engage.
• Speech error detection is easy by listening to the audio that is being rendered.
• Both male and female voices are available. It also offers the option of listening directly from the window instead of copying and pasting the content on the program.

CONS

• It is available only on Windows.
• It runs for free, but you won’t get the benefits such as better voices, more natural speech and realistic sounds advertised until you purchase the premium version.
• The voiceover gets activated even when it’s not needed. This causes disturbances while working
• The formats it supports are very limited.
• The voice selection is limited.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t merge multiple audio files to make one big audio file. You have to use your own computer.
• It has a poor storage organisation.
• It has only 3000 Characters per voiceover.
• You can’t use multiple voiceovers in a single script.

NOTEVIBES

NoteVibes is an online text to speech application and software that provides both free and paid options for users. It allows you convert your text to natural sounding voices with free MP3 download. In the free version, you have 5000 characters available for testing its functionality. This is good for personal use in working on small projects as it makes it possible for you to hear multiple sentences at once. Notevibes has over 18 languages and 177 unique voices; you won’t have a hard time reading your text due to its natural sounding voices.

FEATURES

• It has 17 languages and 177 voices.
• You can easily add a Background Music.
• It has a DJ voice creation feature.
• You can add pauses, pitch and change the speed of your audio along with emphasis and voice control.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS, ANDROID

PROS

• Its editor is very advanced, and the user has luxury of control over so many things.
• A specific portion of the script can be emphasised; the volume can also be controlled alongside rate and pitch for the specific parts as well. Only few text-to-speech softwares have this feature. This one feature therefore makes it stand out from others. Its voice quality is no different from others.
• Notevibes also lets you make dialogue videos where you can use more than one voice to create a voiceover. Your narration then sounds more creative and captivating when this feature well utilised. There are total 201 voices available in NoteVibes.

CONS

• It has issues with speed, and also produces a highly concentrated robotic sound. Coming along these is its very expensive commercial options. Notevibes can also not read from PDF and docs.
• There is no preview in NoteVibes; you can’t listen to the voice preview of the script; rather, the voiceover has to be generated to listen and to know how a speaker sounds.
• Demos are unavailable. On the homepage, demo can be found and played, but while generating voiceovers, no demo will be found.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t combine multiple audio files to make it one. Almost all major text-to-speech tools have a merge feature, but, Notevibes lags in this respect.
• Voiceover & Editor Page is different. There is one specific page for generating the voiceover and one page for downloading audio files. Switching between both of them will consume time. If you have a big project, switching between both pages will be tiring.
• No Project-Based Structure: This is another feature that you need when you have big project. Keep multiple files in one place can create a mess. You can’t create any project inside Notevibes. This is a very immature structure.

LANGUAGES SUPPORTED

English (us, UK, AU, IN), Spanish, German, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

MAC OS TTS

Mac OS X is a built-in text-to-speech software for Mac. This can be used to read your written content aloud anywhere on your computer from Notes app and other formats. This means it has the ability to dictate to you what you have written in order to bring your writing to life. This could come in form of an audiobook, trailer, ads, videogames, tutorials and many more. It has a ton of voices and languages to select from alongside different accents in English language.

FEATURES

• A lot of languages are included other than English and there are a lot of voices to choose along with languages. Although some voices are very robotic, there is a few which aren’t and sound more like a human.
• Text-to-speech on Mac also supports converting your text into audio files.

PROS

• A lot of voice options are available for you to play around to get familiar with.
• Texts can be easily converted to iTunes track.

CONS

• It does not have Pause/Play option.
• For all the words to be read, they have to be selected manually.
• The software is very basic and does not have the feature of picking up or continuing from where it stopped reading like other TTS softwares have.

TTS MP3.com

It is an online software which is very easy to use. TTS MP3 Which converts your text to the English language. It has a variety of preset voices and languages which are related to different countries. This gives you flexibility as it concerns your language choice. The software is user friendly. You can easily gain access to it by visiting www.TTSMP3.com , and it’s free.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: ONLINE

FEATURES

• With TTSMP3.com, you can easily convert text to audio, change speech and pitch, or even whisper.
• A lot of languages are available for you to explore.

