Superbooth 2019: Text-To-Speech Synth Ploytec prototype

Published on May 13, 2019 sonicstate

Ploytec Text-To-Speech

Saturday 11.05.2019 - 3PM @ Superbooth Berlin, Ploytec PL2 synth emulates SP0256-AL2 and CTS256-AL2

Published on May 1, 2019 Ploytec

"At the Gesprächskonzert in the Superbooth19 Auditorium in Berlin's FEZ, Markus from Ploytec demonstrates a prototype unit of the PL2 Logos, emulating the General Instruments CTS256-AL2, the 'text to speech' companion chip for the SP0256-AL2 speech synthesizer from the eighties."

Also see:
πλ² Ploytec PL2 - PL02.56 (SP0256-AL2 tribute) Firmware explained

The General Instruments CTS256-AL2 emulation is new.

AE#82 Radio Shack Model 1 Voice Synthesizer Repair And Teardown

Published on Apr 15, 2019 Artifact Electronics

Demo comes in after 20 minutes. Funny how he has a conversation with it.

"Here we have a vintage Model 1 voice synthesizer. It worked for all of 10 minutes after I received it and then promptly started to malfunction. It gets repaired and then shows off it's gift of gab."

Also see: How Speech Synthesizers Work

LamdbaSpeak 3 - Audio Playback over CPC Speaker & Serial Interface

Published on Apr 6, 2019 Michael Wessel

"LambdaSpeak 3 audio output can now also be sent back into the CPC to be played over the CPC's internal speaker, using mono SND pin of the expansion port. Hence, the final version of LambdaSpeak 3 will have 2 more DIP switches (one for left audio channel, one for right audio channel) that allow turning audio loop back on and off.

Also, the new serial mode seems to be working! LambdaSpeak 3 will have a new "serial" mode and 4 PIN headers (VCC, GND, TX, RX). In this mode, the hardware USART0 of the ATmega 644 will be used.

So far, there is a little test that initializes the USART, and then communicates with the Emic 2 speech synthesizer board on the little breadboard, connected over the 4 yellow wires (VCC, GND, TX, RX). The Emic 2 is connected to an amplifier. It uses a simple serial protocol (plain ASCII) which is being sent over the USART / serial connection. Seems to work!"

See more here

SPIEL | performance for prepared mouth

SPIEL | performance for prepared mouth from Peter van Haaften on Vimeo.

Created in Pure Data

PETER VAN HAAFTEN | MICHAEL MONTANARO

Performed by Nien Tzu Weng

Spiel is an in-situ performance for prepared mouth.

​While absorbed in conversation you notice a stranger approaching. With a curious instrument affixed to their face the visitor leans in, and listens. The mouth opens, patterns of rhythm and sound emanate from within: voices recognizable as your own.

Spun out of focus, words reveal their ingrained subtleties as the collector of conversation captures the sentence but not the sentiment. Vocal exchanges are recalled and reflected. Voices are transformed by physical formant inflections, while acoustic hallucinations seem to reference what might have been said.

An étude on hearing lips and seeing voices, the performer’s mechanically augmented vocal tract reshapes and filters conversational spectra into new modes of mis-communication. Spiel physically unravels the tenuous synesthetic relationship between what is seen, heard and understood.

//bookings contact: peter@petervanhaaften.net

-----------------------------

Credits

-----------------------------

PETER VAN HAAFTEN | MICHAEL MONTANARO

PETER VAN HAAFTEN

Creative direction, composition, sound, interactive design, programming, and electronics

MICHAEL MONTANARO

Original concept, creative direction, and visual design

TATEV YESYAN

Visual design, mask fabrication

NiEN TZU WENG

Performer

Research collaboration: Topological Media Lab / Concordia University [an “in time” FQRSC funded project]

With special thanks to: Greg Salinger, Nicolas Bernier, Garnet Willis, Navid Navab, and Laboratoire Son / Matière (Université de Montréal)

How Speech Synthesizers Work

Published on Mar 9, 2019 The 8-Bit Guy

This one is in via Soviet Space Child.

Vocoding with Lucille Ball - Machine Made Voices! (1939)

Published on Apr 13, 2014 British Pathé

A bit more talk box than vocoder, but you get the idea.

"Titles read: "MACHINE MADE VOICES!"

Hollywood, California, United States of America.

In a Hollywood CBS recording studio we see American film star actress Lucille Ball telling us she has just travelled cross-country by train. She holds two small amplifiers against her throat and mouths some words. The amplifiers transform the sound of a steam train coming from a record into 'steam train words' picked up by Lucille's larynx. I cannot make out all of them - the last are "Hello everybody".

