Scratch text to speech: give your sprites character voices
Scratch has its own Text to Speech extension, and it is a great start: a sprite can read any text aloud with one block. Its five voices are the same in every project, though, and a cartoon duck or a nervous robot needs a voice of its own.
On SuperClonica you can voice a line for free on the page of any voice, download it and upload it to your sprite as a sound. This guide shows when the built-in extension is enough, how to add character voices to a project, and how a teacher or parent can voice a whole game at once.
Scratch’s Text to Speech and what it lacks
Use both: the extension for changing text, recorded voices for the lines that make your characters who they are.
- The extension is added with the Add Extension button at the bottom left and gives the speak and set voice blocks.
- It has five voices: alto, tenor, squeak, giant and kitten, and it needs an internet connection.
- It is perfect for text that changes while the game runs, like a player’s name or a score.
- For a character with a recognizable voice, a recorded sound works better.
Voice a line free online
On the page of any voice, type a line for your sprite, 30 to 100 characters, choose the language and press Voice it. In a few seconds you can listen and download the recording, with no account.
Add the voice to your sprite
Name each sound after its line, so you can still find the right one in a project with fifty sounds.
- Open your sprite, go to the Sounds tab, hover over the Choose a Sound button and pick Upload Sound.
- Choose the downloaded file; Scratch accepts MP3 and WAV.
- In the Code tab, use start sound together with a say block, and the line plays while the text appears in a speech bubble.
- Use play sound until done when the next action should wait for the line to end.
A whole game of voiced lines
For a bigger game, a teacher or parent can install the free SuperClonica engine on a computer: python -m pip install superclonica-cpu. Each line is then one command: superclonica --text "Hi! I am the robot of this castle." --voice M3 --lang en --output line01.mp3. The engine runs offline on an ordinary processor, writes MP3 files Scratch accepts and has no character limit; the ten built-in voices are free.
Sharing your project
When you share a project on the Scratch website, everyone can hear its sounds. Character voices such as SpongeBob or Scrooge McDuck are fan-made AI voices, not the original actors, so use them for fun projects and fan games, and never make a character say something mean about a real person. Gollum and Valera the Gummy Bear are free voices to start with.