- name
- whisper-piper-voice
- description
- Set up and run a local voice pipeline combining Whisper STT (speech-to-text) and Piper TTS (text-to-speech) as a single HTTP server. Use when asked to set up voice capabilities, transcribe audio, generate speech, configure STT/TTS, or build a voice assistant pipeline. Handles both directions — audio-to-text and text-to-audio — on a single port. Runs fully offline on CPU or GPU (NVIDIA CUDA). NOT for cloud-based TTS (ElevenLabs, Google TTS) — this is 100% local and free.
Whisper + Piper Voice Pipeline
Local STT (speech-to-text) and TTS (text-to-speech) as a single HTTP server. Zero cloud dependencies.
Architecture
Audio In → POST /transcribe → Whisper (faster-whisper) → JSON {text, language}
Text In → POST /speak → Piper TTS → ffmpeg → audio/ogg (Opus)Both endpoints run in one Python process on one port (default: 9998).
Quick Start
- Install dependencies:
python3 -m venv ~/whisper-env && source ~/whisper-env/bin/activate
pip install faster-whisper
apt install ffmpeg # or brew install ffmpeg on macOS- Download Piper + a voice:
mkdir -p ~/piper && cd ~/piper
wget https://github.com/rhasspy/piper/releases/latest/download/piper_linux_x86_64.tar.gz
tar xzf piper_linux_x86_64.tar.gz
mkdir voices && cd voices
wget https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices/resolve/main/de/de_DE/thorsten_emotional/medium/de_DE-thorsten_emotional-medium.onnx
wget https://huggingface.co/rhasspy/piper-voices/resolve/main/de/de_DE/thorsten_emotional/medium/de_DE-thorsten_emotional-medium.onnx.json- Run the server (
scripts/voice-server.py):
python3 voice-server.py --port 9998 \
--whisper-model small --whisper-device cpu \
--piper-bin ~/piper/piper/piper \
--piper-model ~/piper/voices/de_DE-thorsten_emotional-medium.onnxAPI
Transcribe (audio → text):
curl -X POST -F "file=@message.ogg" http://HOST:9998/transcribe
# {"text": "Hallo Welt", "language": "de"}Speak (text → audio):
curl -X POST -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-d '{"text": "Hallo Welt", "speaker": "4"}' \
http://HOST:9998/speak -o response.oggConfiguration
| Flag | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
--port | 9998 | Server port |
--whisper-model | small | tiny/base/small/medium/large-v3 |
--whisper-device | cpu | cpu or cuda |
--piper-bin | (required) | Path to piper binary |
--piper-model | (required) | Path to .onnx voice file |
--piper-speaker | 4 | Speaker ID (multi-speaker models) |
--speed | 0.9 | TTS speed (lower = faster) |
Choosing Models
Whisper: small for CPU (good balance), medium for GPU (best quality without large-v3 overhead).
Piper voices: Browse https://rhasspy.github.io/piper-samples/ — download .onnx + .onnx.json files.
Full Setup Guide
Read references/setup-guide.md for systemd service config, all voice options, model comparison table, and OpenClaw integration details.