jat@cbnewsl.att.com (gerard.a.theisen) (08/16/90)
I recently purchased the Speech Thing made by COVOX, Inc. It is a speech synthesizer that comes with the hardware, software and amplifier/speaker. It produces surprisingly good quality speech for a low priced product ($69). The hardware consists of a parallel adaptor (heretofore referred to as STadaptor) that plugs into the parallel port of a PC; the printer cable may then be plugged into the STadaptor. Two wires go out the side of the STadaptor to the amplifier/speaker. There are no internal cards that have to be installed. The problem is this: when I do not plug the printer into the STadaptor, I hear a lot of scratchiness in the speech produced. If I plug the printer into the STadaptor without turning on the printer, the scratchiness goes away, but the volume decreases. When I turn on the printer, the scratchiness is still gone, but the volume almost doubles. Does anyone know why the sound quality would be so much better when the printer is plugged into the STadaptor and turned on? And is there some type of additional adaptor/cable/plug that I can buy or build that I can plug in instead of a printer that will will fool the STadaptor into thinking a parallel printer is connected? In case you need to know, I connected the Speech Thing to a Toshiba T100SE laptop. The reason I want this to work without plugging in a printer is so that I can use the Speech Thing without carrying a printer along. I hope I stated my case clearly enough for someone to understand what I'm asking. Thanks for your help. Jerry Theisen !att!tarpon!jat