PROS

• It supports both Hindi and English languages.

CONS

• The software does not support formats such as DOC, TXT, FB2, DOCX, PDF, RTF, and HTML.

READ ALOUD

Read Aloud is not exactly a stand-alone Mac software but instead, a Chrome extension which might be appealing to some people. When we put to heart how articles and posts are read on the internet every day, Read Aloud had to be devised to come in handy in making reading easier and less stressful. It is completely free and once it is installed, its icon will be displayed in the extension bar which can now be use to read any webpage or any article found online just by a single click. When it is in use, you get a play/pause button alongside a forward or rewind button which can be useful in advancing or backtracking paragraphs. Considering the fact that it is free to use, the voice options are really good and sound very natural.

FEATURES

• It can extract texts online to convert them into audio files.
• It possesses an exceptional feature of backtracking paragraphs.
• It helps you listen to audio files at your own pace, speed in natural sounding voices and different accents. Text typed in the app and text extracted from any photo uploaded is converted to an audio file.

PROS

• It has a great natural voice.
• It is completely secure as it ensures confidentiality. This is useful for people who would love to keep their data private.
• It helps people with social needs to listen to any text in different languages. This is very useful for those who are limited in language varieties.

CONS

• It can work only on Chrome.

SPEAK4ME

As its name implies, Speak4me literally speaks for you! Like other TTS softwares and apps, Speak4Me works as an instrument of text conversion into audio. One advantage this application has is that it can enhance multitasking. When you have to read and make tea or coffee, or cook at the same time, you don’t have to move around with the text material; all you have to do is to allow Speak4me to do what it was made to do. This is therefore a software to consider in turning your writing to speaking without much stress. With amazing features like changing the rate and pitch of the voice alongside volume control and an array of voices to choose from which comes with a variety of languages, it affords you flexibility regarding your choice of usage. It also allows you to share your audio on the social media, and you can decide to save them locally for later use.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD

FEATURES

• With Speak4Me, you can easily navigate the control speech generator volume, pitch and rate of speech.
• It filters all the PDFs easily; it highlights the text as you go along too.
• It has a fully customizable reading experience: Adjustment font size, font and background colours, alignment, line spacing to best suit your preference and much more is available on the software.
• Speak4Me can speak PDF in languages such as English and Hindi.

PROS

• It comes with a Night Mode functionality to facilitate a comfortable reading in dark environments.
• The software has smooth navigation, auto scroll and can search for words to jump to a point in your text. This feature comes in handy especially when you have a bulky text to work on.
• With Speak4Me, your eyes are guarded from smartphone light rays.

CONS

• The languages are limited.
• If your device does not have a TTS engine of that language, speaking will not be supported.

NATURAL READER

Natural Reader is a text-to-speech app that covers your text, webpages, eBooks, and webpages aloud to you with quality and natural-sounding voices. NaturalReader is a useful tool for those who have dyslexia and other reading difficulties. 50 voices in over 20 languages are therefore available for you to open up your ears to.

FEATURES

• Adjustment of speaker’s speed: This feature enables you to adjust the speed of a selected speaker. This gives you control on how slow or fast you want the speech to be rendered.
• It is able to read email attachments; it also grants access to Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive.

PROS

• The pronunciation editor gives you control on how you want certain words to be pronounced. This way, you can fine-tune the pronunciation of new or unusual words, or improve the readability of acronyms.

CONS

• Access can only be gained to additional features when you upgrade to the pro version.
• The application crashes lags a bit when there is too much text pasted for the application to process.
• It sometimes skips lines.
• Its sound becomes unpleasant when volume is too high.

