Rehearse Mode reads a script out loud but mutes the readback when it's your character's turn to speak. Learning lines has never been easier!

NOTE that the Rehearse feature is not available in the free version of Scriptation. For more information on upgrading to Industry Pro, click HERE.


To begin a Rehearse session, simply tap on the Rehearse icon on the Top Toolbar:
The top toolbar icons and the Annotation toolbar are hidden and the Rehearse controls are now onscreen.

NOTE that if the Rehearse icon isn't showing in the Top Toolbar, click the plus sign on the right side to show additional icons. While there, you can also choose Customize and drag the Rehearse icon towards the top to make it a regular part of the Top Toolbar.

Settings

At the top left is the Settings gear; touch or click this to display the Rehearse Settings sidebar:
Select Narrator to set the narrator's speed, pitch, volume, language, region and voice:


Select Font Type to choose a font:

Use the slider to set the size of the display font. Note that this setting won't affect the page count in annotation mode.

Also In the Settings section are switches that enable you to turn Voice Cue on and off. Voice Cue uses Apple's Speech Recognition to listen to you rehearse as a character and it waits for you to finish your line before resuming the readback. Voice Cue defaults to on. You can also set what’s shown and heard: Off is hidden, View is displayed, and Voice is displayed and read aloud.


TIP: For information on getting enhanced voices onto your device, which we strongly recommend, click HERE.

NOTE: In the main Settings menu, there is a switch for Isolate Reader Settings. When this is set to Off, the settings used for Read mode will apply to Rehearse and Record modes as well. When this is set to On, the settings for Rehearse and Record modes can be adjusted independently.

At the bottom of the sidebar, select the overlay you prefer: Highlight places a grey highlight around the line being read and Fade slightly lightens all but the line being read.

To change whether the highlights appear over both a character's name and dialogue, their name only, or their dialogue only, see this article.

TIP: Typical settings for learning lines would be Dialogue set to Voice, Action set to Off and all others set to View.

Character Voices

The Character Voices icon…
…opens a sidebar in which you can assign voices to your characters. Touch or click the color dot to the left of the name to choose a color for highlighting the character on the page, or touch or click the name to open this character's voice settings window. Here you can adjust this character's speaking rate, pitch, volume, language, and voice.

Rehearse as this character

If you want to read the lines as a particular character, select that character and toggle the switch to on. Now this character's lines will not be read out loud -- that's your job!


TIP: If you're trying to learn lines, choose blackout from the color picker to hide your character's dialogue.


Once you've customized a set of voices to perfection, you can save them by clicking the Save icon at the upper left of the panel. These voices will be available for any other scripts you open with characters of the same name (helpful for TV shows with recurring characters).

To review and edit the saved voices, click the 3-dot menu at the upper right of the Voices panel and choose Saved Voices . Here you can open any voice to adjust its settings. Click the left-pointing caret until you're back at the main Voices panel. If there are any current voice settings that don't match the saved settings, they'll have a blue triangle indicating that they need to be synced (click the Save icon at the upper left).

To delete a saved voice, click the 3-dot menu at the upper right of the Saved Voices panel and choose Delete . Click the red circle to the left of the character's voice you want to delete and then the red Delete square to confirm the deletion. Click OK to return to the Saved Voices panel.

Readback Speed

There are three settings to control the speed at which the script is read aloud:

The script: The overall speed of the readback is set by the slider at the bottom left of the screen. Left is slower and right is faster;
By character: If a character is selected in the Character Voices sidebar, there is a speed slider that controls how fast this character delivers lines;
By line: Individual lines of dialogue may be slowed down or sped up by choosing the three-dot icon to the right of a line and adjusting the slider.

Readback Options

Just above the bottom toolbar is a small drag handle; drag it up to reveal additional settings. Drag it down (if it's up) to reduce the toolbar to one with only the speaking rate slider, the switch for single- or multiple-voice readback and the play controls.

Slate Countdown: Move the slider to the right to set a 1 to 30-second countdown before the readback begins.

Speaking Rate: Set the overall speed of the readback.

Voices: Switch between a single narrator reading the script or, if you have assigned voices to characters, those lines will be read in those voices.

Line reminders : If you're rehearsing as a certain character, Scriptation will mute the readback of your character's lines so you can say them. However, if you need a little help remembering them, choose Before and you'll hear the lines read before the readback pauses so you can recite them. Choose After and the readback will pause for you to deliver the lines, then read them aloud.

Loop : Choose Scene to have Scriptation repeat the readback of the current scene once it's finished or Script to repeat the readback of the entire script.

To exit Rehearse Mode, click the X at the upper right corner.

What's Next

How do I set up a rehearsal?
Are there better voices available?
What is Record mode?

Updated on: 06/01/2025