On Wednesday, March 22, 1989 at 4:08:44 PM UTC-7, Mark Blumenthal wrote:
> This mail is in response to the recent inquiry about voice synthesis.
> Since several people have an interest in this subject, I'm posting
> this response (long).
> I built 2 voice synthesis projects.
> The first project I designed myself and interfaced to an Apple
> IIc serial port (or any RS232 by changing connectors).
> It used the SPO256-AL2 speech synth. chip sold at Radio $hack
> (Cat. # 276-1784), and a General Instruments AY-3-1015 UART
> clocked with a 555 timer running at 4.8 KHz. The UART does
> a serial to parallel conversion. I modified the microcomputer
> interface diagram that came with the SPO256-AL2 to include the
> UART, to not include the optional ROM, and cleaned up the use of
> some strobes/handshakes.
> With this circuit you will be required to do some minimal
> programming on your PC to build words from allophones.
> Through programs, and manually, I sent character strings
> (representing speech phonemes) out the Apple serial port to
> the voice circuit and amazed my family and friends. I sold
> the Apple before ever doing any serious programming.
> After graduating speech synthesis kindergarden, I moved on
> to bigger and better things; text-to-speech.
> For my second project I purchased a circuit board from RFJ
> Engineering in Florida (305 323-9039). This circuit uses
> the CTS256-AL2 text-to-speech chip (Radio Shack Cat. #276-1786)
> and the SPO-256-AL2 speech synth chip. I've attached mail with
> more details on the circuit board. NOTE- circuit board requires
> a slight modification to the power supply--see attached mail.
> With text-to-speech, an ascii word or phrase, such as "hello fred",
> can be sent out the PC's serial port to the voice circuit, and
> will be pronounced in English. Neat!
> I recommend this project because it was simple, cheap, and I spent
> more time on application and less time on design. Here at Bell Labs
> we use the "ctrm" communications software to log on UNIX machines
> from PCs. From UNIX with simple shell scripts, or from DOS with
> batch files, LOTS could be done here. ("Good morning Mark... It is
> Wednesday March twenty-second... eight-o-four a.m... You have mail.")
> My scripts are available to anyone upon request.
> Finally, after graduating from voice-synthesis jr. high, I moved on to the
> juicy stuff:
> My house is X-10 automated; lights, appliances, music, thermostat, etc.
> In addition to controlling these things from a wireless remote, any
> telephone in the world, automatic scheduling by PC, and table-top
> control centers, I can do the following:
> Me: Godfrey,
> B.I.B: May I help you?
> Me: Table lamp.
> B.I.B: O.K.
> Me: Off, please.
> B.I.B: As you wish.
> (BIB's voice responses randomly differ every time)
> B.I.B stands for "Butler-In-A-Box" and is also a hands-free duplex
> speakerphone and PIR alarm. Voice quality is superb. A voice-
> controlled tricked-out house will run ~$2K. And More fun than 8514
> and super-VGA!
>
> Lastly, after scanning PC magazines for info on voice-mail, etc., I found
> this demo phone number for WATSON voice-mail products: 1-800-6-WATSON
> Gladly I will share advice/info including my own schematics and programs
> with any voice-synthesis hackers out there.
> Mark Blumenthal
> AT&T Bell Laboratories
> att!ihlpb!markb
> 312 979-3676
> (2 attachments)
> __________________________________________________________________________
> Date: Thu, 5 Feb 87 23:05:51 PST
> From: cmcm...@sun.uucp (Chuck McManis)
> Subject: Text to Speech Chips
> Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Mtn View, CA
> A couple of people have mentioned that they are interested in using
> the text to speech chips that Radio Shack sells. Well it turns out a
> place called RFJ engineering in Florida sells a bare PC board that
> does everything you need. They advertise in Computer Shopper. The
> board has sockets for extra RAM (extended conversion buffer) and your
> own rule exceptions EPROM. I built it and it worked right off. There
> are level shifters for RS-232C operation but I have been using just
> straight TTL serial on my robot. This board makes a great diagnostic
> console on a mobile platform.
>
> -Chuck McManis
> uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcm...@sun.com
> These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
> __________________________________________________________________________
> >From sun!pepper!cmcmanis Fri Apr 10 22:56:12 1987 remote from ihnp4
> To: ihlpg!markb
> Subject: Re: Text to Speech
> Mark the following is a followup message I posted to sci.electronics :
> Ok, I mentioned earlier a board that does this, here are the particulars :
> The company is called RFJ Engineering and their phone number is
> (305) 323-9039, their address is P.O. Box 4166, Sanford, FL, 32772.
> They sell a bare board for $24.95 that uses the radio shack (actually
> General Instrument) Text-to-speech and speech synthesis chips. This
> board has an RS-232C port on one side and an amplifier/speaker on the
> other. What ever ascii text goes in one side, comes out the other as
> spoken words. It also has a parallel port input which you could connect
> to a centronics port (with appropriate connectors of course). After
> collecting the parts it took me about an hour to assemble, your mileage
> may vary. I suggest that anyone who builds this *not* use the on board
> 5V regulator, and instead buy a radio shack wall bug power supply that
> supplies +5, +x and -y (where X and Y are greater then 3, these drive the
> RS-232 chips) and hook it up directly.
> Of course I have no financial interest in anyone mentioned, I built one
> I use and it was fairly simple. It cost *a lot* less than $1000. More
> like $50 including snacks and beverages.
> P.S. It does *not* need an EPROM. The EPROM is for 'exceptions' and can be
> left off.
> --
> --Chuck McManis
> uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcm...@sun.com
> These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
God damn, 1989.

