1. An apparatus comprising a processor and a memory storing executable instructions that in response to execution by the processor cause the apparatus to at least perform the following: selecting a real glottal pulse from among one or more stored real glottal pulses based at least in part on a property associated with the real glottal pulse; utilizing the real glottal pulse selected as a basis for generation of an excitation signal; and modifying the excitation signal based on spectral parameters generated by a model to provide synthetic speech.