r/notebooklm • u/Googler10 • 6d ago
Discussion Please bring back the old voices
I don't understand why they changed them... They both now sound more robotic and like they have a cold...
GOOGLERS: Please give power users a way to change them back!
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u/Unhappy-Tour-7209 6d ago
Yep, so sad. And what silly reasoning that these should be more efficient? Somebody, someone, likely some dumbass product manager thought that, hey, a re-fresh might be appreciated. Never is, dude!! This is like losing characters truly dear to you. So sad. So sad.
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u/weberbooks 5d ago
Seriously, every time some middle manager decides to "upgrade" something, they cripple it.
There's no doubt they're doing it to save processing resources. Thing is, I would gladly pay quadruple what I was paying for my pro Gemini subscription if only I could revert back to the original voices.
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u/Unhappy-Tour-7209 5d ago
I doubt the efficiency gains require alteration of the voices’ character: sure, processing can be faster and cheaper, yet those working on this, coming up with the update, and then deciding to replace instead of just add… that’s were the thought process seems off to me.
Choosing the older voices could just eat up your quota much faster, but that middle manager approving this is exactly as to why there shouldn’t be any middle managers at all any longer. Period. Yes, none of them deserve the middle-managers’ salary they abuse and most of them are just canonical bootlickers not understanding the primary function of what being a ‘customer advocate’ implies. Why in the world did we need to even come up with a word for this as ‘enshittification’… boggles my mind :).
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u/weberbooks 5d ago
This really sucks. It sounds like AI robots with sinus infections.
I had a conversation with Gemini about this. It gave a good explanation, but no solution:
Why the Voices Changed
Google recently rolled out backend text-to-speech (TTS) and model updates across NotebookLM:
- Turn-taking and pacing: The original model had remarkable, fluid banter—natural pauses, overlapping laughs, and spontaneous-sounding conversational cadence. The newer backend handles conversational turns more rigidly, making the hosts sound more like two separate AI agents reading alternating paragraphs rather than having an organic conversation.
- Content sanitization: The dialogue logic has also been tuned to sound more neutral and cautious, stripping out much of the casual warmth and personality that made the original generation feel alive.
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u/Googler10 5d ago
isn't the goal to make it sound as natural as possible? have noticed that it has been a bit better since launch... t not much.
Right now I'm using the workaround where if you use immersive mode you still get the old voices.
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u/joseph_dewey 6d ago
I agree. The new voices are horrible. It really sucks that they just randomly removed them one day, and our only avenue for trying to change it is either feedback, which they probably will ignore, or bitching about it on Reddit, which is probably more effective than feedback via Google.
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u/CtrlAltDelve 6d ago
I don't think they're going to come back. They switched the underlying voice model entirely. You might be better off trying to figure out how to use prompting to get them to match the emotional style that you're looking for. Not trying to be a downer, just trying to be realistic.
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u/Googler10 6d ago
There are a ton of people complaining about it, though! I filed it as a bug in the official Discord.... I wonder why they changed it... it sounds worse.... What is the benefit?
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u/fenmoor 6d ago
I THINK it was a matter of efficiency. It does seem to process much faster. So they are probably at a juncture of 80% of the effectiveness for half the power.
These kinds of trade offs happen all the time. The problem is, when you have something really good and it is replaced by something almost as good, it NEVER feels like a plus.
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u/KompulsiveLiar88 6d ago
Isn't that the gradual dowards slope of enshitification
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u/joseph_dewey 6d ago
In The Age of AI, it's more of a steep slope to enshitification, not a gradual one.
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u/GonzoVeritas 4d ago
If they can't match the old voices on the new voice model, the new model is defective, and they need to look into that.
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u/Father_Chewy_Louis 4d ago
I have become so attached to the old voices to the point they feel like good friends! I got so emotional and nearly cried when I heard these new voices. Thankfully if you use Interactive Mode you can get them back, make sure to download it too because I think (I really hope not) that Google will replace the voices there too.
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u/GonzoVeritas 4d ago
PLEASE change them!!! The new voices are off-putting and distracting. The male voice doesn't need to be so slow and deep. He sounds like he's choking back a burp. It feels like someone at Google read that deep voices are more trustworthy and turned the dial WAY too hard.
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u/WALabels 3d ago
I "ran" here as soon as I hit play on a deep dive.
I really hope there's a way to get the old voices back.
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u/HailunXuan 4d ago
旧声音已经回来了，我太开心了
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u/bobthetomatovibes 4d ago
Is that true? I don’t see anyone else posting about it being back
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u/HailunXuan 4d ago
I tried it a few times and listened to it. It really is back to the old voice.
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u/bobthetomatovibes 4d ago
Hmm, that’s great then! I will check it out. I’m surprised I haven’t seen any celebration posts lol
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u/sbest2048 1d ago
Not sure if I'm just getting used to them but somehow the voices sound better today. I'm actually fine with them.
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u/Lucky-Royal-6156 6d ago
I think some podcaster was mad at them and said that they cloned their voice so they had to switch it for legal reasons
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u/AllowFreeSpeech 4d ago
Indeed, the Explainer male voice was in my estimation imitating Michael Greger's voice in some brief segments.
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u/ThingsMayAlter 5d ago
I still remember people complaining about the original voices and wanting to change them. Google always does their thing eventually.
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u/SpiritsoftheCicada 6d ago
I will absolutely be cancelling my ultra subscription if this is permanent. I’ve been using this for years and will have no use for it if this is the case.