Three technician men sit at a table wearing headphones and making notes. Lucille does another demonstration - this one seems to be 'cow words' - very difficult to decipher. I guess it was still in the early stages!
FILM ID:1196.1

A VIDEO FROM BRITISH PATHÉ. EXPLORE OUR ONLINE CHANNEL, BRITISH PATHÉ TV. IT'S FULL OF GREAT DOCUMENTARIES, FASCINATING INTERVIEWS, AND CLASSIC MOVIES. http://www.britishpathe.tv/

FOR LICENSING ENQUIRIES VISIT http://www.britishpathe.com/

British Pathé also represents the Reuters historical collection, which includes more than 120,000 items from the news agencies Gaumont Graphic (1910-1932), Empire News Bulletin (1926-1930), British Paramount (1931-1957), and Gaumont British (1934-1959), as well as Visnews content from 1957 to the end of 1979. All footage can be viewed on the British Pathé website. https://www.britishpathe.com/"

Circuit Bent Kids Toy Meets Elektron Analog Heat

Published on Jan 7, 2019 Nostalgic Ruckus

"Plugging this kid’s toy into the Elektron Analog Heat. Lot’s of sound design capabilities. It’s a circuit bent Talking Teacher from 1985 by Patrick Gill aka Waterhed. Basic delay and reverb are added from the Analog Four MKI."

Alpha Products VS-100 Voice Synthesizer For TRS-80

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"comes with the instructions and paperwork as shown"

Some pics including some of the inside, the ribbon cable and paperwork via this new listing.

The only one other was featured here back in 2011. That was also the only other Alpha Products post. Curious if they made anything else.

CLICK FOR MORE »

Dieter Doepfer Special at SchneidersLaden

Published on Dec 24, 2018 SchneidersLaden

"On December 6th we had reserved the whole Thursday evening for a very special gentleman - Dieter Doepfer! And it was worth it! Dieter took care of the guests and listeners all evening, even baked them cookies! In addition there was a unique Modular Beginner workshop by him, a presentation of his latest products (disco!) and an exquisite live performance by Dieter himself!"

Playlist:

1. DIETER DÖPFER modular live set at SchneidersLaden
2. DIETER DOEPFER cookie lessons - at SchneidersLaden
3. DIETER DÖPFER modular beginner workshop at SchneidersLaden [filters & speech synthesis]
4. DIETER DÖPFER about the early days

Mutable Instruments Plaits 19/30 : vowel and speech synthesis part II

Published on Dec 2, 2018 DavidH

"this is like a Speak & Spell :)"

Happy Birthday!

Published on Nov 17, 2018 LESINDES

"Happy Birthday with wavetable module WALDORF NW-1."

Plogue chipcrusher v2.0 : Retro-Digital Multi-FX

Published on Nov 13, 2018 Plogue Art et Technologie, Inc.

"Now available (free for registered users)
New DAC Encodings: -CVSD -MOZER -HAAR TRANSFORM -LPC-SP0256 -VOCODER
SPC Delay effect from forthcoming 'chipsynth SFC'
UI Redesign from http://www.kikencorp.com
NKS FX Support!

Downloads and more info:
https://www.plogue.com/products/chipc..."

"Nostalgic for vintage sound encodings, 80s computer speakers, or the SPC Delay from a famous 16-bit console? chipcrusher's got all that, plus grit (background noise) and filter-impulse responses.

HOW DOES IT SOUND?
There is a wide spectrum of results achievable with chipcrusher. Here are a few use cases:

Uniquely destroy/mangle a beat, a guitar or any other audio track.
Play single hits and emulate the sound of old samplers.
Add ‘accurate dirt’ to chipsounds’s output.
Emulate a classic 16-bit console's "Delay/verb" to a track
There are four main components in chipcrusher: DAC Encoding, SPC Delay, Background Noise and Cabinet. The audio inputs first go to the DAC Encoding. Then gets processed by the SPC Delay, mixed with the Background Noise to finally get sent to the Cabinet stage. Of course, each component can be bypassed on demand without muting the audio.

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Asha Sheshadri LIVE AT CONTROL WEDNESDAY, NOV 14 7PM

LIVE AT CONTROL

WEDNESDAY, NOV 14
7PM
ASHA SHESHADRI
PFH #8

Pennies from Heaven, a collaboration between Control and Bánh Mì Verlag, is a new series focused on contemporary experimental culture with an emphasis on the liminal and the underrepresented.

Asha Sheshadri is a California-bred artist primarily concerned with memory construction and questions of translation. With a strong investment in archival material, she works at the intersection of speech synthesis, sound poetry and field recording. Her essayistic recordings and performances layer lost and silenced histories, original writing and text sourced from found documents and thinkers she admires, creating an environment of musical and non-musical backdrops in which "sources shine through like light beams where they could easily be buried in fog."

Sheshadri has released work (as well as under the project titles Isolde Touch and Open Corner) via several imprints including Entr'acte Recordings, Recital Program, with a forthcoming release on Anomia.

Please note that space is limited to 50, and seating is on a first come first serve basis. After 7pm, reserved tickets may be distributed to standbys. Performance will promptly start at 7:15; once the performance begins no entry will be permitted. Do not be late. Suggested donation is on a sliding scale from $7 - $15.

Rare Waves MIDI Narrator - Vintage Speech Synth DIY Kit

Published on Oct 4, 2018 EA78751

"MIDI Narrator is a fun MIDI-controlled vintage speech synthesizer. This DIY electronics kit from Rare Waves is for creative musicians, audio producers, and sound designers. It features the SP0256-AL2 speech synthesizer chip. These chips were used in 1980's home computers and arcade games. This kit lets you play all of its sounds from a MIDI controller or sequencer. Plus it adds pitch bend, pitch modulation, random pitch, and stutter effects. And, it can store up to 8 phrases for instant triggered playback from the on-board buttons. You assemble it by soldering, with our easy to follow step-by-step instructions.

