v1.7.8 Released: New Voice Options, Chat Improvements + More!
Hi everyone,
v1.7.8 has been released:
New Local Voice Options
Added Unity-Sherpa-ONNX as a lightweight local speech system, along with PocketTTS as a new CPU-friendly voice and voice-cloning option.
PocketTTS can be enabled from the Chat & Voice settings beneath the RVC options. It is designed to provide responsive local speech on regular computers without requiring a large voice installation. English users can also provide a voice reference of at least 10 seconds to create a custom PocketTTS voice.
Additional voices are now available for most languages supported by Kokoro HQ TTS. While Kokoro is enabled, you can change your avatar’s Kokoro voice by opening Chat & Voice in Settings and selecting the Change Voice button at the bottom.
Voice startup, language selection, cancellation, custom voice-reference handling, and packaged app support have also been improved.
Local AI and Performance Improvements
Updated the local AI system to improve performance and reliability with currently supported models. Background activity has also been reduced to help the app run more smoothly, especially on lower-end systems.
Cloud responses now handle cancellations, retries, and interrupted connections more reliably. Responses should appear more smoothly and recover better when a request is stopped or restarted.
Chat and Natural Conversation Improvements
Improved the listening and response flow used by Microphone TTS and Natural Conversation. CielChan now moves more smoothly between listening, responding, handling interruptions, speaking, and resuming the microphone for more natural back-and-forth conversations.
Image Drag-and-Drop Attachments
Most common image formats can now be dragged directly onto CielChan and attached to the next chat message. Once attached, the image appears as a preview inside the image button. It can be removed before sending by selecting the small red X and is automatically cleared after the message is sent.
Desktop file dragging and desktop selection will no longer accidentally reposition CielChan or the chat interface.
Companion Bridge Improvements
Improved Companion avatar capture to reduce unnecessary background work when the Companion interface is inactive or unchanged.
Companion Bridge now closes more smoothly and should cause fewer small stalls during startup, shutdown, and regular use.
The Companion web interface has been updated with cleaner layouts, better fullscreen and mobile display support, improved handling of short landscape screens, and additional accessibility improvements. The Companion chat page also should now avoid unnecessary refreshing when nothing has changed and preserves your position while reading older messages.
UI Fixes
Fixed an issue where selecting the elushis.com link could open two browser pages from a single click.
Small Bug Fixes
Various additional reliability, packaging, startup, performance, voice, chat, and interface refinements.
More to come soon.