Registering Kokoro with needs_trim=True routed its output through the
generic trim_tts_output, whose 1s internal-silence cut was tuned for
Chatterbox hallucinations. KPipeline synthesizes newline- and
token-limit-separated segments independently, and the ~0.3s lead plus
~0.7s tail pads at each boundary add up to 1.2s of silence, so with
af_sarah a four-paragraph script came back as its first paragraph only
(10.9s -> 1.8s) and a 51s text lost half its segments.
Drop the needs_trim flag, keep the in-backend trim, and give
trim_tts_output a max_internal_silence_ms=None mode that only trims the
leading and trailing pads. Tests updated for the new behaviour, with a
two-segment fake pipeline and an explicit internal-gap case.
Add Kokoro-82M as a new TTS engine — 82M params, CPU realtime, 8 languages,
Apache 2.0. Unlike cloning engines, Kokoro uses pre-built voice styles, which
required a new profile type system to support non-cloning engines cleanly.
Kokoro engine:
- New kokoro_backend.py implementing TTSBackend protocol
- 50 built-in voices across en/es/fr/hi/it/pt/ja/zh
- KPipeline API with language-aware G2P routing via misaki
- PyInstaller bundling for misaki, language_tags, espeakng_loader, en_core_web_sm
Voice profile type system:
- New voice_type column: 'cloned' | 'preset' | 'designed' (future)
- Preset profiles store engine + voice ID instead of audio samples
- default_engine field on profiles — auto-selects engine on profile pick
- Create Voice dialog: toggle between 'Clone from audio' and 'Built-in voice'
- Edit dialog shows preset voice info instead of sample list for preset profiles
- Engine selector locks to preset engine when preset profile is selected
- Profile grid filters by engine — shows Kokoro voices when Kokoro selected
- Custom empty state when no preset profiles exist for selected engine
Bug fixes:
- Fix relative audio paths in DB causing 404s in production builds
- config.set_data_dir() now resolves to absolute paths
- Startup migration converts existing relative paths to absolute
Also updates PROJECT_STATUS.md and tts-engines.mdx developer guide.
