Annotation

A script allows the following types for annotation

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Use Two Curly Brackets for Personalisation Parameters

A common issue that users have is that they enter {username} not {{username}} be sure to use TWO curly brackets for the personalisation parameters.

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Invalid Characters in scriptText

"'[]^`{>}~|</\

SSML

SSML tags allow you to provide additional information how a voice should interpret a text. An api.audio script will only interpret the SSML tags that allow the voice to better interpret the content (eg when breaks occur) but will ignore additional parameters such as voice selection or audio tracks to be used. You can provide the latter when issuing a production request which offers more granular control of how the script will sound in the end. Further, different voice providers will support additional tags. In the following you will find an overview what voice parameters are supported.

See here an example of SSML:

Each morning when I wake up, <prosody volume='loud' rate='x-slow'> I speak quite slowly and deliberately until I have my coffee.</prosody>

Supported SSML Tags (these tags control your script content, and are used in the script API call). See the full list below:

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Tag Categories

• Intonation - Intonation in phonetic is the "melody" pattern of an utterance. Intonation is primarily a matter of variation in the pitch level of the voice (tone), stress and rhythm.
• Pronunciation - Pronunciation is the phonetic transcription of a given word.
• Structural - Structural tags are useful when structuring and formatting your script.
• Pacing - Pacing is the rate of speech. How fast you speak, how often do you use breaks, etc.

Personalisation Parameters

Personalisation parameters allow you to create content dynamically, and addressed to each individual.

Some examples of parameters you can choose to use in your script:

Comments

The script supports two types of comments:

See here an example of a script:

• A simple example script can look something like this:

<<sectionName::default>> Hello world.

• A more complicated example script can look something like this:*

scriptText="<<sectionName::hello>> Hello world {{username|buddy}}"

Script Sections

A script can be divided into script sections. A script section does not only help to organise and better manage your content but also makes it possible to make your content more dynamic by changing parameter settings within a script (such as: speakers, effects, speed, etc.) A section is a comment, and will be included in the script but ignored by processing.

ScriptSections are useful for and need to be defined for when using a sound design and/or when creating audio with multiple speakers.

A sample script with sound segments looks like this:

<<soundSegment::intro>>
<<sectionName::intro>>
This is the first part of speech with a sound in the background
<<soundSegment::main>>
<<sectionName::main>>
This is the main part of my script. Also with a backing track
<<soundSegment::outro>>
<<sectionName::outro>>
And this is the end. 
<<soundEffect::effect1>>
<<sectionName::effect>>

Each SciptSection can be assigned a different speaker, by defining sections in the speech call. Read more about multiple speakers in one script here.

A sample script with two sections for the purpose of using different speakers could look like this:

scriptText="<<sectiongreeting>> Hello world.<<sectionName::goodbye>> It was so nice to meet you."

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The length of a script section is limited to 4000 characters

Sound Design Annotation

Sound Design annotations allow you to create dynamic background tracks and place sound effects throughout your script. You can pick a sound segment to play in the background of a speech section, add a sound effect without speech, or play a speech section without any sound.

To pair a sound segment with a speech section, simply add the sound segment annotation before the speech section annotation:

<<soundSegment::intro>>
<<sectionName::intro>>

To add a sound effect that will play without any speech, add the sound effect annotation:

<<soundEffect::effect1>>
<<sectionName::effect>>

To have a speech section play without any music or sound in the background, define the speech section without defining a sound segment before, and it will play without any background sound.

<<sectionName::hello>>