NARRATOR’S VOICE

This application helps convert text to speech with a wide variety of voices in many languages. Narrator’s Voice app lets you create and share amusing messages using a narrator’s voice of your choice with a wide range of languages and reliable, pleasant sound voices. The end result is a customised narration of your original message, which you can share as desired. Videos are one of the hottest projects for Narrator’s Voice, letting the narrator explain or comment on whatever is happening on the screen. In fact, many people have been using the Narrator’s Voice app to add audio to their YouTube and TikTok videos, giving them a distinct voice that enhances the overall video’s vibe.

FEATURES SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD AND WINDOWS

• It executes your tasks with voices alongside effects in many languages.
• New voices have been added, which makes it +380 voices in total.
• It has waveform graphics for your to monitor the height and depth of the sound of your audio.

PROS

• Theme can be changed to Dark or Light.
• It has the ability to turn images to text.

CONS

• Too many ads roll out in the free version.
• The sound and vocal is not loud enough.

Technology has always been in the business of amazing man with its extraordinary abilities. The brain of man has a role to play in this awe as these inventions are not without man’s input. As such, daily improvements are ensured to build upon the existing technology - the computer system.

We have always had one reason or the other to hire voiceover artistes. This could be for the purpose of storytelling and narration, advertisement and so on. As beautiful and reliable as that is in executing our tasks, many seem to consider it a waste of resources in terms of funds, energy and time. This is one of the reasons why the innovation of text-to-speech was established. It comes in handy when we do not need voiceover artistes as it serves as a perfect substitute.

Text-to-speech, which is also known as TTS, is a type of supportive technology that assists in reading digital text aloud. It’s sometimes called “read aloud” technology. The benefit of this technology cannot be overemphasised as it has gained a wide reach and global use across many devices such as computers and smartphones of different brands. With the help of softwares for computers (Windows and Mac), applications for smartphones (Android, iPhone, iPad) as well as online platforms, text-to-speech has been made possible and easy as technology keeps evolving.

Today, content creators are grateful for this life-saving innovation as it has dispelled the thoughts of having to do voiceovers themselves (which could be difficult for many). As such, this article comes in handy as it seeks to discuss ten applications or softwares and online platforms for TTS.

BALABOLKA

Balabolka is a Russian word; it can be translated as “chatterer” in English. It’s a Text-To-Speech (TTS) program that reads converts every written piece to audio. This program will install voices on your computer in different languages and deliver the lines in natural sounding voices. It really does a nice job of converting any text to speech. This software also helps with reading books aloud. In the case of reading a book, it can be converted to an audiobook by just copying and pasting it on the software while you select the voice and make necessary adjustments such as changing the range, pitch and volume control.

FEATURES

• Balabolka lets you customise fonts to your taste; this includes change of colour, background and font size and style.
• The program can extract content from documents, and it supports text file formats such as AZW, AZW3, CHM, DjVu, DOC, DOCX, EML, EPUB, FB2, FB3, HTML, LIT, MD, MOBI, ODP, ODS, ODT, PDB, PRC, PDF, PPT, PPTX, RTF, TCR, WPD, XLS, XLSX.
• The software effortlessly converts texts to audio. Also, you can decide to save your audio in several file formats such as MP3, WAV, MPEG4 for free.
• Another good feature is that it echoes letters or words that you add in settings. More so, you can make Balabolka to pause between sentences.
• The spell check built-in operating system is functional in Balabolka. This feature is available in Windows beginning from Windows 8.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES

English, Arabic, Czech, German, Spanish, French, Italian, Korean, Dutch, Polish, Portuguese, Russian and Chinese.

PROS

• Audio can be changed and designed to your taste. Also, the part of the text you wish to begin from can be selected.
• Balabolka boasts of quality and flexibility, which is amazing for a free text-to-speech software. It has multiple voice options, file formats, and more!
• For starters or inexperienced users, Balabolka is straightforward in terms of installation as it takes seconds to have it on Windows PC. Also, no technical skill is needed to initiate the process.
• Balabolka comes with a timer, which provides you with more flexibility while listening to recordings. Since the program can be controlled with keyboard shortcuts, it helps save a good amount of time that you’d have spent trying to find your way through the interface.
• It has bookmarking tools that let you jump to a specific part of a text. This feature is useful when you are searching for a particular word in the text that is difficult to find especially in a bulky text. This could be for the purpose of editing or proofreading, or for picking up the audio from your place of choice.

