azure-text-to-speech
Generate neural narration audio using Azure AI Speech (REST text-to-speech). Use when synthesizing voiceovers or narration in OpenMontage. Optional cloud TTS provider — preferred when AZURESPEECHKEY is configured; the local pipertts remains the default offline path. Shares one Speech resource with azurestt.
- Installs
- 613
- Last 24h
- +12
- Trending rank
- #7929
- Security
- Not audited
Install
Works with every agent the skills CLI supports.
npx skills add https://github.com/calesthio/openmontage --skill azure-text-to-speech- 01
Install
Run the command in your project. The CLI asks which agents to install for.
- 02
Describe the task
Ask your agent for something this skill covers. It loads azure-text-to-speech automatically when relevant.
- 03
Review the result
The agent follows the SKILL.md steps, scripts and references bundled with the skill.
SKILL.md
The instructions your agent reads when the skill is triggered.
Azure AI Speech — Text-to-Speech
Generate narration with Azure neural TTS — high-quality multilingual voices,
SSML prosody control, and express-as styles, served synchronously by the REST
/cognitiveservices/v1 endpoint (no token exchange, Blob storage, or job
polling). In OpenMontage this is exposed through the azure_tts tool
(capability=tts, provider=azure). It is an optional cloud TTS provider —
when AZURE_SPEECH_KEY is configured, prefer it for high-quality cloud
narration. The local piper_tts remains the default offline path and the
fallback when Azure is unavailable; elevenlabs_tts remains the choice for
voice cloning.
Docs: REST text to speech · Voice gallery
Setup
Same Speech resource as azure_stt — one key/region unlocks both directions
(STT and TTS). Create a Speech resource in the
Azure portal; copy the key and region from its
Keys and Endpoint page.
export AZURE_SPEECH_KEY=your_speech_resource_key
export AZURE_SPEECH_REGION=eastus # your resource's region
# export AZURE_TTS_ENDPOINT=https://... # optional: full custom TTS host
# (the TTS host is https://<region>.tts.speech.microsoft.com — a different
# subdomain than the STT endpoint, hence the separate override var)
azure_tts reports AVAILABLE once AZURE_SPEECH_KEY plus either
AZURE_SPEECH_REGION or AZURE_TTS_ENDPOINT are set.
Using it in a pipeline
Route through tts_selector as usual (it auto-discovers azure_tts), or call
the provider tool directly when the user has approved Azure:
from tools.tool_registry import registry
registry.discover()
tts = registry._tools["azure_tts"]
result = tts.execute({
"text": "Every design decision in this dashboard has a reason.",
"voice": "andrew", # alias or full Azure short name
"rate": "-4%", # slightly slower for narration
# "style": "narration-professional", # for voices that support styles
"output_path": "projects/my-video/assets/audio/seg_001.mp3",
"output_format": "mp3", # or "wav" (48kHz PCM) for mixing
})
If azure_tts is unavailable (no key) or errors, fall back per its declared
chain: elevenlabs_tts → openai_tts → piper_tts.
Voice selection
Curated shortlist (aliases accepted by the voice param):
| Alias | Voice | Character |
|---|---|---|
andrew | en-US-AndrewMultilingualNeural | warm, confident, conversational — the default; founder/explainer register |
brandon | en-US-BrandonMultilingualNeural | deeper, measured |
ava | en-US-AvaMultilingualNeural | confident, bright female |
guy | en-US-GuyNeural | authoritative |
jenny | en-US-JennyNeural | friendly, clear |
Any valid Azure voice short name may be passed verbatim (e.g.
de-DE-KatjaNeural); the Multilingual voices handle non-English text well —
set locale to match the text's language for correct SSML.
Parameters that matter
rate/pitch— SSML prosody. Narration usually reads best slightly slowed ("-4%"to"-8%"); leave pitch at"0%"unless correcting a voice.style— express-as style for voices that support it (narration-professional,calm,newscast). Unsupported styles are silently ignored by Azure, so listen to a sample before batch runs.output_format—mp3(48kHz/192kbit) for delivery,wav(48kHz PCM) when the segment feedsaudio_mixerfor further processing.- Determinism: a fixed voice + SSML re-renders effectively identical audio — safe to regenerate individual segments without re-recording the whole set.
Cost
Azure neural TTS Standard tier bills roughly $16 per 1M characters (~$0.016
per 1k chars; a 150-word narration segment ≈ $0.015). The tool reports
per-call cost_usd for the cost tracker. See
Azure AI Speech pricing for current rates.
Limits & tips
- One
executecall = one narration segment. Generate per script section (the asset stage convention) rather than one giant paragraph — smaller segments align cleanly to scene timings and are cheap to regenerate. - The synchronous endpoint caps a request at 10 minutes of audio — far above any segment OpenMontage generates.
- Text is XML-escaped automatically; do not pre-escape or wrap in SSML — pass
plain text plus the
rate/pitch/styleparams. - Verify quality: listen to the first generated segment before batch-running a full script (voice/style fit is a creative decision — surface it at the proposal stage per the Decision Communication Contract).
FAQ
What does the azure-text-to-speech skill do?
Generate neural narration audio using Azure AI Speech (REST text-to-speech). Use when synthesizing voiceovers or narration in OpenMontage. Optional cloud TTS provider — preferred when AZURESPEECHKEY is configured; the local pipertts remains the default offline path. Shares one Speech resource with azurestt.
How do I install azure-text-to-speech?
