Files
VoiceStudio/docs/engines/kittentts.md
T
Palash DebnathandClaude Fable 5 030d5ea01f docs(engines): a guide for every engine + index; fix two engine-metadata bugs (#1556)
* docs(engines): a guide for every engine + index; fix two engine-metadata bugs

21 new pages under docs/engines/ (10 TTS, 10 ASR, index README) — every
registered engine now has one: what it's for, platform support, model env
vars, quirks with issue refs. Linked from both READMEs' engine sections.

Code fixes found while verifying facts against the registries:
- KittenTTS docstring claimed default voice 'Jasper'; the code default is
  expr-voice-2-f
- the isolated-ASR sidecar read only ASR_MODEL_FW while the download
  preflight read ASR_MODEL_FASTER — set one and the other quietly used a
  different model; both now resolve ASR_MODEL_FW-override → ASR_MODEL_FASTER
- moonshine's install hint named 'useful-moonshine', a package the backend
  never imports; now moonshine-onnx / moonshine-voice

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs(changelog): entries for the engine guides + sidecar model fix (#1556)

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs(engines): second-harvest fixes — TLS guidance, matrix/code alignment, CN counts

- README matrix aligned to gpu_compat (the code is the source of truth):
  CosyVoice macOS is CPU not MPS, IndexTTS and GGUF gain their real
  CUDA/CPU/MPS cells
- gpt-sovits guide: prefer https/tunnel for non-loopback servers, plaintext
  warning; first-use download guidance on both OmniVoice pages
- preflight empty-env fallback matches the sidecar (ASR_MODEL_FASTER='' no
  longer resolves a different repo)
- nano installs via uv pip; kitten log level wording; index links install
  guides incl. the Gatekeeper step; README_CN engine counts 16/11

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

* docs(readme-cn): the all-engines-local claim now excludes the remote client

Co-Authored-By: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>

---------

Co-authored-by: Claude Fable 5 <noreply@anthropic.com>
2026-08-15 03:55:59 +00:00

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# VoiceStudio — KittenTTS Engine
KittenTTS (KittenML) is the lightweight English "flash" tier: a 2580 MB
ONNX model with 8 preset voices that runs realtime on any CPU — no torch, no
CUDA, no GPU of any kind. Use it when you just need quick English narration
(voiceovers, demo reads, short phrases) with no reference sample.
## When to pick it
- English-only content where speed and a tiny install matter more than
cloning.
- Machines with no usable GPU.
The trade-off against [OmniVoice](omnivoice.md): no voice cloning, English
only — but a much faster and much smaller install.
## Setup
```bash
pip install kittentts
```
Then select the engine via **Model Catalogue → Engines** or
`OMNIVOICE_TTS_BACKEND=kittentts`.
## Voices
Eight preset voices, four male/female pairs:
```text
expr-voice-2-m expr-voice-2-f (default: expr-voice-2-f)
expr-voice-3-m expr-voice-3-f
expr-voice-4-m expr-voice-4-f
expr-voice-5-m expr-voice-5-f
```
An unknown voice id logs an info message and falls back to the default.
## Model selection
| Variable | Default | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `OMNIVOICE_KITTENTTS_MODEL` | `KittenML/kitten-tts-mini-0.8` | HuggingFace checkpoint to load |
The ~80 MB model downloads from HuggingFace on first use (retried once on a
flaky connection). See [downloading-models.md](../downloading-models.md).
## Behaviour notes
- Output is 24 kHz mono.
- CPU-only by design — the ONNX graph has no CUDA/MPS path.
- Non-English `language` values are ignored with a log line pointing at
OmniVoice; reference audio is likewise ignored (no cloning).
- **Long-input hardening
([#1173](https://github.com/debpalash/VoiceStudio/issues/1173)):** the
shipped ONNX graph has a hard 512-token cap, and phonemization can expand
text massively (digits especially). VoiceStudio pre-measures every chunk
with the model's own tokenizer and splits oversized chunks at word
boundaries, so long or digit-heavy inputs no longer abort inside
onnxruntime with an opaque "invalid expand shape" error.
## Known limits
- English only; no cloning, no voice design, no emotion controls
(see [expressive-speech.md](../expressive-speech.md)).
- Preset voices only — speed is the one knob.
## Troubleshooting
- Engine unavailable: `pip install kittentts` into VoiceStudio's Python
environment and restart.
- Other issues: [install/troubleshooting.md](../install/troubleshooting.md).
See also: [benchmarks.md](../benchmarks.md),
[disk usage](disk-usage.md).