Acapela Cloud

First you need to create a new project.
A project allows to have a specific set of text files, select the voice and specific settings to use.



To start using the editor:

- either type a text in the editor box or click on 'import file(s)' button to import text or excel sheet files (see import chapter for the format).
- select the voice to use
- select the output type and samplerate
- listen by clicking on the play button (this won't use credits)
- tune your text if needed using tags (see interface chapter)
- save your modifications
- optionnaly generate the audio file


When you are satisfied with how a text sounds and you saved it, you can flag it as validated by clicking on the check box column in the text list.

Blue means that the file is validated but no yet generated as a sound file
Green means the file was already generated


Finally you can generate a single file by right clicking on it in the text list or generate several audio files in a row by clicking on the 'Generate audio files' button.


You will be prompted to select the files to generate


Wait until the process is complete
When done a pop-up will appear to download a zipped file with all the audio files

Input files

To import texts in the editor, click on the 'import file(s)' button.
You can select multiple text files at once, or an excell file that will be parsed to generate one text file per line.

If you select an excel file it will create a text file from each line of the excel file.
The first column of the line will used as filename (the ".txt" extension will be added automatically).
The second column of the line will used as content of the file.
You can have mulitple worksheet tabs
Warning : any text file with the same name already present will be overwritten without prompting for a confirmation.


When done the text files will appear in the text list.



Sound files

To import audio/sound files to be used with audio tags click on the sounds tab on the right then on the 'import' button.
Only raw PCM 16-bit mono files with the same frequency as the voice used are supported by the audio tags (file extension must be .raw)
You can also import a mp3 or wav file which will be automatically converted to the right format.


Once imported you can use the sound file in your audio tags by clicking on audio mix or play.


Dictionary files

To import dictionary files
- go to your account page, storage, and and click on import button. Once uploaded the dictionaries will appear and can be used. Dictionary file extension must be .dic
- go to dictionary menu, create your dictionary and export it

If several dictionaries are loaded and contain a same word/entry, the last loaded dictionary has the priority


Once imported you can use the dictionary file by selecting it in the combo list.

Add a text tag

Tags are a form special markup, which can be inserted in the text in order to:
- improve pronunciation (e.g. pauses, phonetic transcriptions, reading mode and alternative selection tags)
- enhance audio (e.g. special sounds or background music)
- change the configuration of the speech engine during the synthesis (e.g. voice, speech rate, volume).

These tags can either be directly typed into the text editor (see tags doc) or be inserted into text from the tag list.
The tag list is divided in four tabs :

- settings : tags modifying the voice settings.
- pronunciation : tags modifying the pronunciation
- sound : play or mix audio sound using the sound files you imported
- user : personalised tags created by user


To insert a tag from the list, simply place the cursor in the text where you want to insert the tag and click on the tag in the tag list on the right.
Depending on tag, either will it be inserted directly in the text or a pop-up window will appear letting you choose the setting value.
Validate and the tag will be inserted in the text.
For some tags you can also select a part of the text and a closing tag will be added with the reset to default value.






User tag

User tags are very useful when you need a succession of tags you often use.
To create user tags, select a portion of text in the Editor you want to save as a user tag then right click.
In contextual menu choose 'save as user tag' menu item and follow the steps.
The user tag will appear in the 'User' tab in the tag list on the right.
Simply click on it to insert it again in a text.



Alternative selection (\sel tag)

Sometimes you encounter words that do not sound the way you expect.
For example, a part of the word may sound over-accentuated, or it can have strange intonation or even some sounds might be missing.
In such cases, you may find a better solution for your utterance with the \sel tag.
You can access it by three steps :
- select the word(s) (no more than 10 words) you want to change in the Editor
- right-click in Editor
- click Alternative selection item menu


The window lets you select between 10 alternative selections of each word in the required utterance.
Click on a utterance to listen to the new alternative selection, which you can compare to the original renditions.
When you're happy with the new selection, click "ok" and tags \sel=altN\ will be inserted in text in the corresponding places.
If select an alternative on a word instead of the whole utterance, it can influence the pronunciation of the previous and following words in this utterance.
If you add \sel tags to a part of the sentence with the help of this editing window, and then you edit another part of the sentence, it may sometimes be possible that the first edits are affected.
To avoid this you can select subparts of the sentence delimited by punctuation signs or pauses.




Add word(s) into dictionary

If you feel a word is not well pronounced you can directly import it into a dictionary
Simply select it in the editor text box and right click.
Select 'Add to dictionary' option
A dictionary window will open asking you to select into which dictionary import


Project settings

Some specific project settings can be set.
There will be applied to the entire project and so on all the project texts.
Click on the 'settings' button below the project list.