# Mac text to speech: natural offline voices on macOS Updated 2026-10-24 macOS has a built-in say command and system voices, handy for a quick check. When you need character voices, a voice of your own or the same voice in 31 languages saved as audio files, the free SuperClonica engine brings the neural model Supertonic 3 to your Mac. It runs offline on the processor, with no graphics card. This guide shows how to install it in a virtual environment, voice text from the Terminal, read the clipboard aloud with a keyboard shortcut and choose voices. ## What you need The GPU package of the engine is for NVIDIA cards only, so on a Mac use superclonica-cpu. - A Mac with Apple Silicon and Python 3.10 or newer, from python.org or Homebrew. - About 400 MB of disk space for the Supertonic 3 model, downloaded once. - The processor is enough: the engine needs no graphics card. - A voice: the ten built-in voices M1 to M5 and F1 to F5, or a JSON file from the catalog. ## Install in a virtual environment Open the Terminal and install the engine into its own environment: python3 -m venv ~/.venvs/tts && ~/.venvs/tts/bin/python -m pip install superclonica-cpu. The command is then ~/.venvs/tts/bin/superclonica; add the folder to your PATH or create an alias in ~/.zshrc. ## Voice text from the Terminal The model downloads on the first run; after that the engine works without the internet. - One phrase: superclonica --text "Hello from my Mac." --voice F1 --lang en --output hello.wav && afplay hello.wav. - A whole file: --text-file article.txt instead of --text; long texts are split at natural pauses and joined into one WAV. - Change --lang for other languages, for example de, es or ja. - Limit the processor threads with --threads 4 if you keep working while it runs. ## Read the clipboard with a shortcut In the Shortcuts app, create a shortcut with a Run Shell Script action containing: pbpaste > /tmp/clip.txt && ~/.venvs/tts/bin/superclonica --text-file /tmp/clip.txt --voice F1 --lang en --output /tmp/clip.wav && afplay /tmp/clip.wav. Give it a keyboard shortcut. Copy any text, press the keys, and the engine reads it aloud in the chosen voice. ## Voices and your own voice Every voice in the SuperClonica catalog has a page where you can voice a phrase of 30 to 100 characters for free online. Free voices download without an account; paid ones are bought once and stay yours as a JSON file. Training your own voice in the studio needs a Windows PC with an NVIDIA graphics card; from a Mac you can order a voice on the exchange from an author who trains it, then use it here offline. ## More guides - [How to convert text to speech offline on your computer](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/offline-text-to-speech) - [Voice cloning: how to get a voice that sounds like a recording](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/voice-cloning) - [The best free text-to-speech models for local use in 2026](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/best-free-tts-models) - [Text to speech for videos, audiobooks, games and apps](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-videos) - [Supertonic 3 voices: where to get custom voices and how to use them](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/supertonic-3-voices) - [Text to speech in Python: offline, free and with natural voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/python-text-to-speech) - [Self-hosted text-to-speech API in Docker](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-api-docker) - [Text to speech in character voices: voice any line as your favourite character](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/character-voice-generator) - [Free unlimited text to speech without sign-up: run it on your own computer](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/free-unlimited-text-to-speech) - [Narrator voice generator: narration for videos, audiobooks and podcasts](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/narrator-voice-generator) - [Child voice text to speech: kid and teenager AI voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/child-voice-text-to-speech) - [Anime voice generator: text to speech in anime character voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/anime-voice-generator) - [Text to speech in 31 languages: one voice for every language](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-languages) - [Female voice text to speech: natural AI female voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/female-voice-text-to-speech) - [Male voice text to speech: deep and natural AI male voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/male-voice-text-to-speech) - [Realistic text to speech: AI voices that sound human](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/realistic-text-to-speech) - [AI voice generator: turn text into speech with ready AI voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-voice-generator) - [Text to speech reader: listen to books, PDFs and articles](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-reader) - [TikTok voice generator: voices for TikTok, Shorts and Reels](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/tiktok-voice-generator) - [Dota 2 hero voices: make any hero say your line](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/dota-2-voice-generator) - [Cartoon voice generator: make a cartoon character say your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/cartoon-voice-generator) - [Jarvis voice generator: your text in a Jarvis-style AI voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/jarvis-voice-generator) - [Darth Vader voice generator: Star Wars voices for your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/darth-vader-voice-generator) - [Train your own TTS voice on your NVIDIA GPU](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/train-tts-voice) - [Emotional text to speech: how to make an AI voice sound expressive](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/emotional-text-to-speech) - [Hindi text to speech: AI voices that read Hindi](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/hindi-text-to-speech) - [Spanish text to speech: AI voices that read