The MIDI Narrator DIY electronics kit from Rare Waves.
Available at rarewaves.net, while supplies last."

Prentke Romich Touch Talker TT-DB Assisted Learning PRC Teacher (Voice Synth)

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.
Published on Jul 7, 2015 Amanda Alfaro

I spotted an auction for a Touch Talker TT-DB below. I was curious what it sounded like so I did a quick search on YouTube and found the above. It's $299 on iTunes: LAMP Words For Life - Prentke Romich Company! The original hardware version below utilized Smoothtalker or DECTalk speech synthesis, and was built to interface with the Apple IIe, II+, and IBM PC. Not sure what the iOS version uses - new samples, samples of the original, or the actual synth engine of the original. Another interesting bit of synthesis history...

via this auction

"Touch Talker, models TT-DB, is a portable electronic communication aid offering synthesized speech output and optional printer or keyboard emulating output. Selections are made directly by pushing one of the keys on the membrane keyboard. Messages can be displayed on an LCD before being spoken. The Touch Talker can be used with Minspeak and Expanded Minspeak firmware, which allows vocabulary to be stored and recalled by semantic compaction and overlays to be created and reassigned. The Touch Talker can also be used to operate an environmental control system and a computer. Options for the Touch Talker include Smoothtalker or DECTalk speech synthesis, external printer, carrying case, keyboard emulating interface for the Apple IIe or II+ and the IBM-PC, the Memory Transfer Interface (which allows vocabulary sets to be stored on Apple diskette), and "Words Strategy" vocabulary software. Kits are also available to convert the keyboard to 8 or 32 positions. Contact manufacturer for option specifications and pricing. COMPATIBILITY: For use on Apple II+, Apple IIe, and IBM PC or compatible computers.

DIMENSIONS: 13 x 8.8 x 2.75 inches.
WEIGHT: 5.25 pounds.

Maker:

Prentke Romich Company"

CLICK FOR MORE »

Dystopian

Published on Aug 4, 2018 Polaxis

"Emy playing a phonetic file while displaying the text on a BA63 display.(thank to a MikroElektronika click board attached to Emy's mikroBUS port)"

deltAdata : iAccept ( lofi hiphop samplr outdoor live jam, Stephen Hawking voice generator)

Published on Jul 9, 2018 deltAdata

iTunes: Samplr - Touch the Music - Marcos Alonso

"Lofi hiphop electronica ish samplr live jam performance with Stephen Hawking voice generator !

The text of the speech is from a french anonym letter send to a news paper, i translated it with the help of google translate and corrected what i found wrong, so maybe there still is some translation problems... i hope it's good enough !

Used: ipad mini 1, samplr, audiobus and audioshare to record, sony xperia z3c (head cam), sony xperia m4 (side cam), reaper (on pc for main video sequencing, audio master limiter and a some delay at the end), after effects for the overall look and of course the Stephen Hawking voice generator.

Stephen Hawking Voice Generator : https://lingojam.com/StephenHawkingVoiceGenerator

Thanks for watching ! ✌"

SHARP COMPET CS6500 Japanese First Talking Calculator 1980 Speech Synth

Note: Auction links are affiliate links for which the site may be compensated.

via this auction

"this is very rare SHARP COMPET CS6500 japanese talking calculator
it was first Japanese talking calculator! 1980
it talking japanese language with electronic voice when push each buttons
and it also possible to playback your calculating process with voice
you can change voice pitch(speed) low,middle,high amazing!"

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Atarivox+ Speech Synthesizer Review | Gray Defender

Published on May 16, 2018 GRay Defender

via Atari Age

"The AtariVox+ is a self-contained speech/music synthesizer and memory card for the Atari 2600 and 7800, Vectrex, and other video game consoles with compatible controller ports.

The heart of the unit is the SpeakJet--an amazing chip with phonetic speech, preset sounds and a five channel music synthesizer. All of these are controlled by the console via a serial interface emulated through the driver software.

Similar to chips used in 80s speech synthesizers but with extended capabilities, the speech retains a nice retro quality, making it a perfect partner for classic consoles.

Also onboard the AtariVox+ is 32K of non-volatile memory which can be used as a memory card. The flash memory will retain data without power for 200+ years.

An allocation scheme has been devised so that no file is ever overwritten, allowing many different games to store data on just one unit.

Dip Switch Settings

The AtariVox+ contains a bank of dip switches that allow you to select which mode the AtariVox+ will operate in:

AtariVox - for the Atari 2600 and 7800 (default setting)
VecVoice - for compatibility with earlier Vectrex speech synthesis - mainly for the speech-hacked version of Berzerk (Verzerk) and Y.A.S.I.
VecVox - for the Vectrex."

The SpeakJet has been used in a number of synth projects including the Flame Talking Synth and the Polaxix Emy eurorack module. See the SpeakJet label below for more.