Installation:
$ sudo apt-get update
$ sudo apt-get install festival

Test installation:
$ echo "hello" | festival --tts

List the voices available:
$ festival
Now, you see the REPL interactive shell:
festival>
Type in: (voice.list)
OUTPUT:
(kal_diphone)
END OF OUTPUT.

Exit the interactive shell:
festival> (exit)

Search for voices in English:
$ apt-cache search mbrola | grep "us"
Install specific (US English) voices:
$ sudo apt-get install festvox-us1 festvox-us2 festvox-us3

List the voices available:
$ festival
Now, you see the REPL interactive shell:
festival>
Type in: (voice.list)
OUTPUT:
(kal_diphone us1_mbrola us2_mbrola us3_mbrola)
END OF OUTPUT.

Test different voices to choose from:
Once in the interactive shell, change the voice tone (voice package). Notice that you have to add the prefix "voice_" to a voice from the voices list.
festival> (voice_us1_mbrola)
festival> (SayText "Hello from Ubuntu")
festival> (tts "story.txt" nil)
festival> (intro)
festival> (exit)

Alternative voices repositories are available for installation from different sources.

Set up the new voice in the festival configuration file /etc/festival.scm:

$ sudo cp -dpR /etc/festival.scm /etc/festival.scmBAK
# nano /etc/festival.scm
Or as user use:
$ sudo nano /etc/festival.scm

Attach the next line to the end of the file:
(set! voice_default 'voice_us1_mbrola)

Save changes made.

Test the completed installation:
$ echo "Hi, How are you doing? This is Esteban, but you can call me Steve" | festival --tts

The sound should output the sentence above using the new voice defined in the config file.


