This guide provides a step-by-step approach to using the PlayDialog API to convert text into natural human-like sounding audio.

In this example, we’ll have PlayDialog create a simple audio from the given input text.

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Prerequisites

• Access credentials (Secret key and User ID) for the PlayDialog API.
• Python environment for executing the API request.

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Setup your API Key

To keep your API key secure and avoid hardcoding it directly into your code, you can store it as an environment variable. This way, your script can access it securely without exposing the key.

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Step 1: Set the Environment Variable

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For macOS and Linux

• Open your terminal.
• Add this line to your ~/.bashrc or ~/.zshrc file to make it persistent across sessions

echo 'export PLAYDIALOG_API_KEY="your_api_key_here"' >> ~/.bashrc
echo 'export PLAYDIALOG_USER_ID="your_user_id_here"' >> ~/.bashrc

• Run ~/.bashrc (or source ~/.zshrc for zsh) to load the variables into your current session.

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For Windows

• Open Command Prompt or PowerShell.
• Use the setx command to create each environment variable individually:

setx PLAYDIALOG_API_KEY "your_api_key_here"

setx PLAYDIALOG_USER_ID "your_user_id_here"

• Restart your terminal to apply the changes.

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Step 2: Access the Variables in Python

In your Python script, use the os module to access the environment variables:

import os

api_key = os.getenv("PLAYDIALOG_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("PLAYDIALOG_USER_ID")

headers = {
    'Authorization': f'Bearer {api_key}',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-USER-ID': user_id
}

# Add the following API request with the payload

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Key API Parameters

The following API payload define the conversation, speaker details, and audio generation options:

• model: Specifies the PlayDialog API model to be used. Here, PlayDialog supports multi-turn conversation generation.
• text: Contains the input text for which the speech audio has to be generated.
• voice: URL path to the voice manifest for the first speaker.
• output_format: Format for the generated audio file, typically wav or mp3.

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Call the API

The following Python script demonstrates how to request the PlayDialog API and save the generated audio file.

import requests
import os

# Set up headers with your API authentication token and user ID

api_key = os.getenv("PLAYDIALOG_API_KEY")
user_id = os.getenv("PLAYDIALOG_USER_ID")

headers = {
    'Authorization': f'Bearer {api_key}',
    'Content-Type': 'application/json',
    'X-USER-ID': user_id
}


# JSON payload containing the script and configuration settings

json_data = {
    'model': 'PlayDialog',
    'text': "All human wisdom is summed up in these two words: Wait and hope.",
    'voice': 's3://voice-cloning-zero-shot/baf1ef41-36b6-428c-9bdf-50ba54682bd8/original/manifest.json',
    'outputFormat': 'wav'
}

# Send the POST request to the PlayDialog API endpoint
response = requests.post('https://api.play.ai/api/v1/tts/stream', headers=headers, json=json_data)

# Handle response and save audio file
if response.status_code == 200:
    with open('dialogue.wav', 'wb') as f:
        f.write(response.content)
    print("Audio file saved as dialogue.wav")
else:
    print(f"Request failed with status code {response.status_code}: {response.text}")

If you happen to save the code as playdialog_tts.py then Run the code using python3 playdialog_tts.py pointing your terminal to the directory where the playdialog_tts.py file is stored. This will save the dialogue.wav in the same working directory.

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Code Explanation

This script uses the PlayDialog API to generate an audio file from a text input. The script requires an AUTHORIZATION token and X-USER-ID for authentication, which should be replaced with your own credentials in the environment variables PLAYDIALOG_API_KEY and PLAYDIALOG_USER_ID.

The main script sends a single line of text to the PlayDialog API, where it is processed into audio/speech with a specified voice configuration. The voice parameter contains the path to the desired voice profile, allowing customization of the spoken output. The audio is then generated in the specified wav format.

On a successful API call, the resulting audio is saved as dialogue.wav in the current directory, ready for playback. If the request fails, the script outputs an error message with the HTTP status code and any additional details from the API response.

To run the script:

• Replace placeholders in the headers with your API key and user ID.
• Update the text with your input text (that needs to converted into speech)
• Update the Speaker Details and their respective voice
• Run the script. If successful, an audio file, dialogue.wav, will be saved in the current directory, capturing the dialogue as configured.
• This setup can easily adapt to more complex dialogues or multiple speakers as well.

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Troubleshooting

• Authentication Issues: Verify your API key and user ID. Ensure the AUTHORIZATION header includes “Bearer ” followed by your token.
• API Endpoint Errors: Confirm you’re using the correct PlayDialog API endpoint URL and the model name is PlayDialog