Spanish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/spanish-text-to-speech) - [Japanese text to speech: AI voices that read Japanese](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/japanese-text-to-speech) - [Russian text to speech with voices recorded in Russian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/russian-text-to-speech) - [Portuguese text to speech: AI voices that read Portuguese](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/portuguese-text-to-speech) - [German text to speech: AI voices that read German](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/german-text-to-speech) - [French text to speech: AI voices that read French](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/french-text-to-speech) - [Korean text to speech: AI voices that read Korean](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/korean-text-to-speech) - [English text to speech: AI voices that read English](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/english-text-to-speech) - [Arabic text to speech: AI voices that read Arabic](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/arabic-text-to-speech) - [Geralt voice generator: Witcher voices for your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/witcher-voice-generator) - [GTA 5 voice generator: Trevor, Franklin and Lester say your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/gta-5-voice-generator) - [How to make an audiobook with an AI voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/audiobook-ai-voice) - [Text to speech for game development: NPC voices without a studio](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-games) - [Italian text to speech: AI voices that read Italian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/italian-text-to-speech) - [Polish text to speech: AI voices that read Polish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/polish-text-to-speech) - [Turkish text to speech: AI voices that read Turkish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/turkish-text-to-speech) - [Ukrainian text to speech: AI voices that read Ukrainian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ukrainian-text-to-speech) - [Vietnamese text to speech: AI voices that read Vietnamese](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/vietnamese-text-to-speech) - [Indonesian text to speech: AI voices that read Indonesian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/indonesian-text-to-speech) - [Meme voice generator: funny voices for your memes](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/meme-voice-generator) - [VHS voice-over dub: the 90s one-voice translation style](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/vhs-voice-over-dub) - [Stream alert voices: character voices for follows, subs and donations](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/stream-alert-voices) - [Dutch text to speech: AI voices that read Dutch](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/dutch-text-to-speech) - [Swedish text to speech: AI voices that read Swedish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/swedish-text-to-speech) - [Czech text to speech: AI voices that read Czech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/czech-text-to-speech) - [Greek text to speech: AI voices that read Greek](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/greek-text-to-speech) - [Romanian text to speech: AI voices that read Romanian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/romanian-text-to-speech) - [Hungarian text to speech: AI voices that read Hungarian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/hungarian-text-to-speech) - [Danish text to speech: AI voices that read Danish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/danish-text-to-speech) - [Finnish text to speech: AI voices that read Finnish](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/finnish-text-to-speech) - [Bulgarian text to speech: AI voices that read Bulgarian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/bulgarian-text-to-speech) - [Croatian text to speech: AI voices that read Croatian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/croatian-text-to-speech) - [Slovak text to speech: AI voices that read Slovak](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/slovak-text-to-speech) - [Slovenian text to speech: AI voices that read Slovenian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/slovenian-text-to-speech) - [Estonian text to speech: AI voices that read Estonian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/estonian-text-to-speech) - [Latvian text to speech: AI voices that read Latvian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/latvian-text-to-speech) - [Lithuanian text to speech: AI voices that read Lithuanian](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/lithuanian-text-to-speech) - [Scary voice generator: horror, villain and demon voices for your text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/scary-voice-generator) - [Cute voice text to speech: anime girl, kawaii and cartoon voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/cute-voice-text-to-speech) - [Old man voice generator: grandpa, wizard and elder voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/old-man-voice-generator) - [Deep voice generator: low AI voices for text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/deep-voice-generator) - [SpongeBob text to speech: make him say anything](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/spongebob-voice-generator) - [Batman text to speech: make him say anything](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/batman-voice-generator) - [Text to speech for presentations: narrate your slides](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-for-presentations) - [Rick and Morty voice generator: AI text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/rick-and-morty-voice-generator) - [AI podcast voice: intros, ad reads and whole episodes](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-podcast-voice) - [Russian accent voice generator: English with a Russian accent](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/russian-accent-voice-generator) - [News anchor voice generator: an AI voice that reads the