Voice providers
Which service speaks, which one hears you, and which one runs the fast voice host, and where to add each key.
Voice in Murage needs Flux Router credits or your own keys. There are three separate jobs, and each can come from a different place:
- Speaking (text to speech): the bot's voice on calls, in voice notes and when it reads replies aloud.
- Hearing (speech to text): turning what you say into words. On a Mac this is free and on-device.
- The voice host: the fast model that answers first on a voice call.
Flux Router covers all three with one key. Without it, Murage uses your own keys, trying them in a fixed order.
Who does what
| Provider | Speaking | Hearing | Voice host |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flux Router | Yes, 41 voices | Yes | Yes |
| OpenAI (your key) | Yes, 13 voices | Yes | Yes |
| xAI (your key) | Yes, 28 voices | No | Yes |
| Groq (your key) | No | Yes | Yes |
| OpenRouter (your key) | No | No | Yes |
| Anthropic (your key) | No | No | Yes |
| ElevenLabs (your key) | Yes, your ElevenLabs voices | No | No |
| Built-in Mac or Windows voices | Yes, free | No | No |
| Apple speech recognition (Mac) | No | Yes, free | No |
A Claude or ChatGPT subscription signed in to an engine doesn't count for any of these. It still does the bot's work.
Flux Router
One key for everything voice. Flux speaks with 41 named voices, transcribes what you say, looks things up on calls, and runs the voice host. The bot's settings say "Speaks through your Flux account, billed per character." Transcription uses your Flux credits.
Add it in Settings → Models, in the Flux Router card. See Turn on Flux Router and Flux voices.
OpenAI
With your own OpenAI key and no Flux, the voice engine button reads OpenAI instead of Flux. It offers the same 13 OpenAI voices as the Flux list, with the same names. The settings say "Speaks through your own OpenAI key, billed by OpenAI." Your OpenAI key can also transcribe you and run the voice host.
xAI's voices aren't reachable through an OpenAI key. For those, add Flux or an xAI key.
xAI
xAI has 28 voices of its own. With your own xAI key, xAI appears as its own voice engine: "Speaks with xAI's voices through your own xAI key, billed by xAI. 28 voices." With only a Flux key, xAI's voices are in the Flux list instead. An xAI key can also run the voice host and web lookups on calls.
Groq
A Groq key can transcribe what you say (on Windows and Ubuntu calls, and for voice typing) and run the voice host. It doesn't speak.
OpenRouter and Anthropic
Either can run the voice host on calls. Neither speaks or transcribes.
ElevenLabs
Paste your ElevenLabs API key in the bot's Voice & alerts section, under ElevenLabs key, and choose Save. Get a key from ElevenLabs opens their site. The key is shared by the whole workspace, and you pick from your own ElevenLabs voices. ElevenLabs only speaks.
Built-in voices
On a Mac or Windows PC, Built-in Mac voices or Built-in Windows voices use the voices already installed on your computer. They're free and need no key. They only speak. Ubuntu has no built-in voice option.
If every hosted voice refuses because it isn't switched on for your account, Murage falls back to your computer's own voice rather than going silent.
Where to add your own keys
- Flux Router: Settings → Models, Flux Router card.
- OpenAI, xAI, Groq, OpenRouter, Anthropic: Settings → Models, Model connections. Paste the key and choose Add connection. Murage recognizes the provider from the key, or asks "Which provider issued this key?" API usage is billed to that provider's account.
- ElevenLabs: the bot's settings, Voice & alerts.
Keys are stored in your operating system's secure storage and never shown again.
Which one Murage uses
For each job, Murage picks the first source you have, in this order:
- Voice host: Flux, xAI, Anthropic, OpenAI, Groq, OpenRouter.
- Web lookups on a call: Flux, xAI, OpenAI, Anthropic.
- Speaking with the Flux or OpenAI engine: Flux, then OpenAI.
- Hearing off the Mac: Flux, Groq, OpenAI.
The bot's own Voice engine choice decides which service speaks for that bot. Each bot can use a different one, so a channel call can mix voices.
If a service says a feature isn't switched on for your account, Murage skips it and tries the next one, and checks again after ten minutes.
Choose a bot's voice
- Open the bot's settings and go to Voice & alerts.
- Under Voice engine, choose Flux (or OpenAI), xAI, ElevenLabs, or the built-in voices.
- Pick a Voice. Choose Try to hear a sample.
Every voice speaks every language.
Troubleshooting
- "Add a Flux key, or an OpenAI key, in Settings to use these voices." Add Flux Router or an OpenAI model connection.
- "Connect an xAI key in Settings, Models, to use xAI's voices." Add an xAI model connection, or Flux.
- "Flux rejected the saved key. Paste a fresh one in Settings." (or OpenAI, or xAI): replace the key.
- "Flux voices need a paid plan. The key is fine; the plan does not cover it yet." Your plan doesn't include voice.
- "Flux couldn't charge for speech..." or "Your xAI account is out of credits." Check the account's balance and the key's budget.
- "Flux voices aren't switched on for this account yet." Murage falls back to another source if you have one.
- "Built-in voices are available on macOS and Windows": on Ubuntu, pick another voice engine.
- "xAI couldn't find that voice. Pick a different voice in Settings."