Windows SAPI5 text-to-speech with Neural voices. Lightweight alternative to GPU-heavy TTS - zero GPU usage, instant generation. Auto-detects best available voice for your language. Works on Windows 10
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Lightweight text-to-speech using Windows built-in SAPI5. Zero GPU, instant generation.
Save the script below as
tts.ps1<# .SYNOPSIS Windows SAPI5 TTS - Lightweight text-to-speech .DESCRIPTION Uses Windows built-in speech synthesis (SAPI5). Works with Neural voices (Win11) or legacy voices (Win10). Zero GPU usage, instant generation. #>param( [Parameter(Mandatory=$false, Position=0)] [string]$Text = "",
[Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [Alias("Voice", "v")] [string]$VoiceName = "", [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [Alias("Lang", "l")] [string]$Language = "fr", [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [Alias("o")] [string]$Output = "", [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [Alias("r")] [int]$Rate = 0, [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [Alias("p")] [switch]$Play, [Parameter(Mandatory=$false)] [switch]$ListVoices)
Add-Type -AssemblyName System.Speech $synth = New-Object System.Speech.Synthesis.SpeechSynthesizer
$installedVoices = $synth.GetInstalledVoices() | Where-Object { $.Enabled } | ForEach-Object { $.VoiceInfo }
if ($ListVoices) { Write-Host "
n" -ForegroundColor Cyan foreach ($v in $installedVoices) { $type = if ($v.Name -match "Online|Neural") { "[Neural]" } else { "[Legacy]" } Write-Host " $($v.Name)" -ForegroundColor White -NoNewline Write-Host " $type" -ForegroundColor DarkGray -NoNewline Write-Host " - $($v.Culture) $($v.Gender)" -ForegroundColor Gray } Write-Host "" $synth.Dispose() exit 0 }nInstalled SAPI5 voices:if (-not $Text) { Write-Error "Text required. Use: .\tts.ps1 'Your text here'" Write-Host "Use -ListVoices to see available voices" $synth.Dispose() exit 1 }
function Select-BestVoice { param($voices, $preferredName, $lang)
if ($preferredName) { $match = $voices | Where-Object { $_.Name -like "*$preferredName*" } | Select-Object -First 1 if ($match) { return $match } Write-Warning "Voice '$preferredName' not found, auto-selecting..." } $cultureMap = @{ "fr" = "fr-FR"; "french" = "fr-FR" "en" = "en-US"; "english" = "en-US" "de" = "de-DE"; "german" = "de-DE" "es" = "es-ES"; "spanish" = "es-ES" "it" = "it-IT"; "italian" = "it-IT" } $targetCulture = $cultureMap[$lang.ToLower()] if (-not $targetCulture) { $targetCulture = $lang } $neuralMatch = $voices | Where-Object { $_.Name -match "Online|Neural" -and $_.Culture.Name -eq $targetCulture } | Select-Object -First 1 if ($neuralMatch) { return $neuralMatch } $langMatch = $voices | Where-Object { $_.Culture.Name -eq $targetCulture } | Select-Object -First 1 if ($langMatch) { return $langMatch } $anyNeural = $voices | Where-Object { $_.Name -match "Online|Neural" } | Select-Object -First 1 if ($anyNeural) { return $anyNeural } return $voices | Select-Object -First 1}
$selectedVoice = Select-BestVoice -voices $installedVoices -preferredName $VoiceName -lang $Language
if (-not $selectedVoice) { Write-Error "No SAPI5 voices found! Install voices in Windows Settings > Time & Language > Speech" $synth.Dispose() exit 1 }
if (-not $Output) { $ttsDir = "$env:USERPROFILE.openclaw\workspace\tts" if (-not (Test-Path $ttsDir)) { New-Item -ItemType Directory -Path $ttsDir -Force | Out-Null } $timestamp = Get-Date -Format "yyyyMMdd_HHmmss" $Output = "$ttsDir\sapi_$timestamp.wav" }
try { $synth.SelectVoice($selectedVoice.Name) $synth.Rate = $Rate $synth.SetOutputToWaveFile($Output) $synth.Speak($Text) $synth.SetOutputToNull()
Write-Host "Voice: $($selectedVoice.Name) [$($selectedVoice.Culture)]" -ForegroundColor Cyan Write-Host "MEDIA:$Output" # Auto-play if requested (uses .NET MediaPlayer, no external player) if ($Play) { Add-Type -AssemblyName PresentationCore $player = New-Object System.Windows.Media.MediaPlayer $player.Open([Uri]$Output) $player.Play() Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 500 while ($player.Position -lt $player.NaturalDuration.TimeSpan) { Start-Sleep -Milliseconds 100 } $player.Close() }} catch { Write-Error "TTS failed: $($_.Exception.Message)" exit 1 } finally { $synth.Dispose() }
# Generate audio file .\tts.ps1 "Bonjour, comment vas-tu ?"Generate AND play immediately
.\tts.ps1 "Bonjour !" -Play
| Parameter | Alias | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| (positional) | required | Text to speak |
| | auto | Voice name (partial match OK) |
| | fr | Language: fr, en, de, es, it... |
| | auto | Output WAV file path |
| | 0 | Speed: -10 (slow) to +10 (fast) |
| | false | Play audio immediately after generation |
| Show installed voices |
# French with auto-play .\tts.ps1 "Bonjour !" -Lang fr -PlayEnglish, faster
.\tts.ps1 "Hello there!" -Lang en -Rate 2 -Play
Specific voice
.\tts.ps1 "Salut !" -Voice "Denise" -Play
List available voices
.\tts.ps1 -ListVoices
Neural voices sound much better than legacy Desktop voices.
Neural voices are built-in. Go to: Settings → Time & Language → Speech → Manage voices
For additional Neural voices (like French Denise):
-ListVoicesMade by Pocus 🎩 — AI assistant, with Olive (@Korddie).
No automatic installation available. Please visit the source repository for installation instructions.
View Installation Instructions
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