CONS

• The voice available in the software is somewhat robotic and reads devoid of expression.
• It does not have an Android version.
• There are limited languages, which strikes the need for update in that respect.
• It lags sometimes as the workload involves colour grading, correction and others.

PANOPRETER

Panopreter is a text-to-speech and text-to-mp3 software program that reads text aloud with natural sounding voices, and converts the text to audio files in WAV, MP3, OGG and flac formats. In a nutshell, you can listen to your own writing without reading it out loud to yourself.

FEATURES

• You can turn the web into an audiobook using Panopreter. If you can copy and paste it, it is certainly possible to listen to it. This includes having a toolbar for Internet Explorer where reading on the web page is made easy. This does not leave Word document and other formats behind.
• The reading speed can be adjusted. Here, you’re given full control in deciding how fast or slow you want the reading to play out.
• Panopreter supports a wide variety of languages and voices to suit your taste as it opens you to multiple choices to choose from to make your user experience worth it.
• Files can be converted in batches. This will save time, rather than having to convert files one after the other. With Panopreter, more can be done in little time.
• Panopreter allows users to customize interface layout, font, text size, text color, highlight color, and background colour.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to highlight the word or sentence that is being read.
• Dictates in many languages and voices.
• It supports batch file conversion supported.
• It gives you a full command on the pitch, volume and speed
• It has keyboard shortcut keys.
• Music accompanies the end of the text reading.
• The inculcation of Internet Explorer and Microsoft Word is a great feature that every other TTS software needs to have; Panopreter has made this advantageous.

CONS

• It does not have a mobile version.
• It is limited to Windows.

ZABAWARE

Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is a software that that makes it possible for your written documents to be read aloud. This program is unique as it makes reading and voiceovers efficient. It will save energy, time and resources especially when you’re considering spending lots of money to hire a voiceover artist for your content creation.

FEATURES

• The Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader is more like a twin of the Windows program WordPad in that it opens any text file (.txt) or rich text file (.rtf). This program can be used to edit, format, and save text files. You can change font type, size, alignment and color using the controls in the toolbar and menu bar.
• Zabaware is capable of reading aloud any text you have copied to the Text-to-Speech Reader.
• The software can also convert text files to WAV format.
• The clipboard function of the Zabaware Text-to-Speech Reader automatically monitors your

Clipboard for text changes. Every time you copy some text into the clipboard, this program will automatically read it out loud. This can be great for reading internet pages out loud and email messages.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS

PROS

• It helps to place validity on the work you engage.
• Speech error detection is easy by listening to the audio that is being rendered.
• Both male and female voices are available. It also offers the option of listening directly from the window instead of copying and pasting the content on the program.

CONS

• It is available only on Windows.
• It runs for free, but you won’t get the benefits such as better voices, more natural speech and realistic sounds advertised until you purchase the premium version.
• The voiceover gets activated even when it’s not needed. This causes disturbances while working
• The formats it supports are very limited.
• The voice selection is limited.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t merge multiple audio files to make one big audio file. You have to use your own computer.
• It has a poor storage organisation.
• It has only 3000 Characters per voiceover.
• You can’t use multiple voiceovers in a single script.

NOTEVIBES

NoteVibes is an online text to speech application and software that provides both free and paid options for users. It allows you convert your text to natural sounding voices with free MP3 download. In the free version, you have 5000 characters available for testing its functionality. This is good for personal use in working on small projects as it makes it possible for you to hear multiple sentences at once. Notevibes has over 18 languages and 177 unique voices; you won’t have a hard time reading your text due to its natural sounding voices.

