Text-to-speech instrument - Version 1.0.4

Just Say It!

Typed text becomes audio, right on your insert. System voices, real-time stretch and pitch, Space & Echo macros, MIDI triggering, WAV export — engineered for the studio, not the browser.

Formats & platforms

VST3 Audio Units CLAP macOS Windows
Just Say It! main window
VERSION 1.0.4
0 smp
Latency
±48 st
Pitch range
1.0–10.0×
Stretch range
0–100%
Space & Echo
10,000
Characters

Capabilities

A speech engine that behaves like an instrument.

01 System voices, playable Every speech voice installed on your Mac or PC, selectable by knob or combo list — with name and language.
02 Real-time stretch & pitch Shift pitch ±48 semitones and time-stretch speech from 1.0× up to 10× with a WSOLA engine — while it's playing.
03 Space & Echo macros One knob for reverb, one for delay, plus a switch to swap which effect runs first for a cleaner or wetter tail.
04 MIDI triggering Any Note On fires Play. C3 is unity; notes 0–96 transpose the voice ±48 semitones.
05 WAV export Render the current text — with Stretch, Pitch, Space, Echo and Volume baked in — to a mono 16-bit WAV on disk.
06 Re-trigger control Choose whether voice changes and MIDI notes restart speech instantly, or only update the sound.
07 DAW-native state Automate Stretch, Pitch, Space, Echo, Volume and Voice from your host. Text and UI scale save with the project.
08 Standalone app Run without a DAW on macOS or Windows. Pick your audio output and MIDI device in Preferences.
09 Independent instances Every instance keeps its own text, voice, and knob settings, all stored with your project.

Signal path

100% local. Zero AI. Zero cloud.

Speech is rendered by the voices already installed in your operating system — macOS Speech on Mac, Windows Speech (WinRT with SAPI fallback) on Windows. No accounts, no uploads, no models. Zero samples of latency reported to your host.

ENGINE / MACOSmacOS Speech
ENGINE / WINDOWSWinRT · SAPI fallback
NETWORKNone required
LATENCY0 samples

Workflow

From text to track in four moves.

C3 = unity pitch · notes 0–96 · ±48 st across the keyboard

01 Install & insert Run the installer, rescan plug-ins, drop it on an instrument track.
02 Type your text Up to 10,000 characters in the main text area — or paste anything.
03 Pick a voice Any speech voice on your system, in any language.
04 Play & shape Hit Play, bend Stretch, Pitch, Space, Echo and Volume live — or play it from MIDI.

Space & Echo, in either order.

Two macro knobs — one reverb, one delay — plus a small switch that swaps which effect runs first. Both follow Stretch and Pitch in real time and bake straight into Export .wav.

Space → Echo (default) Reverb, then delay. Cleaner repeats — the echo sits less prominently inside the reverb tail.
Echo → Space Delay, then reverb. The delayed signal feeds the reverb harder — wetter, more spacious repeats.

Click the ↔ switch between the Space and Echo knobs to toggle — labels and knob positions swap on screen so the left knob always runs first.

Specifications

Every format. Both platforms.

macOS 10.14+ (Apple Silicon & Intel) and Windows 10+ (64-bit). Installers include the standalone application and the full HTML manual.

VST3 CLAP AU (macOS) Standalone macOS 10.14+ Windows 10+
Type
Instrument (stereo out)
Latency
0 samples
Formats / macOS
VST3 · CLAP · AU · App
Formats / Windows
VST3 · CLAP · App
Pitch range
−48 … +48 semitones
Stretch range
1.0× – 10.0×
Space / Echo
0 – 100%
Volume
−60 … 0 dB
MIDI note range
0 – 96 (C3 = unity)
Default UI
600 × 360 px
Resize range
400×280 … 1600×900
Export
Mono 16-bit WAV

Support

Common questions

Does it use AI voices?

No. Speech is generated with your operating system's built-in text-to-speech — macOS Speech on Mac, Windows Speech (WinRT with SAPI fallback) on Windows. Nothing goes to the cloud.

How do I get more voices?

Install them in your OS: on macOS under System Settings → Accessibility → Spoken Content; on Windows under Settings → Time & Language → Speech. New voices appear in the plug-in automatically.

Why do I see more voices on Mac than on Windows?

The voice library belongs to your operating system, and each OS ships with a different starting set — macOS simply pre-installs more out of the box. Both platforms are fully expandable for free: on Windows, add voices for any language under Settings → Time & Language → Speech, and every new voice shows up in Just Say It! automatically.

Can I use it without a DAW?

Yes — a standalone application is included for both macOS and Windows. Choose your audio output and MIDI device in Preferences.

No sound after pressing Play?

Make sure the text isn't empty and a valid voice is selected, then check that the track isn't muted and the plug-in output is routed correctly. The status line above the text area reports errors.

Does each instance have its own text?

Yes. Every instance keeps its own text, voice and knob settings, all stored in your project file.

Put a voice on your insert.

Free for macOS and Windows. Install, type, press Play.

Ableton Live Bitwig Cubase FL Studio Logic Pro Studio One Reaper

What's new

v1.0.4 This is a targeted fix for a MIDI / Play text edge case on macOS.
  • Play now always uses the text on screen.
  • If you edited the text box and triggered Play via MIDI (or Play / Export) without clicking away first, older builds could still speak the previous text.
  • Speech now always uses the text you see on screen — same behaviour as on Windows.
v1.0.3 Stability & consistency
  • Exported WAV files now include the Volume knob and match live playback (macOS & Windows).
  • Fixed double application of the Volume knob on Windows.
  • Stability and consistency improvements across platforms.
v1.0.2 Fixes Ableton Live crash on Play (Ventura)
  • macOS: fixed a crash on Play in plugin hosts (including Ableton Live), including some Ventura + Apple Silicon setups.
  • Windows: version bumped to 1.0.2 for consistency — no functional changes on Windows in this release.
v1.0.1 Space, Echo, and a wider Stretch range
  • Stretch (formerly Speed) now goes from 1.0× to 10.0×.
  • Added Space (reverb) and Echo (delay) macros.
  • Added order switch: Space → Echo or Echo → Space.

Log in to claim this free product.

Log in

More from Celestial Textures

New Project Tool Project Tool Tempo-matched reverb & delay calculators, BPM conversion, an interactive frequency table with MIDI, and a session notepad — one lightweight tool that sits on any insert without touching your audio. New Quick Tray Quick Tray Quick Tray is a featherweight launcher that lives in your menu bar or system tray.

See all products