GCP changed voices in TTS but some of the replacements seem not available

[sargearmstrong]

Dears, something odd with Google TTS. Per this PDF, they "replaced" some of the voices https://services.google.com/fh/files/emails/b_362612430_reminder_1.pdf

However, various variants all sound a like. I can't find anything to suggest why this might be, except this suggests some related chaos: https://www.googlecloudcommunity.com/gc/AI-ML/Cloud-Text-to-Speech-Voices-updating-December-in-Europ...

I specifically just want one of these voices:
https://cloud.google.com/static/text-to-speech/docs/audio/en-GB-Wavenet-N.wav (a new voice but not on sample page yet)
https://cloud.google.com/static/text-to-speech/docs/audio/en-GB-Neural2-N.wav (a new voice but not on sample page yet)

https://cloud.google.com/static/text-to-speech/docs/audio/en-GB-Neural2-A.wav (not accessible in API)
https://cloud.google.com/static/text-to-speech/docs/audio/en-GB-Wavenet-A.wav (not accessible in API)

Thank you for any guidance!

[NorieRam]

Hi @sargearmstrong,

Welcome to Google Cloud Community!

Based on the email sent by Google Cloud(Subject: [Update] Cloud Text-to-Speech voices will be updated starting December 6, 2024 across European markets), the new voices might not resemble the original speaker's voice, but they will be of higher quality and sound more natural. I understand that this recent update has affected the Text-to-Speech voices, resulting in them having very similar tones, and also making some voices inaccessible which may impact your implementation. With this, I suggest filing a request on the issue tracker. While I can't provide specific details or timelines at this moment, please keep an eye on the release notes for any updates or new features related to Text to Speech.

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[usugunakar]

How do we get notified about these changes upfront. Is there a way we can subscribe for the release notes?

The recent changes in the names of the TTS resulted a significant impact to our contact center environment