# Voice design is available now

Voice design turns a written description into a new Paxa TTS Flash v2 voice that you can change in words and save for the console and the API.

Published 2026-10-22. Paxa Labs.

Until today, every Paxa speech request used one of the 50 Paxa TTS Flash v2 voices in the catalog. A product that needed a particular sound took the closest of them.

Voice design adds voices made to a description. Type one in the console, such as “A documentary narrator in his fifties with a low, even voice and an unhurried pace.” The tool answers with one voice. It has a name, a role, and a short description, and it speaks a line written for it. Type what to change, and the next version plays. Save the one you want, and it works in the Speech tool and on the API.

Voice design is open to every account, free accounts included. Each design or refine turn costs 5 credits, its spoken line included. Speech in a saved voice runs on Paxa TTS Flash v2 at 1.25 times the standard rate, which is $12.50 per million characters.

## How a voice is designed

1. Describe it: Type who is speaking and how they sound, or start from one of the four examples in the tool: a documentary narrator, a café barista, a support agent, and a bedtime storyteller.
2. Listen: The name, role, and description fill in first. The voice then speaks a short line in character, in the language it was designed for.
3. Refine it: Type a change such as “warmer” or “a little older”, and the next version plays. A line you type, up to 120 characters, plays in the current version.
4. Save it: Name the voice and save it. It appears in the Speech tool under Your voices and gets an id for the API.

## What to put in a description

A description can name who is speaking, how they speak, the language, and where the voice will be used. The tool chooses whatever the description leaves out.

| Short description | Fuller description |
| --- | --- |
| A friendly woman | A friendly pharmacist in her thirties who explains doses slowly and clearly in Thai |
| A deep male voice | A late night radio host in his forties, deep and relaxed, close to the microphone, speaking English |
| An energetic voice for ads | A quick, bright host for a Bangkok street food channel who laughs between lines, speaking Thai |
| A narrator | A calm narrator for a history podcast, unhurried, with a slight smile in the voice, speaking English |

Name the language the voice should speak, English, Thai, or Mandarin. Without one, the tool takes it from the rest of the description. A café in Bangkok, for example, can produce a Thai speaker.

A famous voice is best described by its qualities. A description that names a real person gets an original voice, under a name the tool makes up.

## Refining a voice

A refinement is one instruction about the current voice, such as “make her sound a little older” or “slow the pace down”. The next version changes what the instruction asks for and keeps the rest.

Every version stays in the history panel, and going back to one costs nothing. A typed line plays in the current version without changing the voice, billed by the character at the designed voice rate.

## Directions in a designed voice

A designed voice speaks on Paxa TTS Flash v2 and reads its directions. `[whispering]` before a line, or `[excited]` before a sentence, works in a saved voice as it does in a catalog voice. The [direction guide](https://paxalabs.com/docs/directions) lists every direction and sound, and the [Paxa TTS Flash v2 launch post](https://paxalabs.com/blog/paxa-tts-flash-v2) plays them.

## Descriptions for common uses

| Use | A description to start from |
| --- | --- |
| Product videos and ads | A confident presenter in her thirties for a skincare brand, warm and quick, speaking Thai |
| Audiobooks and audio drama | An elderly innkeeper with a rough, slow voice who speaks English |
| Support lines and voice agents | A patient customer support agent with a warm, clear voice who speaks Thai at a steady pace |
| YouTube and TikTok narration | A narrator in his forties for a history channel, even and unhurried, speaking English |
| Children's apps | A grandfather telling a bedtime story in Thai, soft and slow, with a little humor |

A saved voice cannot be edited. A series made in it keeps one voice from the first episode to the last, and an ad cut into three lengths speaks in the same voice in each.

## Using a saved voice

- In the console, pick it in the Speech tool, where saved voices head the picker under Your voices.
- On `POST /v1/tts`, send its id, which starts with `voice_`, as `voice` with `model` set to `paxa-tts-flash-v2`.
- The [OpenAI-compatible](https://paxalabs.com/docs/openai-compatibility) `POST /v1/audio/speech` takes the same id. An OpenAI SDK pointed at the Paxa API speaks in the voice unchanged.
- The [live socket](https://paxalabs.com/docs/live-streaming), `/v1/tts/live`, takes the id in its `start` frame.

The id works for the account that saved it, from any of its API keys. Model marketplaces that resell Paxa Labs speech, and the demo on this site, serve catalog voices. The [designed voices guide](https://paxalabs.com/docs/designed-voices) has every rule of the id.

Renaming a voice keeps its id. Deleting one frees its place on the plan, and requests that still name it answer `unknown_voice`. After a downgrade, every saved voice keeps speaking, and new saves wait until the account is under its plan's limit again.

## Pricing

Each design or refine turn costs 5 credits, its spoken line included. A turn that fails without a voice is refunded, and a turn you stop keeps its charge. A new account's 100 free credits cover 20 turns. Speech in a designed voice bills at 1.25 times the Paxa TTS Flash v2 rate, or 1.5 times with word timestamps.

| Voice | Credits per 1,000 characters |
| --- | --- |
| A catalog voice | 10 |
| A designed voice | 12.5 |
| A designed voice with timestamps | 15 |

The plan sets how many designed voices an account keeps.

| Plan | Designed voices |
| --- | --- |
| Free | 1 |
| Starter | 3 |
| Standard | 10 |
| Pro | 50 |

Plans and their monthly credits are on the [pricing page](https://paxalabs.com/pricing).

## What it does not do

Voice design works from text alone. It takes no recording and cannot reproduce a person's voice from one. A description the tool cannot design from is refused, and the turn's credits are refunded.

Open [Voice design](https://paxalabs.com/app/voice-design) in the console to start.

## Questions

### Can I try voice design for free?

Yes. Every account can design voices and keep 1, free accounts included. A turn costs 5 credits, and a new account's 100 free credits cover 20 turns.

### How many voices can I keep?

Free accounts keep 1. Starter keeps 3. Standard keeps 10. Pro keeps 50.

### Can I edit a saved voice?

You can rename it. Its sound stays as you saved it, and a different sound is a new design.

### Does a designed voice work on Paxa TTS Flash?

No. Designed voices speak on Paxa TTS Flash v2. A Paxa TTS Flash request that names one answers `unknown_voice`.

### Can voice design clone my voice?

No. Voice design takes no recording. It designs a new voice from a description.

### Which language does a designed voice speak?

The one named in the description, English, Thai, or Mandarin. The description itself can be written in any of the three.

### Can I use a designed voice in the API?

Yes. Send its id as `voice` with `model` set to `paxa-tts-flash-v2`, from any API key on the account that saved it.