Voices

The app supports two TTS engines: Kokoro (offline, default) and ElevenLabs (cloud, optional).

Kokoro Voices

Kokoro is the default TTS engine. It runs entirely offline — no internet connection required.

Voice List

Kokoro provides a variety of voices loaded from bundled voice model files. The default voice is AF Heart (af_heart).

Voice ID	Display Name	Notes
`af_heart`	AF Heart	Default voice, warm female
(varies)	(varies)	Additional voices loaded from Kokoro voice files

The exact list of available Kokoro voices depends on the voice files present in the KokoroSharp installation. The app calls KokoroVoiceManager.LoadVoicesFromPath() during initialization to discover available voices.

Voice Fallback

If the configured voice ID is not found, the app falls back to af_heart. If even the default voice is missing, synthesis fails with a clear error message.

ElevenLabs Voices (Optional)

ElevenLabs provides high-quality cloud-based AI voices. This is an optional integration that requires:

An ElevenLabs account
An API key (stored encrypted with DPAPI)
An internet connection for synthesis

Setup

Go to Settings → Voice
Switch the engine to ElevenLabs
Click Enter API Key and paste your key
The app fetches your available voices and subscription info
Select a voice from the list

Voice settings tab showing ElevenLabs engine selected with API key entry field and voice dropdown.

API Key Security

The API key is encrypted using Windows DPAPI (DataProtectionScope.CurrentUser)
Only the last 4 characters are stored in plain text (for display purposes)
The encrypted key is stored in config.json as elevenLabs.encryptedApiKey
Legacy plain-text keys are migrated to encrypted storage on first load

Subscription Info

After entering a valid API key, the app displays:

Characters used this billing period
Total character quota
Cumulative characters used across all sessions

Custom Voices

ElevenLabs voices marked as IsCustomVoice (user-cloned or AI-generated) are highlighted in red in the UI. These require a Creator or higher ElevenLabs subscription.

Model Selection

The default ElevenLabs model is eleven_multilingual_v2. This can be changed in the Voice settings tab.

Global Pitch Control

A global pitch multiplier affects all standard TTS output:

Setting	Effect
0.5	Half pitch (deeper)
1.0	Normal pitch (default)
2.0	Double pitch (higher)

Changes apply live — no save required
Clamped to [0.5, 2.0]
Phrases always use pitch 1.0 unless a per-phrase override is set

Per-Phrase Voice Override

Each phrase can override the global voice settings:

Engine override: Use Kokoro or ElevenLabs for a specific phrase
Voice override: Use a specific voice for a specific phrase
Pitch override: Set a per-phrase pitch multiplier

These are configured in the Phrase Editor window.