[DECtalk] question about Sonata voices for NVDA screen reader

[Josh Kennedy]

you don't need the keynote voice anymore. just use the bestSpeech NVDA
addon. it is on github.

https://github.com/samtupy/b32tts_wrapper



On Mon, Oct 27, 2025 at 2:04 PM Blake Roberts via Dectalk <
dectalk at bluegrasspals.com> wrote:

> Hi everyone,
>
> Although this thread is not about DECTalk, the focus of my message is a
> speech synthesis project. Starting in 2024, I have been using an add-on for
> the nVDA screen reader called Sonata. Sonata was previously known as Piper
> until a project name change. The add-on uses voices powered by AI to
> provide text-to-speech for the NVDA screen reader in real-time. Here is a
> link to the Sonata NVDA add-on page at GitHub:
>
> Releases · mush42/sonata-nvda
> <https://github.com/mush42/sonata-nvda/releases>
>
> I genuinely appreciate that earlier this year, the NVDA add-on developer
> created a version of the add-on which is compatible with 2025 releases of
> NVDA. I am someone who enthusiastically uses AI tools, such as Sonata,
> when I have a purpose for using them. Unfortunately, I experience a
> consistent voice installation problem. I'm writing to ascertain if any
> members of the DECTalk listserv can offer a solution to the difficulty I
> encounter.
>
>
>     Description of Problem: I'm running Windows 10 Home and NVDA version
> 2025.2. The most recent version of the publicly available Sonata NVDA
> add-on, 3.1.0,  is installed. The voices made available through the
> Sonata Voice Manager in NVDA menu, accessible through the "download" tab,
> consistently fail to install after download using the current Sonata
> release dated June 23, 2025. After the download of various voices in Sonata
> Voice Manager reaches 100%, I am told: "download failed". My Internet
> connection functions properly. Additionally, the "refresh voices" button
> also does not work.
>
>
> In June of this year, I informed the Sonata NVDA add-on developer about
> these Sonata Voice Manager issues through email, and received no response.
> an updated version of Sonata NVDA add-on is not currently available. The
> previous version of the Sonata NVDA  add-on from 2024 functioned without
> download issues. To my knowledge, the older version is unavailable. Even if
> I could download the 2024 release on GitHub,  it would probably be
> incompatible with 2025 releases of NVDA. NVDA 2025.1 was a
> compatibility-breaking release, meaning incompatible add-ons cannot be
> installed.
>
>
> Blake's Question: Is it possible to manually download Sonata-provided
> voices from a website, for installation using the "install from local file"
> item under the "installed voices" tab of Sonata Voice Manager? I know that
> installing Sonata voices as downloadable tar.gz files works because I
> installed Tamas's KeyNote Gold voice yesterday evening, which he created
> using AI. I downloaded Keynote Gold speech synthesizer for the Sonata NVDA
> add-on here:
>
> Piper voices, and other retro NVDA speech synthesizers
> <https://eurpod.com/piper-voices-of-retro-speech-synthesizers/>
>
> The Keynote Gold voice file archive for manual installation into Sonata
> NVDA add-on is available  under the "Voices List" heading at the link I
> provided above. I appreciate all of Tamas's hard work to make this.
> Although I notice this emulated Keynote Gold voice sometimes cuts off the
> beginning of words, some voices offered by the Sonata NVDA add-on project
> do the same thing. I know from experience that some newer Sonata voices are
> less prone to start of word cut-off.
>
>
> Final Thoughts: I am interested in also using voices provided by Sonata in
> the Sonata NVDA add-on. Being unable to download voices directly in the
> Sonata Voice Manager is, from my perspective, a problem. Any resolution
> suggestions which the DECTalk list members can provide would be helpful.
> Thank you for reading.
>
>
> Blake
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>
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