news](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/news-anchor-voice-generator) - [Bedtime story AI voice: a calm narrator for fairy tales](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/bedtime-story-ai-voice) - [AI voice changer or text to speech: which one you need](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/voice-changer-vs-text-to-speech) - [Linux text to speech: natural offline TTS from the terminal](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-linux) - [Windows text to speech: natural voices, offline, saved as WAV](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-windows) - [Voicemail greeting generator: a calm AI voice for your phone](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/voicemail-greeting-generator) - [AI voice over for ads: radio spots, video ads and promos](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-voice-over-for-ads) - [AI dubbing: the same voice in 31 languages](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/ai-dubbing-same-voice) - [AI voice for a faceless YouTube channel](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/faceless-youtube-ai-voice) - [Witch voice generator: sorceresses, seers and dark fairies](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/witch-voice-generator) - [AI voice for e-learning: narrate online courses and training](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/e-learning-ai-voice) - [Text to speech pauses and pronunciation: control the voice with text](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-speech-pauses-pronunciation) - [Text to MP3: save text to speech as an MP3 file](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/text-to-mp3) - [Santa voice generator: Christmas greetings in a warm old voice](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/santa-voice-generator) - [Happy birthday voice message from a character](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/birthday-voice-message) - [D&D narrator voice: AI voices for tabletop RPGs](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/dnd-narrator-voice) - [AI voice acting for visual novels and Ren’Py games](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/visual-novel-ai-voice) - [AI voices for audio drama and radio plays](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/audio-drama-ai-voices) - [A Speechify alternative that works offline](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/speechify-alternative) - [A Murf AI alternative for offline voice-over](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/murf-ai-alternative) - [A FakeYou alternative: character voices that run offline](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/fakeyou-alternative) - [An offline alternative to Google Cloud Text-to-Speech](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/google-text-to-speech-alternative) - [A Balabolka alternative with natural neural voices](https://superclonica.com/en/guides/balabolka-alternative) ## Text to speech and comparisons - [Text-to-speech that runs on your own computer](https://superclonica.com/en/text-to-speech) - [Supertonic vs SuperClonica: same model, faster and cleaner](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/supertonic) - [Fish Audio and Fish Speech vs SuperClonica](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/fish-audio) - [OmniVoice vs SuperClonica: more languages or more speed](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/omnivoice) - [Qwen3-TTS vs SuperClonica for local text-to-speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/qwen3-tts) - [VoxCPM 2 vs SuperClonica: studio sound or CPU speed](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/voxcpm) - [F5-TTS vs SuperClonica: zero-shot cloning or fast CPU speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/f5-tts) - [An offline alternative to ElevenLabs](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/elevenlabs) - [Kokoro TTS vs SuperClonica: two small models for local speech](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/kokoro) - [Piper TTS vs SuperClonica: tiny devices or custom voices](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/piper) - [Coqui XTTS-v2 vs SuperClonica: a Coqui TTS alternative](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/xtts) - [Chatterbox TTS vs SuperClonica: instant cloning or a trained voice file](https://superclonica.com/en/compare/chatterbox) ## Frequently asked questions ### Does it work on Intel Macs? The engine itself is written in Python, but it depends on ONNX Runtime, whose current macOS builds target Apple Silicon. On an Intel Mac, pip may not find a compatible build; then run the engine with Docker or use the free online test. ### Does it work without internet? Yes. Only the first run downloads the model; after that, text is voiced offline. ### Which languages does it speak? The 31 languages of Supertonic 3, including English, Spanish, German, Russian, Japanese and Korean. Chinese is not supported yet. ### Is it free? Yes. The engine is free under the Apache 2.0 license, the model under OpenRAIL-M, and the built-in and free catalog voices cost nothing. Paid voices are bought once. - [Browse voices](https://superclonica.com/en/explore) - [Install the SuperClonica engine](https://superclonica.com/en/superclonica) ## Sources - [Supertonic 3 model card](https://huggingface.co/supertone-oss-archive/supertonic-3) - [SuperClonica engine on PyPI](https://pypi.org/project/superclonica-cpu/) - [SuperClonica](https://superclonica.com/en/) - [AI voice catalog for text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/explore) - [Custom voice commissions for Supertonic 3](https://superclonica.com/en/requests) - [How it works: voices, local speech, training](https://superclonica.com/en/guide) - [Install the faster Supertonic 3 engine](https://superclonica.com/en/superclonica) - [About us: speech synthesis enthusiasts](https://superclonica.com/en/about) - [Contacts, support and voice complaints](https://superclonica.com/en/contacts) - [Privacy policy: what data we keep](https://superclonica.com/en/privacy) - [Terms of use: rules for buyers and authors](https://superclonica.com/en/terms) - [Text to speech](https://superclonica.com/en/text-to-speech)