looking for good free text to speech services without robotic audio using natural voices for writing and editing work.
I do a lot of hobby writing and I get into the weeds editing. I really like tts services to read out my works so I can catch funny phrasing or weird grammar/ writing flow. However i've tried some of the samples of the natural sounding big name tts services but after a bit get either paywalled or find they hit a wall with certain writing things if they are free/ have a free version(word count, pacing, pronunciation, etc). I'm kinda broke and this is just a hobby so I'm not looking to sink a shitload of money into buying a subscription service.
When I write the word flow and pronunciation is the key issue I find free tts services run into. Certain written out moans shushes or onomatopeia get mangled as well as inserted non english terms/names/fantasy names within english works. Stuttering in character diallouge also gets majorly screwed.
Also not all tts services hold enough on paragraph breaks, comas, and elipses making it hard to understand the sentence flow. I write with a lot of dramatic emphasis by pulling single sentences into their own paragraphs, using elipses, or making sentences with lists of ideas. So I feel like I don't get an idea sometimes of what is key in the prose or where one idea ends and another begins if the tts service runs through it without respecting the set punctuation. furthermore some pronunciation doesnt differentiate well between ending punctuation like periods, question marks and exclamation points. so ill miss noticing places where ive used certain punctuation or end up wondering if i forgot punctuation with the right sort of emphasis. but the real issue is tts just instead read the mark as if it was a period.
I really rely on these services to read back my work and it would be nice if I didn't have to settle for services that mangled these details. This way I can streamline my workflow when it comes to line edits especially where grammar and sentence construction rely on how the words flow and how the phrasing reads aloud.