Audio & voices

Aquilla has audio built in — both listening (text-to-speech) and recording with transcription (speech recognition). A key point up front:

Transcription runs entirely in your browser, and Aquilla also includes in-browser voice models that download once and cache locally — so after the first use you can listen and transcribe even with no internet, a real advantage in low-connectivity settings. Some higher-quality voices use a server instead; those need a connection.

Listening: text-to-speech (TTS)

You can have any cell read aloud:

• Your project keeps a cast of voices in the Voice Studio. Each voice is backed by a text-to-speech engine — your choice of:
  • Gemini TTS — the highest-quality, promptable voices. It runs on Google’s servers, so it needs a connection and your own Google AI key.
  • MMS or Kokoro — voice models that run in your browser, with no key and no connection once the model has downloaded.
• Assign a voice to a cell (or to a character whose lines share a voice), then play a single cell with one click — or queue several cells into a playback queue to hear how a passage flows in the target language.

The first time you use an in-browser voice, Aquilla downloads its model and caches it; after that, playback works offline.

Recording: speech recognition (ASR)

You can also record audio and have Aquilla transcribe it:

• Record with your microphone (Aquilla asks for mic permission first, with a clear explanation of why).
• An in-browser speech-recognition model transcribes what you said.
• Review the transcript and, if it’s good, accept it into the cell — which queues it as a normal edit.
• You can transcribe several recordings at once when you have a batch.

Cloning a voice

Beyond the ready-made library, you can give a voice the timbre of a specific person. When you set up a voice for a character, add a reference recording — either record a short segment or upload an audio clip — and Aquilla re-voices that voice’s text-to-speech output into the reference’s timbre. A voice with a reference attached is marked Cloned; leave the reference empty to use the base voice as-is.

Use with consent

Cloning reproduces a real person’s voice. Only add a reference recording you have permission to use.

Browser support

Audio recording uses your browser’s microphone access and works in current Chromium-based browsers and Firefox. If recording or playback doesn’t start, see Common issues.