Posted onNov 5

🎙️ Building a Text-to-Speech (TTS) GUI with Python

Have you ever wanted to turn text into natural-sounding speech directly from your computer? With Python, it's easier than ever! By combining Microsoft Edge's neural voices (via theedge-tts library) and Python's built-intkinter GUI framework, we can create a simple yet powerful Text-to-Speech (TTS) application.

This project lets you input text (or upload a file), select a voice, adjust the speaking speed, and save the output as an MP3 audio file.

✨ Features

🎤 Multiple Voice Options

Supports various neural voices such as US English, British English, Australian English, Canadian English, Spanish, and more.
⚡ Customizable Speech Rate

Adjust speed from -50% (slower) to +50% (faster) using a slider.
📝 Flexible Text Input

Enter text directly or upload a text file.
💾 Export as MP3

Save the generated speech to your preferred location.
🖥️ Clean GUI

Built withtkinter, offering a simple and user-friendly interface.

Dependencies

Ensure you have Python 3.7+ installed on your system. Then, install theedge-tts module:

pipinstalledge-tts

📦 Installation

Clone the repository:

git clone https://github.com/smoothcoode/edge-tts-guicdedge-tts-gui

Install dependencies:

pipinstalledge-tts

Run the application:

python main.py

🗣️ Listing Available Voices

To see all available neural voices, run:

python-m edge_tts--list-voices

You'll find a variety of voices you can experiment with.

🧑‍💻 Source Code

Here's the complete Python script that powers the application:

importedge_ttsimporttkinterastkfromtkinterimportttk,messagebox,filedialogimportasyncioasyncdefgenerate_audio(text,voice,rate,output_file):communicate=edge_tts.Communicate(text=text,voice=voice,rate=rate)awaitcommunicate.save(output_file)messagebox.showinfo("Success","File saved successfully:"+output_file)# Initialize main windowroot=tk.Tk()root.title("Text to Speech")root.geometry("600x400")# Voice selectionVOICES=["en-US-AndrewNeural","en-US-AriaNeural","en-US-AshTurboMultilingualNeural","en-US-AshleyNeural","en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural","en-US-AvaNeural"]ttk.Label(root,text="Select a Voice:").grid(column=0,row=0,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="w")voice_var=tk.StringVar(value=VOICES[0])voice_dropdown=ttk.Combobox(root,values=VOICES,textvariable=voice_var,state="readonly")voice_dropdown.grid(row=0,column=1,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="ew")root.columnconfigure(1,weight=3)# Speed sliderttk.Label(root,text="Select a speed Rate").grid(row=1,column=0,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="w")speed_var=tk.IntVar(value=0)speed_slider=ttk.Scale(root,from_=-50,to=50,orient="horizontal",variable=speed_var)speed_slider.grid(row=1,column=1,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="ew")# Text inputttk.Label(root,text="Enter a text").grid(row=2,column=0,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="w")text_box=tk.Text(root,wrap="word")text_box.grid(row=2,column=1,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="nsew")root.rowconfigure(2,weight=1)# Upload file buttondefon_upload():file_path=filedialog.askopenfilename(filetypes=[("Text File","*.txt")])iffile_path:withopen(file_path,"r")asf:content=f.read()text_box.delete("1.0",tk.END)text_box.insert("1.0",content)upload_button=ttk.Button(root,text="Upload a text",command=on_upload)upload_button.grid(row=3,column=1,padx=10,pady=10,sticky="e")# Generate audiodefon_generate_audio():voice=voice_var.get()rate=speed_var.get()rate_str=f"+{rate}%"ifrate>=0elsef"{rate}%"text=text_box.get("1.0",tk.END).strip()ifnottext:messagebox.showwarning("Warning","No text Provided")returnoutput_file=filedialog.asksaveasfilename(defaultextension=".mp3",filetypes=[("MP3","*.mp3")])ifnotoutput_file:returnasyncio.run(generate_audio(text=text,voice=voice,rate=rate_str,output_file=output_file))generate_button=ttk.Button(root,text="Generate Audio",command=on_generate_audio)generate_button.grid(row=4,column=1,padx=10,pady=10)# Run the GUIroot.mainloop()

🚀 Conclusion

This project is a great starting point for anyone exploring Text-to-Speech applications in Python. By leveragingedge-tts andtkinter, you can create a fully functional GUI tool that makes text come alive as natural-sounding speech.

Whether you want to narrate articles, build accessibility tools, or experiment with voice synthesis, this Python TTS GUI is a practical and fun project to try out.