For those who want to use the audio ducking feature on portable copies of NVDA, here's my add-on that makes it possible:
@gexgd0419
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@amir As for now, you can get the older but working version of the voices here: https://github.com/gexgd0419/NaturalVoiceSAPIAdapter/wiki/Narrator-natural-voice-download-links
@amir Seemingly Microsoft updated the SDK version and changed the decryption key so it stops working. Narrator might be broken because Narrator and the SAPI 5 driver now use different SDK versions, causing conflicts. Seems that Microsoft is aware of this kind of "abuse" and is taking some action. Older versions of the voice packs still work, though.
@NikJov Does the latest snapshot version of PR 17817 make the audio better?
@JamminJerry @amir Unlike other installers, this installer doesn't copy files to another location. It just uses regsvr32 to register the file at the current location. As a result, if the files are moved elsewhere, SAPI5 may stop working. Also, 32-bit and 64-bit are the bitness of the apps, not the system, as 64-bit system also supports 32-bit apps such as NVDA. So installing 32-bit means registering 32-bit DLL which can work with 32-bit apps. Maybe I can make it less confusing in the future.
@NikJov I added verbose logging for SAPI4 in PR #17774. This doesn't fix things, but you can now enable the "synthDriver" debug log category in advanced settings to get a more verbose log file. You can try the snapshot version, then send me the log so that I may be able to understand the problem better.
@NikJov This is not normal. Audio ducking should either work normally, or not work at all (if the voice does not support custom audio output). But as different SAPI4 engines have different behaviors, I need to get the voice you are using to reproduce and investigate the problem.
@amir Good news for SAPI 4 users! Now SAPI 4 support is no longer planned for removal in NVDA 2026.1, and all warning messages has been removed. Also, now SAPI 4 voices use WASAPI as well, meaning that features such as audio ducking and leading silence trimming can now work with SAPI 4 voices. Check the newest alpha version alpha-35416, and please report issues you find on GitHub!
@amir @NVAccess Here's my attempt to make SAPI 4 synth support WASAPI.
https://github.com/nvaccess/nvda/pull/17718
As different SAPI 4 engines behave differently, it might not work well with every SAPI 4 voice. I don't have many SAPI 4 voices to test, so those who are interested can try that out with their SAPI 4 voices to see if that works well. If anyone finds an issue, please report it on GitHub.
Also I wonder, could this make SAPI 4 support in NVDA survive longer?