Text to Voice Finally Getting Useable And Affordable?

Steve K

Now that the Houston 48 Hour Film contest is in judging (the screenings are delayed a month due to Hurricane Beryl related  A/C problems at the theater), I decided to update some software.  Did not want to risk glitches while the contest was imminent.  In particular, the new version of my Vegas video editor has an impressively featured text to voice feature with a couple of dozen voices, many of which have up to a dozen "styles" (excited, sad, whispering, etc.)  Even the non-subscription (perpetual) version has it.  Both versions have total characters used limits, but you can preview any voice for free before inserting onto the timeline, and additional characters can be purchased for what looks like reasonable prices, $15 or less for thousands of characters.  So now I can go beyond my "Human Sound FX" collection ("good morning", "I don't think so") to actual dialogue.  An example fom the Coen Bros. "The Man Who Wasn't There": 

"Heavens to Betsy, Birdy!"  

I almost fell out of my chair ...