FEATURES

• It has 17 languages and 177 voices.
• You can easily add a Background Music.
• It has a DJ voice creation feature.
• You can add pauses, pitch and change the speed of your audio along with emphasis and voice control.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: WINDOWS, ANDROID

PROS

• Its editor is very advanced, and the user has luxury of control over so many things.
• A specific portion of the script can be emphasised; the volume can also be controlled alongside rate and pitch for the specific parts as well. Only few text-to-speech softwares have this feature. This one feature therefore makes it stand out from others. Its voice quality is no different from others.
• Notevibes also lets you make dialogue videos where you can use more than one voice to create a voiceover. Your narration then sounds more creative and captivating when this feature well utilised. There are total 201 voices available in NoteVibes.

CONS

• It has issues with speed, and also produces a highly concentrated robotic sound. Coming along these is its very expensive commercial options. Notevibes can also not read from PDF and docs.
• There is no preview in NoteVibes; you can’t listen to the voice preview of the script; rather, the voiceover has to be generated to listen and to know how a speaker sounds.
• Demos are unavailable. On the homepage, demo can be found and played, but while generating voiceovers, no demo will be found.
• It has no merge feature: You can’t combine multiple audio files to make it one. Almost all major text-to-speech tools have a merge feature, but, Notevibes lags in this respect.
• Voiceover & Editor Page is different. There is one specific page for generating the voiceover and one page for downloading audio files. Switching between both of them will consume time. If you have a big project, switching between both pages will be tiring.
• No Project-Based Structure: This is another feature that you need when you have big project. Keep multiple files in one place can create a mess. You can’t create any project inside Notevibes. This is a very immature structure.

LANGUAGES SUPPORTED

English (us, UK, AU, IN), Spanish, German, Spanish, Dutch, French, Italian, Norwegian, Japanese, Danish, Swedish, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Turkish, Hindi, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Arabic, Mandarin Chinese.

MAC OS TTS

Mac OS X is a built-in text-to-speech software for Mac. This can be used to read your written content aloud anywhere on your computer from Notes app and other formats. This means it has the ability to dictate to you what you have written in order to bring your writing to life. This could come in form of an audiobook, trailer, ads, videogames, tutorials and many more. It has a ton of voices and languages to select from alongside different accents in English language.

FEATURES

• A lot of languages are included other than English and there are a lot of voices to choose along with languages. Although some voices are very robotic, there is a few which aren’t and sound more like a human.
• Text-to-speech on Mac also supports converting your text into audio files.

PROS

• A lot of voice options are available for you to play around to get familiar with.
• Texts can be easily converted to iTunes track.

CONS

• It does not have Pause/Play option.
• For all the words to be read, they have to be selected manually.
• The software is very basic and does not have the feature of picking up or continuing from where it stopped reading like other TTS softwares have.

TTS MP3.com

It is an online software which is very easy to use. TTS MP3 Which converts your text to the English language. It has a variety of preset voices and languages which are related to different countries. This gives you flexibility as it concerns your language choice. The software is user friendly. You can easily gain access to it by visiting www.TTSMP3.com , and it’s free.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: ONLINE

FEATURES

• With TTSMP3.com, you can easily convert text to audio, change speech and pitch, or even whisper.
• A lot of languages are available for you to explore.

PROS

• It supports both Hindi and English languages.

CONS

• The software does not support formats such as DOC, TXT, FB2, DOCX, PDF, RTF, and HTML.

READ ALOUD

Read Aloud is not exactly a stand-alone Mac software but instead, a Chrome extension which might be appealing to some people. When we put to heart how articles and posts are read on the internet every day, Read Aloud had to be devised to come in handy in making reading easier and less stressful. It is completely free and once it is installed, its icon will be displayed in the extension bar which can now be use to read any webpage or any article found online just by a single click. When it is in use, you get a play/pause button alongside a forward or rewind button which can be useful in advancing or backtracking paragraphs. Considering the fact that it is free to use, the voice options are really good and sound very natural.

