# MicroslopSam

Run SAPI4 text-to-speech voices on Linux.

Primary approach: a **Winelib host** — a native Linux ELF that uses Wine's
libraries to load the original 32-bit SAPI4 runtime and TTS engine DLLs.

Voice targets:

- Microsoft Sam / Mary / Mike — MSTTS engine (`msttssyn.dll` + `.vce` data)
- AT&T Flextalk 2.1 — "Keith Bell" and "Kerry Watson" (`FlexTalk.dll`)

Long-term: replace Wine-provided pieces with own shims (rehost) for a
pure-native build, and keep a path to a fully portable engine.

## Status (working)

- Winelib host builds and runs: `build/sapi4host.exe` (launcher) +
  `build/sapi4host.exe.so` (native 32-bit ELF).
- Voices enumerate and synthesize:
  - MSTTS: Sam, Mary, Mike (+ telephone and effect variants)
  - AT&T Flextalk: Keith Bell, Kerry Watson
- Test output: `build/test_sam.wav` (22.05 kHz), `build/test_Keith_Bell.wav`,
  `build/test_Kerry_Watson.wav` (11.025 kHz).

## Build

Everything in one command (idempotent; sudo only for system packages):

    setup/install.sh

Manual steps, if needed:

    sudo setup/install-deps.sh     # Wine/Winelib/helpers
    setup/setup-prefix.sh          # prefix + SAPI4 runtime + MSTTS voices
    setup/setup-flextalk.sh        # Flextalk extraction + registry
    # host build:
    winegcc -m32 -O2 -o build/sapi4host-winlib host/sapi4host.c -I../reference \
        -lole32 -luser32 -ladvapi32
    i686-w64-mingw32-gcc -O2 -static -o build/sapi4host.exe host/sapi4host.c \
        -I../reference -lole32 -luser32 -ladvapi32 -luuid

## Usage

    setup/run.sh -l
    setup/run.sh -v Sam -t "Hello." -o sam.wav
    setup/run.sh -v "Keith Bell" -t "Hello." -o keith.wav -p 100 -s 150

Options: `-v` voice, `-t` text, `-o` output WAV, `-p` pitch, `-s` speed, `-V` volume
(volume is engine-specific; not used by the Veskslop wrapper).

## Veskslop integration

    export VESKSLOP_TTS_CMD="$PWD/setup/vekslop-tts.sh {out} {text_file}"
    export VESKSLOP_TTS_VOICES="$(setup/vekslop-tts.sh --voices)"

The wrapper maps voice IDs (`sam`, `mary`, `mike`, `keith-bell`, `kerry-watson`, plus the
MSTTS variants), reads `VESKSLOP_TTS_VOICE`, `VESKSLOP_TTS_SPEED` (multiplier) and
`VESKSLOP_TTS_PITCH` (semitones), starts Xvfb when `DISPLAY` is unset, and writes a
48 kHz mono s16le WAV trimmed, faded and normalized to about -16 LUFS (-3 dBFS true peak).
Speed and pitch apply to every voice (Flextalk's numeric settings must be `REG_DWORD`,
which the setup script writes). Mapping details are in `docs/TTS-DESIGN.md`.

## Layout

- `host/sapi4host.c` — host: voice select, pitch/speed, text -> WAV
- `setup/install.sh` — one-shot installer (runs all steps below)
- `setup/install-deps.sh` — Wine/Winelib/helpers (root)
- `setup/setup-prefix.sh` — prefix + SAPI4 runtime + MSTTS engine/voices
- `setup/setup-flextalk.sh` — Flextalk files + registry
- `setup/inf2reg.py` — INF AddReg -> `.reg` converter
- `setup/run.sh` — run helper (prefix + Xvfb)
- `setup/vekslop-tts.sh` — Veskslop command-provider wrapper (post-processing included)
- `docs/NOTES.md` — registry/CLSID facts, runtime RE notes, gotchas
- `docs/TTS-DESIGN.md` — integration contract with Veskslop plus engine clarifications

## Known issues

- `xvfb-run` is flaky on this host. `setup/run.sh` starts a persistent Xvfb
  (`:77`) instead; Wine needs a working X display because the runtime creates
  windows.
- Flextalk numeric speaker settings must be `REG_DWORD` (the installer script handles
  this); `REG_SZ` values cause a monotone buzz. Pitch and speed work on all voices.
- The Flextalk archive lacks `data2.cab`; `unshield -O` extracts `data1.cab`
  but one tail file (`WatsonUNInstall.dll`) is incomplete.

## Reference material (not in this repo)

- `../reference/speech.h` — SAPI4 SDK header
- `../reference/SAPI4-CLI`, `../reference/TETYYS-SAPI4` — host examples
- `../Microsoft-Sam-Mary-Mike-TruVoice-WSAPI4` — installers/payloads
- `../flextalk` — Flextalk installer archive + extraction
- `/mnt/ghidra/decomp/{msttssyn.dll,speech.dll}/` — decompiled corpora