pocket-tts

# Pocket TTS Local text-to-speech via pocket-tts server. Streams audio for low latency. **macOS only** (uses `afplay` as fallback). **Prerequisites**: `pip install pocket-tts` and `brew install ffmpeg` ## Quick Reference ```bash # Ensure server is running (do this first) curl -s http://localhost:8321/health > /dev/null 2>&1 || { pocket-tts serve --voice ~/.config/pocket-tts/default-voice.wav --port 8321 > /dev/null 2>&1 & sleep 4 } # Speak with streaming playback (audio starts immediately) curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8321/tts -F "text=Hello world" -o - | ffplay -nodisp -autoexit -loglevel quiet - # Or with temp file (if ffplay unavailable) curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8321/tts -F "text=Hello world" -o /tmp/speak.wav && afplay /tmp/speak.wav && rm /tmp/speak.wav ``` ## Architecture Always use the server — it keeps the model and voice embedding warm in memory. - **Port:** 8321 - **Default voice:** `~/.config/pocket-tts/default-voice.wav` (loaded once at server start) - **Streaming:** `/tts` returns chunked WAV. Pipe to `ffplay` for immediate playback during generation. ## Changing Voices Per-request (server keeps default warm, but can generate with others): ```bash curl -s -X POST http://localhost:8321/tts -F "text=Hello" -F "voice_url=jean" -o - | ffplay -nodisp -autoexit -loglevel quiet - ``` **Built-in voices:** alba, marius, javert, jean, fantine, cosette, eponine, azelma **Custom:** Any http://, https://, or hf:// URL To change the default, restart server with different `--voice`. ## Creating Custom Voices ```bash # Extract 30s clip from source (pocket-tts truncates to 30s anyway) ffmpeg -y -ss START_SECONDS -t 30 -i input.mp3 -ar 24000 -ac 1 ~/.config/pocket-tts/default-voice.wav ``` ## Troubleshooting **Server not responding:** Check if process died, restart with serve command **Slow first response:** Server needs ~4s to load model on first start **No audio:** Ensure ffplay (from ffmpeg) or afplay (macOS built-in) is available