[comp.periphs] Text to Speech on PCs

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.uucp

markp@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.

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
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