# Talk to it with voice notes

Canonical: https://godspeedmissioncontrol.com/guide/voice-replies

Voice notes work in Telegram, which only a [server installed with the one-line command](/guide/install-server) has.

## Send a voice note

1. In your Telegram chat with Godspeed, hold the microphone button and speak.
2. Let go to send it.

Godspeed answers with a voice note. A short answer is written under the voice note, and a long one follows as a message of its own.

## Ask for a spoken answer in writing

Say so in your message, for example:

```text
Answer me with a voice note: what is on my list for today?
```

You get the voice note and the answer as text.

## Switch voice replies off or on

Send one of these in the chat:

- `/voice off`: answers come as text only, also to your voice notes.
- `/voice tts`: every answer comes as a voice note too, also to what you type.
- `/voice on`: back to the start, where your voice notes get a voice note.

The chat keeps your choice until you change it, also after an update.

## Choose the voice

Godspeed speaks with a free voice from Microsoft that speaks the language of the answer. To use your own voice from ElevenLabs instead:

1. In your notebook, open **Settings**. **Voice replies** is below **Telegram**.
2. Fill in **ElevenLabs key**, **Voice ID** (on the voice's page at ElevenLabs) and **Model**.
3. Set **Stability**, **Similarity** and **Style** as on the ElevenLabs voice page, each from 0 to 1.
4. Click **Make a sample and save**.
5. Press play on the player that appears below it to hear the sample.

Godspeed keeps the voice only if the sample worked. You see "Saved. This is how your assistant sounds now. Your next voice note gets this voice." ElevenLabs charges your account for each voice note.

When your ElevenLabs key may also turn speech into text, your voice notes are turned into text at ElevenLabs from then on, which is quicker. **Voice replies** then says "Your voice notes are understood by ElevenLabs". ElevenLabs charges your account for that too.

To tune the voice later, change a number and click **Make a sample and save** again. Leave the key empty to keep the saved one. **Use the free voice instead** goes back to the free voice and keeps your key for later. If ElevenLabs was turning your voice notes into text, it still does.

## When a voice note is missing

The answer always arrives as text. When ElevenLabs refuses, for example because your credits are used up or the key is wrong, Godspeed tells you once why the voice note is missing. **Settings**, **Voice replies** shows the last problem. Fix it at ElevenLabs, or save the voice again.

## What leaves your server

Your voice notes are turned into text on your own server, unless your ElevenLabs key may do that. Then they go to ElevenLabs, and **Settings**, **Voice replies** says so. The words of each spoken answer go to the voice service: Microsoft for the free voice, ElevenLabs for yours. [Outside services](/guide/external-services) lists every service Godspeed uses.

## Related

- [Chat with Godspeed](/guide/talk-to-it)
- [Chat commands](/guide/chat-commands#voice)
- [Settings](/guide/settings)