kittensynth

KittenTTS synthesis layer built on kitteng2p + OnnxVoice.

Installation

A base pip install kittensynth is provider-neutral and does not install ONNX Runtime. For CPU inference, install the CPU provider extra:

python -m pip install "kittensynth[cpu]"

For GPU inference or the bundled G2P runtime, use:

python -m pip install "kittensynth[gpu]"
python -m pip install "kittensynth[cpu,bundled-g2p]"

Managed examples require an ONNX Runtime provider and a working G2P runtime. The CPU plus bundled G2P command above is the copy/paste setup for the examples.

Documentation

• Architecture
• OnnxVoice contract
• Calibration and benchmark methodology

This MVP follows the same repository/package shape as PiperSynth/PiperG2P:

pyproject.toml
kittensynth/
tests/
docs/

There is no src/ layer and no hard-coded package version.

Architecture

prepared speakable English
        |
        v
kitteng2p
  - eSpeak
  - Kitten phoneme tokenization
  - Kitten v0.8 token IDs
        |
        v
kittensynth
  - voice alias/style row
  - speed-prior policy
        |
        v
onnxvoice
  - catalogs/install/cache/integrity
  - ORT providers/sessions
  - Kitten graph ABI
        |
        v
float32 waveform

kittensynth has no direct eSpeak or phonemizer dependency. That is now entirely owned by kitteng2p.

Required OnnxVoice contract

KittenSynth requires OnnxVoice 0.2.x. OnnxVoice 0.2.0 and later in that supported range register the built-in Kitten adapter and expose:

system = kitten

runtime.infer(token_ids, style=style, speed=effective_speed)

The installation contains at least:

role=model
role=voices

with 24 kHz metadata and Kitten voice aliases/speed priors.

Managed model

from kittensynth import KittenVoice

with KittenVoice.from_pretrained("nano-0.8-int8") as model:
    result = model.synthesize_prepared(
        "Hello from KittenSynth.",
        voice="Jasper",
    )
    result.save_wav("hello.wav")

Public discovery and Readio adapter contract

discover_models() exposes the OnnxVoice Kitten catalog as immutable DiscoveredModel and DescribedVoice records. It lists catalog data only: it does not install or open model artifacts. language, offline, refresh, cache_dir, and catalog_url are forwarded to the managed catalog layer. source_revision is available on each model and in its metadata; model-specific revisions belong with the model, not the global engine identity.

from kittensynth import discover_models, runtime_identity

models = discover_models(language="en", offline=True)
for model in models:
    print(model.id, model.display_name, model.voice_ids, model.default_voice)

print(runtime_identity())

A catalog default voice takes precedence; otherwise KittenSynth selects Jasper when listed, then the first public alias. Catalog-provided voice metadata is preserved. When a catalog provides only metadata.voice_aliases, voices are described with unknown gender and English language defaults; gender is never guessed from an alias.

runtime_identity() returns deterministic engine, KittenSynth, kitteng2p, OnnxVoice, and request-API versions. It contains no paths or machine-local state. request_api_contract() declares KittenVoice.synthesize_prepared as the current entrypoint: prepared-text boundaries remain caller-owned, and linguistic tokens, pronunciation overrides, whole-request phonemes, speakers, word timings, and request-level voice controls are not supported. The package exports typed errors such as EmptyTextError, InvalidVoiceError, OnnxVoiceContractError, CatalogUnavailableError, and ModelInferenceError; no Readio dependency is required.

Local model

from kittensynth import KittenVoice

with KittenVoice.from_local(
    model_path="kitten_tts_nano_v0_8.onnx",
    voices_path="voices.npz",
    config_path="config.json",
) as model:
    result = model.synthesize_prepared("Local synthesis.", voice="Bella")
    result.save_wav("local.wav")

Examples

Run the prepared-speech examples with a managed Kitten model:

python examples/basic.py
python examples/all_voices.py
python examples/run_all.py --list

The first managed run may download model assets. Generated WAVs and the all-voices manifest are written under example-artefacts/ and intentionally gitignored. Use python examples/run_all.py to execute each example in an isolated output directory and validate its WAV files.

Static voice-level calibration

Calibration is an optional deterministic static gain correction. The package default remains off for backward compatibility; opt in explicitly:

from kittensynth import KittenVoice, SynthesisConfig, VoiceLevelConfig

config = SynthesisConfig(
    speed=1.0,
    voice_level=VoiceLevelConfig(mode="calibrated"),
)
with KittenVoice.from_pretrained("nano-0.8-int8") as model:
    result = model.synthesize_prepared("Prepared speech.", voice="Jasper", config=config)

Calibration defaults by interface

Interface	Default behavior
Python KittenVoice.synthesize_prepared(...)	Calibration off
examples/basic.py	Calibrated
examples/all_voices.py	Calibrated; --raw disables it
kittensynth CLI	Calibration off; use --voice-level calibrated to opt in

The CLI also accepts --gain-db FLOAT for an explicit static gain override. The API and CLI defaults remain off for backward compatibility.

Speed precedence

When config is provided, config.speed is authoritative and the separate speed= argument is ignored:

model.synthesize_prepared(
    "Prepared speech.",
    speed=1.2,  # ignored because config is supplied
    config=SynthesisConfig(speed=0.9),
)

Catalog lookup uses the exact managed model ID and internal voice/style ID, not the friendly alias. The packaged measured catalog covers all eight internal voices for micro-0.8, mini-0.8, nano-0.8-int8, and nano-0.8-fp32; local models do not inherit managed gains. A reviewed explicit gain_db override is available for a local model. Calibration is neither request-time loudness measurement nor dynamic normalization/limiting. See benchmark documentation for the reproducible measurement and promotion workflow and catalog provenance.

Prepared-text boundary

Like PiperG2P/PiperSynth, this MVP expects prepared speakable text. Written-form semantic expansion (numbers, currencies, dates, URLs, abbreviations) stays outside the engine.

That keeps these packages independent:

semantic preparation -> kitteng2p -> kittensynth -> onnxvoice

Voice selection

The current v0.8 aliases are:

Bella   -> expr-voice-2-f
Jasper  -> expr-voice-2-m
Luna    -> expr-voice-3-f
Bruno   -> expr-voice-3-m
Rosie   -> expr-voice-4-f
Hugo    -> expr-voice-4-m
Kiki    -> expr-voice-5-f
Leo     -> expr-voice-5-m

The style row is selected exactly as upstream v0.8:

min(len(text), style_rows - 1)

Dynamic versioning

Both kitteng2p and kittensynth use the same Git-tag-driven setuptools-scm pattern:

git tag vX.Y.Z
python -m build

The source-ZIP fallback is 0.1.dev0; installed __version__ comes from distribution metadata.

Development

For sibling checkout development:

python -m pip install -e ../kitteng2p
python -m pip install -e ".[dev]"
python -m pytest

Managed synthesis is provided by the Kitten adapter in OnnxVoice; see the examples and static calibration sections above for runnable usage.