edit: I've outlined 5 different ways to do this, all with differing pros and cons

special thanks to this post by u/jiayounokim Method 01:

• Link to download APK is here v0.5, link is in chinese: here's a screenshot of the english translation

• After downloading and installing, select this option shown in the image here

• This will open the Preferred engine settings, select the engine shown in the image here

• Change the language by clicking this setting

• Input this code block to change the language into en-US-ChristopherNeural:

<speak version="1.0" xml:lang="en-US"><voice name="en-US-ChristopherNeural"><prosody rate="${(rate-100)?c}%" pitch="${(pitch-100)?c}%"><mstts:express-as style="serious">${text}</mstts:express-as></prosody></voice></speak>

• Use an epub reader with TTS feature (like Google Play Books), then open TTS feature and enjoy!

• If you want to change it to a different language/voice, try out other voices here and then get the id of the name in here.

  • e.g. I tried and want to use the voice package, Monica (Neural) in English (United States)

  • I will look for the id of Monica (Neural) here

  • The language is "en-US", and the id is "en-US-MonicaNeural".

  • I will now substitute these two information to the code block below.

<speak version="1.0" xml:lang="language here"><voice name="id here"><prosody rate="${(rate-100)?c}%" pitch="${(pitch-100)?c}%"><mstts:express-as style="serious">${text}</mstts:express-as></prosody></voice></speak>

which will make it:

<speak version="1.0" xml:lang="en-US"><voice name="en-US-MonicaNeural"><prosody rate="${(rate-100)?c}%" pitch="${(pitch-100)?c}%"><mstts:express-as style="serious">${text}</mstts:express-as></prosody></voice></speak>

If the TTS is too slow for you, you can change it in Android Settings > Accessiblity > Text-To-Speech > Speech Rate. Or maybe your epub reader has a built-in speech rate and pitch setting (like Moon Reader+).

found a chinese thread which is the origin of the app

Why use Microsoft Azure's TTS?

• It's much better and sounds more natural than the default TTS engine (Google TTS)

• Has a variety of voices which you can choose from based on your preferences.

Why use TTS at all?

• If you love reading books, this TTS engine is so good that it's practically turns all your books into a decent audiobooks. Official audiobook are still better but the voices sound natural enough that it gets the job done.

Edit:

I found out Android's Microsoft Edge also has this feature, it has less voices but it's still has a variety of good ones. Method 02: Using Android's Microsoft Edge

• Just open your novel in Microsoft Edge (maybe via Royal Road, WuxiaWorld, Google Play Books, etc.),

• open the options (three dots in bottom middle of the screen)

• then click Read Aloud.

• You can choose from a variety of voices by clicking voice options on the top right.

  • (e.g. Microsoft Christopher Online (Natural) - English (US), which is my favourite voice among the ones available).

Edit: I saw that the system-wide TTS isn't working for some of you, here's an alternative I found.

Method 03: System wide TTS engine using TTS Server app

• Download the zip appropriate apk file or just the largest sized one if you don't know in this github link (note: you have to login to your github account for link to work changed the link, you don't have to log in now.)

• Extract the zip file

• Install the apk

• The app is in broken English so it's a bit easier to navigate, although you might need to change it in the app settings.

• Click the "+" on the top right

• Change the language in to your desired choice (e.g. English US)

• Choose your chosen voice

  • You can get a preview of the voice by putting words in the preview form and then hit play.

• Exit out of the app and go to Android Settings

• Search for Text to Speech or go to System > Language & Keyboard > Text-to-Speech Output (it will vary on your phone but this is the general idea).

• Change the engine to TTS Server

• Use an epub reader with TTS feature (like Google Play Books), then open TTS feature and enjoy!

• Too slow? try this: Hamburger Menu (Top Right) > Settings > Turn on User DNS to resolve API IP

"This is a lot of work, is there an easier way?"

Well you can change the voice of the default TTS Engine on your phone (mostly Google TTS or Samsung TTS). I noticed that the default voice is bad, but some of the other voices is a slight upgrade.

Method 04: Adjusting Google Speech Services/Samsung TTS Engine

• go to Android Settings

• Search for Text to Speech or go to System > Language & Keyboard > Text-to-Speech Output (it will vary on your phone but this is the general idea).

• Click on the setting icon near the TTS Engine

• Find Install Voice Data

• Find your language of choice (English US, English UK, etc.)

• Download/Choose among the various voices in there

• Go back and then you can preview the voice. You can also change the speed and pitch of the voice.

• Use an epub reader with TTS feature (like Google Play Books), then open TTS feature and enjoy!

Bonus: If you're using Google Play Books for book reading and using Google TTS, you can go to Google Play books setting and turn on "High Quality Voice" (Idk how much of a difference this makes but it should be better).

Method 05: another TTS app

• Download the TTS Apk in this github link

• Install the TTS

• In your Android Settings, find Text-To-Speech settings.

• Change engine from the previously installed Text-To-Speech to this new one.

• Use an epub reader with TTS feature (like Google Play Books), then open TTS feature and enjoy!

• If you want to change the default voice (Jenny+) to another,

  • Open the installed TTS (it's in Chinese so it's a bit hard to navigate).

  • Next Click this to enable customization.

  • Double click the name of your choice to choose and hear an example of said voice (i.e. Christopher, Sonia, etc.)

  • There are other settings in there, here's a link to an album of screenshots and their corresponding translation.

(I'll update the links to the pictures later.)

I'm looking to find a text to speech software that replicates early text to speech solutions.

Text to speech is really advanced now and you can practically imitate any celebrity voice by way of AI, but I'm interested in something that sounds more like this;

(skip to 1 minute) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=41U78QP8nBk?t=59s