On Saturday, August 20, 2022 at 12:44:54 AM UTC-7, Tanner wrote:
> On Wednesday, March 22, 1989 at 4:08:44 PM UTC-7, Mark Blumenthal wrote:
> > This mail is in response to the recent inquiry about voice synthesis.
> > Since several people have an interest in this subject, I'm posting
> > this response (long).
> > I built 2 voice synthesis projects.
> > The first project I designed myself and interfaced to an Apple
> > IIc serial port (or any RS232 by changing connectors).
> > It used the SPO256-AL2 speech synth. chip sold at Radio $hack
> > (Cat. # 276-1784), and a General Instruments AY-3-1015 UART
> > clocked with a 555 timer running at 4.8 KHz. The UART does
> > a serial to parallel conversion. I modified the microcomputer
> > interface diagram that came with the SPO256-AL2 to include the
> > UART, to not include the optional ROM, and cleaned up the use of
> > some strobes/handshakes.
> > With this circuit you will be required to do some minimal
> > programming on your PC to build words from allophones.
> > Through programs, and manually, I sent character strings
> > (representing speech phonemes) out the Apple serial port to
> > the voice circuit and amazed my family and friends. I sold
> > the Apple before ever doing any serious programming.
> > After graduating speech synthesis kindergarden, I moved on
> > to bigger and better things; text-to-speech.
> > For my second project I purchased a circuit board from RFJ
> > Engineering in Florida (305 323-9039). This circuit uses
> > the CTS256-AL2 text-to-speech chip (Radio Shack Cat. #276-1786)
> > and the SPO-256-AL2 speech synth chip. I've attached mail with
> > more details on the circuit board. NOTE- circuit board requires
> > a slight modification to the power supply--see attached mail.
> > With text-to-speech, an ascii word or phrase, such as "hello fred",
> > can be sent out the PC's serial port to the voice circuit, and
> > will be pronounced in English. Neat!
> > I recommend this project because it was simple, cheap, and I spent
> > more time on application and less time on design. Here at Bell Labs
> > we use the "ctrm" communications software to log on UNIX machines
> > from PCs. From UNIX with simple shell scripts, or from DOS with
> > batch files, LOTS could be done here. ("Good morning Mark... It is
> > Wednesday March twenty-second... eight-o-four a.m... You have mail.")
> > My scripts are available to anyone upon request.
> > Finally, after graduating from voice-synthesis jr. high, I moved on to the
> > juicy stuff:
> > My house is X-10 automated; lights, appliances, music, thermostat, etc.
> > In addition to controlling these things from a wireless remote, any
> > telephone in the world, automatic scheduling by PC, and table-top
> > control centers, I can do the following:
> > Me: Godfrey,
> > B.I.B: May I help you?
> > Me: Table lamp.
> > B.I.B: O.K.
> > Me: Off, please.
> > B.I.B: As you wish.
> > (BIB's voice responses randomly differ every time)
> > B.I.B stands for "Butler-In-A-Box" and is also a hands-free duplex
> > speakerphone and PIR alarm. Voice quality is superb. A voice-
> > controlled tricked-out house will run ~$2K. And More fun than 8514
> > and super-VGA!
> >
> > Lastly, after scanning PC magazines for info on voice-mail, etc., I found
> > this demo phone number for WATSON voice-mail products: 1-800-6-WATSON
> > Gladly I will share advice/info including my own schematics and programs
> > with any voice-synthesis hackers out there.
> > Mark Blumenthal
> > AT&T Bell Laboratories
> > att!ihlpb!markb
> > 312 979-3676
> > (2 attachments)
> > __________________________________________________________________________
> > Date: Thu, 5 Feb 87 23:05:51 PST
> > From: cmcm...@sun.uucp (Chuck McManis)
> > Subject: Text to Speech Chips
> > Organization: Sun Microsystems, Inc. - Mtn View, CA
> > A couple of people have mentioned that they are interested in using
> > the text to speech chips that Radio Shack sells. Well it turns out a
> > place called RFJ engineering in Florida sells a bare PC board that
> > does everything you need. They advertise in Computer Shopper. The
> > board has sockets for extra RAM (extended conversion buffer) and your
> > own rule exceptions EPROM. I built it and it worked right off. There
> > are level shifters for RS-232C operation but I have been using just
> > straight TTL serial on my robot. This board makes a great diagnostic
> > console on a mobile platform.
> >
> > -Chuck McManis
> > uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcm...@sun.com
> > These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
> > __________________________________________________________________________
> > >From sun!pepper!cmcmanis Fri Apr 10 22:56:12 1987 remote from ihnp4
> > To: ihlpg!markb
> > Subject: Re: Text to Speech
> > Mark the following is a followup message I posted to sci.electronics :
> > Ok, I mentioned earlier a board that does this, here are the particulars :
> > The company is called RFJ Engineering and their phone number is
> > (305) 323-9039, their address is P.O. Box 4166, Sanford, FL, 32772.
> > They sell a bare board for $24.95 that uses the radio shack (actually
> > General Instrument) Text-to-speech and speech synthesis chips. This
> > board has an RS-232C port on one side and an amplifier/speaker on the
> > other. What ever ascii text goes in one side, comes out the other as
> > spoken words. It also has a parallel port input which you could connect
> > to a centronics port (with appropriate connectors of course). After
> > collecting the parts it took me about an hour to assemble, your mileage
> > may vary. I suggest that anyone who builds this *not* use the on board
> > 5V regulator, and instead buy a radio shack wall bug power supply that
> > supplies +5, +x and -y (where X and Y are greater then 3, these drive the
> > RS-232 chips) and hook it up directly.
> > Of course I have no financial interest in anyone mentioned, I built one
> > I use and it was fairly simple. It cost *a lot* less than $1000. More
> > like $50 including snacks and beverages.
> > P.S. It does *not* need an EPROM. The EPROM is for 'exceptions' and can be
> > left off.
> > --
> > --Chuck McManis
> > uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcm...@sun.com
> > These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.
> God damn, 1989.
Speech on a Tandy in 89. Alexa's ancestors.