FEATURES

• It can extract texts online to convert them into audio files.
• It possesses an exceptional feature of backtracking paragraphs.
• It helps you listen to audio files at your own pace, speed in natural sounding voices and different accents. Text typed in the app and text extracted from any photo uploaded is converted to an audio file.

PROS

• It has a great natural voice.
• It is completely secure as it ensures confidentiality. This is useful for people who would love to keep their data private.
• It helps people with social needs to listen to any text in different languages. This is very useful for those who are limited in language varieties.

CONS

• It can work only on Chrome.

SPEAK4ME

As its name implies, Speak4me literally speaks for you! Like other TTS softwares and apps, Speak4Me works as an instrument of text conversion into audio. One advantage this application has is that it can enhance multitasking. When you have to read and make tea or coffee, or cook at the same time, you don’t have to move around with the text material; all you have to do is to allow Speak4me to do what it was made to do. This is therefore a software to consider in turning your writing to speaking without much stress. With amazing features like changing the rate and pitch of the voice alongside volume control and an array of voices to choose from which comes with a variety of languages, it affords you flexibility regarding your choice of usage. It also allows you to share your audio on the social media, and you can decide to save them locally for later use.

SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD

FEATURES

• With Speak4Me, you can easily navigate the control speech generator volume, pitch and rate of speech.
• It filters all the PDFs easily; it highlights the text as you go along too.
• It has a fully customizable reading experience: Adjustment font size, font and background colours, alignment, line spacing to best suit your preference and much more is available on the software.
• Speak4Me can speak PDF in languages such as English and Hindi.

PROS

• It comes with a Night Mode functionality to facilitate a comfortable reading in dark environments.
• The software has smooth navigation, auto scroll and can search for words to jump to a point in your text. This feature comes in handy especially when you have a bulky text to work on.
• With Speak4Me, your eyes are guarded from smartphone light rays.

CONS

• The languages are limited.
• If your device does not have a TTS engine of that language, speaking will not be supported.

NATURAL READER

Natural Reader is a text-to-speech app that covers your text, webpages, eBooks, and webpages aloud to you with quality and natural-sounding voices. NaturalReader is a useful tool for those who have dyslexia and other reading difficulties. 50 voices in over 20 languages are therefore available for you to open up your ears to.

FEATURES

• Adjustment of speaker’s speed: This feature enables you to adjust the speed of a selected speaker. This gives you control on how slow or fast you want the speech to be rendered.
• It is able to read email attachments; it also grants access to Dropbox, Google Drive or One Drive.

PROS

• The pronunciation editor gives you control on how you want certain words to be pronounced. This way, you can fine-tune the pronunciation of new or unusual words, or improve the readability of acronyms.

CONS

• Access can only be gained to additional features when you upgrade to the pro version.
• The application crashes lags a bit when there is too much text pasted for the application to process.
• It sometimes skips lines.
• Its sound becomes unpleasant when volume is too high.

NARRATOR’S VOICE

This application helps convert text to speech with a wide variety of voices in many languages. Narrator’s Voice app lets you create and share amusing messages using a narrator’s voice of your choice with a wide range of languages and reliable, pleasant sound voices. The end result is a customised narration of your original message, which you can share as desired. Videos are one of the hottest projects for Narrator’s Voice, letting the narrator explain or comment on whatever is happening on the screen. In fact, many people have been using the Narrator’s Voice app to add audio to their YouTube and TikTok videos, giving them a distinct voice that enhances the overall video’s vibe.

FEATURES SUPPORT SYSTEM: iPHONE, iPAD AND WINDOWS

• It executes your tasks with voices alongside effects in many languages.
• New voices have been added, which makes it +380 voices in total.
• It has waveform graphics for your to monitor the height and depth of the sound of your audio.

PROS

• Theme can be changed to Dark or Light.
• It has the ability to turn images to text.

CONS

• Too many ads roll out in the free version.
• The sound and vocal is not loud enough.

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