Run npx skills add https://github.com/calesthio/openmontage --skill azure-text-to-speech in your project. The skills CLI detects the agents you use and copies the skill into the right folder. For Claude Code you can also place the skill folder at ~/.claude/skills/azure-text-to-speech/ (personal) or .claude/skills/azure-text-to-speech/ (project).
Which AI agents can use azure-text-to-speech?
Any agent that supports the open Agent Skills format (a folder with a SKILL.md file), including Claude Code, Codex, Cursor, GitHub Copilot, Gemini CLI, Windsurf, Cline, OpenCode and more.
Is azure-text-to-speech safe to install?
No partner security audit is available yet. Skills can run commands and scripts, so read the SKILL.md and any bundled files before installing.
Who maintains azure-text-to-speech?
It is published by calesthio in calesthio/openmontage. It has 613 recorded installs.
More from calesthio/openmontage
video-edit
calesthio/openmontage
Edit videos locally using ffmpeg. Trim, concat, resize, speed, overlay, extract audio, compress, and convert. Use when: (1) Trimming or cutting video segments, (2) Concatenating multiple clips, (3) Resizing video for social platforms, (4) Extracting or replacing audio, (5) Compressing video, (6) Converting video formats, (7) Getting video info.
video-understand
calesthio/openmontage
Understand video content locally using ffmpeg frame extraction and Whisper transcription. No API keys needed. Use when: (1) Understanding what a video contains, (2) Transcribing video audio locally, (3) Extracting key frames for visual analysis, (4) Getting video content without API keys.
svg-character-animation
calesthio/openmontage
Animate SVG character rigs with GSAP, CSS transforms, Remotion frame control, and HyperFrames-compatible browser previews.
ai-video-gen
calesthio/openmontage
Generate AI videos from text prompts using multiple provider gateways. Use when: (1) Generating videos from text descriptions, (2) Creating AI-generated video clips for content production, (3) Image-to-video generation with a reference image, (4) Choosing between video generation providers (VEO, Kling, Sora, Runway, Seedance, MiniMax, Gemini Omni). Supports gateways: HeyGen API, fal.ai API, Kling official direct API, and the Gemini API (Gemini Omni Flash).
video-download
calesthio/openmontage
Download video and audio from YouTube and 1000+ sites using yt-dlp. No API keys needed. Use when: (1) Downloading a video from YouTube or other sites, (2) Extracting audio from a video URL, (3) Downloading subtitles/captions from a video, (4) Getting video metadata without downloading.
remotion
calesthio/openmontage
Toolkit-specific Remotion patterns — custom transitions, shared components, and project conventions. For core Remotion framework knowledge (hooks, animations, rendering, etc.), see the remotion-official skill.
Popular media & creative skills
hyperframes
heygen-com/hyperframes
Read first to make, edit, animate or render any video with HyperFrames (HTML rendered to video), including launch films, explainers, music videos, charts, maps, vertical clips, title cards, captions and overlays. Holds the render contract, the work loop and what each kind of video needs.
media-use
heygen-com/hyperframes
Get or make any media for a HyperFrames video - music, sound effects, images, icons, logos, voiceover, avatar and generated video, transcripts, cutouts, colour grades and looks - with HeyGen or free local tools, and mix placed audio. Also for footage that looks dark, flat or dull, or should be stylized or hidden.
hyperframes-registry
heygen-com/hyperframes
About 450 ready-made HyperFrames blocks and components installed as editable source - transitions, overlays, titles, kinetic type, captions, charts, map overlays, 3D, camera moves. Use it before hand-building any named visual (CRT scanlines, glitch, film grain, a chart); also for hyperframes add and catalog.
hyperframes-creative
heygen-com/hyperframes
Non-animation creative direction for HyperFrames videos. Use for design spec (frame.md / design.md) handling, palettes, typography, narration, beat planning, audio-reactive visuals, composition patterns, and brand / style decisions. For atomic motion patterns and scene blueprints, use hyperframes-animation.
ai-video-generation
101-skills/superpowers
Generate AI videos with Google Veo, Seedance 2.0, HappyHorse, Wan, Grok and 40+ models via inference.sh CLI. Models: Veo 3.1, Veo 3, Seedance 2.0, HappyHorse 1.0, Wan 2.5, Grok Imagine Video, OmniHuman, Fabric, HunyuanVideo. Capabilities: text-to-video, image-to-video, reference-to-video, video editing, lipsync, avatar animation, video upscaling, foley sound. Use for: social media videos, marketing content, explainer videos, product demos, AI avatars. Triggers: video generation, ai video, text to video, image to video, veo, animate image, video from image, ai animation, video generator, generate video, t2v, i2v, ai video maker, create video with ai, runway alternative, pika alternative, sora alternative, kling alternative, seedance, happyhorse
ai-image-generation
101-skills/superpowers
Generate AI images with GPT-Image-2, FLUX, Gemini, Grok, Seedream, Reve and 50+ models via inference.sh CLI. Models: GPT-Image-2, FLUX Dev LoRA, FLUX.2 Klein LoRA, Gemini 3 Pro Image, Grok Imagine, Seedream 4.5, Reve, ImagineArt. Capabilities: text-to-image, image-to-image, inpainting, LoRA, image editing, upscaling, text rendering. Use for: AI art, product mockups, concept art, social media graphics, marketing visuals, illustrations. Triggers: flux, image generation, ai image, text to image, stable diffusion, generate image, ai art, midjourney alternative, dall-e alternative, text2img, t2i, image generator, ai picture, create image with ai, generative ai, ai illustration, grok image, gemini image, gpt image, openai image, chatgpt image