Overview
AudioPod AI’s Text to Speech service provides unified text-to-speech capabilities for both standard pre-built voices and custom voice clones. Generate speech with any of 200+ voices across 200+ languages using AudioSonic, AudioPod’s text-to-speech engine.Supported Voice Types
- Standard Voices: Pre-built professional voices with various characteristics
- Custom Voices: Your own voice clones created via Voice Management
- Unified API: Same endpoint works for both voice types seamlessly with automatic routing
Key Features
- 200+ Voices: Pre-built voices with unique characteristics, plus your own custom clones
- Inline Directing: Steer emotion, delivery, non-verbal sounds, pauses, and pronunciation right inside the text — on every plan
- Word / Character Timestamps: Follow-along timing sidecar for captions and highlighting
- Custom Voice Support: Use your own voice clones and collections
- Variable Speed Control: Adjust speech speed from 0.25x to 4.0x
- Multiple Formats: MP3, WAV, OGG audio formats
- Async Processing: Background job processing with real-time status tracking
- Credit Management: Automatic credit reservation and billing
Authentication
All endpoints require authentication. Use one of these methods:- API Key (Recommended):
X-API-Key: your_api_keyheader - JWT Token:
Authorization: Bearer your_jwt_token(for session-based auth)
API Endpoints Quick Reference
Quick Start (cURL)
Generate Speech
Basic Text to Speech
Generate speech from text using any voice (standard or custom) by voice UUID, ID, or name. All generation is processed asynchronously with job tracking.- Python
- Node.js
- Raw HTTP
- cURL
application/x-www-form-urlencoded form fields):
voice_id(required): Voice UUID, ID, or name from your voice collection (path parameter)input_text(required): Text to convert to speech (max 20,000 characters per request; may include inline directing — see below)audio_format(optional): Output format - mp3, wav, ogg (default: mp3)speed(optional): Speech speed 0.25-4.0 (default: 1.0)language(optional): Language code - auto-detected if not providedgeneration_params(optional): JSON string of premium-voice controls —delivery_mode,timestamp_type,text_normalization(see Delivery & timestamp controls)
Inline Directing
Steer the performance directly insideinput_text — no separate parameters
needed. Inline directing is available on every plan, including the free tier.
Emotion & delivery cues
Lead a segment with a bracketed direction of one or two words. It sets the mood for the text that follows, until the next cue.Non-verbal sounds
Drop a bracketed tag where you want a natural, non-verbal sound:[laugh] [sigh] [clear throat] [breathe] [cough]
[yawn] [chuckle] [gasp] [groan].
Pauses
Insert a timed silence with a self-closing break tag. Each pause is capped at 10 seconds, and you can use up to 20 breaks per request.Pronunciation (inline IPA)
Wrap a word’s IPA pronunciation in forward slashes to override how it’s spoken:- cURL
- Python
Delivery & timestamp controls
Pass a JSON string in thegeneration_params form field to tune delivery and
request a timestamp sidecar.
Timestamps
When you requesttimestamp_type, the completed job response includes a
timestamps_url — a short-lived presigned URL to a sidecar file with per-word
(or per-character) timing. Use it to drive live captions, karaoke-style
highlighting, or word-accurate video alignment.
start/end time in seconds:
Voice Identification Examples
- Python
- Node.js
- Raw HTTP
Available Voices
AudioPod AI offers a diverse collection of voices including both standard pre-built voices and custom voice clones:Voice Types
- Standard Voices: Professional pre-built voices with unique characteristics
- Custom Voices: Your own voice clones created from audio samples
- Public Voices: Community-shared voices available to all users
Popular Standard Voices
Listing Available Voices
Use the voice profiles endpoint to discover all available voices:Job Status Tracking
Check Job Status
Monitor your text-to-speech generation jobs with real-time status updates:Job Status Response
Status Values
pending: Job created and waiting for processingprocessing: Currently generating audiocompleted: Audio generation finished successfullyfailed: Generation failed with error
Configuration Options
Audio Format Options
Basic Voice Customization
Language Detection
AudioPod AI automatically detects the language of your input text, but you can specify it explicitly for better results:Multi-Language Support
Language Codes
AudioPod AI supports 100+ languages with automatic detection and consistent quality across all supported languages:Multi-Language Example
Get Supported Languages for a Voice
Use Cases & Examples
Audiobook Narration
- Python
- Node.js
- Batch Processing
Podcast Introduction
Direct the delivery with inline markup — a leading[direction], timed
<break/> pauses, and (optionally) generation_params. No SSML.
E-Learning Content
Interactive Voice Response (IVR)
Best Practices
Text Optimization
✅ Good Practices:- Use proper punctuation for natural pauses
- Write numbers in word form for better pronunciation
- Include context for abbreviations
- Break long sentences into shorter ones
- ALL CAPS TEXT (sounds like shouting)
- Missing punctuation (unnatural flow)
- Technical jargon without context
- Extremely long paragraphs
Cost Optimization
Caching Strategy
Error Handling
Common Errors and Solutions
400 Bad Request - Invalid Text
400 Bad Request - Invalid Text
Causes: - Text too long (>20,000 characters) - Invalid characters or
encoding - Empty text field - Malformed
generation_params JSON Solutions: - Split long text into chunks -
Check text encoding (UTF-8) - Validate text is not empty - Verify generation_params is a valid JSON object404 Not Found - Invalid Voice
404 Not Found - Invalid Voice
Causes: - Voice identifier doesn’t exist - Voice not accessible by user
- Voice UUID format invalid Solutions: - Check available voices with voice profiles endpoint - Verify voice UUID format - Ensure voice is public or owned by user
402 Payment Required - Insufficient Credits
402 Payment Required - Insufficient Credits
Causes: - Not enough credits for audio generation - Credit limit exceeded
Solutions: - Check credit balance - Purchase more credits - Wait for credit reset
429 Too Many Requests
429 Too Many Requests
Causes: - Rate limit exceeded - Too many concurrent requests
Solutions: - Implement exponential backoff - Use request queuing -
Upgrade to higher rate limits
Robust Error Handling
Pricing
Text to Speech is billed differently depending on how you authenticate:
All voice types (standard and custom) use the same rate. Quality settings do
not affect pricing.
Cost Examples — account credits (per character)
Cost Examples — API wallet (per minute of output)
Next Steps
Voice Management
Create custom voices from audio samples.
Voice Examples
Listen to voice samples and find your perfect voice.
