Microsoft Azure ultimate guide & reviews

Are you interested in finding out more about Microsoft Azure text to speech ultimate guide & reviews? Here are all the answers you will need about this tool.

Are you interested in getting Microsoft Azure? This cloud text-to-speech service and TTS is one of many features you can explore. TTS apps such as Azure, Amazon Polly, and many others are made thanks to artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, etc.

What Is Microsoft Azure’s text to speech?

Microsoft Azure is a cloud-computing service developed by this well-known company. It offers SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS services, and it supports numerous programming languages, frameworks, and tools. And one of many features Azure offers is text-to-speech. 

This means that TTS is one of many tools and functionalities you can explore within Azure. And the quality is incredible. This text-to-speech service can be quite versatile, and there are plenty of ways to use it in your everyday life. 

Core features

When it comes to Azure, there are a couple of different features you can explore. This speech synthesis app can be an incredible addition to your brand, but individual users can check it out as well. There are no limitations. 

Of course, once you understand more about core features, you will see why this is such a popular tool for many businesses across the globe. And as with the majority of TTS apps, you can explore different languages and accents as well. 

Pre-built neural voice

The first one is a prebuilt neural voice, and they sound as good as human voices. This is a natural-sounding voice you can use, and it is available out-of-the-box. If you want a simpler approach, Neural voice is a great option.

There are plenty of different voice variants you can use, and it will give you enough space to create something new and unique. But voices are all built in advance, and you can only choose the one that suits your style and taste. 

Neural custom voice

But if you want something more, you can always go for Custom Neural TTS, which allows you to build your own voice you can use. And it all comes down to what you are trying to achieve. With this option, you can focus on building your brand. 

And having a text-to-speech voice unique to your service will make a world of difference. Regardless of the option you choose, you will still be able to use further customization for each of the voices. Even if you use a pre-built one, you can change it in the settings. 

Unique features

One of the first things to mention is that Azure TTS is fully upgraded to a neural engine. And this is one of the primary reasons why each voice is lifelike. Additionally, Azure uses real-time synthesis, and you can even use the API on the platform. 

Azure also has asynchronous voice generation, which is perfect for longer files. If you want to turn a novel into an audiobook, this is the way to go. It is worth mentioning that this feature does not work in real-time. Finally, you can fine-tune voices using SSML.

Common uses/applications

So, how do you use text-to-speech tools? One of the main advantages of TTS software is that it is quite simple. Even beginners can use it without a tutorial. And this is the point. These apps are designed to improve accessibility and help people use devices. 

Use cases include helping people with visual impairment, reading disabilities, e-learning, chatbots, or just those that prefer listening to the content. With TTS, you can easily convert any type of text into an audio file. 

How do you get Azure TTS?

If you are interested in getting Azure, you should know that this is not a stand-alone app. Instead, it is available through various packages and software kits. You can get it with Speech SDK, REST API, and Speech CLI. 

But this is not the only way to get your hands on Microsoft’s text to speech. If you are interested in the no-code approach, you can always use the Audio Content Creation tool that is equipped with a speech synthesis app. 

You will need to make an Azure account to get started if you don’t have one already.

Pricing

The pricing method for Azure is quite simple. You will need to pay for each character that is converted into audio. And this includes punctuation. However, if you are using an SSML document, you won’t need to pay anything (except for additional optional elements). 

This means that you can try Microsoft Azure Cognitive Services for free, but there are other payment systems available. One of the most popular ones is pay-as-you-go, where you will pay as much as you use the app. And this is an excellent option.

You won’t need to worry about a monthly subscription, and whether you will get to use all the hours or characters included in your plan. 

Speechify

If you are interested in using a text to speech app and nothing else, you can always go for Speechify. It is one of the best text-to-speech tools available today. The app supports numerous high-quality languages and accents, and it’s easy to use. 

When it comes to features, Speechify will work with any type of text you can imagine. You can use it for PDFs, Microsoft Word documents, Google Docs, txt, ePub, and even as a Google Chrome extension for online text. 

What is impressive is that you can even use it on physical pages thanks to optical character recognition. Just snap a photo of the page you have, and the app will convert it to voice. And if you are a fan of audiobooks and podcasts, you can even use Amazon Audible files. 

Speechify can work on Windows, iOS, Mac, Linux, Android, and any other operating system, and even upload files to various cloud platforms such as Google Cloud, Dropbox, or iCloud. 

FAQs

Is Azure speech to text good?

Yes. Microsoft Azure text-to-speech is quite good. It gives you plenty of different customization options, and it offers neural voices you can use. This means that the quality is high and that you will have a great time using the text-to-speech API. 

Is Microsoft Azure TTS free?

While Azure TTS has a free plan, it can feel quite limiting. You won’t get to use all the features, and it might be better to get one of the subscription plans instead. 

What is the difference between text to speech and speech to text?

Text to speech tools are able to convert text into an AI-generated voice, while speech-to-text does the opposite. The latter is known as speech recognition, and it is a perfect tool for dictation, transcription, and so much more.