Create Speech

Turn text into speech. Returns a durable audio URL you can pass straight to video generation as `audio_url`, or streams the audio as it is synthesized.

The request follows the OpenAI speech shape (model, input, voice, instructions, response_format). By default the call is synchronous and the response is JSON with a url, not raw audio bytes: the clip is stored on the CDN (WAV 24 kHz 16-bit mono, or MP3 on Spicy Voice 2) and registered as one of your audio clips, so it shows up in GET /v1/audio with source: "speech".

Five models. spicy-voice-1 speaks 45 preset voices. spicy-voice-1-expressive speaks 21 of them and also takes instructions describing emotion, pace, pitch and delivery. spicy-voice-1-custom speaks only your own voices, the vc_... ids from POST /v1/voices. spicy-voice-2 (voices Lingxin, Lufeng) and spicy-voice-2-flash (voices Fengyue, Yuanfei, Lingxi, Xiaoxin, Huan, Chuanshu, Mary, Eva, John) are the expressive generation: inline tags, instructions, up to 5,000 characters, MP3 output and streaming, in Auto, English, Chinese; custom voices stay on spicy-voice-1-custom. A custom voice on a preset model, a preset voice on the custom model, or instructions on a model without them is a 400 that names the right model. GET /v1/voices lists every voice with the models that speak it.

Inline tags (Spicy Voice 2 models): write them in square brackets inside input. Control tags change the delivery until the next tag: [sad], [amazed], [deep and loud shouting], [trembling], [angry], [excited], [sarcastic], [curious], [like dracula], [bored], [tired], [scornful], [shouting], [asmr], [panicked], [mischievously], [empathetic], [whispers], [reluctantly], [crying], [serious], [very slowly], [very fast]. Sound tags insert a vocal sound at that point: [gasp], [sighing], [clears throat], [giggles], [laughing], [cough], [snorts]. Tags count as billed characters. Example: [excited]Hey you, I've been waiting all night.[giggles] Come here.[whispers] Closer.

Streaming (Spicy Voice 2 models): with stream: true the response body is the raw audio as it is synthesized, the first audio arriving in about 1.5 seconds. response_format picks the container: pcm (default: 24 kHz, 16-bit, mono, little-endian, no header), wav or mp3. Headers: x-spicyapi-audio-id (the clip is stored afterwards as an audio asset under that id, so it appears in GET /v1/audio), x-spicyapi-sample-rate: 24000 and x-spicyapi-cost-usd (the amount debited before the stream starts; settled to the billed count afterwards). If the stream fails before any audio arrives, the charge is refunded.

Billed per 10,000 characters of input: $0.30 on spicy-voice-1, $0.30 on spicy-voice-1-expressive, $0.30 on spicy-voice-1-custom, $0.40 on spicy-voice-2, $0.30 on spicy-voice-2-flash. CJK ideographs count as 2 characters. instructions are included in the debit; when the billed count comes back lower the difference is refunded, and cost_usd is the settled amount. Failed generations are refunded.

The input and the instructions are screened like a prompt before anything is charged; a blocked request returns the same 422 as a blocked prompt. dry_run: true validates, screens and returns the price without generating. Sandbox keys get a fixture clip flagged sandbox: true with the cost_usd a live key would pay (one second of silence when streaming); nothing is billed.

Make a character speak: pass the returned url byte-for-byte as audio_url on POST /v1/videos/generations. On spicy-motion-2 and spicy-video-1 it is driving audio: the clip becomes the soundtrack and the mouth follows the words, alongside a first frame where the model takes one. On spicy-motion-3 and spicy-motion-3-fast it is reference audio: the model uses it for voice, tone and beat while the words come from the prompt, with a text prompt or references and never with a first frame (up to 5 clips, 15 seconds in total). Audio for video must be 2 to 30 seconds long, so split long text across requests.

curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.spicyapi.com/v1/audio/speech \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer $SPICYAPI_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "model": "spicy-voice-1",
    "input": "Come here. I have been waiting all evening.",
    "voice": "Cherry"
  }'

# expressive: inline tags on Spicy Voice 2, as MP3
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.spicyapi.com/v1/audio/speech \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer $SPICYAPI_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{
    "model": "spicy-voice-2",
    "input": "[excited]Hey you, I have been waiting all night.[giggles] Come here.[whispers] Closer.",
    "voice": "Lingxin",
    "response_format": "mp3"
  }'

# streaming: raw 24 kHz PCM as it is synthesized
curl --request POST \
  --url https://api.spicyapi.com/v1/audio/speech \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer $SPICYAPI_KEY' \
  --header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
  --data '{ "model": "spicy-voice-2-flash", "input": "[whispers]Stay on the line with me.", "voice": "Eva", "stream": true }' \
  --dump-header headers.txt --output line.pcm

{
  "id": "au_7d2e9c1a4b6f8d0e2a",
  "object": "audio.speech",
  "model": "spicy-voice-1",
  "url": "https://cdn.spicyapi.com/audio/a1b2c3d4e5f6a7b8/au_7d2e9c1a4b6f8d0e2a.wav",
  "duration_s": 3.4,
  "voice": "Cherry",
  "format": "wav",
  "cost_usd": 0.00086
}