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ElevenLabs TTS

ElevenLabs provides high-quality neural text-to-speech with support for voice cloning and customization. It offers some of the most natural-sounding voices available.

Authentication​

ElevenLabs requires an API key:

from tts_wrapper import ElevenLabsTTS, ElevenLabsClient

client = ElevenLabsClient(credentials='your_api_key')
tts = ElevenLabsTTS(client)
tip

Use environment variables for secure credential management:

import os

client = ElevenLabsClient(credentials=os.getenv('ELEVENLABS_API_KEY'))

Features​

Voice Selection​

List and select from available voices:

# Get list of available voices
voices = tts.get_voices()
for voice in voices:
    print(f"Name: {voice['name']}")
    print(f"Languages: {voice['language_codes']}")
    print(f"Gender: {voice['gender']}")
    print("---")

# Set a specific voice
tts.set_voice("voice_id")

Streaming​

Supports real-time audio streaming:

# Stream synthesis for real-time playback
tts.speak_streamed("This text will be synthesized and played in real-time")

Voice Properties​

Adjust voice properties:

# Set stability and similarity boost
tts.set_property("stability", 0.5)  # Range: 0-1
tts.set_property("similarity_boost", 0.75)  # Range: 0-1

File Output​

Save synthesized speech to file:

# Save as MP3
tts.synth_to_file("Hello world", "output.mp3", "mp3")

# Save as WAV
tts.synth_to_file("Hello world", "output.wav", "wav")

Best Practices​

  1. Cost Management

    • Monitor character usage
    • Cache frequently used phrases
    • Use appropriate stability settings

  2. Performance

    • Reuse client instances
    • Consider chunking long text
    • Balance stability vs. performance

  3. Error Handling

    try:
        tts.speak("Hello, world!")
    except Exception as e:
        if "Unauthorized" in str(e):
            print("Check your ElevenLabs API key")
        elif "QuotaExceeded" in str(e):
            print("Character quota exceeded")
        else:
            print(f"Error: {e}")

Limitations​

  • No SSML support (tags will be stripped)
  • No native word timing support
  • API rate limits apply
  • Character quota based on subscription
  • Voice cloning requires additional setup
  • Limited to English and a few other languages

Voice Optimization​

Stability vs. Similarity​

  • Stability (0-1): Higher values produce more consistent, stable speech
  • Similarity Boost (0-1): Higher values make the voice more expressive but may introduce artifacts
# For consistent, stable output
tts.set_property("stability", 0.8)
tts.set_property("similarity_boost", 0.3)

# For more expressive, varied output
tts.set_property("stability", 0.3)
tts.set_property("similarity_boost", 0.8)

Custom Voices​

ElevenLabs supports voice cloning, but this must be set up through their platform:

  1. Create custom voice on ElevenLabs website
  2. Get the voice ID
  3. Use it in your code:
tts.set_voice("custom_voice_id")

Additional Resources​

Next Steps​