This software allows for a unique approach to writing by functioning as a visual writing tool and a timeline-based text editor.
Actual data is being played back using RN Player. If you configure the audio settings on the device, it will read the text aloud.
Title：Replace Narrator Studio: Visual Writing / Text Timeline Editor
Medium: Web Application
Year: 2026
About Replace Narrator Studio
Replace Narrator Studio is a text editor that supports a layer structure. It allows you to assign a timeline to text data, enabling a presentation style similar to video-based visuals.
Its main features include:
・Automatic writing and other experimental writing tools
・Text creation and editing
・Text-to-speech playback
・Bookmarks
・Voice Pad
・Excerpt Board
・Version management
・Timeline and layer functions
・Image import
What Can You Do with This Software?
Replace Narrator was originally developed as a support tool for live writing sessions conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic. Designed to be used alongside applications like Notepad or MS Word, it featured speech-to-text capabilities and a sound pad function.
Replace Narrator Studio is the successor to that software. It allows users to create documents directly within the application and manage multiple documents within a single project file. By incorporating visual effects and cinematic elements into the text editor, it offers a fresh approach to the writing process. Additionally, it includes writing support tools, an “excerpt board” feature for creating idea trees, and text experimentation functions designed to generate unexpected phrasing, making it a valuable tool for discovering new ideas.
Software
You can use the application in Japanese by selecting Japanese from Settings.
【Update History】
August 8, 2026 – v3.1.0
・Added RN Player (beta version). You can try it out here: https://terae.info/RNPlayer/player.html
・Added .rnsplay as an export format for projects playable in RN Player. (*Note: On iOS, please rename the file to .rnsplay.json before loading it.)
August 7, 2026 – v3.0.9
・UI adjustments
・Improved touch controls for smartphones and tablets
August 7, 2026 – v3.0.8
・Improved app stability
・UI fixes
・Added Project screen
・Added smartphone and tablet UIs
August 5, 2026 – v3.0.7
・Improved app stability
・UI fixes
August 3, 2026 – v3.0.6
・Added “Overwrite” and “Insert” modes to the Move tool.
・Added transparency and scrolling mode options to the Composition/Preview display.
・Added text color adjustment to the text editor.
・Added support for loading files from older versions.
・Fixed bugs related to line breaks and timeline gaps.
・Fixed bugs in the Move tool.
・Standardized the handling of line breaks, gaps, and movement across all editing modes.
・Fixed bugs in the undo/redo functions.
August 1, 2026 – v3.0.5
・UI adjustments
・Unified the handling of blank lines between the timeline and text
・Changed to allow image layers to be placed below text layers
・Updated sample project
・Clarified the distinction between timeline text (layer-based text) and standard text.
・Added a “layer text editing mode” (allows direct editing of text placed on a layer, with changes reflected in the timeline).
・Enabled moving timeline rows by dragging up or down on the screen.
July 31, 2026 – v3.0.4
・UI improvements
・Added timeline comparison to the text creation feature
・Added transformation tools to the text creation feature
・Changed how empty lines are handled in the text creation feature
・Added a guide
・Bug fixes
July 30, 2026 – v3.0.3
・UI improvements
・Added Light/Dark mode
・Added support for importing Docx files
・Added support for exporting to PDF
July 30, 2026 – v3.0.2
・UI improvements
・New functions added to the Excerpt Board
・Improvements to the Writing Experiments
・Guide revisions
July 28, 2026 – v3.0.0
Features
1. Writing Workspace
One of the application’s distinctive features is that it saves multiple text documents together as a single project rather than treating each document as a separate text file. You can create individual pages like sheets in a loose-leaf notebook and organize them together within one project.
You can create and edit text in much the same way as with a standard text editor. Opening the tool panel on the right also gives you access to search and replace functions.
Comparison Mode can be used in various ways. For example, you can compare two versions of a text, or examine the relationship between dialogue and narration before arranging them on the timeline.
2. Text Timeline
By switching to Layout Mode, you can change the position of the text and adjust the visible area. Settings such as layer opacity can also be changed through the Inspector in the right-hand panel.
One of the main features of this text editor is its timeline. Using the text-to-speech voices installed on your computer, the application can read text aloud according to its position on the timeline.
Images can also be placed on the timeline.
A timeline can contain multiple layers. Text documents can be assigned to these layers, with lower layers displayed more faintly to create a sense of visual depth.
3. Writing Experiments
Exquisite Corpse Mode supports simulations of up to three participants. It adapts a collaborative writing method so that it can be used by one person. When words or sentences are entered into selected parts of a predefined sentence structure, the application automatically completes the resulting text.
These tools adapt writing techniques primarily associated with Dada and Surrealist poets so that they can be used by a single person. This mode is intended to help users discover unexpected combinations of words and sentences.
To use the Writing Experiments, you install a set of language-specific Word Materials. Word Materials function like a dictionary: the application automatically selects and combines words from the collection. You can also add your own words.
Cut-Up Mode divides source texts into a selected unit—such as words, sentences, or paragraphs—and rearranges all of the resulting fragments.
Intercut Mode combines two or more source texts by displaying fragments from them alternately.
Collage Mode extracts parts of source texts and combines them with Word Materials and other elements to produce a new text.
Automatic Writing Mode introduces specific rules or constraints to help users discover forms of writing that they might not produce through their usual process.
4. Excerpt Board
Content can be added to the Excerpt Board from the Writing Workspace, Timeline Workspace, and Writing Experiments. This allows you to build an idea tree while continuing to write and edit your texts.
The Excerpt Board can be used to create structures similar to idea trees.
By selecting multiple cards and using the arrow or line tools displayed on them, you can connect the cards with lines or arrows.
5. Other Tools in the Right-Hand Panel
Voice Pad
Select a passage and register it to a pad. You can then press the pad at any time to play the passage using text-to-speech.
Bookmarks
Bookmarks can be added to selected passages and reopened at any time from the Bookmark tool. This is especially useful as documents become longer and more complex.
Assigning Different Voices to Each Layer
A different voice can be assigned to each layer, making the application suitable for projects structured like picture-card shows, narrated scenes, or multi-character performances.
Versions
Saving a version allows you to restore an earlier state from within the same project file without creating multiple separate files. This is particularly useful before making major changes to a timeline.