psk@ulysses.UUCP (01/31/87)
I am looking for some good text to speech hardware for use on a ibm compatible (att 6300 plus) machine. It can be either a board or better yet an rs232 peripheral. I want the quality to be good but the price must be less than 1k. Any suggestions out there? Thanks in advance!
psk@ulysses.UUCP (01/31/87)
I am looking for a good Text to Speech peripheral (< $1000) for an ibm
pc compatible (att 6300 plus) running under either DOS or UNIX. It can
be either a board or even better a stand alone rs232 device. Quality is
important although my price limitation is < $1K. Any suggestions out there?
Thanks in advance !!
--
Phil Kravitz AT&T (Bell Laboratories), Murray Hill
Phone: (201) 582-2703
UUCP: {allegra|ihnp4}!ulysses!psk
Internet: psk@ulysses.uucpmarkp@valid.UUCP (02/03/87)
> I am looking for a good Text to Speech peripheral (< $1000) for an ibm > pc compatible (att 6300 plus) running under either DOS or UNIX. It can > be either a board or even better a stand alone rs232 device. Quality is > important although my price limitation is < $1K. Any suggestions out there? > Thanks in advance !! > > Well, you sound like you want a commercial product, but here goes anyway... The last time I perused my local Radio Schlock, they carried a pair of chips designed for this purpose. One is a digital/analog allophone synthesizer, the other a microprocessor with a text-to-speech algorithm in ROM. Total price is about $30! Anyone know about the quality of the algorithm (i.e. coverage, inflection control, etc.) and if it is possible to extend the exception vocabulary, etc.? If somebody out there sells a kit using this set, then the total price would certainly be under $150, since all you seem to need in addition is a standalone UART chip and an audio amplifier. I would appreciate any information by e-mail, and will summarize. Then again, perhaps I should just give in to my baser hacking instinct and buy the chip set. :-) Mark Papamarcos Valid Logic hplabs!{ridge,pesnta}!valid!markp
cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (02/03/87)
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: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.shop@uwmcsd1.UUCP (02/04/87)
> > I am looking for a good Text to Speech peripheral (< $1000) for an ibm > > pc compatible (att 6300 plus) running under either DOS or UNIX. It can > > be either a board or even better a stand alone rs232 device. Quality is > > important although my price limitation is < $1K. Any suggestions out there? > > Thanks in advance !! > > Try Votrax. - tom -- Thomas Krueger ...ihnp4!uwmcsd1!uwmcsd4!tjk or University of Wisconsin Milwaukee tjk@csd4.milw.wisc.edu Computing Services, Electronics Shop 3200 N. Cramer St. (414) 963-5172 Milwaukee Wi 53211
oster@lapis.berkeley.edu.UUCP (02/05/87)
> I am looking for a good Text to Speech peripheral (< $1000) for an ibm > pc compatible (att 6300 plus) running under either DOS or UNIX. It can > be either a board or even better a stand alone rs232 device. Quality is > important although my price limitation is < $1K. Any suggestions out there? Both Amiga and Macintosh computers can do this at no extra cost. Both Amiga and Macintosh computers are available, second hand, for under $1k. The Macintosh MacInTalk software, available for free from users groups, (with which I am more familiar) comes with an Exceptions editor for extending its default text to speech algorithm. If it makes any difference, I will place in the public domain, within 3 working days after I recieve news that you've bought a Mac for speech synthesis, a program for speaking data recieved over the serial port. --- David Phillip Oster -- "The goal of Computer Science is to Arpa: oster@lapis.berkeley.edu -- build something that will last at Uucp: ucbvax!ucblapis!oster -- least until we've finished building it."
cmcmanis@sun.UUCP (02/05/87)
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.
--
--Chuck McManis
uucp: {anywhere}!sun!cmcmanis BIX: cmcmanis ARPAnet: cmcmanis@sun.com
These opinions are my own and no one elses, but you knew that didn't you.kuo@skatter.UUCP (02/06/87)
In article <1879@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com>, psk@ulysses.homer.nj.att.com (Philip S. Kravitz) writes: > I am looking for a good Text to Speech peripheral (< $1000) for an ibm > pc compatible (att 6300 plus) running under either DOS or UNIX. It can > be either a board or even better a stand alone rs232 device. Quality is > important although my price limitation is < $1K. Any suggestions out there? > Thanks in advance !! > -- > Phil Kravitz AT&T (Bell Laboratories), Murray Hill > UUCP: {allegra|ihnp4}!ulysses!psk > Internet: psk@ulysses.uucp I have "played" with a speech generator under MS-DOS. It is called ECHO2PC (or something like that). It has a plug in board and an external speaker. A decive driver comes with it so that you can send commands to it (as LPT2) from within a program. It costs about $150CND. The speech it generates is *not* bad, but is not fantastic either. So depending on what you wanted the device for, this may or may not be the thing for you. If you want more details (ie name of manufacturer etc) I can look it up. ... Peter/ uucp: {alberta, ihnp4}!sask!skatter!kuo
straka@ihlpf.UUCP (02/06/87)
+> > I am looking for a good Text to Speech peripheral (< $1000) for an ibm +> > pc compatible (att 6300 plus) running under either DOS or UNIX. It can +> > important although my price limitation is < $1K. Any suggestions out there? +> Both Amiga and Macintosh computers can do this at no extra cost. Both +> Amiga and Macintosh computers are available, second hand, for under $1k. +> The Macintosh MacInTalk software, available for free from users groups, +> (with which I am more familiar) comes with an Exceptions editor for +> extending its default text to speech algorithm. If it makes any That closed-box architecture system strikes again. And, gee, I did't even *have* to buy any hardware to do it! (Couldn't resist.) -- Rich Straka ihnp4!ihlpf!straka
jallen@netxcom.UUCP (02/06/87)
In article <968@valid.UUCP> markp@valid.UUCP (Mark P.) writes: >The last time I perused my local Radio Schlock, they carried a pair of chips >designed for this purpose. One is a digital/analog allophone synthesizer, >the other a microprocessor with a text-to-speech algorithm in ROM. Total >price is about $30! Anyone know about the quality of the algorithm (i.e. >coverage, inflection control, etc.) and if it is possible to extend the >exception vocabulary, etc.? If somebody out there sells a kit using this set, >then the total price would certainly be under $150, since all you seem to >need in addition is a standalone UART chip and an audio amplifier. I would >appreciate any information by e-mail, and will summarize. Then again, perhaps >I should just give in to my baser hacking instinct and buy the chip set. :-) G.B. Micro, in Texas, sells an Assembled and Tested PC Board for $89.00, which uses this pair of chips. I haven't gotten one (yet anyway), but I have dealt with G.B. Micro before, and was quite satisfied with their service and fast delivery. I built a board from scratch which used the allophone part before the Text to Speech CPU was available. I'd say I spent upwards of $150 on that project, and although the speech quality was good, the text to speech program I wrote was rather poor. I'd like to hear from anyone who's ordered the board from G.B. Micro. John Allen ========================================================================= NetExpress Communications, Inc. seismo!{sundc|hadron}!netxcom!jallen 1953 Gallows Road, Suite 300 (703) 749-2238 Vienna, Va., 22180 =========================================================================