# Piper TTS (neural voice for J.A.R.V.I.S.)

Drop-in replacement for the robotic SAPI voice. ~30 MB binary + ~60 MB Russian voice (Irina). Latency 200-500ms on i5.

## Install

```powershell
cd C:\Jarvis\rust\tools\piper
pwsh -File install.ps1
```

By default installs `ru_RU-irina-medium` (Russian female). To pick a different voice:

```powershell
pwsh -File install.ps1 -Voice ru_RU-denis-medium
pwsh -File install.ps1 -Voice ru_RU-dmitri-medium
pwsh -File install.ps1 -Voice ru_RU-ruslan-medium
pwsh -File install.ps1 -Voice en_US-amy-medium      # English female
```

Force re-download:

```powershell
pwsh -File install.ps1 -Force
```

## Use

If `piper.exe` + a voice file are present in `tools/piper/`, J.A.R.V.I.S. auto-detects Piper on startup. No env vars required.

To force a specific backend:

```bat
set JARVIS_TTS=piper      :: use Piper
set JARVIS_TTS=sapi       :: force SAPI fallback
set JARVIS_TTS=silero     :: use Silero (needs tools/silero/silero_tts.py)
```

Override paths:

```bat
set JARVIS_TTS_PIPER_BIN=D:\custom\piper.exe
set JARVIS_TTS_PIPER_VOICE=D:\voices\my-voice.onnx
```

## Voices catalogue

Full list: https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices

Recommended for Russian:
- `ru_RU-irina-medium` — natural female, default
- `ru_RU-dmitri-medium` — male, clear diction
- `ru_RU-ruslan-medium` — male, slightly deeper
- `ru_RU-denis-medium` — male, "newsreader" tone

## Troubleshooting

**"piper.exe not found"** — install script failed; check `install.ps1` output. The fallback is SAPI — assistant still works, just with the robotic voice.

**"no .onnx voice in voices/"** — voice download failed (HuggingFace blocked?). Manually download from https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices/tree/main/ru/ru_RU/irina/medium and drop both `.onnx` + `.onnx.json` into `voices/`.

**Voice sounds wrong** — try a different model. Each Russian voice has a different timbre.

**No audio output** — Piper writes to a temp wav, then plays via `System.Media.SoundPlayer` synchronously. Check that the default playback device isn't muted.