KK> Speech on a Tandy in 89. Alexa's ancestors.

I saw speech on a TRS-80 Model I back in 1978.

On 8/20/22 14:32, Ron Lauzon wrote:
> KK> Speech on a Tandy in 89. Alexa's ancestors.
>
> I saw speech on a TRS-80 Model I back in 1978.
>

Not only output, but input as well.

bill

On Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 9:37:57 AM UTC-7, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> On 8/20/22 14:32, Ron Lauzon wrote:
> > KK> Speech on a Tandy in 89. Alexa's ancestors.
> >
> > I saw speech on a TRS-80 Model I back in 1978.
> >
> Not only output, but input as well.
>
> bill
Legacy.

On Saturday, August 27, 2022 at 9:11:53 AM UTC-7, KP KP wrote:
> On Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 9:37:57 AM UTC-7, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> > On 8/20/22 14:32, Ron Lauzon wrote:
> > > KK> Speech on a Tandy in 89. Alexa's ancestors.
> > >
> > > I saw speech on a TRS-80 Model I back in 1978.
> > >
> > Not only output, but input as well.
> >
> > bill
> Legacy.

Vintage Altair 8800 Jumping Through a few of the New Hoops;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOF4wjonCKw&ab_channel=WaltPerko

Essentially, I moved some technology for robotics I've been using onto my Altair computers. Any computer with a serial port can do all of that and more. It's pretty easy.

20220613 SagaWATT&HU https://youtu.be/WAI7Ht6b2xw

On Saturday, August 27, 2022 at 9:11:53 AM UTC-7, KP KP wrote:
> On Sunday, August 21, 2022 at 9:37:57 AM UTC-7, Bill Gunshannon wrote:
> > On 8/20/22 14:32, Ron Lauzon wrote:
> > > KK> Speech on a Tandy in 89. Alexa's ancestors.
> > >
> > > I saw speech on a TRS-80 Model I back in 1978.
> > >
> > Not only output, but input as well.
> >
> > bill
> Legacy.

Vintage Altair 8800 Jumping Through a few of the New Hoops;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WOF4wjonCKw&ab_channel=WaltPerko

Essentially, I moved some technology for robotics I've been using onto my Altair computers. Any computer with a serial port can do all of that and more. It's pretty easy.

20220613 SagaWATT&HU https://youtu.be/WAI7Ht6b2xw