Oddcast Releases Online Speech API Vocalware

Oddcast, an Internet media solutions provider, has launched Vocalware, a cloud-based text-to-speech application programming interface for developers that integrates real-time speech into browser-based and mobile applications.

The solution provides uniform APIs that function in any browser and platform. Subscribers can begin adding speech to applications using  Javascript/HTML 5, Actionscript, or HTTP (REST). These options allow developers to use Vocalware in any online application, mobile or Web site, the company said.

Vocalware is billed through a pay-as-you-go model, with charges per 60-second audio stream. According to Gil Sideman, Oddcast CEO, this reflects costs more accurately and transfers significant savings to the subscriber. Sign up is free, and every subscriber can try out the service with 2,000 free streams. Subscribers purchase what they need using a tiered pricing table ranging from 50,000 to 4 million audio streams. Depending on the package, the cost can be as low as $.0011 per stream.

"We see Vocalware as an opportunity to share our technology with the developer community and answer a basic need," Sideman said in a statement. "Developers are looking to integrate speech without requiring users to install anything. Developers want it performing well on all platforms. They want it fairly and clearly priced. Vocalware delivers all that."

Vocalware supports more than 20 languages and more than 100 voices. In addition to several English language dialects, other available languages include Spanish, German, Italian, Japanese, French, and Mandarin Chinese.

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