v1.0.0 - Edge Neural (Azure Speech) & Universal Voices

Major Upgrade: Microsoft Azure / Edge Neural Voices

Brings human-grade neural text-to-speech to Anki on Linux with zero configuration or API keys required.

What's New

• Ultra-Realistic Neural Speech: Integrated Microsoft Azure / Edge Neural speech engines with 322 voices across 142 locales (voices.json).
• Universal Tag Normalization: Supports it, it-IT, it_IT, ita and all ISO 639-1 / 639-2 / BCP 47 language tag variants.
• Cross-Platform Voice Aliasing: Shared decks referencing Apple_*, com.google.android.tts-*, or Microsoft_* voices automatically map to matching Azure Neural voices.
• Dynamic On-The-Fly Synthesis: New cards synthesize in ~500 ms on first review and save to local disk cache. Subsequent reviews play instantly (<1 ms).
• Multi-Tier Resilience: Automatic fallbacks: Edge Neural → Google Translate (gTTS) → offline espeak-ng.
• Low-Latency Linux Audio: Direct playback via mpv optimized for PipeWire and PulseAudio (--load-scripts=no, volume boost).
• GUI Config: Configure preferred default voices and volume boost via Tools → Add-ons → Config.

Installation

1. Download linux_tts_player.ankiaddon below.
2. In Anki: Tools → Add-ons → Install from file…
3. Restart Anki.

v0.1.0

First public release of the Linux TTS player for Anki.

Install: Anki → Tools → Add-ons → Install from file… → linux_tts_player.ankiaddon, then restart Anki.

Native {{tts lang:Field}} tags speak via gTTS. Named Apple/Microsoft voices fall back by language. Optional espeak-ng offline fallback.